The Cyno Is Now Lit

I wound up on r/eve last night reading a post from Katia Sae, the CEO of Signal Cartel. As often happens in a game nearly 20 years old, a player died in real life and the leadership of a player group needed to handle the final details of a players life in a virtual world. 

In EVE Online, players remember the real world dead with a tradition known as a cyno vigil:

Funeral rites are a long-standing tradition in MMORPGs, where player avatars gather together to show respect to fallen friends and enemies alike. In EVE, the tradition often involves what is called a “cyno vigil.” Groups of players gather in a set spot in ships equipped with a cynosural beacon. The in-game purpose of these beacons is to create a signal strong enough for massive capital-class vessels to use as navigation beacons, like a lighthouse shining into a dark night, showing the way home. These beacons ignite the liquid ozone stored in a ship’s hold to create a fire in space visible from light years away, creating a candle blazing in the darkness.

Sometimes hundreds of individual players attend these funerals, each adding their own candle flame to the vigil.

Mourners also attend after equipping their ships with harmless firework launchers, creating dazzling displays of color and noise. These players prefer to express their respects and grief with celebration and extravagance. Some even go as far as to offer their own vessels as a sacrifice in memoriam, either asking their attendees to destroy their ship, or self destructing them in viking-esque rituals.

A poem also exists to commemorate the passing of a player.

Eyes forward, capsuleer, the cyno is not yet lit. 

Consider your modules, your rigs and ammo before you undock, for the cyno is not yet lit. 

Break free of the station and witness the universe before you, For the cyno is not yet lit. 

Set your ship to fly through the vastness while you wait, For the cyno is not yet lit. 

Pay attention, capsuleer, for those who have gone before you call for you to join them. The cyno is now lit.

Perhaps ironically, the first search result on YouTube for They Cyno Is Not Yet Lit points to Katia Sae's channel.

For the cyno vigil for Zinov, a player who succumbed to kidney cancer on 11 October, the Signal Cartel fleet will depart the Zoohen III - Theology Council Tribunal at 1800 EVE time on Sunday, 6 November. The fleet will make its way to the Fallen Capsuleer Memorial at Molea II, Moon 1 for the can placement ceremony. As the fleet doctrine will be Signal's signature (at least in my time in the corp) hugs fleet, attendees should bring lots of fireworks. Afterwords, the fleet will wind up at Assez X - Moon 1 to hold a cyno vigil.