Belghast Will Be Missed

Belghast was a longtime friend of mine.  At this point, we must have known each other for almost 20 years.  If you haven't heard yet... he passed away yesterday.  MassivelyOP has a write-up with some more details, so I won't go into those here.

Looking back, my last post was almost 3 years ago.  I'm not going to focus on me in this post, but I just wanted to acknowledge that it's been awhile.  But, I couldn't let this go by without writing something.

Belghast has always had a stream of consciousness writing style so I'm going to embrace that for this post and not overthink it.

Bel created communities.  He was the heart of so many of them.  I originally ran into him in the early days of the blogosphere as it existed in the mid 2000s.  He made so many friends and so many connections.  At some point I got pulled into his orbit and into a few of the groups he was at the center of.

And he was truly the center and the heart of so many of these communities.  Some of them were guilds in specific games, some of them were blogging related, some of them were a mashup of people he had put together over the years.  He was a community builder and that legacy will live on.

One of those communities I feel the need to call out is Blaugust.  Blaugust is the annual blogging celebration and writing event that he spearheaded for years.  In the last few years, he's been actively shifting the leadership to be a group of people instead of just him, since he has always wanted it to expand and live on beyond him.  I suspect this August will prove that dream of his to be a reality.  If you've ever thought about blogging to get your thoughts out to the world, seriously consider taking a look.  The next Blaugust is coming up soon (in August) and is an amazing time to jump in.  It may feel strange that I'm plugging this in the middle of a post about him... but I know he would want it to continue and thrive.

Bel was always a good and kind man.  Anyone who spent time with him was quick to see that.  He was always willing to jump in to help out or lend someone an ear when they needed it.  He cared about people and wanted to protect them.

In MMO terms... he was a tank.  And, fittingly, he almost always played tank classes too.  That type of "protect your friends" mentality ran through him consistently.

So here's where I have to acknowledge how much I'm a different person compared to when I started this blog (16 years ago... wow).  At that point, I was a fresh college grad starting to find my way in the world.  Now, I'm middle age, married, have kids, and have been in the working world for quite some time.

The community he brought me into has aged alongside me.  I have long-running friendships with all sorts of disparate people from across the world because of him.  And I've now known them for almost two decades.  And that's all thanks to Belghast.

While I don't have the gaming time I used to... I have noticed something the last few times I've dipped into MMOs.  I find myself more and more attracted to the tank role.  The protector and, often, de-facto leader.  That wasn't me two decades ago, but it's a part of me now.  And, in my mind, Belghast is the tank.  He always has been the tank for so many groups I know.  He tanks in games but he also tanked for people in so many other ways as well.  Every time I choose to step into that tank role in a game, I've always thought about him as the tank rolemodel I'm trying to live up to.  That won't stop just because he's gone.

This has been more rambling and free-flowing than my older posts... but I think he would approve.

Belghast, my friend... I will miss you.