Just expressing my honest opinion here. It's always painful to lose a good friend, be it in real life or online. But sometimes people play this game to escape from RL, and not to be reminded about the losses they experience in RL. Now do you know for sure that 'The River' knows Spooky died because they might think he just went inactive. Not cool of them if they know he died and are still trying to annoy you but not cool of you as well to make em look so bad on the ext forums right now without hearing their end of the story. Just my opinion of course.
You make a good point about escapism.
I never "knew" Spookytooth, but I was an enemy of his on another server, although we never traded BP. From the eulogies posted here I understand he was a good player, and a good leader.
My alliance hasn't renamed itself temporarily. Personal choice, but sadly it seems Thebes is going through a lot of this at the moment. My thoughts are with the family and (RL) friends that he's left behind - they are the ones who've suffered a loss.
I wish people would remember that this is a war game. Terrible things happen in wars in RL. The outrage posted on this thread is laughable, except it's not really funny. I'd hate to meet some of these people in RL. From what I've heard, Spooky I would've had a pint with. May he Rest In Peace.