Fellow ADHDers, are you actually able to enjoy co-op gaming?

I like co-op games with people I know. If they are somebody I'm comfortable with, then I have no problem waiting for them to catch up, or letting them carry me.

But random matchmaking always ends up with me frustrated because they are rushing when I want to slow down, and taking forever when it's time to move.

Now that you've pointed it out, I think I just have less patience with strangers, and/or am unable/unwilling to communicate my intentions to them

Now that I actually stop and think about it, I almost never really co-op with people. Basically everything I do, I do solo. Not just in games but in real life as well. I've never been a team player. The closest example I can think of is building a deck with my dad, but that I don't struggle with as we effectively share a brain.

I guess that in my case the feeling I'm trying to avoid there is of being overwhelmed and not getting to do things as I want to do them. I have an extremely high need for control of my environment.

Absolutely. Gotta-find-everything suddenly becomes fuck-it-let's-just-get-this-done in my head and everyone moans. Or I get bored and wander off somewhere on my own.

Some games like Ark or Conan completely lack direction and I can't do anything as I get overwhelmed with choice.

I think this is why I like Battlefield as I can just change class, objective, vehicle etc and just go do whatever takes my fancy.

I think in systems and have a good spatial sense, so I don't have the issues you have. If anything, I'm the one to get frustrated at the other player for not instantly understanding what I'm trying to communicate when solving puzzles.

That being said, if the game isn't engaging, I'm a pretty bad partner because I get distracted and become more of a liability.

I have this weird relationship with co-op games. I'm either:

• Completely locked in and solve the puzzle in 2 seconds and want to win immediately and get frustrated because everyone else isn't telepathically on the same wavelength as me and words are a clumsy and inefficient series of grunts that cannot be used to orchestrate the winning strategy efficiently.
• Completely disengaged and bored, keeping myself entertained by playing "floor is lava" or parkour with environmental props and struggling to stay awake.
• Trolling my friends and making the game as stupid as possible and we're all laughing uncontrollably.

My friends only enjoy playing with me when I'm in the latter state. Most games I don't like playing co-op because there's not enough ways to be stupid. Recent example, water park simulator was great for this, you could randomly ragdoll your friends into the pool and throw poop at them. Baldur's Gate 3 was not great for this because any trolling would result in serious consequences and not be funny, so I kind of just turned my brain off and waited for my turn.

Regarding Big Walk...I'd be down to host or join a group that's playing. My play style is pretty darn compatible with anyone non-competitive so if you need time before diving into a puzzle? Cool beans. Need a focus to meet a goal? Done. Just want to chill a bit before moving on to explore? We chill.

I love coop, its my favorite way to play games and the way I grew up playing them with my brother

In my experience usually one person kinda leads and you just sorta do what's happening if youre following. I was the younger sibling so my brother was generally the one leading

Maybe it helps that thats how I grew up playing games. In many ways I prefer local co-op to single player, though theres stuff thats really nice about single player too. I tend to be more engaged in the story and get to experience the narrative and atmosphere more in single player

No

No, because I have no one to play them with.

Hah, I have this problem but in complete inverse.

I play a lot of roguelikes co-op with my roommate, things where you'll level up and have a choice between a few upgrade options. I'll scan my options and have one chosen and be ready to rock in 5-10 seconds, but he'll sit next to me and agonize over his decision for a full minute, and ask me my advice, and a lot of the time what ends up happening is I end up just making his build for him because I have time to analyze and select my choice and then also look over and analyze and select his choice before he ever makes a decision. My man's analysis paralysis is off the charts.

It's not like he's just generally a dumbass, though, he's a smart guy and this is one of the same guys I play D&D with and while he occasionally does the same during those games it's a lot less prevalent. So it's not like he's just dumb, he just gets caught up overanalyzing his options. It's endlessly frustrating to me but not enough to make me want to stop playing games together.

Our other friend that we game with sometimes has the opposite problem than that, where he'll get presented three options, read the first one, and go "yeah that sounds good" and immediately take it before even reading his other two. Honestly I hate that way more, I roast him about that every single time.

I've found that things improve vastly when playing with other ND people.

I HATED co-op gaming for a long time. But in recent years, a couple of my childhood friends started playing games together online and they've set up a weekly meetup to game. It's the only real socialization we get anymore, since we all live in opposite corners of the US nowadays.

I still get frustrated playing co-op with them, because one of my friends doesn't care about following game progression and would rather just run off and dick around. And the other encourages the chaos. Actually completing a mission is a real challenge with this group.

