| Popis: |
Some video games offer, today, high-level competitive performance in the form of esports – a discipline recognized as a performance domain in need of investigation within a sport psychological perspective. Tilt, described as severe frustration resulting in suboptimal performance, is a common, yet still under-investigated performance debilitating phenomenon in esports. The aim of the present study was to gain an understanding of factors and processes relating to tilt in the esports of League of Legends. To that end, a qualitative method was applied using thematic analysis to explore (1) antecedents of tilt, (2) the effects of tilt on performance, and (3) players’ strategies to manage tilt-inducing situations. Findings show players experience antecedents of tilt to be teammates failing to meet the expectations of the players, teammates’ toxic behaviour, players failing to meet their own expectations, and negative emotions. These events can result in the players experiencing a sense of discouragement, a loss of control, misplaced attention, as well as displaying toxic behaviour. Lastly, the players resort to managing tilt-inducing situations by muting the in-game chat, redirecting attention towards controllable actions, and acceptance of mistakes and situations in general. These findings suggest tilt processes to be partly influenced by the players’ teammates’ actions, thus different social contexts may influence the experience of tilt. Further, findings indicate the players’ experience of discouragement when under tilt as an additional factor related to tilt, which is discussed as potentially unique to the context of players in LoL. |
