Hypixel created 21 books full of fan condolences for Minecraft’s Technoblade | The DeanBeat

The condolences for Technoblade, a young man who was a Minecraft creator, exceeded 430,000 messages. They now fill up 21 books which were given to Technoblade’s family by Minecraft company Hypixel Studios.

Aaron Donaghey, or “Noxy,” CEO of Hypixel, gave a talk about the death and life of Technoblade at The Dice Summit, the game event in Las Vegas this week. Hipixel is the world’s largest Minecraft server.

Technoblade’s family came to understand just how much he was loved in Minecraft. And Technoblade’s father read a heartfelt message from the boy, Alex, after he died of cancer. The video, “so long nerds,” was the No. 1 trending video of 2022 on YouTube. The video now has 104 million views.

It was hard to watch. Brandon Beck, cofounder of Riot Games and a board member of AIAS, which puts on the Dice Summit, introduced Donaghey and asked that the press not take pictures or video of the talk. But the books were on display in an exhibit at the summit.

“The story we’re about to hear is near and dear to me. And it will be a powerful reminder of why we all make games and do what we do. So many of us in this room found our way into this industry, because of the incredible experiences that we’ve had, as players, timeless memories of adventures that we’ve had, ambitious challenges that we’ve set for ourselves to overcome,” Beck said. “In many cases, friendships, lifelong friendships, that we’ve built. A sense of belonging to the communities that we’ve been a part of. The list goes on and on. And the imprints of those experiences are why we do what we do to give those moments back to our friends, to our communities, and to the next generation of players. And this is the story of one player, a wonderful player who impacted and enriched the lives of millions of other players.”

Beck noted that Donaghey helped Riot Games test League of Legends.

While holding a pet dog for comfort, Technoblade’s dad said, “Hi. I’m Technoblade’s dad. He wrote a message and he asked me to read it to you. Hello nerds. Technoblade here. If you are watching this, I am dead.” It was perhaps the most moving message I have seen from any creator.

Another member of the academy board said that it was a reminder to game developers why they do what they do. Donaghey noted it was five years since he last spoke on a stage. He noted how Hypixel started in 2013 as a Minecraft server.

Now, over 50% of all Minecraft players have played Hypixel. Many famous players like Ninja, Captain Sparkles and Dennis “Thresh” Fong went through the server to play Hypixel’s game. Technoblade became the No. 1 fan.

And one of the outcomes was that Technoblade slew most of them. The phrase “Technoblade never dies” became a meme. His videos on YouTube got millions of views.

But one day he found his right arm was starting to hurt, and his shoulder was starting to sweat. He went to the doctor and then told his audience, “They told me the reason my arm hurts is because I have cancer.” He slowed down the rate at which he made videos. Hypixel didn’t know what to do because they didn’t even know Hypixel’s identity. They found a clue and realized that they had found Alex, and he had passed. More time went by and then Donaghey eventually spoke with Technoblade’s mother.

“And the crazy thing about that is that she was the one who comforted me in the moment,” Donaghey said.

Then they began finding out more about the family, and they were preparing a video to tell the news about Alex. That video is embedded here.

Speaking through his father, Alex said, “So let’s sit down and have one final chat. My real name is Alex. I have one of my siblings call me Dave one time and a deleted video from 2016. And it was one of the most successful [videos] we’ve ever done…. Sorry for selling out so much in the past year. But thanks to everyone who bought hoodies, plushies and channel memberships, my siblings are going to college. Well, if they want to, I don’t want to put any dead brother peer pressure. But that’s all for me. Thank you all for supporting my content over the years. If I had another 100 lives, I think I would choose to be Technoblade again every single time as those were the happiest years of my life. I hope you guys enjoyed my content. And that I mean, some of you laugh. And I hope you all go on to live long, prosperous and happy lives. Because I love you guys.”

His father said to Technoblade, “You’ve done so much for so many people, millions of people and if you want to now you can rest. If you want to write one last one last video and you’re waiting for things to get a little better. Then I would say don’t wait. I don’t think things are going to get any better anymore. It seems like they reached in and he asked for my laptop and then he wrote a few paragraphs I don’t think he said everything he wanted to say. I think he got the main ones finished.”

He died about eight hours later.

After the final video ran, at the end of two weeks, there were 430,000 messages left for the family in a book inside Minecraft.

“We had expected a lot. But that was much more than we could ever have imagined,” Donaghey said. “We formed a volunteer group to moderate all the messages. Dozens signed up.”

Then they collected all the messages and put them in 21 Bible-size books. They were all at the Dice Summit’s arcade room, on display. When I saw them, I had tears streaming down my face, as it reminded me that my own mother had died and I had received so many condolences from game industry friends.

Donaghey said, “Because players are just amazing. Out of all industries, we are allowed to have unique relationships and a unique conversation that can last a lifetime…. Those aren’t just books, they’re unique. They’re special. They’re artifacts, the physical embodiment of what this talk was about.”