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The Warriors Stood in the Shape of a Heart
An anonymous reader writes "Here's a picture of Warsingers funeral. Warsinger was an in-game persona in the rather good MMORPG Dark Age of Camelot". and generally well-liked.
The real person behind Warsinger was a 32-year-old with heart trouble, who really died.
So the players on his server organized an in-game
funeral.At the funeral, players from the three realms of Camelot, who normally kill each other gleefully on sight, stood in the shape of a heart (check the pic above); the two figures in the center of the heart are Warsinger's real-life sister and girlfriend."
How many people they had to kick for spoiling the fun and and getting free kills?
It's next to impossible to find a (FPS) game with friendly fire enabled that you don't find kiddies shooting you in the back for fun - let alone not shooting the other team..
*Oops, trigger slipped*
... as the first "religious" ceremony in virtual reality? Only quoted religiousness, as the ceremony does not seem to lock into any one religion, and does not make a statement of belief.
Probably not the first one either, but the first one to draw enough eyeballs through slashdot to be publicly remembered.
This makes one wonder whether gaming was his foremost achievement in his life, and if so, was it fullfilling. Probably at least the latter.
Rest in peace. And loved.
I think, therefore thoughts exist. Ego is just an impression.
You're kinda missing the point. There was a community that has been developed through the guild. One of its members died - not left, not terminated his account, died. As a result, the community felt a rather sharp sense of loss. His character didn't die, he did. I think it's a very good example of being in TOUCH with reality, and choosing to take a moment out of the virtual world's rules to honor him. If they were disconnected from reality, they wouldn't really have given a rip. They were holding a funeral for HIM, the player behind Warsinger, not for the character Warsinger. They chose to honor him in a way rather well suited to the game.
I think it's pretty cool.
just further proves the depth of the relationships that are kindled through online gaming. For all of us who have logged on at 4am just to talk to friends and occasionally do some killing it is nice to see this sense of community alive and well. I just hope there weren't any trolls wandering around causing unnecessary mayhem at such a sacred time.
And of course, I didn't just respond to a post from a person, just to a bunch of electrons (well, deep down, we're all just clouds of atoms and electrons anyway)?
Money for nothing, pix for free
And I'm a slashbot who spits out random characters to form random words to form random sentences, right? I mean, I'm not a person, just a bunch of electrons, apparently.
There are people behind the words. In a game like DAOC, you start to care deeply about them. Friendships and bonds are formed. When they're broken by death, "silly displays of emotion" are quite called for, and the medium of their relationships made the medium of their rememberance quite fitting.
Amazing how jaded some people can be.
The same thing could be said from phoning your mother. You are not really talking to her, you're just interpreting some waves coming from a horn. How strange! ... communications, then you're losing a grip on reality.
Of course, I am not a person, I am just something your computer created. Or not?
If you forget you're constantly dealing with people on the other side of your IM, e-mail, message board,
Teenagers these days don't have as much sex as they want each other to think they do.
Yes...but there is a real person behind each of those connections. Just because a community is made up of members who communicate with each other online (whether it be via a message board, chat room, MUD, MMORPG, or what have you) instead of meeting face-to-face doesn't make it any less "real" than any other community. People can (and will) argue endlessly about the "quality" of online versus in-person communities, but the fact remains that online communities are very much "reality", not fantasy.
In this case, a well known and respected member of the community passed away, and the other members of the community paid their respects. It baffles me that you find that "sick."
DennyK
I think you're being a little harsh. The computer imposes certain limitations on how you can interact, but there are still real people controlling the characters. That's why people play online instead of against AI. It's why people troll FPS -- the other players get annoyed and react and you know you've upset a real human and they can't respond.
I compare online games to a game of football at the park. All the players have personalities and people often chat while there's no action. They get to know each other. If you run off with the ball one day people will remember. If you were fun to play with people remember that too. The community wanted to homour this guy, so they had a ceremony. That's cool in my opinion -- the other players obviously thought a lot of this guy, and the practicalities of a real life ceremony would prevent it.
Perhaps you've never been a regular on a good game server. There's definately a community spirit.
In any case, it's for the friends and family he left behind to decide what is an appropriate way to celebrate his passing. (Personally I found this gesture rather beautiful.)
