When I was in high school and going through a hard time, I remember messaging him in Twitch chat. He had no idea who I am, but he feels like family. The passing of Geoff “iNontroL” Robinson this week has been really hard. I’ve been lucky enough to go to three tournaments (in Toronto), and even though I know very few people in the community in real life, I’ve always felt welcomed and accepted by everyone. We all have a unifying love of StarCraft, the personalities within it, and the community we are a part of. And while we don’t really know each other, there is something bigger at play. I recognize the names of the people I talk to. I’ve been active on the StarCraft reddit for almost 8 years, in community discords, streams and Team Liquid for almost as long. While playing and watching StarCraft is not the focus of my life, the community is. Emulating it, even at my terrible level, is exciting and fulfilling, an experience I have never and will never have in another game. It’s hard to even fathom how people are so good at it and watching the highest level of play is a spectacle. The game itself is complex and beautiful in a way no other game is. In the hustle of my busy life, it’s easy to forget how much StarCraft means to me. While I don’t play as regularly now, I still watch most tournaments and every few months I’ll go on benders where I play for hours a day. I loved the progression and it felt like a worthy long term goal for a directionless teenager. As a teenager, it was a perfect competitive outlet for me as I wasn’t heavily involved in sports – there was always opportunities to grow and learn, to look up to better players and to compete on a small scale. I’ve been playing since 2012, when I was only 16. StarCraft ebbs and flows in and out of my life. I just want to go watch some day9, incontrol archives, play some starcraft, and play some dnd. Oddly enough right now my reaction to all this is to get back into those hobbies that I've been letting slide lately. Feels like the gaming community got a bit emptier with his passing, but I'm glad he was able to serve as a figure in the starcraft community and he wont be forgotten. Personalities like his helped shape who I became while I was growing up. Looking at his recent tweet about what he's learned in his 33 years is bitter sweet. He was a great guy with a great personality. Part of me still feels like if I head over to twitch now I'll see his stream running at any moment. He was also typically one of my favorite participants in most D&D or other pencil and paper game streams. I followed starcraft very heavily throughout my time in school, and while I havent followed it closely these past few years I always enjoyed seeing that incontrol was live so i could spend a bit of time to see what he was doing. Man, this was sone rough news to see last night. Thanks for the years of entertainment and for everything you've done. He was a central figure in the community that had a positive energy that drew people in, and was loved by everyone. The GB community will understand what the StarCraft community is currently going through. I still haven't fully processed this news. I watched his SC2 stream this past Friday and The Pylon Show on Wednesday. Geoff was a part of my everyday life much like Giant Bomb is. I've watched Geoff's stream for years, even after quitting SC2, and I've interacted with him several times. I've followed StarCraft since 2010 and Geoff was the first person outside of Day9 that I started following closely. Above all though, Geoff was most well known for being a genuinely amazing human being who could make anybody laugh (he once cracked a joke that made Day9 laugh so hard he literally fell out of his chair) and was incredibly friendly to everyone from other community figures to random fans who would come up to him at events.įor me personally, this news hurts. He was also among the earliest streamers on Twitch (Geoff's face is the TheThing global Twitch emote) and helped popularize the platform. He was one of the co-hosts of the popular SC2 podcast State of the Game, one of the main hosts of the current StarCraft podcast The Pylon Show, a beloved caster, a renowned DnDer (he was involved in Roll Play for years, which helped popularize DnD on Twitch, and he continued to be involved in many campaigns after no longer being on Roll Play), and a top level tabletop Warhammer player. He was not only a professional Brood War and SC2 player, but also an absolutely massive member of the community. Geoff Robinson July 22, 2019Īnyone who has followed the StarCraft: Brood War or StarCraft II scene will know Geoff well. To honor Geoff or offer comfort to his family, we suggest donations to which he loved. We ask privacy as his family works to understand what happened and make arrangements. With immense grief, we announce Geoff’s unexpected passing due to sudden illness Saturday.
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