Popular gamer and Twitch streamer Byron ‘Reckful’ Bernstein has died at 31

There has been an outpouring of grief after the gaming star known as Reckful died suddenly, hours after apparently proposing.

Online gamer Byron Bernstein, widely known as Reckful, has died by suicide aged 31.

His death was announced by Twitter user Blue.

Esports insider Rod ‘Slasher’ Breslau, Mr Bernstein’s roommate, also confirmed the news.

The American streamer and former professional eSports player was best known in the gaming community for playing World of Warcraft and Asheron’s Call.

He was one of online streaming platform Twitch’s first big streamers.

He famously finished ranked number one for six seasons in a row in MMORPG game World of Warcraft.

Reckful later played competitive Hearthstone, a free-to-play online digital collectable card game.

According to his Twitter account, Mr Bernstein also appeared to propose to his ex-partner hours before he died.

“I know I’ll always be a little too crazy... and this is proof. But at least you’ll never be bored, will you marry me, Becca?” he wrote.

i know i’ll always be a little too crazy... and this is proof... but at least you’ll never be bored

will you marry me, becca? pic.twitter.com/Xpmz3IlRqv

— Reckful (@Byron) July 2, 2020

Blue later wrote on Twitter: “I knew Byron was kind when we first met.

“I was struggling w/my dad passing away and made a post.

“He saw it and just showed up at my house after only being there once.

“He brought his fave movie Almost Famous over and hung out with me all night. I fell in love in that moment. RIP Byron.”

I’m getting off twitter for the rest of the day. Too painful. Hug your loved ones.

— Blue (@BlueGoesMew) July 2, 2020

Byron Bernstein struggled with depression.

His Twitch account was suspended temporarily this year after a series of livestreams violated unspecified rules in Twitch’s code of conduct, PC Gamer reports.

He was also permanently banned from World of Warcraft after sharing his account.

Reckful struggled with mental illness and publicly discussed it on his channel.

He was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and struggled with depression.

Before his death he posted a series of tweets.

“Please just know in these situations the insane person does not feel in control of their actions,” he wrote.

“Ahh, I feel bad for anyone who has to deal with my insanity.”

Online gamer Byron Bernstein, widely known as Reckful, has died by suicide aged 31.

His death sparked an outpouring of grief online.

Top US chess player Hikaru Nakamura, who recently appeared in a YouTube video with Reckful, paid tribute to the streamer.

“I will always be grateful to Reckful for the advice about streaming and our many conversations about life,” he wrote on Twitter.

“I’m sure I’m not alone amongst your friends in wishing I could have done more.

“I hope you are in a better place now. Rest In Peace @Byron.”

Streamer Jack ‘CouRage’ Dunlop also reacted. “Wow. Watching Asmongold’s stream right now.

“Seeing thousands and thousands of people flooding the cathedral in Stormwind kneeling, paying respect to Reckful, and sharing their stories of how much he meant to them.

“The gaming community comes together in the most beautiful ways.”

Yiliang ‘Peter’ Peng said on Twitter: “Reckful was someone I looked up to growing up.

“I remember watching his interviews when he was on CoL, thinking he was so cool.

“I rewinded his Reckful 3 video over and over to learn from the best rogue in the world. He was a huge reason why I even considered a career as a pro. RIP.”