Welcome to the open-access card set designed to manage tilt and foster team dynamics in esports.
This card set, developed as part of our research project, is now available under a Creative Commons license for educational and non-commercial use.
These cards were co-designed with youth esports players to address emotional regulation and improve communication within teams.
1. Overview
The Tilt Management Card Set includes three categories of cards: Situation, Provoke, and Heal. This card set is designed for teams to explore scenarios that cause frustration (“tilt”), while learning how to navigate them through discussion, reflection, and emotional coping strategies. Each card plays a role in enhancing team collaboration, understanding, and emotional support. This toolkit is part of our broader research into emotional resilience and team cohesion in esports.
2. Card Categories
| Description | Example | |
| Situation Cards | These cards represent various gaming scenarios that may lead to tilt or team conflict. From communication breakdowns to poor performance, each card asks, “What should I do?” to encourage reflection and discussion among players. | A teammate has become frustrated because they feel sidelined in the game. What should I do? |
| Provoke Cards | Provoke cards escalate the Situation, introducing additional complexity and challenges. These cards force players to rethink their approach to solving the problem, adding unpredictability to the discussion. | Your teammate who felt sidelined now starts blaming others. What should I do? |
| Heal Cards | Heal cards offer coping strategies for the Situation at hand, promoting stress relief and team support. These include actions like communicating more effectively, taking a mental break, or providing affirmation to teammates. | Suggest taking a five-minute break for the team to reset emotionally. |
3. How to Use the Cards
(1) Starting the Game: Each participant starts with 5 Heal cards and 2 Provoke cards.
(2) Situation Card Selection: An assigned judge selects a Situation card to challenge the other players among three Situation cards.
(3) Heal Card Selection: The other players put down an appropriate Heal card that they think could help the judge in the situation they selected.
(4) Explaining the reasons: Each player explains why they think the card they chose represents the healing method the judge would use in the given situation.
(5) Judge’s Decision: After listening to all the players, the judge selects the best Heal card. If the judge is still undecided, they can call a “tie” and use a Provoke card to make the situation more complex. This pushes players to reconsider their strategies under tougher conditions.
(6) Scoring: The player whose Heal card is ultimately selected by the judge collects all the Situation and Provoke cards (if any are used) from that round. The game consists of two turns, and the player who accumulates the most Situation and Provoke cards by the end of the game wins.
4. Research Significance
These cards were developed as part of our research titled “You Are Tilted!: Leveraging Tabletop Gaming to Manage Tilt and Strengthen Team Dynamics in Esports.” Our research shows that structured team interventions like these cards can help reduce tilt, improve communication, and enhance team cohesion. By working through these cards, teams can foster a more positive and supportive gaming environment.
For more information, you can read our research paper here.
5. Download and Licensing
You can download the full set of Tilt Management Cards below:
- Download Situation Cards (PDF)
- Download Provoke Cards (PDF)
- Download Heal Cards (PDF)
- Download Others (e.g., board) (PDF)
These cards are offered under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. This means you are free to share, adapt, and use these cards as long as you provide appropriate credit, do not use them for commercial purposes, and share any adaptations under the same license.
[Creative Commons License] Learn more about the license here.
6. About the Research
The Tilt Management Card Set is part of an ongoing research project exploring the mental health of esports players, focusing on the phenomenon of “tilt.” Our goal is to develop practical tools to help players regulate their emotions and improve team performance. This card set was co-designed with youth players and tested in various team-based esports environments.
7. Citation and Attribution
If you use this card set in your work, please provide proper attribution. Use the following citation format:
Explore, download, and start using these open-source assets to promote emotional resilience and teamwork in esports!
Special thanks to our collaborators!
