After a local event in Las Vegas, several pro and semi-pro Smash players went out for food. Among them, Super Smash players Kswz, TsugiTechnicals, Turtle, SoCalGohan, Slither2Hunter and event organizer JK gathered. After a small dispute, JK allegedly tried to hit the others with his car before driving off, an event that left the others fearful of his recent behavior and anger. This was corroborated across twitter as well as by JK, who is now reportedly looking to get help.

Following the news of professional League player Vasili attacking his girlfriend on stream, this mars the beginning of a transition into a much larger realm for esports, but it also highlights what may be the growing problem of mental health with professional and semi-professional gamers.

Many of the symptoms found in mental health can easily be associated with the habits of professional gamers and streamers such as a withdrawal from social outings, feeling disconnected, and dramatic shifts in sleep or appetite. These aren’t new traits for many gamers, who often find themselves locked indoors playing games for hours on end with little regard for sleep, food, or outside interaction, and it’s what has become of increasing concern for many groups.

Twitch even features an entire community subsection just for mental health, and Twitchcon was proliferated not only with mental health groups offering help, but with panels discussing it. There is little argument left that mental health is not a concern and point of interest in the gaming community.