In a very similar way, my local football team, Nottingham Forest, held a minute's silence at the start of their last home game to commemorate the death of one of their old players. No one thought that the line between sport and the rest of life was being blurred in an inappropriate way, or that everyone in the ground should have gone and attended his funeral instead. It was a tribute to the man by the club and it's fans, in the same way that this was a tribute to the man from the online community through which he knew them.
Even death has become too easy, you can sorrow online and forget it tomorrow.
You cannot see the grief of the relatives, you cannot see the pain or the sadness, it's all game. Do online gamers really understand that a real person died, not a character. Is the sorrow similar to one you feel when the main character in your favorite book dies?
My brother died few months ago, he was very active quake player, member of a succesfull clan etc. His clan mates had never met him in real life, but they were as close as someone can be virtually/online. Now six months later they barely remember he ever was in their clan. Instead his real life friends still grief him frequently.
In my opinion everything online is a shadow of the same thing in real life - even emotions.
The point is that all of these people felt enough of a sense of loss to organise and respect this gesture - to everyone 'there', it means something, and that is what is important. The guy's dead - it makes no difference to him. His close family and friends will have a regular funeral - it makes no difference to them either. But for his gaming contemporaries who fell they have lost a member of their community, this is a mark of respect that each must feel strongly enough about just to log in / turn up.
The point is that the how is not important - as long as each person who feels they want to show some respect/sorrow does it in a way that they are happy with. It just so happens that this particular one was online in a 'newsworthy' manner.
To take the electrons/waveforms/TCP/IP connection thing further, none of us should care about anything - we are simply by-products of a biological system which is designed to reproduce. But that's not what people see themselves as - we have created morality, religion, and a thousand other things to give meaning to our lives. Nature gives us no such meaning.
These gamers have a strong sense of community, just because they interact and form relationships. The communication is what marks them as friends, rivals, enemies... their friendship is no less valid than a 'traditional' one. Otherwise it could be argued that the wartime radio jockeys (who built up lasting friendships with other radio operators despite never having met) did not have a valid friendship. Or anyone who has met Stephen Hawking since he lost the power of speech. Or any disabled person who cannot communicate 'normally'.
This idea was invented by Shampoo.
In some cultures, particularly those that notice St. Valentine's Day, the heart represents love. I'm willing to bet what little karma I have the mourners meant no offense.
Jack
Yes, I'm next to "Highlander Warrior" on the right proudly holding my Realm Keepers shield with my helmet removed in tribute. I set my alarm clock to get up unusually early specifically to travel (yes *travel*, its a long and dangerous way from Cornwall to Hadrians Wall)
I can't believe the number of "pathetic loser" comments that I'm seeing here. Yes, this is a game, but no it does NOT substitute for real life. We are not detatched from reality. DaoC is the very first MMORPG that I've ever played and it did not take me very long to realize that with the gameplay comes a great deal of human interaction, far beyond just "fragging" people in a FPS.
You truly build and associate with a community of people that you enjoy and care about. One couple in my guild (yes, most of us are over 30, married and have spouses and children that play) just had a baby and we all celebrated. One guild member was just called up to active duty in the reserves and we saluted him when he left (and he is missed already).
If you had a co-worker die, I hope that you would be touched and saddened. These are people that I know and care about....why is this pathetic?
Simusid Hawke
Level 42 Armsman
Albion/Pellinor
Understandably some of those posts are intended to be trolls and flamebait, but even those intentions in this topic are incredibly thoughtless and a sad indicator of the mentality of too many people in my generation.
This person's death was mourned in a fairly uncommon way and seems worthy of some attention and respect. At the same time, I'm not suggesting that death has to be completely serious and solemn -- I hope when I die my friends and family will hold a party in my honor with laughter and lots of food. But even in a light-hearted situation as that may be, thoughtless comments still do not have any place.
I feel sorry for those that feel this person has wasted his life simply because he found it easier to make friends online than in real life. Having had many online friendships, some still exist today, I can say from experience that I have not forgotten these individuals in as much as they revealed to me.
Certainly knowing someone in real life is more conducive to creating much stronger bonds among people, but it did say his sister and girlfriend were online in the middle of the heart, so that suggests he did indeed have some sort of life beyond the game.
