Suicide Livestreams in NEEDY STREAMER OVERLOAD

In this extended abstract, we argue that the ludic representations of suicide livestreams in the Japanese story-based videogame NEEDY STREAMER OVERLOAD encode various social and cultural understandings of suicide, mental illness, livestreams, and online cultures. We aim to uncover these understandings through close readings analysing the gameplay leading up to two endings depicting suicide livestreams in the game. By contextualising the game within mental health in Japan, we argue that the game frames mental illness as an issue that can be numerically managed, and that the issue is the result of personal shortcomings, rather than societal problems.