Reddit users made their own Minecraft-inspired artwork for the teenager (Picture: Da_ChickenMan/Reddit)

In discussions of herd mentality, diffusion of responsibility and disinhibition, the internet will inevitably get a mention.

With its online lynch mobs, trolls and cyber-bullies, the world wide web is often held up as an example of what happens when anonymous people are given the ability to say what they like without much fear of reprisal.

However, a community of Minecraft players on Reddit showed another side of the argument when they took to their keyboards to talk a teenager out of committing suicide.

The teen spoke of his plans to kill himself in a post (Picture: NotARomanGuy/Reddit)

After writing a post in which he outlined his history of depression and his intent to take his life, messages of support flooded in for user NotARomanGuy – who also goes by the Minecraft handle CaesarOctavius – with users telling him how much they’d enjoyed playing the game together online and others sending him personal artwork to show they cared.




‘people do care, I like u, ur a cool guy,’ (sic) wrote one.

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‘It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep going,’ added another user, quoting Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky.

At peak, 83 people jumped into the community’s TeamSpeak room to try to convince the adolescent not to take his life, while more users on the subreddit SuicideWatch also made themselves heard.

Their concern paid off when, several hours later, NotARomanGuy reappeared:

Thanks to the compassion of the community, the teenager says he is now doing better (Picture: NotARomanGuy/Reddit)

‘I obviously wasn’t cured or freed from all the thoughts I have in one night, but the people, their overwhelming support, they opened my eyes; showed me that some people really do care, no matter how it may seem,’ he wrote.

He added that he would be taking a break from gaming for a while and would be seeking help for his problems.

For emotional support contact Samaritans on 08475 909090.