Are any other newbies here absolutely petrified of playing against real people?

yeah

Play bullet and just "random bs go!!!" Until you feel comfortable vs real people. 

Real people aren't as good at chess as you think. Besides you will eventually end up playing vs people your own skill level anyway

I hate OTB. Mainly because of the pressure I feel when you see your opponent: what does he think of my skill, what plans does he have? And in most settings it doesn't feel like I can't get focused, so you're not the only one here.

That's why OTB is the real deal and the best school.

I was, I started as 200 something and I was so scared that Id just go down in rating. I was a newbie, don't judge. To cope with this, you just have to throw yourself in the lions den and play the best you can. And soon you'll realize people in the same rating as you, play the same as you and your only competition is your will to improve. 

If thats too nerve racking( which was for me). What I did was join a club and focus on a different aspect of chess. The club introduced me to puzzles, variants, social competitions and that made the performance anxiety a little less. And soon, I started craving to play with a real person. And I still get scared but now I have the coping mechanism in place to pull through and play the game. 

Then do😅😅😅😅😅

I think Chess.com would really benefit from developing a positive, fun way to engage beginners and assign them with an appropriate initial Elo rating.

The current process assigns them a rating that tends to be too high, and results in new players getting destroyed for 20 games in a row while their rating is adjusting to the right level. That's a very discouraging experience. 

I've heard many people say they tried playing live games, lost badly, and repeatedly, then became discouraged, decided they were bad at it, and didn't play again. There needs to be a way to keep that from happening. 

feel free to play me! I'm pretty new to chess and i'd like to play another beginner

you can play unrated games in the custom section

Start a conversation with the person, maybe like, "why do you like chess?"

Many people have it and I have it too.

But try daily/correspondence games (with time control > 1 day). When you do not have time pressure and can ponder your next move at peace, the anxiety is gone (well, at least for me)

I had the same worry, but I dove in yesterday for the first time. I found that I could anticipate the computers moves but people are far less predictable making the computer practice kind of useless. I like to do a few rated puzzles like my life depends on getting them right, just to get the brain warmed up. Then I play an online game. it's not so bad and expect to lose a lot going in and you'll be fine. Just study what you did wrong and you'll improve.

I agree with this, at least start new players at the blitz median, around 1000, instead of 1200.  Your post made me curious to look up what had happened to me when I joined, assigned 1200, and in about 20 games sure enough I was below 800 where I've remained the four years since!  Though, many enjoyable games.

Of course you should, your best teachers will be your opponents, especially OTB, although I don't dare to recommend it in times of covid.

I've played chess for my entire life, and I still get really nervous when playing. 

A few minutes ago, I felt ready to try my first game against a human online. I was shaking so hard I could barely move my mouse. What have I got myself into... After a few moves; still shaking, but seem to be doing ok. Few more, still doing ok. steady, steady, don't mess up. focus..... few more moves, still ok, i seem to be ahead maybe. *shaking intensifies*. Few more moves and I win with a checkmate. yay and phew and wow. Thank you for the game maisyviolet, and thank you for being gentle with me, it was my first time=)

Analysis says I missed several earlier checkmates, and had  33% accuracy.  I don't care. I won=)

I'm still shaking, but now i think it's adrenaline, not fear. 

I feel the same way! I just played my second game of live chess and it was probably two weeks since my first game. I think we just have to take the plunge, don't know why I'm so scared of getting beat! It's just a game....and I get tired of playing the bots. I guess you just have to convince yourself that the ending isn't as important as the learning process. Good Luck everyone!

I get annihilated about 7/8 games I play. zero idea why keep playing this f'kking game. take up gardening.