Within a day of Zack Parsons, assistant editor of Something Awful, creating a fundraising page for Sean “Vilerat” Smith’s family, friends of his from EVE and SA
have donated over $50,000. Sean was an instrumental player in EVE who went by the name of Vile Rat and was recently killed during an attack in Benghazi where he was working as Foreign Service Officer for the US State Department
Zack Parsons -who knew Sean through his years of active participation on the Something Awful forums where he moderated their politics forum -began the fundraising page earlier today with a goal of $50,000. Though, when half of that was reached in just 12 hours he raised the goal to $100,000. It’s now passed the original goal and doesn’t appear to be slowing down.
All the money raised will go to Sean’s wife Heather Smith.
Parsons’ tribute to Smith on Something Awful forums says “Vilerat made connections with everyone he met. He was friendly, smart, and generous with his time. He was beloved by his family and colleagues, and he will be dearly missed. He loved to post about seeing the world with his family, sharing pictures and talking about teaching his kids to cook or trying to get them hooked on video games. His family will no doubt pay him a fitting tribute when he is laid to rest in the coming days.”
Phill’s already written of the tributes EVE players have made to Smith, leaving almost no section of the game’s universe untouched.