ArenaNet encourages players to ‘Seize the Awkward’ and talk about mental health in Guild Wars 2

ArenaNet has partnered with Seize the Awkward for a new Guild Wars 2 Friend/Ships 2020 campaign to help encourage friends to talk to each other about mental health.

In a video released today, Guild Wars 2 developers, influencers, and fans “open up about how they helped someone through a tough time and how they themselves were helped, and what supporting someone going through adversity can mean”.

The Guild Wars 2 community, too, is invited to share their personal stories and raise awareness by using the hashtag #GW2Friendship. Those that share their stories will be entered into a competition to have their own GW2 character put into the game as an NPC (non-player character), forever immortalized in Tyria. 

In celebration of the event, all Guild Wars 2 players will receive a free t-shirt outfit for their character to wear “in support of starting conversations about mental health”. The outfit will be delivered via the Guild Wars 2 gem store from today, January 31st, and will be available until March 2.

Back in October, a number of video game professionals united to form Safe In Our World, “a unique mental health charity” for the video games industry with the mission to create “an online destination where people can seek help, gain access to resources and information, and discover stories from real people within and surrounding the games industry”. 

Launched on World Mental Health Day, the new, accredited organisation aims to raise awareness of mental health issues “among gamers and creators, and affecting positive change within the video games industry”.