The 28-year-old Brandon “Segaull” Larned has had a turbulent career in gaming: Seagull was a pro in Half Life 2 and Team Fortress 2 as a teenager. In his mid-20s, he became one of the first stars of the Overwatch League. Later, he gained fame as a Twitch streamer. However, in early 2021 he took a break, suffering from burnout and depression.
This is Seagull’s gaming career:
- Seagull has been a video gamer competing in tournaments for 13 years. He made a name for himself in “Half Life 2: Death Match” back in 2008. He was considered one of the top players in the Steam hit Team Fortress 2 for many years. However, in the first 3 years of his career, at the ages of 16, 17, and 18, he earned less than $1000 in prize money from Team Fortress 2 (via esportsearnings).
- Seagull was financially secure in 2016 when he joined Luminosity Gaming and became one of the first pros in the Overwatch League. Every pro was paid at least $50,000 salary, as mandated by Blizzard at the time. However, after just one season, Seagull stepped back from professional Overwatch. He said he had gained 20 kilograms during that time, could hardly sleep at night, and was losing interest in the game.
- After that, Seagull became a successful streamer on Twitch with one million followers, but in January 2021, he also hit the brakes here. He said he was suffering from burnout and depression and needed a break. He was gone for 6 months, and upon returning to E3 2021, he resumed streaming on Twitch.
Seagull disappears from Twitch for 6 months: Depression and burnout
This is what Seagull says now: The streamer was seen on Twitch again last Thursday after a 6-month break. He didn’t want to miss the “Summer Game Fest” and the unofficial start of E3.
During the stream, people quickly noted that he looked much better than six months ago. The people in the Twitch chat wanted to know how the streamer managed to get a grip on his depression.
“You play 20 hours every day and wonder why you’re depressed?”
Seagull explained that during the first 2 months, he only played World of Warcraft. But then he sought help for his depression. It particularly helped him to seek professional help after years and to get a therapist’s perspective on his own life:
It was really funny […] It’s really so funny to gain an outside perspective on your own life. I will never forget it. In one of the first sessions, the therapist said: Let me summarize this, you play 20 hours of video games alone each day and then wonder why you are depressed?
Seagull
Seagull laughed again while telling the story. He says: In the course of this conversation, he has realigned his life:
- He treats himself now the way he would treat his own dog: The dog needs to be taken for a walk, so does the human.
- He started eating out and going out more often.
- Additionally, he has now adjusted his sleep cycle and actually wakes up in the mornings now, which is a huge adjustment for him.
- The streamer says he hasn’t changed much, hasn’t even started working out, but simply going outside regularly and seeing the sun has a very positive impact on his life.
The lives of many professional gamers are unhealthy and show their effects on body and mind, even though the players are still very young:
LoL world champion (22) talks about the obsession that ended his career
If you are troubled by dark thoughts, you can contact the hotline at 0800/111 0 111 and 0800/11 0 22 for free nationwide counseling.
