On February 4 this year, Jackson “Casua1ty” Gray, one of the head organisers behind the Sydney Gamers League, passed away suddenly.

　　The Sydney Gamers League (SGL) is one of the largest and longest-running LAN events in the Australian gaming scene. Its last event, hosted in February 2012, saw 500 gamers gather together with their PCs to take part in more than 24 hours of gaming alongside the 48-hour Sydney Game Jam.

　　Jackson became well known within the LAN community, and helped grow SGL from a local LAN party to an event that saw gamers travel from across Australia and New Zealand to attend. His friend Alex “dippa” Walker has written an open letter as a tribute.

　　Dear Jackson Gray,

　　I know you will never get to read this letter. I'm writing it anyway, because there are things that I never got to say to you, things that you deserved to hear and things that others should know.

　　We first met in 2008 when I was running tournaments for the World Cyber Games national finals in Australia. There had been a call out for volunteers and you put your hand up, as you always did.

　　Anything that needed doing, you were happy to do. You were a gamer that wanted to help other gamers.

　　Anyone that saw the direction the Sydney Gamers League took under your leadership with the equally wonderful Chris Hailes--who misses you terribly--saw that for themselves.

　　I know what going to LANs is like. You rock up, play in a competition if you are so inclined, have a poke around, talk to your friends, and go home. Sometimes you’d have fun. That was always the case when you were running the show.

　　It will be hard going to other events and not being able to randomly play Mario Kart on the N64, abuse my mates over table tennis, or stand in a line with a hundred other people for a hard-drive tossing competition.

　　At SGL, that was all possible. I don’t know why it wasn't a bigger thing before. Maybe others did it first, but it almost became the central characteristic of SGL. I liked going because I knew I could have fun. I thought that was no longer a certainty at LANs.

　　You never discriminated among gamers, a trait that’s all too common. Look at the divide between console and PC. RTS and FPS. MOBA and, well, anything else. It’s like everybody has to compete against each other, all the time. But you were always happy to extend a hand of friendship, offer advice, or move boxes if necessary.

　　It didn’t always work out, and I think that’s one of the reasons I was so fond of you. You made mistakes, as we all do, but I don’t know many other people who copped quite as much flak. Some of those mistakes were large, but you never shied away from your responsibility. You took it on the chin, moved on and continued doing your best.

　　There are so few people willing to do that. In eSports, gaming, the world. Nobody likes being embarrassed, but you never saw it as anything other than an opportunity.

　　Reaching the heights you did never changed the way you went about it. It’s easy to be a pariah as a volunteer. It’s much easier to let that go when people are coming to you for help, asking for advice and all the other trappings associated with being part of the “in” crowd. But that was never you.

　　I never got to tell you this, but meeting you helped me remember the kind of person I was and want to be. I've come across more shady personalities than I would have ever expected; maybe the internet just means we meet a lot more people than we used to. But being enveloped in a world of darkness leaves a mark, and it’s only once you meet someone so honest, incorruptible, and decent that you realise the changes within yourself.

　　I was able to see those changes because of you; I became a happier person because of you. Thank you Jackson, my friend.