Stop saying you’re tilting, a League of Legends PSA

I feel the need to start this column by saying that you have to stop saying you are tilting or are tilted. Stop it. Oh my god, just shut your mouth and play. Somehow, saying that you are tilted has become a way of saying “I did bad this game, but it isn’t my fault.” First off, we all know you did bad this game. Second, it is too your fault. Stop it.

In all honesty, I have been there. I have tilted. I have sat there in mid lane and watched my jungler dive into the enemy tower in an attempt to get a kill. Instead, they explode, heaving a sack of gold into my laner’s pocket. I have looked at that, gotten mad about it and played like garbage for the rest of the game. But blaming someone else for my poor play or state of mind doesn’t help me grow. It is nothing but a roadblock.

But before we go any further, it is important to officially define tilting to all those out there who don’t know what it is.

Til-ting

Verb

To ‘tilt’ or become ‘tilted’ is the process of wallowing in self pity regarding how badly you have performed or played while simultaneously shifting the blame onto a teammate, friend, parent, pet, god or weather condition. The status of ‘I’m tilted’ is then used as an excuse for your subsequent poor decisions.

- Definition taken from A guide to ‘youth speak’ and other shenanigans.

Author: Ryan Gilliam, Esq.

All goofs aside, I do seriously have a problem with people saying that they are tilted. Even in the very rare case that they are taking personal responsibility, it is still obnoxious. Why? Because you are stating a problem that you can easily fix. You are recognizing a poor state of mind and doing nothing to rectify it. If you are tilted, there is a really easy solution: focus.

When someone says they are tilted, they will inevitably run into the enemy team over and over and over again until the game is over. We have all been there. We have all had bad games where we thought “damn, this entire thing is my fault.” When you focus on your mistakes instead of your win condition, you forfeit the game. The easiest way out of being tilted is to stop what you are doing, breath in and out and try to repair some of the problems that you have caused.

This is why saying, “Oh my god, I’m tilted,” is so obnoxious. You are recognizing that you are in a bad place right now and refusing to do anything about it, thus dooming all of your teammates to an early defeat. League of Legends is a game about perseverance. Sometimes you do real bad and make the enemy team too strong for your allies to handle. Don’t get sad, do better! Recognize that in order to make this right, you have to carry your team to victory. You won’t come back all the time, even half the time, but you will win more than if you just gave up. If you aren’t willing to try and comeback from a lost lane, why are you willing to play in the first place?

Jumping into chat to yell at a teammate for tilting you is a shitty thing to do. Not only because yelling at teammates is bad, but because you are blaming them for something that is impossible. Somebody else cannot tilt you. You are the only one in control of your mental state mid-game, so if you let something a teammate does bother you that much, that is your problem. If they are making you feel bad about yourself, mute them, prove them wrong and report them for being toxic.

Be good to your teammates, don’t yell at them or treat them like they are garbage. If they messed up, you telling them they are trash isn’t going to help them do any better. Losing because your teammates are raging, feeding or whatever sucks. We have all had that experience just as we have all been the one to lose our teammates a game, so have some compassion.

The nature of League requires the cooperation of five players, but you can only control the actions of one: yourself. So are you gonna tilt off the face of the Earth when you do badly? Or are you gonna pick yourself back up, put on your carry pants and fix the problems that you have created?