...and that's the way the cookie crumbles.
And maybe they don't know the person as well or don't miss as much as the family of the person who died. So what.
But don't you dare say they don't have the right to morn at all. Online is a way to bring together people from across the world who would otherwise be left out. It's not as close as in person, but it is much better than nothing.
There is nothing so silly as other peoples traditions, and nothing so sacred as our own.
Online Communities are not just made up of people who have met online. Sometimes real life friends organize to get together online to enjoy a game together.
I don't know Warsinger or his player. Never met him in real life or in DaoC.
But I find that this gesture is a very nice one, and probably not the only gesture to commemorate this individual's passing. I'm sure his face to face friends met face to face to lay him to rest. His online gaming friends met online to commemorate his passing.
This is no weirder than running a marathon to remember someone who ran marathon's or launching Gene Roddenberry's ashes into space.
If you know someone in a certain context you tend to want to memorialize them in that context.
Rest in Peace
42 - So long and thanks for all the fish.
As someone else already pointed out: the relationship one builds in an MMORPG is a lot less tenuous than relations in 1st person shooters. It is surprising to non-players how much one can learn about another player through the game, and many players who meet their close on-line-friends in real life end up being close friends in real life as well. Some even marry. I'd say I am closer to some in-game friends whom I have never met, than I am to some of my real-life friends. I cannot imagine many gamers feeling the death of an in-game friend merely as the death of their character.
And does one really have to see the grief of the deceased's relatives to make ones own grief more valid or real? At a funeral, one may find comfort in the presence of others that share ones grief. That is the purpose of these virtual funerals. Friends of the deceased gather to share the grief and thereby easing it somewhat, not because it is a k3wl thing to do in-game.
I have lost 2 friends whom I have met only through an online game (Ultima Online). I personally found much comfort in attending their in-game funeral. (incidently, it usually is the person him/herself who is remembered and "buried", not their character). Oh, these friends died over a year ago but yes, I still remember them.
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
In real life if a student of a school dies, or an employee of a company, or a member of a sporting team dies do we not hod a memorial to that person IN the place we know him? Do we not stop the sports game and have a moments silence? Do we not pause or work and remember that person? These people knew this guy in his game. This is how they meet him, talked to him, interacted with him. THIS is the place where they will miss him, this is where they have spent time with the person, building a relationship and getting to know him. So what if they have never seen his picture? So what if they what if they only know him from a game? How is this different to knowing someone from a sporting club? Do we not stop the game and have a moments silence anyway?
Nobody thinks anything when a former great of a sporting club dies of that club holding a memorial to him before their next game, even though most of the people don't know the person. Just the image, just the story. Just the media.
I too got a tear to the eye when I heard this story. This person meant a lot too his clan. The fact that other players showed the humanity to the other players to allow them to hold a memorial to their fallen comrade says great things about the community spirit that the games has, and should be let to stand as the monument it is.
A memorial to a fallen friend by his comrades and those that WILL miss him.
As a monument to the humanity of man.
As a monument to the potential of the internet to allow people from all over the world to contact each other. Build a community of the whole and to develop friendships with people who we would otherwise never have meet.
Please detractors, leave it alone. Respect the wishes and the morning of these people and allow them the genuineness of their grief without debate.
Tomorrow their will be a new topic for debate. Now we have the chance to foster that community. I urge detractors to read the logs of linked at the top. After reading them I have no doubt that the feelings where genuine, and the symbolism of this memorial a powerfully healing experience for those suffering lose at his death.
What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.
Warsinger was his real name to the people he gave that name to. I know several people I've met in real life only by the names they chose for themselves in online games/IRC, etc. Lots of people know me the same way. Warsinger, Fred Jones, the name his parents gave him, or whatever, they all point to the same person. Who cares what his legal name was?
You're an idiot.
What struck ME about that is that if he's 32 and had heart trouble, maybe he should have spent a little less time parked in front of the computer, and a little more time on the treadmill. Unless dying at 32 as an honored and respected DAOC guild leader was really what he wanted... Different strokes for different folks I guess.
