Gearbox Honors Late Fan

Hey, guys, I found this story on Destructoid and Facebook and I figured I'd post a link to it here. It's a rather sweet story, and I wouldn't be surprised to see something about it on the 'Bomb tomorrow as it seems right up Patrick's alley.

For those not intending to read the story, a fan requested that developer Gearbox honor his late friend, Michael John Mamaril, who died last month to cancer. To honor him, he asked they have Claptrap read a eulogy for Mr. Mamaril. Not only did they comply with the request, but they also intend to include him as an NPC in Borderlands 2.

Now, I know developers do sweet things for fans all the time. Hell, Gearbox isn't even totally fresh to the concept. But I think what makes this especially poignant to me is the humility expressed in the Claptrap eulogy. It sounds legitimately awestruck that they were considered so important to the relationship between the fan and his late friend.

I don't mean to say "Gearbox is the best developer ever." I mean, they still willingly unleashed Duke Nukem Forever upon the world, and, what's worse, made it out so that it didn't sound like one of the worst games I've ever bought at retail. But can anyone think of other, similar acts by development studios, at least in part? I've heard of a few of the marriage-related ones before, of course, but I'm curious to find out if there are any others that jump to people's minds. I'd like to think it humanizes the developers of the games we love a little bit, or at least the games we played.

Very cool, always love seeing the humanization of companies and acts of kindness that can come from them.

There are a few 'late fans' who were turned into NPCs in WoW, IIRC.

@ajamafalous said:

There are a few 'late fans' who were turned into NPCs in WoW, IIRC.

They also received rare or "unobtainable" items if i remember correctly.

That was nice of them.

I've always been impressed with Gearbox's involvement with its audience. Been a fan of them since the first Brothers in Arms game on Xbox.

While they did ship out Duke Nukem Forever, I don't blame them for how poor it was, as they just tried to make this vaporware game actually see the light of day. And let's face it, they just wanted to get the Duke license, and I'm sure they'll make up for it later on.

@amomjc said:

@ajamafalous said:

There are a few 'late fans' who were turned into NPCs in WoW, IIRC.

They also received rare or "unobtainable" items if i remember correctly.

The NPCs got special items or the dead guys? The latter seems kinda pointless.

Not the same situation of course, but I know Valve send people stuff all the time when they do positive or funny shit, and always support charity events fans of their games run.

@ZeForgotten said:

@amomjc said:

@ajamafalous said:

There are a few 'late fans' who were turned into NPCs in WoW, IIRC.

They also received rare or "unobtainable" items if i remember correctly.

The NPCs got special items or the dead guys? The latter seems kinda pointless.

Agreed.

@amomjc said:

@ajamafalous said:

There are a few 'late fans' who were turned into NPCs in WoW, IIRC.

They also received rare or "unobtainable" items if i remember correctly.

The NPCs got special items or the dead guys? The latter seems kinda pointless.

Now all Gearbox needs is its own digital delivery service, and it'll be just like Valve!

@Buzzkill said:

@ZeForgotten said:

@amomjc said:

@ajamafalous said:

There are a few 'late fans' who were turned into NPCs in WoW, IIRC.

They also received rare or "unobtainable" items if i remember correctly.

The NPCs got special items or the dead guys? The latter seems kinda pointless.

The dead people of course. It would be pointless to put them on NPCs who are never going to use them. The items were custom made just for those players and were taken to the grave with them.

Yeah, I believe a child with cancer was given the Phoenix mount before it was released as a gift for the Make a wish foundation, then I believe they named an NPC in Shattarath for him, but I could be wrong.

They did kill the brothers in arms franchise and put out duke nukem but this is pretty cool of them.

If I was his friend, I'd be pretty freaked out if I ran into my dead buddy in a videogame.

It is a very nice gesture by Gearbox though, good for them!

This makes me all warm and fuzzy. No joke.

Listened to it earlier today. Definitely a very nice gesture from their part. While I don't dig Gearbox's games too much, these things make them stand out. The marriage proposal they did was also great.

So glad the claptrap broke character.

That's pretty rad

I'm surprised they agreed to the request. They really never had to.

They did kill the brothers in arms franchise and put out duke nukem but this is pretty cool of them.

That was fucking rad. Good on them to pay tribute to a fan like that. I got goosebumpy a couple times there.

That was the saddest shit I have ever heard in my life.
 
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