But thanks to them, I've learned not to take games so seriously, and now I don't care so much if we don't accomplish objectives, as long as we're all having fun. We never play versus games; we exclusively play co-op, so we're always helping each other instead of fighting each other.

And yes, all of us have ADHD, so gaming is always an adventure. We might complete a dozen missions, or we might get lost on a tangent and complete 1/4 of a mission. Either way, it's fun!

Yes, but only with similar people when I know they will not mind my quirks.

I'm really good at convincing my friends to buy co-op games and then never playing with them.

I mostly only play co-op games these days. Phogs, Super Battle Golf, Trine, RV There Yet, etc.

The key is the vibe. I have no problem if I'm slower or not at grasping things, and just use it as a virtual hangout no matter what. I chit chat about life, laugh at the chaos, and just ride along if they're solving things faster than me. I don't mind "just holding the light" because I'm still being included and don't a way to make my own fun enjoying everyone having fun.

The FOMO about making the wrong choice happens but I just accept it's a game and not that big a deal. Can always play it again if I really care.

Depends on the game and whether or not I am any good at it. I find that if both me and the person I'm playing with are at similar skill level it's fine, but if one of us really sucks I get frustrated very easily.

Same with play styles. I'm objective oriented so I get frustrated when other people are not.

I’m not able to enjoy having humans on the same planet as me.

Cats though, I can co-op with them all day.

Only multiplayer game I like at all is Monster Hunter, and I can hunt at my own pace.

I don’t know who needs to hear this, but Plate Up! is the king of universally appealing coop games. Play it with anyone. It’s like Overcooked but it doesn’t make you so angry instantly.

I love co-op games! But I've never tried games like yours. I've played simpler stuff, mostly old beat 'em ups. Those are great. "You go up, I go down" and that's it. Try TMNT: Turtles In Time, Cadillacs & Dinosaurs, or even Metal Slug games.

Good times.

That sounds challenging. Are you playing with a group of friends or random people? If it's friends, I really suggest talking to them about the experience you have. If they understand your challenges they can make small adjustments to help be able to participate.

I avoid them like the plague.

I need to explore and play games at my own pace, which can get pretty chaotic. I don't want to spend extra brain power on keeping track of what someone else is doing, I want to be able to get up and use the bathroom when needed or get drinks and snacks when I want to, and when I abruptly get tired of playing I want to close the game and do something else.

But also, I'm going to spend an absurd amount of energy on worrying if I'm playing correctly and whether the other person is getting frustrated with me and actually hates my guts for ruining the whole game. So yeah.

Only if I'm sitting right next to the other player. There are communication cues that are better expressed, or understood, through in-person interactions, that text or voice chats can't convey.

My friends are well aware of my antics. I tend to wander off or get distracted by the scenery or interesting things. But I’m good at figuring things out and any sort of combat so they usually grab me for things involving that.

Playing with new people in a clan for a serious FPS game made me realize I probably drive anyone else crazy.

I just got Big Walk for my kid and haven't played it myself. I play Arc Raiders with friends on weekends. I hit the same issues. I just tag along. I never have any idea what the objective is, so I just pack ammo and go hunting/collecting. Me being a little slower is particularly annoying because my character is literally slower. You can run faster as you play more and get upgrades. I'm really just in it to socialise. I'd rather meet up for beers or something.

gonna plug my mmos again. so champions online and star trek online are pretty easy to do once you obviously learn them but multi player is pretty optional until end game. so you have plenty of time to learn on your own if you want but there are people who specifically will join up with a newb to help them out. then on top of it half the peoples endgame is getting their costume of their chracter just right and hanging out.

It depends who I'm playing with, and whether I've already done the single-player campaign.

Playing a game I've already played solo, but replaying it coöp with my kids? Fun to fine.

Playing a new, low-stakes game with my kids or siblings? Fine. Usually.

Playing a new RPG or story-heavy game coöp? Torture. As bad as watching a movie without closed captioning.

I absolutely love having no goals and the fuck around type. If I grab this can I hit my friend with it? Can I grab my friend? Can I hit another friend with my friend? Last time we played Big Walk I stopped my cousin when we got to the second scenic area with the rocks and the water and made him go back to it cause he didnt sit down and rip his blinker while looking at the ocean. We walked back and got fifteen minutes behind everyone just to get high to virtual scenery. Shits dope. Its play pretend as kids again.

I can when my co-op partner isn't absolute trash at playing games. And it's a good game and not something like Peak where the fun is just... The conversations you have while walking and climbing. 🤷‍♂️

it seems to me like you're talking about puzzle games, not co-op games?