Beating “Tilt”
Remember in the 2018 US Open Final, when Serena Williams lost her cool, broke her racket, and confronted the umpire? Or when Antonio Brown got up and walked out of his last NFL game ever? Or Draymond Green in Game 5 of the 2016 NBA finals when he was ejected for a flagrant?
These are all examples of tilt. A cyclical emotional experience where negative emotions (typically a result of poor performance) lead to poor decisions, which results in further failures. Tilt is a particularly debilitating emotional state due to the spiral of performance and decision making it creates. Commonly discussed in videogames with historical foundations in poker contexts, tilt is a widespread phenomenon which implications to all performance areas.
Understanding this, what can we learn about tilt and how can we beat it?
Bonk & Tamminen (2025) published a study “Exploring experiences of tilt and ragequitting in competitive and recreational videogamers” which aimed to explore experiences of tilt.
The authors conducted semi-structured interviews on 30 participants revolving around their experiences of tilt. Data collected from these interviews were used to generate three main themes, each with their own set of subthemes.
The first main theme to come to light were the cycles of tilt. Defined previously, tilt is a cyclical emotional experience. The authors fleshed out the stages of tilt which include performance failure, aversive emotions, clouded judgement, and poor decisions.
Performance failure: The trigger which sets off the cascade of negative events.
Aversive emotions: The negative emotions which stem from underperforming. (Anger, frustration, sadness)
Clouded judgement: Compromised affective states which prevented optimal judgements or prioritization.
Poor decisions: Decisions classified as mistakes due to clouded judgement.
If left unmanaged, these stages of tilt result in the “kettle boiling over,” regretful behaviors in response to the cycle of tilt.
The authors also emphasized the importance of individual differences. They found that pre-game mood, disposition, and identity all influenced the experience of tilt. These three affective states set the backdrop of tilt.
How do we manage and beat tilt? The authors identified emotional management as the key to optimal performance. Emotional regulation involves using one’s emotions as a source of information, or incorporating strategies to manage emotions. Ultimately, emotional regulation the clouded judgement and poor decision stages of tilt, providing a productive outlet to prevent the spiral.
TLDR, what does this mean for you? Tilt is a cyclical emotional experience, with individual backdrops, whose stages include performance failure, aversive emotions, clouded judgement, and poor decisions. If unmanaged, these stages result in the metaphorical “kettle boiling over,” leading to regretful behaviors. Emotional management is the key to optimal performance by providing an outlet to the negative spiral.
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Bonk, D., & Tamminen, K. A. (2025). Exploring experiences of tilt and ragequitting in competitive and recreational videogamers. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1080/10413200.2025.2483688