The Mortal Kombat 11 PTSD controversy emerged in 2019 when reports surfaced detailing the mental toll on developers at NetherRealm Studios who were tasked with reviewing real-life violent imagery to create the game's ultra-realistic fatalities. This serious discussion regarding labor conditions and mental health in the gaming industry eventually transitioned into internet meme culture, often using thousand-yard stare imagery or ironic comparisons between the game's brutal content and the people creating it. It is typically used to comment on the dark side of high-fidelity game production or to satirize the extreme lengths studios go to for graphic realism.