Asmongold pledges $15,000 to suicide prevention following death of Reckful

He has not yet announced what charity he'll be donating to.

Image via Blizzard Entertainment

World of Warcraft players from all corners of Azeroth flocked to Asmongold’s stream today on Twitch to mourn the death of popular gamer Byron “Reckful” Bernstein, who was known for playing WoW competitively in the late 2000s. 

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Following reports of Reckful’s death, who reportedly took his own life earlier today at the age of 31, Asmongold said he’d dedicate his stream to charity. Initially promising that he’d donate what he earned from today’s stream to a suicide prevention charity, Asmongold set a goal of $15,000 that he intended to donate.

Early on in the stream, Asmon spent ample time talking about Reckful. Asmon also discussed the effects of social media on mental health and looked at statistics on mental health issues.

As his viewership continued to climb, eclipsing 100,000 viewers, Asmongold went to various major cities in retail and Classic WoW on both the Horde and Alliance factions to find massive numbers of players memorializing Reckful following his death.

At time of writing, Asmongold’s stream has peaked at more than 120,000 viewers.

Reckful was a rank 1 PvP player in WoW during three different expansions and placed in the top three during four separate MLG events from 2009 to 2010, including a first-place finish at MLG Washington, D.C. 2010.

Asmongold hasn’t said yet whether his stream has reached his goal of raising $15,000. But he clarified that regardless of what is made on his stream today, he intends to find a suicide prevention charity to give $15,000 to. Asmon has not yet announced where he’ll make his donation. 

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Max Miceli
Senior Staff Writer. Max graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a journalism and political science degree in 2015. He previously worked for The Esports Observer covering the streaming industry before joining Dot where he now helps with Overwatch 2 coverage.