Sean Smith: Diplomat showed gaming generation's online influence
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Anne Collier Guest Blogger
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton鈥檚 tribute to Sean Smith 鈥� dad, online gamer, and Benghazi-based State Department computer expert聽 鈥� was 鈥渘othing compared to the memorials that were offered up by many of the 400,000 paying subscribers鈥� of the space fantasy game EVE Online,鈥� reports
Memorials 鈥渇looded social media and gaming [discussion] boards [and] many gamers renamed their space stations in his honor,鈥� the report said.
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Maybe as a comfort when he didn鈥檛 want to worry his family, maybe just to pass the time when consulate employees couldn鈥檛 go anywhere, Smith, who was an 鈥渁vid gamer and married father of two,鈥� was chatting with fellow players hours before he was killed in the attack on the US Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, reportedly of smoke inhalation as the consulate building burned. [He was one of four Americans killed and nearly 30 Libyans wounded or killed in a two-part attack, among them Amb. Christopher Stevens, the first US ambassador to be killed in an attack since 1979, reported today.]
鈥淪ecretary of State Hillary Clinton hailed Smith, who鈥檇 served the State Department for 10 years at US outposts in Baghdad, Pretoria, Montreal and The Hague, as 鈥榦ne of our best鈥�.鈥�
What struck me about the McClatchy story about Smith鈥檚 experience in both real and virtual worlds was how admired he was for the same skills in both 鈥� for his diplomatic talent and interests in the game-world every bit as much as technical skills in the 鈥渞eal鈥� world of diplomacy.
In EVE, the report said, he was 鈥渒nown as 'Vile Rat,' a smart but tough diplomat and spy who worked on behalf of a major alliance called Goonswarm.鈥�
Fellow players had elected him to serve on EVE鈥檚 Council of Stellar Management, which was authorized in-world to liaise with the game鈥檚 developers. The Iceland-based game EVE Online is a fascinating experiment in online + offline governance (I wrote about it in 2009 ), where by the Council of which Smith was a member grows in 鈥減ower鈥� with the game鈥檚 developers in proportion to its ability to grow its influence with fellow players.
It鈥檚 an experiment in starting 鈥渃ivilization鈥� from scratch. So this was very real "parallel" diplomatic work in which Smith was engaged, and he is clearly missed deeply by those who were engaged in it with him and who understood the level of skill required. An in-game friend of six years said he focused 鈥渞elentlessly on diplomacy as a strategic tool,鈥� according to McClatchy. EVE鈥檚 developers joined with the players, issuing a statement, too, 鈥渙verwhelmingly saddened鈥� by Smith鈥檚 death.
Being able to memorialize a friend and collaborator online is small but very real comfort.
