For Precarious.
A friend of mine died today.
Her name was Saoirse Farley, but to me, she will always be Precarious. I met her by that name online, many years ago, when I was running the BioShock 2 ARG. From the beginning, when I only knew her as text on a message board, I could feel her fire – her burning desire to not just live life to the fullest but to devour the world and savor every single moment of it. She was passionate about what she did: in this case, it was the BioShock community. I actually truly believe she is the number one fan of the game in the entire world.
Precarious became a volunteer moderator on the 2K forums and over the following months, combined with her avid work on the ARG I masterminded, I got to know her very, very well. I was thrilled by her excitement and fascination with the project that was consuming my life. But my relationship to Pre was more than that of a company spokesperson and a superfan: I not only got to watch her grow as a person but form deep, lifelong friendships with other people in the BioShock community.
When people ask me what I love most about my job, I say that it’s interacting with the community. As a community spokesperson, you might think this is an obvious and boring answer – but you’ve never met the 2K forumites. You’ve never met Precarious. Hands down, without a doubt, the thing I am most proud of in my career is that I was able to create something that brought those people together and allowed their friendships to blossom and grow. It’s not every day that people meet and bond on a level where you would call someone a best friend. Friendship like that is a rare and truly precious gem of a thing. I get to do something with my life that can help such a friendship form. That is awe-inspiring to me. Precarious, and by extension the close-knit group of BioShock fans she befriended, are the reason I do what I do.
I first met Precarious in person at PAX Prime in Seattle. She was dressed as a Little Sister and she looked fantastic and creepy as hell. I remember her being so sweet to me at the first Splicers Unite, when I was sick as a dog and it was freezing cold and raining. I remember worrying about her during the last phase of the Something in the Sea ARG: she’d gone up to Harlem to pick up a clue, but was a day late for the event (her roommate gave her the clue late, but I digress). That day, it was also raining (how is it always raining with you, Pre?) and the neighborhood wasn’t exactly the best. But because that community was the goddamned best in the world, someone on the forums found out where she was and drove up into Harlem to help her out and bring her safely home. I remember the amazing lengths she went to in order to go to the grand finale of SITS: you see, she lived in NYC and was scheduled to fly to London for vacation, but the finale was being held a day or two before she was set to leave and the event was in San Francisco. Pre was crazy enough to fly out for that final event, all the way from NYC to SF, then back to NYC a day later and then onward to London. Mind you, she had NO IDEA what this grand finale event was. But that’s the kind of person she was: her life was a huge adventure, and she went wherever the rollercoaster took her.
I remember where I was when Pre told me she had brain cancer. But illness couldn’t slow her down. Even when she was too weak to walk, she was rocking out at PAX Prime in a wheelchair, having drinks with me and being the same sassy firecracker that I’d grown to adore. I admired her grit. I respected her willfulness. I loved that she looked at all the hardships and trials she faced and screamed back at them, very loudly, “FUCK YOU.”
In 2012, I had the pleasure of arranging the dinner where her boyfriend proposed to her. Gareth contacted me on Facebook and asked me to help make a memorable evening since Pre was such a huge BioShock fan. Working with a crew who regarded Pre as I do – friend first, superfan second – we arranged a candlelit dinner culminating in Sander Cohen bringing her a plasmid with a ring nestled in the bottle. We filmed the whole thing, too, and it’s still online here.
There’s a hollow place in my chest now where Precarious used to live. It’s difficult to explain how important she was to me – this crazy spitfire girl who loved BioShock so fiercely. She was a crackling, pulsing ball of energy and laughter. She was a defiant spirit who made the world a brighter and crazier place to be. Precarious was vibrant. Precarious was vivacious. Precarious was an unstoppable force and she was absolutely delightful.
Saoirse, I cannot even come close to writing down how much I will miss you. You lived life from start to finish on your terms. I wish to god you’d stayed with us longer and I hope you are happy and at peace. I will never be able to tell you how much you meant to me and how knowing you changed not only the course of my life, but my outlook on it. Thank you for everything you gave this world. I love you.
