It's with a heavy heart that I write about the passing of my dear friend and fellow XIV player Korin Kurumi from Exodus, aka "Koko".While I don't know all of the details about his physical cause of death, I do know that he chose to end his own life. Mutual friends and I have confirmed this through his best friend, who was kind enough to log-in via his account and inform us in our CWL of the news, and take steps to help close his service account, as well as verification from comments of sympathy seen on a family member's Facebook profile.
While Koko wasn't what some would consider to be an "elite" PvPer, he was, more importantly, a loyal, caring, and compassionate friend. Being Brazilian, and speaking Portuguese as his primary language, with English being his second, I know it was sometimes hard for people to understand him, but if you ever had the privilege of voice chatting with him in Discord, you'd remember what a gentle and kind-hearted soul he was, complete with a quirky sense of humor when he was in a good mood. Shortly after I met him, he even took it upon himself to create our group Discord server for voice chat match coordination, which eventually led to meeting even more wonderful friends, a debt which I'll never be able to repay.
Throughout my short time with Koko, I'd witnessed a few occasional interactions in which he was on the receiving end of harsh words that could have been phrased in a kinder way, or even better off not being said to him at all, often without any positive conflict-resolution. I can only hope that he didn't carry any of this weight emotionally as he chose to give in to the hopelessness that made him decide to end his own life. He had taken a hiatus from this game back in October, so I'll never know.
What I do know first-hand is that this game can be quite intense at times, especially in a niche mode such as PvP, where battles are hard-fought with the utmost intensity, and competition and rivalry are fierce. Through all of it, I just hope people reading this remember that behind each screen is an actual human being with feelings and emotions, who sometimes have real-life struggles, and they come to this game to escape that reality and try to enjoy the company of the people they love.
Be kind to each other, because you never know when your last interaction with someone will be, and your words and actions may actually be the difference between make or break when it comes to giving people hope and motivation to carry on for another day. I say as a reminder to myself as well, as I know I slip up and let the competitive aspect of PvP get to me sometimes. I write this also to acknowledge that even those I consider to be my rivals in PvP are decent people who all may have a particular struggle or dark time they may be going through, and deserve to be treated with the same kindness that I extend to my own teammates. In fact, I'd dare say that it's even more important to show appreciation and professional respect to those you're locked in competition with, because playing against good players is what gives you the motivational edge to strive to become a better player yourself. That's the sort of kindness I saw in Koko, who never had a big ego or looked down on others, and for the most part was polite with everyone he interacted with, regardless of skill level.
Treat others the way you wish to be treated, and this community will be all the better for it. It's already one of the best game communities I've ever been a part of thanks to players like Koko, and now it's worse off for having one less member.
An in-game vigil will be held for him in the Wolves Den Pier on Exodus (Primal Data Center) at 9pm EST today (Sunday 12/15), specifically chosen to commemorate the game mode that he used to love playing. If you knew Koko, it would mean a lot to his friends if you stopped by and attended. Apologies that this announcement is so last-minute, as I personally wasn't able to post this until today due to having been unsubbed and unable to access the forums until this morning.
Feel free to post the fond memories you had with him in this thread.
Rest in peace, Korin Kurumi (July 31, 1995 - December 12, 2019)
Continue reading...
While Koko wasn't what some would consider to be an "elite" PvPer, he was, more importantly, a loyal, caring, and compassionate friend. Being Brazilian, and speaking Portuguese as his primary language, with English being his second, I know it was sometimes hard for people to understand him, but if you ever had the privilege of voice chatting with him in Discord, you'd remember what a gentle and kind-hearted soul he was, complete with a quirky sense of humor when he was in a good mood. Shortly after I met him, he even took it upon himself to create our group Discord server for voice chat match coordination, which eventually led to meeting even more wonderful friends, a debt which I'll never be able to repay.
Throughout my short time with Koko, I'd witnessed a few occasional interactions in which he was on the receiving end of harsh words that could have been phrased in a kinder way, or even better off not being said to him at all, often without any positive conflict-resolution. I can only hope that he didn't carry any of this weight emotionally as he chose to give in to the hopelessness that made him decide to end his own life. He had taken a hiatus from this game back in October, so I'll never know.
What I do know first-hand is that this game can be quite intense at times, especially in a niche mode such as PvP, where battles are hard-fought with the utmost intensity, and competition and rivalry are fierce. Through all of it, I just hope people reading this remember that behind each screen is an actual human being with feelings and emotions, who sometimes have real-life struggles, and they come to this game to escape that reality and try to enjoy the company of the people they love.
Be kind to each other, because you never know when your last interaction with someone will be, and your words and actions may actually be the difference between make or break when it comes to giving people hope and motivation to carry on for another day. I say as a reminder to myself as well, as I know I slip up and let the competitive aspect of PvP get to me sometimes. I write this also to acknowledge that even those I consider to be my rivals in PvP are decent people who all may have a particular struggle or dark time they may be going through, and deserve to be treated with the same kindness that I extend to my own teammates. In fact, I'd dare say that it's even more important to show appreciation and professional respect to those you're locked in competition with, because playing against good players is what gives you the motivational edge to strive to become a better player yourself. That's the sort of kindness I saw in Koko, who never had a big ego or looked down on others, and for the most part was polite with everyone he interacted with, regardless of skill level.
Treat others the way you wish to be treated, and this community will be all the better for it. It's already one of the best game communities I've ever been a part of thanks to players like Koko, and now it's worse off for having one less member.
An in-game vigil will be held for him in the Wolves Den Pier on Exodus (Primal Data Center) at 9pm EST today (Sunday 12/15), specifically chosen to commemorate the game mode that he used to love playing. If you knew Koko, it would mean a lot to his friends if you stopped by and attended. Apologies that this announcement is so last-minute, as I personally wasn't able to post this until today due to having been unsubbed and unable to access the forums until this morning.
Feel free to post the fond memories you had with him in this thread.
Rest in peace, Korin Kurumi (July 31, 1995 - December 12, 2019)
Continue reading...