We all know why we’re gathered here today.
We’ve lost someone very near and very dear, someone who made us think about our hobby, made us laugh uncontrollably, made us listen intently every Tuesday, and now makes us cry.
A common theme in the posts regarding Ryan Davis’ death is that people feel odd so deeply missing someone they never met. I think this conflict of mind and heart is unnecessary.
We care deepest about the people who invest deepest in us. These are the people we call friends: the people who cheer us up when we’re depressed, the people willing to discuss the things we care about, the people who take the time to interact meaningfully. Ryan Davis was exactly this. He gave us a window into his personality. He showed as many as would come to GiantBombDotCom exactly what kind of guy he was, and that’s exactly why we stayed.
I could never call myself a friend to Ryan Davis. I’ve been a subscriber for a while. I hope I brought him a chuckle or two with my stupid attempts to be read on the Bombcast’s email segment. That’s not enough to be friendship. But Ryan Davis was my friend. Every last one of Giant Bomb’s users could call Ryan Davis a friend.
So when anyone asks me what’s wrong, I’m not going to say that “a guy I knew from the Internet died.” I’m going to say that a very dear friend died. Because Ryan Thomas Davis was a very dear friend.
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