Her name was Saoirse Farley, but to me, she will always be Precarious. I met her by that name online, many years ago, when I was running the BioShock 2 ARG. From the beginning, when I only knew her as text on a message board, I could feel her fire – her burning desire to not just live life to the fullest but to devour the world and savor every single moment of it. She was passionate about what she did: in this case, it was the BioShock community. I actually truly believe she is the number one fan of the game in the entire world.
Precarious became a volunteer moderator on the 2K forums and over the following months, combined with her avid work on the ARG I masterminded, I got to know her very, very well. I was thrilled by her excitement and fascination with the project that was consuming my life. But my relationship to Pre was more than that of a company spokesperson and a superfan: I not only got to watch her grow as a person but form deep, lifelong friendships with other people in the BioShock community.
When people ask me what I love most about my job, I say that it’s interacting with the community. As a community spokesperson, you might think this is an obvious and boring answer – but you’ve never met the 2K forumites. You’ve never met Precarious. Hands down, without a doubt, the thing I am most proud of in my career is that I was able to create something that brought those people together and allowed their friendships to blossom and grow. It’s not every day that people meet and bond on a level where you would call someone a best friend. Friendship like that is a rare and truly precious gem of a thing. I get to do something with my life that can help such a friendship form. That is awe-inspiring to me. Precarious, and by extension the close-knit group of BioShock fans she befriended, are the reason I do what I do.
I first met Precarious in person at PAX Prime in Seattle. She was dressed as a Little Sister and she looked fantastic and creepy as hell. I remember her being so sweet to me at the first Splicers Unite, when I was sick as a dog and it was freezing cold and raining. I remember worrying about her during the last phase of the Something in the Sea ARG: she’d gone up to Harlem to pick up a clue, but was a day late for the event (her roommate gave her the clue late, but I digress). That day, it was also raining (how is it always raining with you, Pre?) and the neighborhood wasn’t exactly the best. But because that community was the goddamned best in the world, someone on the forums found out where she was and drove up into Harlem to help her out and bring her safely home. I remember the amazing lengths she went to in order to go to the grand finale of SITS: you see, she lived in NYC and was scheduled to fly to London for vacation, but the finale was being held a day or two before she was set to leave and the event was in San Francisco. Pre was crazy enough to fly out for that final event, all the way from NYC to SF, then back to NYC a day later and then onward to London. Mind you, she had NO IDEA what this grand finale event was. But that’s the kind of person she was: her life was a huge adventure, and she went wherever the rollercoaster took her.
I remember where I was when Pre told me she had brain cancer. But illness couldn’t slow her down. Even when she was too weak to walk, she was rocking out at PAX Prime in a wheelchair, having drinks with me and being the same sassy firecracker that I’d grown to adore. I admired her grit. I respected her willfulness. I loved that she looked at all the hardships and trials she faced and screamed back at them, very loudly, “FUCK YOU.”
In 2012, I had the pleasure of arranging the dinner where her boyfriend proposed to her. Gareth contacted me on Facebook and asked me to help make a memorable evening since Pre was such a huge BioShock fan. Working with a crew who regarded Pre as I do – friend first, superfan second – we arranged a candlelit dinner culminating in Sander Cohen bringing her a plasmid with a ring nestled in the bottle. We filmed the whole thing, too, and it’s still online here.
There’s a hollow place in my chest now where Precarious used to live. It’s difficult to explain how important she was to me – this crazy spitfire girl who loved BioShock so fiercely. She was a crackling, pulsing ball of energy and laughter. She was a defiant spirit who made the world a brighter and crazier place to be. Precarious was vibrant. Precarious was vivacious. Precarious was an unstoppable force and she was absolutely delightful.
Saoirse, I cannot even come close to writing down how much I will miss you. You lived life from start to finish on your terms. I wish to god you’d stayed with us longer and I hope you are happy and at peace. I will never be able to tell you how much you meant to me and how knowing you changed not only the course of my life, but my outlook on it. Thank you for everything you gave this world. I love you.
9 Comments on "For Precarious. "
-Reborn