"The question of whether a computer can think is no more interesting than that of whether a submarine can swim" -EWD
Why do some folks on this board feel the need to criticize how a group of people honored the loss of a casual friend? It's not as if he didn't have a real life funeral for close friends and family. Would it be better if they hadn't done it at all? These are people who othewise wouldn't have known the guy and wouldn't have cared if he dies. But they did care and that's significant.
Would it be more humane if the opposing clans stuck to character and celebrated the death of a sworn enemy? No, because even mortal enemies know when to take a moment of silence.
The conservative part of the media industry has made many arguments that FPS and hack'n'slash games dull people's sensitivity to violence and death, but this proves that gamers know the difference.
Have we seen this much positive human emotion and respect in Israel or Palestine when an 'enemy' is shot, gassed, or brutally blown apart on a bus? No.
I'm proud to be a part of a community that values human life.
$8.95/mo web hosting
We've done similar things in WWII Online, as well, with honor guards and gun salutes on the ground. Really, it's no more silly than corresponding 'real life' rituals of a similar nature are.
I consider the people I meet on line and get to know every bit as much friends as my non-virtual friends--and several of them, I've taken the trouble to meet in real life, too. I am happy for them when they marry or have children--I am sad for them when they suffer loss. If the place I interact with them most happens to be a virtual world, then I don't see the problem expressing my condolences in that forum as well.
Some of the most touching gestures I've seen--on line or in real life--ever, was some of the interactions between people on the WWII OL boards on September 11th last year. A lot of people lived in New York--one prominent member of the community works for NYPD and was at the collapse. Several others had friends or family in the towers and were frantic with grief. One guy, in particular, was out of his mind with worry over his fiance, who was working in one of the towers, while he was out on a trip in my neck of the woods (opposite coast). Several of us offered immediately to just go be with him, to get drunk, or whatever... I don't know if he took anyone up on it (thankfully, two days later he found out she was all right) but try getting that sort of response out of any other group of strangers you just happen to be around. As someone else said, a community is a community, whether virtual or real.
No relation to Happy Monkey
why is this pathetic?
... Are you sure?
Because you spend enough time away from real life on a computer to develop these "close" relationships and become a "Level 42 Armsman".
You can say these are "close" relationships, but in fact they are just typical schizoid-type interactions.
These people can be whoever they want online, and you have no REAL idea of who they are, how often they neglect their spouses and/or children due to some silly game.
The mere fact that people attempt to intimate that it's more than a game suggests a problem. When you neglect your responsibilities (kids, wife, job, personal hygiene, personal fitness), there's a problem.
I spent years on the early Internet, wasting time on MUDs and other such crap. Sure they were fun for a while, but it became apparent that I was accomplishing nothing useful.
Note that these comments may or may not be directed at you, specifically. I'm using educated generalizations based on personal experience, acquaintances, and observations.
You have to ask yourself:
- Will I look back years from now, and be happy with all this time spent on online games?
- Am I neglecting my wife and kids?
- Do I smell bad? Is my place in shambles?
- Do I ever plan my real life events AROUND the game?
- Am I proud of how much time and energy I spend playing these games?
If the honest answer to any of these is "no" or "maybe", it's time to quit.
There are probably enough "realms" to waste 30 human lives exploring, but why?
Enjoy reality, instead. It's so much more fascinating, I assure you...
I have seen many comments on the perceived shallowness of an on-line gamer's life.. the "get a life" syndrom. But what if an on-line life is the only life you have access to?
Many people who are physically restricted in their movements find that on-line life is vastly superior to having only doctors and nurses for "friends". Warsinger, with a heart problem, may not have had access to a girlfriend in the "real world" but in a gamer's world he did.
There are lots of reasons people move to on-line life for therapy. I had a young IRC friend who used her on-line life to recover from years of sexual abuse. In my case an on-line life helped me recover from a terrible accident that left me unable to walk at all for a year, and without help for a decade.
Under these circumstances, any friends at all, even "virtual" friends are a step up from what they've got now. And enough of them find their way out of whatever darkness they're in now because of their friends on line.
The expression of sorrow on the part of these gamers for a friend touched me deeply. Some of us have to make our community where we can get the access. And heroic hearts often dwell in unlikely bodies.
No one ever had to evacuate a city because the solar panels broke!