Today I participated in something that I had only previously heard about: an entire online community coming together to pay its respects to someone.
That “someone” was a person whom I only knew as Codex Vahlda, a Final Fantasy XIV player on the Gilgamesh server whom I became aware of this morning after a casual browse of Twitter.
I didn’t know Codex at all. I don’t even play on his server, so it’s unlikely I would have come into contact with him unless he randomly showed up in a Duty Finder group for running a dungeon, since those pull players from several servers to make complete groups.
Sadly, I’ll never have the opportunity to know Codex, as he passed away recently due to complications from renal failure. Both he and his family and friends seemingly knew that he was going to pass on, and it was as he lay on what was to become his deathbed that Final Fantasy XIV players from around the world, and from several different servers, all gathered in the same place — the beach in Ward 1 of the player housing district Mist — and held their own vigil for our fallen adventuring comrade.
Normally, this sort of thing is an event that you tend to hear about after the fact, but I happened to be online just as someone on Twitter was posting about the vigil taking place on Ultros, the Final Fantasy XIV server which I call home. Largely out of curiosity, I logged in to take a look at what was happening, ran down to the beach and, sure enough, found a line of players facing out to sea, “wind-up sun” minions out, bathing the group in a soft light, contemplating whatever they chose to be contemplating as they paid their respects to Codex. I joined them.
After a moment of quiet reflection, people spontaneously began letting off fireworks and balloons — these are items you can acquire in the game and are intended for use upon celebratory occasions such as seasonal events or the newly added “Eternal Bond” wedding system. It was a celebration not only of Codex’s life, but also of how one stranger could bring all these disparate people from all over the world together in one place to do the same thing. It was a really, really beautiful moment, and extremely moving.
It’s easy to think of the Internet at large, social media and online games in particular, as utterly “toxic” (that’s a favourite word of critics at the moment) environments in which everyone is constantly at one another’s throats. But every so often something happens that reminds you that an awful lot of human beings are fundamentally decent people, and that regardless of where you’re from or what — if anything — you happen to believe in spiritually, the cycle of life and death is, pretty much without fail, something that will always bring us closer together with one another.
Rest in peace, Codex; I never knew you, but I hope wherever you are now, you feel the love of all the strangers who came together to celebrate your life today. May you forever walk in the light of the crystal.
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I’ve not seen anything like this Pete. Very moving. I presume that each of the figures on the beach are the characters that each player has created for themselves? I don’t quite understand that data accompanying them but presume it identifies them to others – obviously a specific formula for RPGs. Thanks for showing this to the unenlightened among us.
Yes, each of those figures on the beach is a player. The text over their heads is their name and, in some cases, their “title” — sort of like a badge of honour for completing certain tasks in the game. The one without the name over their head in the middle of the screen is my character — the game doesn’t display your own character’s name by default because you probably know who you are! 🙂
So what is your character’s name? It’s a female, right? 😀
Indeed! Her name’s Amarysse. Here’s a closer look:
OMG! She’s so gorgeous! Strong and classy. Merry Xmas Pete and Andie. 😀