I woke up this morning and decided to revisit the forums of my old MMO, see if they had got around to the mythical game changing update. What I found instead amazed me and nearly moved me to tears.
I need to explain the background to this amazing story. Star Sonata is a very small online game with a community of less than two thousand paid accounts. Everyone online is on the same server so after a while everyone gets to know everybody else. The community is very tight knit and was the main reason I found it very hard to leave Star Sonata. When a player was screwed over by a team mate and lost all of his equipment due to a vicious scam, the rest of the playerbase would rally around the victim. The scammer would be ostracised, shot on sight and people would refuse to trade with him. People would offer cash and equipment to the victim to help them get back on their feet, it was a wonderful thing to see.
But today I seen something that makes all of that seem like nothing. A long time player, Nukka, who was very well known in the game before leaving due to time and economical constraints after the birth of his child, recieved some bad news. His son was born with a serious congenital skin defect, that could result in years of expensive medical care. Without hesitation his old teammates in the game rallied around him again. An appeal was setup to raise money for little Nukka Jnr.
This appeal was made on the forums of a game with less than 2000 paid accounts, some players own 7 or more accounts, and it is barely two weeks old and has already reached almost $700. A group of people who have never met in real life and only have their love of a game holding them together have reached into their pockets to help out a fellow gamer in need.
I thought this was just an amazing thing to see. I was nearly welling up just seeing that these guys had grouped together to help a friend when he needed it most. I cant imagine seeing this on the WoW forums anywhere. I just wanted to share this amazing gesture, as it really reaffirms that despite the number of asshats you get in any online game, there is always some wonderful people who are genuinely decent both in and out of the game.
It just left me with a warm feeling inside and I hope I have managed to share that with you guys.