There are many things that define a human
being, be it their actions or words, but a
great indicator is their hobby.
For understanding one’s favoured pastime
truly is one of the best ways to know a person.
It is, after all, the thing they like to do
to unwind, to relax: when there’s no work
left to be done (or in my case when there’s
plenty to be done but you’re not quite ready
to do it yet).
For many of us, that hobby is playing and
consuming video games, and for the people
in this video, that was also the case.
One of life’s great cruelties is that it
must come to an end, but we will not forget
those who we’ve lost, indeed, we must celebrate
them, their lives, and their legacies.
One such way to remember is through their
hobbies, and video games are no different.
The digital equivalent of affixing a plaque
to a favourite park bench, video games offer
the unique opportunity to keep people’s
spirits alive in a world other than the physical,
so let’s look at some.
I’m ben from TripleJump, and here are 10
heartbreaking gaming tributes to fallen players.
Bring the tissues.
10.
Borderlands 2
A huge fan of explosive co-operative shooter
Borderlands 1, Michael Mamaril and his friend
were keenly looking forward to the sequel,
but when Michael passed away at just 22 years
old from the cancer he was fighting, his friend
reached out to developers Gearbox Software
to see if they wouldn’t mind recording a
eulogy to the fallen vault hunter in the voice
of the series’ loud-mouthed robot sidekick,
claptrap.
Gearbox obliged, but broke character halfway
through to make it clear how saddened they
were to learn of his death, and that they
would go one step further by putting Michael
into Borderlands 2 as a character.
In the town of sanctuary, and spawning in
any one of many random locations, an NPC named
Michael Mamaril can be seen standing around.
Talking to him will reward the player with
a valuable piece of loot, and also unlock
the trophy/achievement ‘tribute to a vault
hunter’.
Hats off to Gearbox for going above and beyond.
9.
World of Warcraft
The death of Robin Williams shocked just about
everyone when news broke of his suicide in
2014.
Survived by his wife and children, one of
whom is named after the eponymous Zelda, you
may already know that the world famous actor
and comedian was a fan and player of videogames.
One title he frequented in particular was
world of warcraft, and after his death, fans
petitioned developer Blizzard to add him to
the game as an NPC.
They did, and if you travel to an island just
south of Gromashar, you’ll find: a giant
egg split in two with a lawn chair in one
half and a control box and lantern in the
other, as a reference to Mork’s space ship,
toys littering the island in a potential tribute
to the movie Toys, and if you rub the everlasting
lamp located near the ship, a blue genie called
Robin will appear, yelling PHENOMENAL COSMIC
POWER, before shrinking back down and uttering
‘itty bitty living space’ before disappearing.
8.
Guildwars 2
Founding the Gaiscíoch (Gosh-kia) guildin
Dark age of Camelot, Roger Rall (known as
oldroar online) planned for he and his guildmates
to make the leap to Guildwars 2 when it launched
in 2012.
Sadly passing away before the game’s release,
Oldroar’s community rallied around him,
dead set on having him immortalized in the
game somehow.
Beginning an unrelenting letter writing campaign
to guild wars 2 developers Arenanet, they
continued to lobby the studio by launching
a so called ‘cookiezerg’ wherein thousands
of treats and baked goods were sent to their
offices.
Hopefully it was more the heartfelt pleas
and stories of Roger’s importance that did
the trick rather than biscuits, but Arenanet
made good on their request.
Not only is there a server called Sanctum
of Rall, but should you venture into the game,
there’s a good chance you’ll meet a historian
who tells tale of a Tribune known as Rall
Oldroar.
The historian’s story has a fitting and
peaceful end for the guild founder, with the
taleconcluding: “There will never be another
like him.”
7.
Minecraft
There’s a very good chance that at some
point you’ve at least dabbled in the all-conquering
Minecraft by now, with the likelihood being
that you’ve probably jumped into a private
server with your friends at least once or
twice.
One such private server was home to players
Gas Bandit and his wife Pauline, but when
Pauline passed away in 2013 from Ovarian cancer,
her grieving widower decided to build a monument
to remember her by, in the game they spent
so many hours playing together.
Electing to construct a huge to-scale recreation
of her in game avatar, word quickly spread
that he was building it in vanilla survival
mode – that meaning all resources he used
had to be mined by hand – so friends and
other players quickly pitched in to donate
the blocks and materials he would need.
He built the entire thing alone however, a
labour of love that Gas Bandit himself reports
took a couple of months.
A minecart track runs the perimeter of the
monument, with a chamber inside featuring
a coffin and a jukebox playing a simple piano
track.
While the server has since been reset, Gas
Bandit has stated that he has a copy of it
saved at home.
6.
Elder Scrolls V Skyrim
A somber and personal comfort that video games
can offer to loved ones of those who’ve
passed away is their game saves.
These allow friends and family to load up
a game belonging to the deceased to get a
glimpse into what they were up to, or even
drive alongside the ghost of a high speed
record in a racing game.
Taylor’s brother had been doing just that
in the elder scrolls v skyrim.
Starting up the game and loading Taylor’s
most recent save, his brother took to reddit
to share what he was doing, explaining that
he never moved an inch from the spot he loaded
into so he could enjoy the last view Taylor
had had in-game before dying in the real world.
After being asked exactly where the spot was,
he provided the information, and a mod was
created by a fellow player that would add
a stone to their game, marking Taylor’s
final location.
