Deaths of gamers leave their online lives in limbo

Yahoo news writes "When Jerald Spangenberg collapsed and died in the middle of a quest in an online game, his daughter embarked on a quest of her own: to let her father's gaming friends know that he hadn't just decided to desert them.

It wasn't easy, because she didn't have her father's "World of Warcraft" password and the game's publisher couldn't help her. Eventually, Melissa Allen Spangenberg reached her father's friends by asking around online for the "guild" he belonged to.

One of them, Chuck Pagoria in Morgantown, Ky., heard about Spangenberg's death three weeks later. Pagoria had put his absence down to an argument among the gamers that night."

[Gun_Senshi]

Its just a online people who you play with, they are NOT friends -.-

And specifically for WoW, they are just pawns to help you get Raid gear.

Though if they are IRL Friends thats another story

[Panthers]

Ive met some really cool people playing Socom that I ended up meeting in real life. So I understand. I mean you automatically have something in common if you are playing the same game.

[drewdrakes]

Ive met a bunch of awesome friends on Xbox Live. Its to the point where all the single player games i like go into neglect. Although theyre great, i just have a better time online.

[Mikerra17]

Ive played MMOs with a person for 5 years that I met playing EQ2 we moved on to WoW and went back to EQ2, he died of a heart condition on christmas.
Until you can say something like this has happened to you, you shouldent speak of things you dont know

[FarEastOrient]

@Gun Senshi

Listen to "The Instance Podcast" and look for the episode marked special tribute. If you haven't gotten that close or enjoyed the time of being around certain people than you are in no position to lower generalize other people as mere pawns. I've played with this Australian and another an Irish far longer than anyone else on my friend's list.

I'm an American so finding if anything happened to them will be really hard and for those that know what I'm talking about will agree that loosing a fellow gamer is a big deal.

[f789790]

Anyone else is too impersonal. Plus you cant remind how you destroyed them the next day in person.

[AuToFiRE]

I have to disagree with you, There are people on the computer who will eventually mean a lot, maybe even more than some people you actually know in real life, ive been sent christmas and birthday gifts by numerous WoW players that i used to play with, Hell, Ive even had sexual relations with some of them too.

NeX, who frequents N4G is a really good friend, like a brother to me and vise versa, and we met here on N4G, weve never met in person either.

there is more to online players than one might think, you see a part of them that you wouldnt see in person, normally in person someone may be shy, but online they can be who they want, a courageous knight defending those he cares about

[Confused]

if I died while postling on N4G, none of you guys would give a fu........

[evrfighter]

I personally wouldn't give a fu....

[UltimateIdiot911]

OMG! ALERT THE NEWS MEDIA, THE PRESIDENT, BATMAN, EVERYONE!!!

Fellow N4G follower down. Does anyone know where we can find a phoenix down?

[Kulupoo]

I would shed a single man tear
nah... not really...

[Confused]

haha! thanks for the support guys! i'm off 2 top myself now :)

[gambare]

The obliged question for a fellow N4G buddy down would be:

"Did he drop a good loot?"

[Enigma_2099]

... and you are... ?

[Fencefry]

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[Bubble Buddy]

Don't worry, I'm a medic, I can heal you back to life. :)

[sukru]

Who cares about games, after you... die?

I seem to have missed something, but isn't real life more important than games? At least the life and death part???

[Skizelli]

I think you missed the point. It's not about the games themselves. I've met some good people online from around the world that I've never met in person, but talk to on a regular basis, whether during games or on chat protocols, and I'd personally like to know if something tragic has happened to one of them. Just because you've never met somebody doesn't mean you can't share a bond with them.

[mirroredderorrim]

L2empathy

[jerethdagryphon]

a online deathnote system would be of use for anyon who deals with a lot of email riends and such when my mother died i had to hack her email, then igure out who she was currently talking to and compose emails to them people i didnt even know.

being able to logint to a single place which had digital wishes for ino upon my death would have been easy

prewritten notes or something
but its a good idea

[G4drake]

so, she didn,t care for her father? what a douche(i know i sound like a douche too)

[Mutley416]

I`ve made alot of friends online and my phone rings @ work and @ home with there calls...and when they disappear...we say "I wonder what happen to..." Usually they lose there jobs in this economy, and can`t afford the internet anymore...lol

but good gamers, are hard to find, and are always missed in my book-

RIP...

[FantasyStar]

That's kind of creepy. But if there's a demand for a virtual mortuary, then it shall be done. I can never guess what it would be like to have an online friend who "disappeared", but I suppose ignorance is bliss in this case.

[BLUE SKY IN GAMES]

I wish morganfell would hurry up and die! He is by far the most ignorant prick on this site.

[LeonSKennedy4Life]

I can't imagine being online and not getting a note from EvilDoomNerd, Romemac7, or LoveHateTragedy...