ArcticMoon — Wpis 1 z 6
A terrible thing happened in the last few days. Brandon Cole died, who was not only a kind, cheerful man, but who did a lot for accessibility. Because of him, so many games originally made for the sighted have become playable: Forza Motorsport, Last of Us, and so on.
These are acts and developments that I think would never have happened without him. Even though there are so many people in the community who are ambassadors for accessibility, there was something special about Brandon... Something that no one else could convey to the average user like he could.
Cancer is a very terrible thing. Many of you may know that this is the disease that my dear mother died of as well. Unfortunately I know what I'm talking about, I wish I didn't...
I think Brandon has suffered more in the last few months than we ever will in our entire lives. It's a horrible thing to know when someone is fighting cancer and there's just nothing you can do to help.
But lately, all I keep seeing is news of his death everywhere. On the audiogames forum, there are at least six threads by different people with a wide variety of messages. Twitter, Facebook and even Mastodon have not been exceptions where ou can see these sad posts.
Some people told that they could never open Forza again, for example, because it reminded them of him. Some posted that they woke up crying every day, even though they didn't know him personally.
But the most disgusting thing is the videos of it. Totally random people, unemotionally talking about how much it hurts them to lose Brandon... But it's all like they're announcing their next gameplay video. No emotion, no personal attachment, just an extra video because everyone was doing it.
When I lost my mother, I wrote a poem for her a month later and published it. Many people read it, but most of them couldn't necessarily feel my pain and the grief I was going through. I know for a fact that she would not look kindly on me posting on social media every day about my pain. Besides, my family and relatives don't need it either.
I feel very sorry for Brandon's family right now and I sympathise with them. Seeing this plethora of hype posts and videos from the most random blind people can't be easy. I wouldn't be happy either if absolute strangers made video montages of my mother. Because it's just fucking unnecessary. Stop it, guys.
No one needs to be famous under someone else's name. Of course, then suddenly everyone becomes the deceased person's best friend... I speak from experience. There was a lady who started crying to us after the events of last year, that she was the last person my mother had called and she had told her everything. It's another matter that it was all a lie.
No. You're not Brandon's best friends, and you're probably not even acquaintances. You've never been close to him, and a "hi, how are you" conversation means nothing. Brandon didn't even know who most of you were. He probably doesn't need the fake news, the hype videos. No one wants to show you crying about it day and night. Because clearly that's not the case... But if everyone is going to do it, you have to join the crowd.
I'm not very religious, but I still think a dead person is sacred. And we don't play with saints, we don't try to be popular by their merits, by their fame.
Όταν θα κοιτάς την θάλασσα
Χωρίς να το θέλεις, θα βλέπεις εμένα
Και τα μάτια σου θα ‘ναι θλιμμένα
Όταν θα ξυπνάς στον ύπνο σου
Χωρίς να το θέλεις, θα σκέφτεσαι εμένα
Και θα νιώθεις μεγάλο κενό