I need to seriously consider getting out of competitive gaming.

Hey man,

I love Smash. I played Smash 64 and Melee growing up (hated Brawl) and got into Smash 4 in the last year. I have a lot of great memories playing Smash with friends. Seeing the Smash documentary last year revitalized my love for the game, and that comes out by me watching every major tournament on stream (like The Big House 5 this weekend!).

I also hate losing. But honestly, losing is not why you might be depressed. Some of the best Melee players in the world are depressed, despite their skill, fans, fame, money, etc. Smash is a distraction, a temporary escape from the real world. Even if you were a god at the game, you still would probably be depressed. PPMD won Apex earlier this year and disappeared from the scene due to depression. M2K deals with depression daily. Leffen published a Twitter story about dealing with depression, suicidal ideation, and anxiety while effectively explaining/aplogizing for his behavior. Being a good player requires sacrifices and does not guarantee happiness.

My advice is easier said than done, but simply enjoy the game. There is an entire community of Smashers who in large part deal with the same problems. Use the game to meet people, create memories, and make friends! If you want to be a great player, losing ALL THE TIME will be part of the process. Don't let losing discourage you. There are so many ways of improving if you want to get better.

I don't think my words changed anything, but it's not often I see a post about Smash on r/depression so I had to comment. I wish you the best. Smash is such an amazing game and the community is blowing up. I know you don't like losing but you could always git rekt by my Yoshi m8 ;) Just kidding man (Sort of). Take care dude. Gotta go watch some streams!

/r/depression Thread