"When I explained to her that everyone at Zeke was a real player who came to pay their respects, she burst out in tears": Parents of late baby son overwhelmed by huge in-game MMO tribute

Earlier this week, hundreds of Old School RuneScape players attended an in-game tribute for the departed infant son of a fellow player. That player, who extended an invite to others with no expectations for such a large turnout, says he and his wife were stunned and emotional during the enormous event.

On Tuesday, Reddit user Gr3g1n4t0r shared that his son Ezekiel had sadly passed away a year ago not long after a premature birth. Ezekiel, or Zeke for short, shares a name with the OSRS character Zeke, who runs a scimitar shop in the MMO's desert town of Al Kharid.

Gr3g tells GamesRadar+ that he "thought some people would trickle in" after he posted about the tribute on the game's Reddit community, offering a time and game server for players to gather around Zeke's weapon shop. But before he even logged in – just ahead of the time he proposed – he "saw hundreds of people" paying their respects with flowers, as well as large blue hearts over their characters, which are displayed by the in-game "Redemption" prayer.

"It just made me cry for a few minutes while I gathered myself," Gr3g tells me. "I definitely wasn't expecting that many people to turn up."

I wasn't able to attend the event myself, so I asked Gr3g about standout moments and memories from the tribute. "The standout moment was everything," he replied. "Every little gesture and every little thing that everyone there, and even people who weren't there, meant everything. From the flowers, to everyone equipping scimitars, to the Redemption prayers, to everyone giving their own stories, it was incredible."

Thank you guys for honoring our Zeke from r/2007scape

RuneScape and OSRS developer Jagex was also in attendance – specifically, Jagex dev and moderator Mod Sarnie was in the crowd. "It was incredible seeing Mod Sarnie there and supporting the event, really shows that we have such an amazing community and such a great development team," Gr3g says.

His wife doesn't play RuneScape, and Gr3g says she "rolls her eyes every time I mention RuneScape" in part because "every time she saw me play I was clicking on a tree of some sort." But she was equally floored once she learned of the event.

"She didn't realize that there were real players in-game that I can interact with," Gr3g says. "When I explained to her that everyone at Zeke was a real player who came to pay their respects, she burst out in tears. She didn't know, and now she does, and she's so thankful for it."

Gr3g's history with Old School RuneScape will sound familiar to many players. He got into it as a kid, back when there was just the one RuneScape, and he "discovered it again" when it got a remarkably good mobile version several years ago. Last year, he was playing the game during his son's four-month hospital stay, which is when the connection with the character Zeke clicked.

"When Zeke was in the NICU, my mates and I started a Hardcore Group Ironman," he says. Ironman accounts can't trade with other players, Hardcore accounts lose their status if they die a single time, and Group Ironmen can only share resources with each other.

"And since we were Hardcore Ironmen, you couldn't buy scimitars off the [Grand Exchange market], and then that's when I rediscovered Zeke in Al Kharid. When Zeke passed away, I spent a few days in his shop."

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