Earlier this week, militiamen in the Libyan city of Benghazi stormed the US consulate. Four US government officials, including the American ambassador to Libya, died in the attack. Another one of the people killed was Sean Smith, who in his spare time was one of the biggest community members of the long running space-based MMO game EVE Online.
In a post on the game"s official community website, one of the game"s team members, "CCP Xhagen", gave his tribute to Smith, known by his in-game persona of Vile Rat. In real life, Smith worked in the US State Department in a number of different locations around the world. In the game, Vile Rat was one of the players who also served on EVE Online"s Council of Stellar Management (CSM), which helped to deal with player issues with the game"s development team. CCP Xhagen said:
If I had to name Sean’s greatest contribution to EVE I would sum it up in one word: CONTENT. EVE doesn"t rely on pre-written story lines to give color and richness to the universe. EVE"s story is a narrative birthed and dragged forward kicking and screaming by the players. The player-driven saga of EVE has seen time and time again how the fortunes of tens of thousands of people can turn on the words of a few, or even just a single player. Sean was one such player and over the years he directly or indirectly touched and influenced the lives of countless people.
Source: EVE Online website | Image via CCP