Father of Technoblade, YouTube Minecraft Star Says his Son Has Died
He read his son's last message on the YouTube channel where the 20-something had entertained over 11 million users with Minecraft gameplay and wry commentary. The titlewas "so long nerds."
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By Amanda Holpuch
Technoblade, a YouTube personality that gained millions of followers with his humorous comments on videos of him playing Minecraft, has passed away, his father announced via a video uploaded to his son's YouTube account.
Technoblade's Minecraft gameplay was watched by more than 11 million users. He provided commentary on camera. While he usually focused on the action in the game, in some videos, he described things that are as routine as visiting the D.M.V. Or as devastating as a cancer diagnosis.
A video entitled "so long nerds" that was uploaded to Technoblade's YouTube channel on Thursday and has been watched more than 26 million times as of Friday afternoon, was a departure from the channel's typical style of colorful bricks that are pixelated. Instead the man who identified himself as Technoblade's father appears in a chair with a stark white background with a small white dog in his lap.
His father, who doesn't reveal his name is reading a message from his son that begins: "Hello, everyone. Technoblade is here. You can see me dead in this video if you're watching it.
The message continues to reveal Technoblade’s first name, Alex. He didn’t use it online. A few photos of Alex and his family are also included in the video. He rarely showed himself in YouTube videos and preferred to present himself as a crowned sword-wielding porcine avatar.
"If I had another hundred lives I'm sure I'd choose to be Technoblade again every single time," Alex's letter says. "Those were the most joyful years of my entire life."
His father, who is emotional throughout the video, says that he and his son argued for months about whether or not to make the final video. His father claims that Alex wrote the letter and died eight hours later.
"I don't think he's was able to say everything he wanted say, but I think he was able to get the most important points," he says.
The video ends with a letter that Alex's mother (who isn't identified) wrote. She wrote that her son avoided personal fame and was self-deprecating, even as his channel grew in popularity.
"From Technoblade's earliest online days, he was always strategizing ways to delight and reward his followers by giving away prizes online, encouraging good sportsmanship and, most importantly sharing his Minecraft adventures for fun and entertainment," she wrote.
Alex's family was not able to contact him on Friday. Hypixel, a gaming company that collaborated with Technoblade and Alex's family, confirmed that the family requested that inquiries for comment not be forwarded to them. "The video they posted contains all information they are confident about sharing at this point," Don Pireso, the chief administrator of the company, said in a Twitter direct message.
Alex first made public his diagnosis of cancer in a video that was posted on his channel in August. Like the others the video, it showed the game while he was speaking off camera. He retained his self-deprecating, humorous style, refusing to get too earnest. He also revealed his age at the time, 22.
In the video, he explained how the first round of chemotherapy left him exhausted to the point that he couldn't even get up to make a virtual appointment with a doctor. Then the comedian joked: "Sitting in a chair, am I Superman?"
He said he was diagnosed after experiencing serious pain in his arm. Although he initially dismissed the pain as a result of repetitive stress from playing video games, he later admitted that his shoulder was swelling up after several days of rest.
He also urged people to take the Covid-19 vaccine. He claimed that his cancer treatments have weakened his immune system, which made him more prone to serious illness caused by the coronavirus.
"I'm going to try and speak on behalf of all cancer patients when I say it is extremely annoying that hospitals are overloaded with patients dying from preventable diseases," he said in the video. "I'm just saying that we should have the right to have priority over those hospital beds.
Technoblade's fans, friends, and followers on social media have praised him for his humor, as well as his role as an example for Minecraft players.
Minecraft is different than other games in that its owner, Microsoft does not have control over the servers on which players can meet online. Instead, players are able to create their own servers and join others to form a vast network of worlds within the Minecraft universe.
Hypixel who manages a network of Minecraft servers, announced that it had created a digital book in which users could write messages, and they would be printed and sent out to Technoblade's family and friends. The tribute included a photo of Technoblade's pig avatar, as sculpture. "In many ways the success of many of us is dependent on Technoblade's success. Technoblade," the company said.