Near, creator of BSNES emulator, dies following sustained hate and harassment campaign

Near, the person behind the highly accurate SNES emulator BSNES has posted what appears to be suicide statements on Twitter and it is now believed that he may in fact be dead.

I hope that he is not dead as its horrible to think he was bullied about being autistic and non binary till the point he felt he couldn't carry on.

I thought as his work on keeping a chunk of video game history alive was massive and helps our hobby it would be worth talking about this and at the worst just put something up in his memory.

This is dreadfully sad, kerr. I wasn't familiar with Near myself but I've just read an article on Nintendo Life and it seems that they were a talented person.

Online bullying and harassment is, obviously, a terrible thing and it's clear that some people just don't seem to realise the damage that their words can do. Or, worse, they do realise and continue to do it anyway.

jawaX wrote:This is dreadfully sad, kerr. I wasn't familiar with Near myself but I've just read an article on Nintendo Life and it seems that they were a talented person.

Online bullying and harassment is, obviously, a terrible thing and it's clear that some people just don't seem to realise the damage that their words can do. Or, worse, they do realise and continue to do it anyway.

I just couldn't believe it was connected to a website where people basically plan out how to bully people collectively and try to push them to have breakdowns , where they see it as a bonus if they can get someone to kill themselves its just so sick that somewhere like that exists.

Just read the google doc in the same article, it seems a close friend has confirmed their passing.

Truly horrific news. I can't say I knew much about them as a person, but their work on BSNES was incredible.

I made the mistake of googling the group they mentioned, naturally no good came from it. These are some genuinely sick people.

I was reading about this earlier. I think it's deeply upsetting that so many people went out of their way to bully Near, who was by all accounts a kind, gentle person. It's horrifying how common it is to harass people simply for being neurodivergent, trans/nonbinary, or otherwise being perceived as "different". It sounds like there was a community of people dedicated to harassing them for no reason other than being "weird" and I think that's a very frightening and depressing thought. It would drive anyone to despair.

The particular bullies Near was dealing with are extremists motivated by bigotry, but even everyday "non-extreme" people can treat others horribly sometimes, particularly online. I often see people go out of their way to laugh at someone or dismiss something they're going through or struggling with. Sometimes you can see why people get angry online, but this is different - it's not losing your temper, it's deliberate cruelty. Bullies truly disgust me. I have no time for people who harass and are cruel to others. There's absolutely no excuse for it - it costs you absolutely nothing to be considerate of others' feelings.

I was reading about this earlier and it’s such a sad story, seems linked to some thread on a site called K*wif*rms which I had never even heard of before. I had a look on there and it’s disgusting, posts wishing this Near take their own life and they count it as a +1 death for the site, how can such a site be allowed to exist? It’s a collection of vile human beings and they have pushed someone to death, surely that can’t be allowed to continue?

Karl_ wrote:...even everyday "non-extreme" people can treat others horribly sometimes, particularly online...

True, Karl, and I suspect it's because, through its setup, online commentary is so quick and easy to participate in; and it's often faceless and with little chance of any comeback. It's an ideal situation for bullies.

You have to be so careful and, of course, this is even tougher for folk who are contending with additional challenges.

ITSMILNER wrote:I was reading about this earlier and it’s such a sad story, seems linked to some thread on a site called K*wif*rms which I had never even heard of before. I had a look on there and it’s disgusting, posts wishing this Near take their own life and they count it as a +1 death for the site, how can such a site be allowed to exist? It’s a collection of vile human beings and they have pushed someone to death, surely that can’t be allowed to continue?

The site should be shut down and where possible to identify individuals, arrest and charge people for committing hate crimes.

Its about time this kind of gooseberry fool was properly dealt with.

Feel a bit sick learning about all of this. Some people are completely twisted.

This is an article about a big life ambition for him translating bahamut-lagoon, he tried multiple times but finally finished it not that long ago.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/bvxezw/ ... mut-lagoon

It kind of got a tear out of me, one of my mums life long ambitions was to hand rear an African Grey Parrot, she started doing this just before her death and asked me to finish hand rearing him for her. I guess I am glad at least he got to see out the thing he wanted to do.

I wasn't aware of the creator, but I know the emulator. It's pretty good.

Reading more into this, it's absolutely horrific. There are some complete scum out there. Seemingly, it's not the first time they've succeeded in doing this to someone.

I literally feel sick, this is absolutely horrendous! We all know how savage the internet can be, but how is it possible websites like this can be allowed to exist?!

The Doom Spoon wrote:I literally feel sick, this is absolutely horrendous! We all know how savage the internet can be, but how is it possible websites like this can be allowed to exist?!

I have no idea how this sort of website can exist it just doesn't seem right. Add on to that the fact that funding for charities connected to anti bullying/ help with bullying has dropped. I used to work for a charity called beat bullying which existed to help kids who were being bullied and despite the fact it was proved that its existence helped lower bullying in UK schools it had all its funding pulled and died.

It just seems like hate is growing and outlets for it are getting bigger

I hate people.

I'm autistic and pansexual/queer and this gooseberry fool is horrendous.

I am utterly disgusted and devastated this has happened to anyone, never mind someone like me.

Actually, I'm making this a sticky to help raise awareness for the targeting of vulnerable groups and subsequent dire mental health consequences.

Green Gecko wrote:I'm autistic and pansexual/queer and this gooseberry fool is horrendous.

I am utterly disgusted and devastated this has happened to anyone, never mind someone like me.

Actually, I'm making this a sticky to help raise awareness for the targeting of vulnerable groups and subsequent dire mental health consequences.

Thank you for making this a sticky

From what I heard they were getting bullied on something called kiwi forums or whatever for being non binary and since they already had a lot of personal issues to deal with it pushed them over the edge. Truly strawberry floating sickening to hear of this kind of gooseberry fool still happening.

It really made me feel a deep sorrow when I read it as I can just see some common ground between me and him. I am Autistic, yeah I might not be non binary or bi, im a straight white dude but when he mentions in stuff having no real friends in life only online friends I know how he feels. My life friend wise is my other half, my dad and my daughter, then I have people I get on with at work and people online that I like , and I very very very occasionally see the odd old friend from school but mostly im quiet a solitary person, I also have poured myself very very much into online based projects like trying to do my 150 snes reviews and such. I have also been pretty heavily bullied at times, I guess this guys death just really hits home for lots of little reasons.

Jesus, bsnes was a revelation in terms of software emulation accuracy and game preservation.

Such a shame.

Is this the same person I've seen online go by byuu?

Johnny Ryall wrote:Jesus, bsnes was a revelation in terms of software emulation accuracy and game preservation.

Such a shame.

Is this the same person I've seen online go by byuu?

Yes, their pseudonym was changed a few years ago.

Very sad news, I would read their blog & forums sometimes for the technical posts, was an inspiration.

Near, creator of BSNES emulator, dies following sustained hate and harassment campaign

Who is online

Affiliates