Star Wars Galaxy Designer Commits Suicide
It’s easy to tear at someone else’s work from behind a keyboard.
We do it all the time. I’d bet there are very few people who post thoughts on the internet that haven’t said unkind things about someone at least once. Even the best intentioned of us can make these mistakes. But for many, Nerd Snark is a way of life. If you read the comments on major websites like Kotaku or any news site discussing politics or religion, you get a feel for it. The quick judgments. The self righteous anger.
Don’t get me wrong: many products are completely worthless or defective. Many games have promised “revolutionary gameplay” only to give us broken controls and defective experiences. I get the anger. I get the frustration. But if we ever want gaming to be taken as a serious medium, shouldn’t we collectively hold ourselves to a higher standard than Nerd Snark?
Why do I bring this all up? Because news hit today that Jeff Freeman committed suicide. Freeman was responsible for making changes to the Star Wars Galaxy gameplay. To say those changes didn’t go over well is an understatement. Freeman was viciously attacked and maligned. And now he’s dead.
His brother says it was personal issues that drove him to suicide, not the internet attacks. And maybe that’s true. But does that excuse our behavior?
They say “sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me.” Sadly that’s not true at all. All people need relationships and a sense of community. When we’re attacked, when we’re rejected, we feel pain. How can we not?
Maybe the internet didn’t drive Freeman to commit suicide. But I bet it didn’t stop him. Maybe we should think about that before there’s a “next time.”
(View more screenshots for Star Wars Galaxies)