PCGamer
On Tuesday evening, over 2,000 EVE Online players gathered to celebrate Chappy78 Chapman's 42nd birthday by gathering into two massive armadas and blasting each other to smithereens. Representatives from every major player alliance in EVE showed up (along with a few developers from CCP Games), many sporting their biggest, most expensive ships to sacrifice in the mock battle. Billions of ISK, the in-game currency, was destroyed just for the fun of it. But for Chappy78, who a week earlier was told his pancreatic cancer had returned and was terminal, it was a profound moment of camaraderie. This birthday will likely be his last, he tells me over Discord, and he can't think of a better way to have spent it.
"It was unbelievable," Chappy78 says. "I have done a lot of things, and I have fought in a lot of major battles [in EVE Online], but I have never been in a battle that big and that outrageous."
Chappy78 isn't alone in feeling that way. Hours after the battle ended, the EVE Online subreddit was flooded with images and videos of the fight. With nearly 2,000 players in one system, EVE Online's servers struggled to keep up with the action. To compensate, its developers had to dedicate extra network resources and turn on a feature called Time Dilation which slows down combat so servers can keep up with the hundreds of thousands of missiles, bullets, and lasers cleaving through players' ships. But Chappy78 had no idea his little birthday party would turn into one of EVE Online's biggest battles of the year.
A night to remember
I interviewed Chappy78 in the early afternoon on Wednesday. He'd slept in because he was up until dawn blowing up and being blown up by everyone who gathered to celebrate his birthday. He can't believe how many people showed up, he says, especially because he had only given everyone 24 hours notice.
More at link
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What a fantastic gesture. I suggest reading the full story at the link. Very heartwarming.
On Tuesday evening, over 2,000 EVE Online players gathered to celebrate Chappy78 Chapman's 42nd birthday by gathering into two massive armadas and blasting each other to smithereens. Representatives from every major player alliance in EVE showed up (along with a few developers from CCP Games), many sporting their biggest, most expensive ships to sacrifice in the mock battle. Billions of ISK, the in-game currency, was destroyed just for the fun of it. But for Chappy78, who a week earlier was told his pancreatic cancer had returned and was terminal, it was a profound moment of camaraderie. This birthday will likely be his last, he tells me over Discord, and he can't think of a better way to have spent it.
"It was unbelievable," Chappy78 says. "I have done a lot of things, and I have fought in a lot of major battles [in EVE Online], but I have never been in a battle that big and that outrageous."
Chappy78 isn't alone in feeling that way. Hours after the battle ended, the EVE Online subreddit was flooded with images and videos of the fight. With nearly 2,000 players in one system, EVE Online's servers struggled to keep up with the action. To compensate, its developers had to dedicate extra network resources and turn on a feature called Time Dilation which slows down combat so servers can keep up with the hundreds of thousands of missiles, bullets, and lasers cleaving through players' ships. But Chappy78 had no idea his little birthday party would turn into one of EVE Online's biggest battles of the year.
A night to remember
I interviewed Chappy78 in the early afternoon on Wednesday. He'd slept in because he was up until dawn blowing up and being blown up by everyone who gathered to celebrate his birthday. He can't believe how many people showed up, he says, especially because he had only given everyone 24 hours notice.
More at link
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What a fantastic gesture. I suggest reading the full story at the link. Very heartwarming.
