The tributes are very numerous and unanimous after the disappearance of Karel “Twisten” Asenbrener, a talented player on the game Valorant. The 19-year-old Czech, very popular in the community, had revealed to suffer from depression. The French club he played for, Vitality, invites all practitioners to take care of their mental health. A call joined by Laure Valée, esports consultant for franceinfo.
Minutes of silence, a strong emotion shared around the world. The esports community is unanimous in saluting the memory of Karel “Twisten” Asenbrener, a talented player, whose death was announced by his club Vitality on June 7. The 19-year-old Czech, who played on the Valorant shooter, had recently revealed that he suffered from depression.
If the sector was already aware of the importance of mental health, faced with the pressures to which practitioners are exposed, this tragedy is a shock, and must push clubs and game publishers to do more, according to Laure Valée, consultant esports from franceinfo.
franceinfo: Does this drama further underline the importance of taking care of mental health in esports?
Laura Valee: First of all, I would like to point out that mental health is a subject that is not addressed enough in general, and esports is no exception. Prevention and means are still too light. It’s sad to say, but let’s hope that this kind of unfortunate event will push the whole community, the teams, the game publishers to really take care of this subject, which is a crucial and central issue for esports.
Is there a special case of esports, which is a hyperconnected world and where competition is permanent?
Hyperconnection and permanent competition are key issues. Compared to traditional sports, players are perhaps less protected in esports from what they can see, and from violence on social media. We must not forget that esports being quite new, we still have work rhythms, schedules, competition rhythms that are very, very intense. And the players give themselves a lot, the organizations push them a lot.
And it’s true that there is an awareness, to start taking care of the players, and to try to detect when they are not doing well. We must not forget that these players are, for the most part, very, very young, and they find it difficult to talk about this kind of thing themselves. So you really have to do prevention, you have to open support cells, and show the players and the community that mental health is a very, very important subject, so that people are aware of the risks, and that this kind of drama doesn’t happen anymore after that.
You, who rub shoulders with high-level players on a daily basis, Laure Valée, do they sometimes talk about being unwell or is it always a taboo subject?
That’s what really pains me. These players, some of whom I know well, at least on League of Legends… And it’s true that sometimes I’m happy to know that young players dare to come and talk to me about their difficulties, and feel at home. comfortable talking about it. Currently, I am in South Korea, where the work culture, the work rhythms are very, very advanced. And we see it on the players, who ultimately have careers that are very short, because they arrive in a mental state that is catastrophic, precisely because they don’t have the support to help them perform the longest. possible.