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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."
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.
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.
For all of us who have logged on at 4am just to talk to friends and occasionally do some killing....
I find it humorous that such a statement can be made in this day and age... Back 30 years ago (or today in a public school) that same statement would land you in jail or a looney ward. Today... It's a common statement among the plugged in crowd and is understood by the non-plugged in.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
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.
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
Not a lot of people know this, but in Sunset Home, the zone in EverQuest reserved for customer service personnel to enjoy between answering petitions, there are a few memorials to guides (players who volunteer their time to help with the customer service) who have passed away while in the program.
/salute and /hug.
During the training session a senior guide takes you around sunset home showing you the sights, but they're always very serious and sombre around the avatars that exist in memoriam...
On the server where I was a guide for a brief time one of the guides had recently passed away so they made a special point of telling us about him and his avatar. When they would passed by they would always find time for a quick
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.
Maximum level in DAoC is 50. And I don't think they would've held a funeral near a Lv99 mob like the Dragon.
That said - I wish I'd known about this. I play DAoC and knew nothing. Of course, it WAS on a different server.
I'm honestly surprised at how few people showed up in that picture - That's on par with a single realm's RvR zerg, and word tends to spread REALLY fast throughout a realm in DAoC. If I'd been on the server in question (Pellinor, I play on Lancelot), I would've been there.
Strange thing was, I was at Beno last night... For the first time ever.
One other odd thing to note: It looks like the screenshot was made by someone not from the guild/realm holding the funeral, as the shot is almost all Midgard players but they have the generic "not from your realm" names. I also see a couple of generic Albion tags, so the shot must've been taken by a Hibernian.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
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?
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!
After spending much of my time online in gaming/chat and other online venues I have found that all the online relationships that I ever had (and I am not talking about only romantic relationships/nor am I excluding them), no matter how much friendship/loyalty/love/etc was claimed by both sides, the relationship was really just one of convenience.
:)
I agree with you, and think you are totally right. I know a lot of people who have the "in depth" relationships online and it really seems (not a flame/troll) that these people lack real social skills, or are at least uncomfortable with themselves.
I have never met someone who talks about EQ or Muds who is a well-rounded individual. Fit, eats right, talks right, and has any degree of charisma about them. They all seem to be either shy, ugly (sorry, but it's true), can't speak well, or has about as much charisma as a lepar.
I'm not saying a lot of the people online aren't nice. Many of them are really nice, and friendly. The problem is online they aren't who they are in real life. I know people from IRC, I used to IRC when I had more time for open source projects but that was why I was there and why they were there. Not because we needed a social interaction outside of reality.
I welcome any thought out rebuttals but please if you disagree with me, mod me down and move on, don't waste your time or mine with a mindless rant or string of insults.
Don't worry, I think I'll get hit with it now..
Dacels Jewelers can't be trusted.