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submitted 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) by meejle@piefed.world to c/adhd@lemmy.world

AuDHD here, and I certainly can't.

I'm specifically thinking about Big Walk, but this applies to every co-op game I've ever tried. Portal 2 co-op also springs to mind.

I figure things out way more slowly than everyone else. I have no sense of direction, so I constantly get lost and lag behind.

And the freeform, "Let's go and look at this… Oh, or, actually, we could go and look at that first…" shit is just overwhelming. Most of the time I don't really understand either of the two options, having not noticed the same landmarks as the other players – and even if I did, I can't visualise where I am in relation to them. So I just say "dunno" or "either is fine", and worry about missing out on the other option – even as I'm stuck not actually contributing anything to the game.

People walk into a new puzzle and can instantly start putting the pieces together. I could, if I had time to have a look around and figure out all the different "parts" to the puzzle… get my bearings, y'know? But in a co-op game, what invariably happens is that everyone else figures it out while I get more and more confused and feel like crying.

Either that or I end up basically being "the guy who holds the light" while the actual human players have fun all around me. 🙄

And then I get to be the "moody" guy who ruins it for everyone by having a shit time and complaining. It's unbearable, it makes me feel like such a joke of a failure of a person.

Can anyone relate? 🙈

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ETA: Thanks for all the replies, I'm loving hearing everyone's thoughts and it's made me feel SO much better. 💖

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[-] skulblaka@sh.itjust.works 5 points 6 days ago

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.

this post was submitted on 16 Aug 2026
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ADHD

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