Thousands of World of Warcraft players are gathering in-game today to mourn the passing of Byron 'Reckful' Bernstein, one of Twitch's most famous streamers. On all servers, both Horde and Alliance players gathered at Stormwind Cathedral to remember Bernstein by offering a moment of silence and sharing memories. Despite being permanently banned from the game, Bernstein was arguably one of the most famous players in the MMO, winning the highest PvPer ranking for six consecutive seasons and several prominent tournaments since around 2009.

The screenshot above is from the Lightbringer server, where dozens of players are kneeling in the Stormwind Cathedral. Elsewhere, especially on the more populated servers, the gathered players number in the hundreds. Even the Horde players who cannot enter Stormwind, where the Alliance dominates, are making the journey.

Asmongold, a prominent WoW streamer, was livestreaming when news of Bernstein's death was first made public; most of Twitch's top WoW streamers have attended memorial services on their servers of choice . Some of these gatherings seem to be a few hundred people, but the total number of participating players on all servers can be in the thousands.

While memorials at Stormwind Cathedral appear to be the most common, other players have instead visited the memorial of a Bernstein non He is visiting the memorial of a player character. Byron Burnside is in the Alliance-owned town of Bridgeport, south of the Alliance's capital, Tiragarde Sound.

Bernstein died earlier today by suicide. He was 31 years old. For the past several years, Bernstein had used his platform to raise awareness about mental health, including speaking openly about his diagnosis of bipolar disorder and depression and live-streaming online therapy sessions. Those who know Bernstein today take to Twitter to lament the lack of mental health support, especially in the streaming community.

"This is not a 'fuck 2020' moment," Twitch's head of creator development wrote in a tweet. This is a 'mental health needs attention' and 'we need better resources for the gaming/streaming community' moment. 2020 sucks, but it's even more reason for us to recognize and fight the stigma around mental health. rip BYRON"

If you or someone you know is suicidal, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (USA), Crisis Services Canada (California), Samaritans (UK), or Lifeline (Australia). If you are outside of these areas, check this list for hotlines in your country.