“I used to play Lord Of The Rings Online a lot. Was big into the PvP for a while. Like all PvP involving group play, it could get pretty toxic.
The kin group I was in wasn’t known for being the best kin group for PvP, but we were all older, had families and kids, and kept things pretty casual while enjoying ourselves. Most of our voice chat was us just conversing and joking instead of being hyper-focused on strategy.
This, of course, lead to a lot of hate for us because we were “terrible” and a bunch of losers compared to some of the other groups that ran regularly out in the Ettenmoors. We just didn’t have time to farm for hours to get the best gear and min/max like most everyone else who spent time out there. If you ran with our kin group in PvP, you were mocked openly on regional chat.
One of our members played a Huntress and had been involved in the game since its early days. Everyone knew her. Monster players and freep players alike.
One day she got sick and wasn’t on as much. We found out she had a heart problem. Nothing too serious she said but needed an operation. Word got around the server pretty quickly.
The day of her operation came and she checked in online with everyone during a group raid to say hi with her laptop in the hospital. She was casual and pretty upbeat. Then she said she had to go because they were coming to prep her for the operation.
We all said, ‘Later! Good luck and see you when you get out!’
Days passed and she hadn’t come back online. Her sister logged on to her account after a couple of weeks and let us know that she passed away unexpectedly during the operation.
The whole PvP crowd on the server was gutted.
We had an online funeral for her with both sides in attendance. Several hundred players all gathered in her favorite spot and invoice on a huge Ventrillo server we set up. No fights broke out. There was no toxicity.
The devs quietly pushed out a very small update several days later. They added a broken Hunter Bow and an empty quiver of arrows to the top of a popular rock used to look out for incoming raids.
No explanation, no reason. But we all knew.
Was the most wholesome moment I’ve ever experienced in gaming.”
