Fri, Aug 07, 2009 | 16:38 BST
Tim Guest: UK virtual worlds writer dead at 34
Tim Guest, author and Second Lifer, has died of heart-failure at the age of 34.
Guest was a contributor to Martin Stanford’s 7pm program on Sky News,and part of Rivers Run Red who built the Sky News Second Life island.
He wrote loads about the appeal of virtual worlds in Second Lives: A Journey Through Virtual Worlds which was widely acclaimed as realistic and honest dissertation of the realities and potential of Second Life and other virtual environments.
His writing helped ordinary people understand online games and virtual communities, breaking down the barriers and allowing a bit more understanding of the subject.
There’s more over on Massively and Sky News.
Thanks, BraveArse.
10 
Posted in: Journalism, MMO, UK
Tags: second life, sky news, tim guest
10 comments
#1
Psychotext
07/08/09, 3:33 pm
Jesus. I suddenly feel like booking a doctor’s appointment.
#2
Robster1979
07/08/09, 3:33 pm
Heart failure at 34…. thats some bad shit.
#3
Robster1979
07/08/09, 3:35 pm
Not a good advert for sitting at a computer all day.
I’m sure there must have been some underlying issue tho, generally people just dont drop dead so young.
#4
Redh3lix
07/08/09, 3:40 pm
Damn that’s young. R.I.P
#5
No_PUDding
07/08/09, 3:42 pm
And with him, goes faith in virtual worlds.
Hopefully an analogy for the short lived time all virtual worlds stayed popular!
#6
Retroid
07/08/09, 3:53 pm
Bloody hell, that’s too young
#7
Mike
07/08/09, 4:03 pm
Terrible. My thoughts are with family.
#8
No_PUDding
07/08/09, 4:11 pm
It won’t have just been as it appears, I am sure. The guy must have ahd other problems. Anyway, yeah, thoguhts with the family etc. But I didn’t know the guy.
Just the age is shocking.
#9
Syrok
07/08/09, 4:28 pm
There are plenty of ways to die young without any noticeable issues beforehand sadly.
Link
Link
#10
BraveArse
07/08/09, 6:33 pm
Yup – a friend of my partner’s died in his sleep of heart failure when he was 30 a couple of years ago. He had no problems whatsoever, he was, in fact, quite fit and very active. Just turned out he had a congenital flaw that had never been pushed before – somehow something happened which pushed it over the edge.
Of course staying fit obviously reduces your risk of heart problems severely but it doesn’t put you in a bubble of invincibility or anything. There’s still always *some* risk.
A real shame, it must be a terrible shock for his family.