The eSports industry is one of the fastest-growing tech niches on the planet. Competitive gaming has become just as big a spectator sport as real-world sporting events. According to Statista, the global eSports market is set to post total revenues of $3.96bn in 2023, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.21% between now and 2027.
That’s due largely to the rise of multiple PC and console games as genuine eSports titles, creating new pathways for exceptional gamers to enter the realm of eSports and compete for big-money prizes and represent the biggest eSports teams on the planet. Many of these are already professional and funded through major sponsorship deals.
The evolution of the eSports industry has raised the temperature for gamers
There’s a big difference between playing video games well at home or with friends and competing at video games for a living. When you’re playing on the big stage with the bright lights and studio cameras aimed directly on your screens, it’s a completely different ball game. Most eSports players thrive off this pressure though. After all, playing PC or video games competitively is what most gamers aspire to.
Nevertheless, managing emotions is one of the biggest challenges for any eSports athlete. Sure, they must eat and sleep well and exercise sufficiently, but they must also develop a mental resilience to deal with the roller-coaster nature of eSports events.
Tilt is one of the biggest roadblocks to a gamer’s consistency in eSports. This term describes the negative, emotional reaction gamers can have when they are playing badly or if they’re playing well and have lost undeservedly. It’s also a familiar word used in poker circles when someone is frustrated or irritable to the point that they veer away from their core strategies and play recklessly. This can include playing hands they shouldn’t and making outlandish bluffs which are easily spotted by opponents. When it comes to the psychology of eSports, acknowledging tilt and understanding the triggers is hugely important for competitive gamers so that they can manage their emotions when the going gets tough.
The biggest issue with tilt is that it fosters negativity within a gamer’s own performance. Gamers begin to focus on every little thing they do wrong mid-game, and it all becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, with more mistakes and anger bubbling up from the surface.
Top tips to overcome tilt as a competitive gamer
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The first challenge to overcoming and controlling tilt in eSports is recognizing the triggers of your own tilt. Once you know the scenarios most likely to tilt you, you can take evasive action before things get out of hand.
The number-one recommendation to guard against tilt is to take regular breaks from your desktop or console screen. This is endorsed by the British eSports Federation too. Long gaming sessions are par for the course as competitive gamers, but scheduling short intervals between games is essential to preventing that overwhelming feeling. If something has gone wrong in a game or map, then having regular breaks gives you the opportunity to step away, reset, and shift your focus to the next game or map.
Becoming a professional eSports athlete can be all-consuming. It’s an increasingly competitive industry and there’s a nagging fear that if you don’t perform, someone else will be ready and raring to take your place. Some of the best eSports athletes are those who try not to take the industry too seriously. They accept it’s only a game and, the more you do the same, the less likely you’ll be to micro-analyze every mistake you make in-game. Outside of eSports, consider investing time and energy in real-world pursuits to help keep you grounded and separate the world of eSports from reality.
The best eSports athletes are also programmed to see their in-game mistakes as positives rather than negatives. They view mistakes as things to learn from rather than things to get frustrated about.
In summary, the best tilt reduction strategy is to alter the meaning you give situations. Being accountable for your decision-making and embracing the challenge of self-improvement is part and parcel of evolving into an ice-cool gamer with a positive mindset.
