Over the weekend, a Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn player, Codex Vahlda, lay dying in hospital. A real-life friend of the player posted on Reddit about the situation, stating that “he’s passing away far before his time (only 29 years old) of complications from renal failure. The odds were one in a million something like this could have happened“.

No one could have foreseen the amount of compassion that flooded in from other Final Fantasy XIV players.

And the outpouring of emotion didn’t stop there. On the Final Fantasy XIV forums other players on different servers began showing their own vigils for Codex. Near Codex’s Free Company house a group of players gathered to spell out “Codex” and put on a touching light show. The whole thing was live-streamed by Twitch user Spicule, you can see the video below:

The MMORPG community is one that you can never experience anywhere else. It never fails to surprise me when MMO players come together in this way in a moving and inspirational way. Players become so invested in virtual worlds that the idea of a fallen comrade is truly heartfelt; I don’t think anyone would want that to change.

SOURCE: Reddit
SOURCE: Imgur
SOURCE: Final Fantasy XIV Forums