For those that don't know me, I knew Erin since we were in Jr. High. Although she was only a year younger than me, she's always been that little sister I never had. Since I've known her, she's always been a gamer. I think of all the time I've spent hanging out with her, more than 75% of it was either at an arcade or playing console/computer games. I guess I kind of suckered her into VMK during one fateful trip to
Disneyland, and that of course down the road led to POTCO.
After VMK closed, it's all she would talk about. Her friends there and how much she would miss them and all the fun times. The game, she could care less about. I think that's why she really didn't want to spend time on VMK during it's closing days. It hurt her a lot to know that a world where she met so many wonderful friends was closing forever. Contrary to what many thought, she didn't care about all the stuff she got. It was just something to keep her busy while she hung out with some great people. I knew the side of her that also was a perfectionist. Competition was always her strength. And not necessarily against anybody else, but against herself. She would set goals for herself and then push herself to reach them. It wasn't about being the best or being popular. It was about seeing what she was capable of.
Moving to POTCO, she was disappointed that the social aspect wasn't the same as VMK's. She was happy that many of her VMK friends were still reachable however. But of course, that perfectionist in her pushed her to play through to the end game. I remember she stopped playing POTCO to focus on the closing days of VMK. And when she returned she kicked herself a lot seeing many of her friends having already reached 40, while she was left behind at 20. It wasn't a rivalry or a race to reach that cap, but rather just her competing against herself. She was known within DH and Seafurys as one who would try to solo everything. She always wanted to see what she was capable of on her own before asking others for help. On the flip side, she would drop everything if asked for help from another.
And of course that was her in other aspects of life too. Dance and Martial Arts were her other passions. And she attacked them with the same energy as she did in games. A very infectious one full of fun and excitement. I think that's what made her so special. And what attracted many to her, myself included. You couldn't help but get sucked into her world. She always had a fun take on life. Even if she was mad or upset about something, it was still entertaining to hear her rant about it. It was who she was. (Anybody who's read her blogs knows what I mean.)
Less than two months ago, Erin was surfing, caught a huge wave that sucked her under, hit some rocks, went into a coma and was rushed to the hospital. She never came out of it. And although it seems like a tragic accident, don't feel as though she didn't deserve to die that way. It's the way she wanted to go. She always talked about life as an adventure. And attacked it with a lot of energy. Her passions were dancing, martial arts and surfing. She had just started her rise as a stuntwoman in the film and tv industry. She liked living on the edge and knew the risks she took. Yeah, she still had a lot of life ahead of her, but the life she did live was never wasted as far as I saw. She took full advantage of every second of it.
The last time I talked to her, about a week or so before the accident, we actually spent a good chunk of time talking about getting back on Pirates. I myself have been busy playing World of Warcraft. She was taking time away from the gaming scene to surf and just enjoy life unplugged. But in the end I think we had every intention of coming back at some point.
I do remember once, while VMK was still at its peak, we came up with a hypothetical, what if LittleDragonErin ceased to exist. She brought up the question of how all these people who followed her around would take it, as she knew most of them were kids. She wondered how her closest friends would find out. She liked being anonymous behind the avatar. Yes, much of her life lately was spent kind of in the spotlight, dancing on stage, in music videos, filming movies and tv shows...but she liked to keep her gaming persona seperate from her real life.
I think deep down inside, she liked the anonymity that came from helping those around her without anybody truly knowing who she was. She always was one of the nicest people you'd ever meet and constantly doing random acts of kindness. She always believed that things came full circle in life. How you treated others would some day come back to you. She felt blessed to always come across so many wonderful and giving people in the gaming world whose faces she would never see. Whose voices she would never hear. Practically strangers yet as close as any family member. As often as she talked about all of you, it was clear that she treasured every friendship, regardless of having never actually met the person behind the avatar. And from the response to this news, I'm happy that the feeling was mutual.
I played against her in (I think...) Fireworks a couple of times, and I saw her in Host games off and on as well. Seemed like a really sweet person. Didn't she occasionally post here on the DIS as well? 
My prayers are with her family.
. This is such sad news.
