This morning a close friend, fellow pilot in RvB and all round top bloke, Dracoth Simertet passed away after a short battle with cancer. This cancer was diagnosed last October and while Dracoth and his friends within both RvB and the greater EVE community hoped for the best, it was not to be.
Personally I am torn apart. I feel like I lost a true friend, and no matter that our friendship was mostly founded in EVE, I considered Dracoth as close as a friend as the people I see every day. His humour, even when directed towards me, was enough to lift your spirits at just the right time. His enthusiasm for everything was contagious, you could never feel down around him, even in the midst of a tremendous welp.
By his passing, and the passing of other members of this community, I feel we are diminished; however I know these fallen pilots will forever leave an echo of themselves in and out of game thanks in to the community they called home. They will travel in the memories of those they touched, even when EVE is no more.
I just know that I’ll miss my friend of the past 4 years.
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Several members of the EVE community asked me for details of anywhere they could donate in Dracoths name, I have been in contact with his family and they would prefer donations are made to The St John’s Hospice on the Wirral. This hospice provided considerable relief for Dracoth in his final days and survives only on donations, so anything you can donate will go to ensuring they continue to help those with progressive or incurable conditions. For ease of use, they do have a Just Giving page.
RIP! You will be missed.
Respect for a fallen comrade.
O7
I didn’t know Dracoth, never interacted with him, and as such, strictly speaking, my world didn’t change today.
But he was a fellow EVE player, and I /could have/ interacted with him – if not now, then in the future. And that is what is fascinating: people are quick to say “it’s just a game” or “it’s online, not real life” – but that’s not true: we do make connections with the persons on the other end of the network connections. Unfortunately this is mostly acknowledged only in tragedies like these.
But more importantly, while I’m not on reddit in general, I saw the detracting commentor towards the hospice donation drive. And he’s a moron. The EVE community can’t save the world, but it can be rallied to make it a slightly less ugly place, just because. Which is more than that moron can say for himself, and as far as I understand reddit, he got deservedly downvoted into oblivion.
I just wish Dracoth would still be with us to see it.
Rest in peace brother. I enjoyed our limited time together, and you will be sorely missed.