As Long As A Virtual Forever Can Be
By 
Hib in
Jeff Freeman, R.I.P., SWG, Star Wars Galaxies, World of Warcraft, features, mmorpg on
November 24th, 2008
With the recent live status of Chapter 11 in Star Wars Galaxies (introducing the ice planet Hoth as a heroic encounter), something else was patched in…a tribute to Jeff Freeman.
“The Freeman Memorial” stands inside the guild hall at Aurilia on Dathomir, the former haven of force-sensitive players and now a quest hub.
Below, you’ll see the text that is given when you examine the statue in the center of the image to the right…a fitting tribute to a man that gave more than a bit of himself to the game, and took more than his fair share of criticism over it as well.
This got me to thinking…why is this so rare? Of course, there are other in-game memorials (the most notable being the memorial to Michel Koiter in World of Warcraft, an illustrator who passed away while the game was still in development), but they seem to be few and far between…at least, as far as I know.
Why?
One would think it would be a fairly simple thing for the dev team to do; put in a static monument to someone who meant a lot to the game. However, not only are these the only two examples I can think of paying tribute to designers that are no longer with us, but I can’t think of any overt monuments to those still living that have left an indelible mark on the genré.
Of course, it’s more than possible (even likely) that there are more than just these few examples out there; if so, enlighten me. I would like to know about more of these most permanent of temporary tributes…they will stand for all time, right up until the games they reside in ride off into the sunset.
| 3.2 |
If you liked this, then you should seek medical attention - right after you subscribe to my RSS feed!!
November 24th, 2008 at 11:05 pm
I’m kind of fond of the CoH Doc Fatalis Memorial
Not permanent but still a good one. I just wish I could find the pictures.
November 25th, 2008 at 6:57 am
I always blame the suits. The Devs would go wild like lemurs and mandrills if the suits weren’t constantly holding them back.
It’s a working explanation, and I’m sticking with it.
“We can’t do a memorial, the subscribers don’t know who it is! It doesn’t bring in any money! Get back to your cubicle and make me some timesinks!”
December 1st, 2008 at 11:48 am
I know in the “olden” days of MMO’s, ie, MUD’s, we the wizards of Dragon’s Den created a Memorial for one of the wizards (developers) code-named Del. It was done in the mid 90’s and to my knowledge is still there today…or at least if the MUD is still up.
December 1st, 2008 at 11:38 pm
That’s awesome, CaptKras, and exactly what I’m talking about. Why isn’t there more of that kind of thing?
December 8th, 2008 at 6:44 pm
As I recall, City of Heroes has at least 2 such memorials to players who died. Coyote, a mission giving NPC in the “Outbreak” tutorial was added (just before they took out the option of skipping the tutorial) as the first, and Firestorm (I think?) in Atlas Park (near Ms Liberty) as another NPC mission-giver.
There are also several examples of player-made memorials (named stations) in EVE Online for well-known players who died… the most famous being for a player named Smoske.
I think Ysharros hit the nail on the head however. Unless the person was very widely known among the community of that particular game, then there is little call from said community for any memorial… compared to the constant call for bug fixes, new content, class balancing (or ‘nerfing’/'buffing’), etc. The focus of the developers is, sadly, on pleasing the majority of the playerbase, not ‘making statues for dead people’.. which is a pity since such memorials can add a lot to the backstory/lore of a game.