It's like they are deaf. They aren't of course, but with their selective hearing that spans entire subjects, he almost forgets.

They hear a happy tune sprouting from his being, accompanied by a bright smile, bold statements and undying determination, and forget to listen to his self deprecating words.

When they do remember they ignore it. They don't want to know about his actual thoughts, his actual situation. They want him for his abilities in the game and in cheering everyone up.

So he doesn't try. He doesn't try to push past his mask, his surface projection of what he wants to be. He doesn't think about reality and only works on his fiction.

He is ceasing to exist while pretending that he is flourishing.