It is so sad. Thank you for everything you've done. All the friends I know and have known because of the work you have done.
What was his roll in the creation of EQ? Looks like he was a freelancing running it own company until Smed recruiting him for Pixel Mage and then took him to Amazon.
Very sad. When it comes to battling depression you have to defeat it everytime yet it only has to defeat you once.
This is all rhetoric and you're being very narcissistic. Enough with the drama . Why troll this? You basically just tell everyone that they suck. RPoo never even said anything so we don't know for sure why they are posting this but seems like the past week might have been pretty bad for Pantheon. What gets me about the US is there are so many better ways to go about things but you divide yourself 50/50 on very topic and tragedies like this happen more and more. It's very unfortunate that things had to end like this and that this individual was alone. They once called the US the greatest country on earth but if this is really the best we can do it's pretty sad. Not because somebody ended his life but because we have gotten to a point that mass shootings and suicides have become common place without ever addressing any of the underlining reasons why this is happening. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euthanasia_in_the_Netherlands https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legality_of_euthanasia#Belgium http://www.patientsrightscouncil.org/site/belgium/ The US could easily afford to assist people that are falling through the cracks. Holland and Belgium have a system to help and if necessary assist people. It works out. Many people actually end up getting help and getting back on their feet. You let this happen by polarizing it. Your rights and wrong don't work but the US doesn't seem like it wants to do anything to change this. It costs money and meaningful projects to create a better and egalitarian society fall by the waste side to capitalism. I don't want to make this political but I want to point out that there are many points of view and John5 is just very toxic. No one can say that the Dutch don't seem to have a better standard of living or that they haven't been very successful. Societies don't fall apart when you take a more humanistic approach, they flourish. There's still time to change it but the clock is ticking and you don't always get a second chance.
You're sad that the man's coworkers want to help his family? Man, that is some twisted perspective you have there sir, very twisted.
I don't post here much, but events around us shape the world we live, and pull off the cozy blanket we snuggle in to. The passing of Brad is like a freight train flying off the track in that scene in Super 8, you just stand around watching the carnage. You can lose your self within the wreck, grief and sadness, or you can go back in time….. I am pushing 50, growing up then as a geek was a totally different time, no Big Bang Theory, to make it endearing to be one. The jocks pushed you around, the girls subbed their noses and the pretty boys whipped their hair in your face. But through it all, there was something growing, something that brought us together, and made us a community. Gaming. Huddled around a table with books, dice, and back then monopoly icons representing the heroes about to do battle with the next goblin, ogre or dragon. There we formed and solidified the relationships that allowed us to forge on, stronger and more pure than any formed around the smoking area behind the school. The next logical step to the table, was the cyberspace, extending our social reach beyond the next block, city, or province. Where friendships would be forged on who you were, not who you looked like. I think back to those who made this possible, who allowed me to make some of the strongest friendships forged in steel and honed by adventures and conquests. Gary Gygax – Without him, there would be no adventures. From a humble start with Chainmail, that soon laid the foundation for Dungeons and Dragons. The stonework, all these houses were built. Jeff Easley – The man who gave form to those adventures, the man who made the imaginary, real. Danielle Bunten Berry (Dan Paul Bunten) – Some people made CRPGs and some people laid the ground work for them, M.U.L.E.. “No one ever said on their death bed they wished they had spent more time with their computer, its about the people. DUH” Sid Meier – Civilization, need I say more? Civ IV was a mainstay of our gaming time, and the game I played with my friends when we all moved apart. Brad McQuaid - Everquest the international glue, that brought the world together. I have often said EQ was a good game, but it was an incredible social network. I can’t count the number of hours I played EQ on Morrell-Thule in those early days, adventuring with friends from the farthest reaches of the planet, one of which still comes to Canada yearly from France to visit… Now that’s a fitting legacy to Brad’s vision. Though Vanguard never got accolades, for those of us who played it to the end, nothing will ever compare to the world Brad created, the people it brought together. You will be missed Brad, but more important than the end, was the journey. Thanks the visionaries like Brad, I had a place to escape, a place to find and forge friendships that allow one to grow. Today we want to grieve for the loss, but what you need to do it go back in time, relive those adventures in the mind’s eye, relive that moment you first found yourself in Neriak, lost, no idea what to do next….. To this day, decades later, nothing has matched that event, when my EQ veteran friend knowing it was me, walked up to be spinning in circles at the Priest of Discord saying “So this must be the homoramp”. I had the pleasure of meeting and talking with Brad. SOE Live 2013, Brains and Brawn was the largest guild from Vanguard to take part. I met so many great people, developers, but most of all I got to meet and discuss MMO gaming and its future with one of its earliest architects. One of my icons. To your EverQuest Brad, may your adventures never cease, may Aradune conquer. Someday, Exmortis will take up arms again, and we bring forth so many friends…. Exmortis “Scott Sheedy”
Hey everyone, Besides the primary post that was offensive, I've removed a few others that quoted it. I want to be sure that the others I deleted are aware that they are not receiving warnings. Just that this thread had no place for that sort of content or language, especially since people are here to mourn the passing of a human being.
I muted myself in Discord for about 30 minutes on raids last night. I was pretty emotional instantly when I heard the news. Needless to say I was not performing to my standards. I got charmed 3 times on Derakor. Oops! All I could do was reflect on all the people I've met on Norrath. Some of my best real life friends I met in EQ. They're family to me - I suppose that's what a friend is: the family you chose. I hit /friend which is completely full from all the names of people I've collected over the years. I never wanted to miss a chance to say hello if any long gone friend happened to log in on a whim. Each name I thought of some humorous happening that I forever link them too, or of the support I received from others when I became divorced 2006 among other personal things. I've battled depression most of my life. I echo the sentiments above, don't be afraid to find help. You're not weak or flawed - we all need help to get through something in our lives. RIP Brad & Matt. Thank you for all you contributed to give us this world to escape from real life.