5.
Star Wars Galaxies
Released in 2003 with the servers shutting
down in 2011, Star Wars galaxies was an MMO
set in the star wars universe allowing players
to create a custom character and choose from
a select number of races and professions to
live out their star wars dreams.
Tragically in 2008, former lead gameplay designer
Jeff Freeman was found dead from an apparent
suicide at the age of 39.
In the wake of criticism that it took too
much time to become a Jedi in the game, the
developersmadeunpopular and sweeping changes
to the gameplay of Galaxies, but in a cruel
twist of fate, a recent post on his personal
blog –and as all other staff had gone silent
– made Freeman public enemy number one,
and he was the subject of targeted online
harassment as a result – despite the fact
that he likely had very little say in how
these changes would be implemented.
However, his brother in a statement to the
escapist asserted that ‘personal issues’
and not the ire of players was what resulted
in his death.
Rocked by the loss of their colleague, The
Freeman Memorial was placed in the game.
In the township of Aurilia on Dathomir, a
statue of a Yanjon can be found, accompanied
by the words: "The Freeman, gone but not forgotten.
Thank you for all your works of wonder.
You will be missed."
4.
Fifa 16
It’s easy to forget that there are actual
people behind EA’s financial juggernaut
Fifa series, as to players uninterested in
the franchise the regularity with which the
games are released makes it feel like Fifa
has always been here and always will, but
such a regularly released title requires an
immense amount of work from an awful lot of
developers, one of whom was creative director
Simon Humber.
Passing away after losing his battle with
cancer in 2015, Humber’s years of service
meant a lot to his team and the community
at large, so the decision was made to honour
him in Fifa 16 by including the stadium of
his favourite club.
You see normally in Fifa games if a club is
fairly lowly in its league standings, it won’t
have its home ground replicated in game, instead
being treated to a generic arena.
So EA’s decision to include then league
2 side Portsmouth FC’s Fratton Park in Fifa
16 was a very big deal.
There’s even a bunch of flowers placed behind
one of the goals, which is a reallylovely
touch.
3.
Star Trek Online
Launched in 2010, star trek online is just
that, a massively multiplayer online game
set in the star trek universe.
So when Legendary portrayer of Spock – and
who for many people is the only Spock – Leonard
Nimoy passed away in 2015, fans across the
world were devastated.
The community of star trek fans playing star
trek online decided to honour the memory of
Nimoy by gathering at a fountain on Spock’s
homeworld of Vulcan, and when developer Cryptic
Studios saw this, they added a statue of the
famed Vulcan to the centre of the fountain,
along with the words ‘live long and prosper’.
As Spock was keen to reconcile the people
of Vulcan and Romulus, this was accompanied
by a similar statue on new Romulus, and for
a brief while, black banners were hung in
a few locations to mark his death.
While we imagine he wasn’t a player per
say, Nimoy’s importance to Star Trek’s
global appeal and following cannot be understated,
so a memorial of this kind is absolutely warranted.
2.
Pokémon GO
Exploding onto the scene in 2016, Pokémon
Go was a cultural phenomenon, that – not
that is needed any help – catapulted Pokémon
into the general public consciousness once
again, and it’s still going strong today.
Encouraging people to go outside and walk
around, communities of players quickly sprung
up, and it attracted people from all walks
of life: age was irrelevant, catching that
rare pidgey boy was all that mattered.
One such player was FengFeng128 from Tainan,
Taiwan.
Known locally as Fang Fang Auntie, she could
frequently be seen riding around town on her
mobility scooter, dual wielding smartphones
for optimal poké catching.
Losing her battle to pancreatic cancer in
2018, the local Pokémon go community decided
to commemorate her contributions in game,
by placing dozens of lures across the town’s
various pokestops.
That way, when players opened the app, it
would look like the city was covered in cherry
blossom.
In addition, the local gyms were all vacated
to allow FangFang’s team valour to take
over.
With the whole event lasting 3 hours, it was
a fitting tribute to a much beloved player.
1.
Warframe
When it came out that preeminent and outspoken
YouTube gaming critic TotalBiscuit had passed
away last year, it sent shockwaves throughout
the industry.
The outpouring of love and tributes for John
Bain came from all corners of the internet:
from fans and supporters of his work, to colleagues
and contemporaries, to developers and publishers
his work shone a light on.
One such developer was Digital Extremes, whose
3rd person shooter Warframe had received extensive
coverage from Bain and seen growth and success
as a result.
Launching in 2013, the Warframe playerbase
dwindled initially, but as it was featured
more and more on TotalBiscuit’s channel,
fortunes were reversed.
Tearfully cancelling that evening’s planned
stream in the wake of the news, Digital Extreme
developers were seen taking part in an existing
in-game player-lead tribute to Bain, which
saw avatars in almost every server travel
to the Larunda social hub – or ‘relay’
as they’re known in game – to kneel in
silent reflection.
Many players credit TotalBiscuit’s coverage
of the title for getting them into it and
making the game what it is today, so it’s
safe to say that his contributions will not
readily be forgotten.
And that’s our list.
Our thoughts are with the friends and families
of those featured here, and should you feel
personally affected by what you’ve just
watched, there are support lines in the description
below and we’d encourage you support relevant
charities where applicable.
I’m Ben from TripleJump, and thanks for
watching.
