Jeff Freeman - Rest In Peace.

[Mrbloodworth]

From: Ducks/forums/showthread.php?t=15566

"Some of you know who Jeff Freeman was; he was the lead designer at Sony when the major changes were made to SWG that left so many upset. Although it was not his fault he took the brunt of the criticisms, attacks, and even death threats.

Some of you may have even known him back in the UO days as Dundee, Guild Master of the Nameless Ones on Lake Superior and later the administrator of the private UO server World of Dreams.

I am not sure why I have chosen this forum to share this news; it may be that I would have loved to see Jeff build the game that he really wanted to, if he was running a private server. You see I am his brother. On September 24th Jeff took his own life. I am not angry at him or anyone else, sad yes, like so many others I feel a bit of guilt but I love my brother and I am thankful that he is no longer suffering.

Below is part of the obituary that will run in the Longview News Journal on Wednesday, October 1, 2008.

LONGVIEW - Memorial services for Jeff Freeman, 39, of Austin, will be at 4 p.m. Thursday, October 2, 2008 at Triumphant Christian Center, 1308 Reel Road, 903-xxx-xxxx.

Born October 8, 1968, he was a computer programmer who worked on many popular programs including Star Wars Galaxies and had served this country as a member of the U.S. Army Reserves.

"Because Christ suffered so much for us, we can receive so much comfort from Him." 2 Cor 1:5

I hope all of you will join me and our family as we celebrate his life."

AND in another post...

Yes, I do plan on posting on his blog but I do not have any of his login information. That is something I am working on today. When I do get access to his blog I will post some pics etc... to show what a great person he was.

I am sure it seemed strange that I posted here, but this is the only contact I have the SWG community. I was a fan of pre-cu and have played on the test server. I have even considered running a server when SWGemu is released. I am not the programmer my brother was but I am excited about the project.

Also, I want everyone to know that it was not SWG that lead him to take his life. He has been troubled for sometime. There were alot of personal issues that tore at him. I did not post here because this is a community of pre-cu fans. As I stated before this is just the SWG community I have a connection to.

Regardless of how SWG turned out we must admit that many of the great things we enjoyed about pre-cu was because of his work.

Kylrathin I to wish it was a joke. I miss him so much.... I need him back...

Many sites are reporting this, no idea if its true.

[Oban]

: - |

[Signe]

I hope it's not true.  I like Jeff lots and he's nice to chat with.

[Mrbloodworth]

many people are posting that they have called spacetime, and confirmed it. However no news or media outlets have reported on it. I'm skeptical. This all originated on forums, as you know. Its on at least 5, hoax, or real, i guess is the question.

Its its a fake, i hope whoever started it gets a karma exchange.

[Montague]

Terrible news. RIP Jeff.  

[sam, an eggplant]

Oh man, if it's true, that's terrible. I never met him in person, but I've been acquainted with Dundee since the alt.games.everquest days, like early 1999. He was thoughtful, intelligent, and fun to read. A real loss.

[Nonentity]

:(

I hope not, I liked him.

[sam, an eggplant]

Confirmed. Damn.

[Signe]

Too sad.   

[Azaroth]

This is difficult to believe, and extremely sad.

[Nonentity]

Man, that is awful. =/

[Mrbloodworth]

yes, yes it is. 

[tmp]

Not even 40 year old, that's very early time to go. Sorry to hear it and hoping it won't hit his family too hard...

[Surlyboi]

Requiscat in pace.

[Slyfeind]

I remember when he started his private UO shard. I never played it, but I thought it was awesome he did that. It was back in The Day when player shards were still new. Damn, this is tragic.

[Tmon]

What terrible news I'm going to miss his unique take on things.

[Soln]

That's horrible.  I really hope that is not the case.  Anyone know?

Edit: Scott confirms it

[Venkman]

Holy shit. That is way sad. Rest in peace man!

[Xuri]

That's very sad news :(

[Triforcer]

Rest in peace, sir...rest in peace. 

[Lum]

I just want to state for the record that the SWG jacktards posting on his blog, knowing his surviving relatives are reading, personify the absolute worst about our hobby and humanity in general.

[Azaroth]

... That better not be what it sounds like.

And I'm not even gonna go look.

[UnSub]

... That better not be what it sounds like.

And I'm not even gonna go look.

Lum's been deleting them, so it's safe to look (or was 5 seconds ago, when I scanned).

[Raph]

I am pretty shattered. I wrote what I could about him on my site. There are some real douchebags on comment threads. Don't read Kotaku unless you want to get really angry.

[sam, an eggplant]

No, those comments are still up on Dundee's blog. Just anonymous cowards acting badly. Hopefully his family knows to look past them, or not to read them at all.

Very touching eulogy, Raph.

[squirrel]

Wow he was a good guy with some great ideas for our hobby. I liked his writings and he did some great work. I'm ashamed to hear that people are disrespecting his memory. That's just fucking abhorrent. God, what's happened to us?

EDIT: OK FUCK SADNESS GIVE WAY TO OUTRAGE. CAN WE KILL SOME OF THESE PEOPLE PLZ? FUCK!

[Azaroth]

I really enjoyed Raph's post. I didn't know Jeff beyond VERY brief conversations, so it was interesting to read.

Also, I still remember vividly a thread on Stratics back when Raph's house burned down. I can't really be amazed at anything anymore, but at the time I was about 15 and I thought to myself "What the fuck is wrong with these people?". Which I think kind of says it all.

The lesson to take away is, I guess, that while some people can be incredibly immature and unthinking - they're being just that. Immature, and unthinking. Look at all of the comments from the rest of the people. Especially the ones that knew Jeff, which is what counts. The people making stupid comments didn't know him. They're just having a tantrum over a video game, and they can't say anything bad about him as a person.

In short, what they're saying is stupid and it doesn't matter whatsoever. In fact, if any of the people making those comments are above the age of twelve, we need to feel very, very sorry for them.

I hope any of his family members that see those comments understand all that.

Not that it makes it okay.

[Tebonas]

Rest in Peace!

And I really really hope all those fucktards die a slow and painful death. Age is no excuse for some things.

[WindupAtheist]

I don't care enough about    comments to go look for them. What are they saying?

[Trippy]

Don't bring them over here.

[Reg]

That's a terrible shame. I first heard of Dundee back in 1998 on the UO newsgroup. He was so funny and imaginative. He was able to make UO fun with fishing trips into dungeons and that kind of thing even when the game was horribly broken.

[Tale]

RIP from a grateful SWG fan.

[Ironwood]

Horrible.  As someone who's been through such an aftermath, my thoughts are with the family.

[Dren]

This is really bad news.  My thoughts and prayers to him and all of those in his life.

I remember him from UO.  I played on LS.  While I didn't get heavily involved in the player RP communities, I had some contact since I ran a fairly good sized player run town.  We certainly tried to keep up with the events, news, etc.  I do remember doing a few events with his group (vaguely...been a long time you know.)

I truly hope he found the peace he sought.

[Nija]

I don't care enough about    comments to go look for them. What are they saying?

They are probably saying anyone that offs themselves is a worthless piece of shit. Just a guess.