Walk in the Light of the Crystal Forever
We see online communities doing incredible things that would be impossible to do in person because of the distance between us all. In various MMORPGs there have been birthdays, marriages, protests, parades; every kind of gathering you can think of, with real people behind each of those avatars. Though video games are often ways of escaping the struggles and pressures of real life, there are some things that they cannot protect us from, like losing a friend. Recently, a massive Final Fantasy XIV funeral procession was held for a player who died of COVID-19.
The player, known as Ferne Le’roy, was part of a group of players called Free Company. One of her friends, Leafelda Moonchild, organized an event on Facebook letting the community know of her passing and that there would be a group holding an in-game march from one of the cities to the Guardian Tree. But it was not just a group; it was thousands of players, from every realm in the game. Speaking to Inverse, Leafelda Moonchild said, “When I made the post on Facebook, I didn’t expect anyone to actually show up. I made the post so that those that may have known her would be informed. The fact that so many people showed up, not only from Zalera but from other servers, really took me by surprise.”
There is no telling exactly how many players were in attendance, but there are multiple images and clips of the walk where the screen is flooded with user names and you can barely even see the players. Final Fantasy XIV is available on PC, PS3, and PS4, and is coming to Xbox One.
What do you think about this in-game march? Let us know in the comments below.
Source: Inverse