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[Esna Pitoojee]

Indeed.

For me, it is not the visceral, deep pain when someone you knew directly or cared for dies.

It is the cruel, sudden reminder that we are still all humans, with human troubles and human dangers to our lives. However much we may be intellectually aware that there are humans on the other end of the chat, behind that voice on the comms, in that ship we fly alongside, we often tend to regard all but the closest of online friends as, on some level, detached from the rest of reality. We are, after all, brought together primarily by a game about flying spaceships in an alternate galaxy.

I see this in some of the snippets of messages from other goons that have been posted: They talk about him repeatedly going AFK due to mortars or alerts all the time, then coming back later. Even though I'm sure they didn't doubt he was actually in mortal danger, they came to regard it as something that ultimately couldn't detach him from them for longer than a few hours.

And then in a second, those people are gone - not "yeah, taking a break for a bit to deal with RL", not "be right back, got to deal with something" - gone, gone, gone. And it's a nasty wake-up call for those who've not had this happen before, and even some who have.

[Lyn Farel]

Yeah well, same. It is a sad thing, much like the day a guy in a friendly corp disappeared for weeks before we learned that he killed himself.

As much as I find it sad, I am not sure what to think of all of this. It seems to have blown out of proportion. Because he was famous ? Or maybe that's what he wanted ? Because that's a political context ? Or just because :goon: ? Maybe, maybe not.

[BloodBird]

How many stations were named after Dark Elf? Verone might be able to tell you.

How many were named after Dracous? Only one; OOY-Z Dracous station. It was meant to be named that forever in reminder of a guy who died in a car accident IIRC, about a month before I joined ASCN. I never met the man, but my new corp-mates spoke of him fondly, and I was a bit proud to not only base out of an actual player station (that I was tasked with helping defend) but an actual reminder-totem for a guy that has well respected, like most players should be.

Then it was handed to BoB in a betrayal, who (from what I've heard) kept the name, then they lost it to the Russians, who didn't respect the name. I have no idea what this station is named today, nor will I know what all those Vile Rat stations will be named in 2 months. It's highly likely, not all of them will be named after him.

IIRC Vile Rat was ASCN once upon a time, so I knew of him from before he became a greatGoonFriend, but I never knew him. I find it hard to genuinely grieve, and honestly feel a bit like the universal (literal in EVE's case) mourning period is played up to some extent. The Goons are sad, and they should, but everyone else follows suit and suddenly care so much as well.

R.I.P Sean Smith, but the stations dedicated to your EVE persona will be back to their old names in due time, and I don't feel sorry for it.
I do however, feel sorry for you, and hope you family and friends find some peace sooner rather than later.

o7

[Casiella]

I had some very limited interaction with him, and I'm sure he wouldn't have known me except possibly by name when I was actively blogging, so I count him as an acquaintance, not friend.

That said, we had many mutual friends, people I genuinely know and care about outside of EVE, and so because of that I share their grief.

[Rok-Yuni]

I only spoke to Vilerat once.
The conversation ended with me knowing that goonswarm was not the place for me.
This still hits home in a viscerally hard manner.

Fly safe Vilerat.
My thoughts are with those left behind, may they also find peace of mind.

-Dave

[Alain Kinsella]

I've been on vacation the past week, and just found out about this as I was reviewing links to remove, now that the unsub has hit.   

Though I've been at odds with the SA community since my Second Life days, my heart still goes out to them, and to Sean's family.

[Saede Riordan]

Indeed.

For me, it is not the visceral, deep pain when someone you knew directly or cared for dies.

It is the cruel, sudden reminder that we are still all humans, with human troubles and human dangers to our lives. However much we may be intellectually aware that there are humans on the other end of the chat, behind that voice on the comms, in that ship we fly alongside, we often tend to regard all but the closest of online friends as, on some level, detached from the rest of reality. We are, after all, brought together primarily by a game about flying spaceships in an alternate galaxy.

I see this in some of the snippets of messages from other goons that have been posted: They talk about him repeatedly going AFK due to mortars or alerts all the time, then coming back later. Even though I'm sure they didn't doubt he was actually in mortal danger, they came to regard it as something that ultimately couldn't detach him from them for longer than a few hours.

And then in a second, those people are gone - not "yeah, taking a break for a bit to deal with RL", not "be right back, got to deal with something" - gone, gone, gone. And it's a nasty wake-up call for those who've not had this happen before, and even some who have.

I think that really sums up how I feel. Its not deep grieving, after all I never really knew Vile Rate. But his death definitely leaves this hollowness, a reminder of the mortality of our own loved ones and ourselves. Since it happened, I've been slightly nervous every time I have to let my boyfriend out of my sight, for fear he might just not come back. It must be a horrible feeling, actually having knew Sean, much less been on chat with him, and had him leave, just never returning. How quickly lives can be snatched away....

[kalaratiri]

For those of you who wish to support Sean's family, you can make a donation here: http://www.youcaring.com/fundraiser_details?fundraiser_id=9332&url=benefitforseansmithsfamily

[Gottii]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-19680785

Seems a large section of the Libyan population took exception to the attacks.

[Casiella]

And because we all need a tiny bit of levity injected here:

Glenn Beck thinks the Goonswarm is a CIA front

[Ken]

And because we all need a tiny bit of levity injected here:

Glenn Beck thinks the Goonswarm is a CIA front

Bird dog, bird dog.  I say again, bird dog.  The hammock is compromised.  The hammock is compromised.

[orange]

And because we all need a tiny bit of levity injected here:

Glenn Beck thinks the Goonswarm is a CIA front

Bird dog, bird dog.  I say again, bird dog.  The hammock is compromised.  The hammock is compromised.

lol

[Gottii]

And because we all need a tiny bit of levity injected here:

Glenn Beck thinks the Goonswarm is a CIA front

This is hysterical on so many levels.

[kalaratiri]

Remarkably haunting video put together by Rixx Javix and Aiden Mourn, promoting the Ring of Fire Project. The Ring of Fire is a proposed in-game object, or place, or landmark, that holds a memorial for all eve players to have passed on.

https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=153916

Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GC0vbbHJb-0&feature=player_embedded

[Bacchanalian]

Bit of a necro, but Playboy published a fantastic article on Sean Smith just recently. Came across it on Failheap today. Link NSFW, if anyone has issues with clicking it I'm happy to quote the article in a post, but it's quite long so I won't spam up the thread with it unless someone asks.

http://www.playboy.com/playground/view/vile-rat-virtual-world-of-eve-online