A mere lad, 16 years of age, became an instant millionaire on winning the Fortnite challenge.
On the surface, that’s phenomenal, yet, on a deeper level begs one to take a look at the gamer as a professional.
Let’s face it zombie-ing out in front of the tellie to play hours and hours of whatever the game du jour is, pales in comparison to someone who is making self-sustaining earnings at it.
To simplify, just as with any professional endeavor, stress typically factors into the equation. And, the question becomes how equipped are gamers for the stress that comes with creating a professional status, either by competition or growing a YouTube channel into the hundreds of thousands subscribers?
While, this latest winner makes everyone cheer for his success, I’m reminded of a recent suicide-farewell video done by a popular gamer known as Etika.
After building a huge fan base on YouTube, this, in the big scheme of everything life, small fish in a huge sea felt like life was no longer worth living after his build up to ‘fame’ was derailed via various factors, primarily losing the platform he’d built due to violating guidelines.
But, to not lose sight of the primary focus, the question becomes:
Are gamers vulnerable to suicide?
The reason I ask this is because, on the heels of Etika suiciding out, another gamer, who, for his privacy will remain unnamed, did an online vlog of a suicide farewell a few days ago.
It made YouTube ‘news’ and thankfully, I’m glad to report that this particular guy chose to think twice, and opted for professional help instead.
He did an update to the video the next day explaining that he was going into treatment to get help putting things into real-time perspective.
As I watched his unspoken plea for help, I could only shake my head, as I wanted to tell this guy that he, as all of us are, but a grain of sand on this sea of life.
Prior to him making the YT ‘news’ I had never, ever heard of him, or Etika for that matter.
As I end this post, I simply want to say, life at any age can be difficult. It is important to not magnify problems by thinking of self as ‘bigger than life’.
Worth repeating, in this big sea of life, we are all but a grain of sand. This includes the most notable of notables who one day are top-10 celebs, and the next, …who?
Kudos to the young gamer, and hopes that he will shore himself up with a solid support-system of the professional kind; i.e. emotional and financial for starters.
Here is a link of the Fortnite winner and the video of … who retracked his thought to suicide out
16yo wins Millionaire Fortnite Challenge
Peace.