Some people have done this here before when someone in the community passed away. I actually came across this by chance and don’t know if anyone posted this yesterday while aoezone was down, my apologies if so.
It comes as a shock to me to learn that Sletten passed away who was an old friend.
There may be some on here that might remember him, while some may not know who he was. It’s not completely my intention to write a eulogy, but there’s some things I’d like to say (add more like). It might help to give meaning to those who never knew him.
Sletten was part of a rare breed of players that one could only wish more existed. Not only was he in the top 10 at some point in hun wars mostly, he was also one of the friendliest strong players I came across. A dream combo. You didn’t have to be in his rating league to talk to him, and you didn’t have to work hard for his friendship.
I don’t know how many games we played but a friendship formed between us rather fast. Though we mostly played vs each other, we also spectated games together and talked a bit there. Then came a time when he became busy with life, I think he was gone 8 months or more and I never expected to see him again. One day he came back, he’d just send an invite to play, we’d play and talk briefly, and somehow within those moments it felt like no time passed at all. Which is very weird to me to this day because I never actually met him.
My fondest memory of him is certainly a 1v1 vs him. His rating must’ve been around 2380-2400, mine was probably somewhere around the low 2100 zone. When he was in shape, he was really on point so I was definitely in a “I don’t know how, but I’m going to take him down despite him being 300 points higher” kind of mode. But then during Dark Age, the worst thing happened. His scout ran within my tc range, I garrison all vills like a normal person would to kill it, but his scout survives and he steals all 4 of my sheeps from under my tc! Even sent a vill out to try and get them but it was too late. Slowly I feel the tilt creeping up, and then something happens. Sletten sends me back not 4 sheeps, but just 1. As if to say, “Well you tried to kill my sc and while I feel bad for stealing all your sheeps, you only get 1 back”. My reaction was simple, I just laughed and wrote 11 when it came into collection range. And then Sletten laughs back, which felt more like his point. He wanted to make me laugh and he executed it perfectly. Sletten knew how to troll in a good way. And then he was even better and within the next minute, he sent back the other 3 sheeps which he didn’t have to. That was unexpected and I don’t even remember now if I won that game or not. Those things he did are what I mostly remember and now all I really care about.
Something else I’d like to mention about Sletten is that he would never decline a rematch even sometimes to strange lengths. Some players got exhausted over 3 or 5 games and I get it, think a lot of players do, but sometimes Sletten was like a machine and could keep going. The strange part is while I forget who, I recall some player getting tilted vs him and starting to get rude. Sletten kept giving rematch after rematch and didn’t bad mouth him back. He didn’t cut out early either but just tolerated some disrespect. My interpretation of that was he preferred letting his play do the talking rather than his words, which is something I can only find the greatest respect for. Not just being a strong player but also a nice person who must’ve been somewhere in his early twenties back then is an incredible accomplishment to me. That’s stuff to be proud of.
That’s about all I wanted to say about Sletten. Thank you to anyone and everyone that took the time to read every word. The next part is something else that I feel like talking about as it may be appropriate. I thought I may as well add it here too. More about me.
I don’t know how many on here have dealt with the death of others they have known. I have lost another friend here around 10 years ago, William (Road), for those who also remember him. Even the past few months, there have been people IRL that I used to know that I have unfortunately come to learn have also passed away. People on a neighborhood I used to live in as a child for example. It’s strange because I felt like I never really understood death (I suppose as we are supposed to?) until my father passed away several years ago. I’ll be honest and say I didn’t have the best relationship with him.
So at first, I actually didn’t feel much of anything. But then within a year, suddenly something hit me, a certain thing of death. The never ending, infinite amount of nevers. Never can apologize to him, never can laugh with or at him, never can get angry at him, never can help him if he needs it, so on. Never can mend the relationship. It’s interesting how I went from more indifference to suddenly missing some things about him. And ironically I understand him more after his passing than I did in life. I’ve never seen death the same way afterwards. Someone who lost someone will be feeling the same amount of nevers if they think on it, and I always feel a little something after hearing about anyone who dies, whether I know them or not. I’ll always miss Sletten, and I’ll always treasure that game vs him since it is by far my fondest memory of him.
That is all I truly wanted to say. But if there is even one more thing I’d want to add very briefly, it’s that whenever our time is up, I can only hope it isn’t too painful for anyone and that in those final moments, we all see it was never an experience to truly fear. That’s at the very least, my wish for myself.
It comes as a shock to me to learn that Sletten passed away who was an old friend.
There may be some on here that might remember him, while some may not know who he was. It’s not completely my intention to write a eulogy, but there’s some things I’d like to say (add more like). It might help to give meaning to those who never knew him.
Sletten was part of a rare breed of players that one could only wish more existed. Not only was he in the top 10 at some point in hun wars mostly, he was also one of the friendliest strong players I came across. A dream combo. You didn’t have to be in his rating league to talk to him, and you didn’t have to work hard for his friendship.
I don’t know how many games we played but a friendship formed between us rather fast. Though we mostly played vs each other, we also spectated games together and talked a bit there. Then came a time when he became busy with life, I think he was gone 8 months or more and I never expected to see him again. One day he came back, he’d just send an invite to play, we’d play and talk briefly, and somehow within those moments it felt like no time passed at all. Which is very weird to me to this day because I never actually met him.
My fondest memory of him is certainly a 1v1 vs him. His rating must’ve been around 2380-2400, mine was probably somewhere around the low 2100 zone. When he was in shape, he was really on point so I was definitely in a “I don’t know how, but I’m going to take him down despite him being 300 points higher” kind of mode. But then during Dark Age, the worst thing happened. His scout ran within my tc range, I garrison all vills like a normal person would to kill it, but his scout survives and he steals all 4 of my sheeps from under my tc! Even sent a vill out to try and get them but it was too late. Slowly I feel the tilt creeping up, and then something happens. Sletten sends me back not 4 sheeps, but just 1. As if to say, “Well you tried to kill my sc and while I feel bad for stealing all your sheeps, you only get 1 back”. My reaction was simple, I just laughed and wrote 11 when it came into collection range. And then Sletten laughs back, which felt more like his point. He wanted to make me laugh and he executed it perfectly. Sletten knew how to troll in a good way. And then he was even better and within the next minute, he sent back the other 3 sheeps which he didn’t have to. That was unexpected and I don’t even remember now if I won that game or not. Those things he did are what I mostly remember and now all I really care about.
Something else I’d like to mention about Sletten is that he would never decline a rematch even sometimes to strange lengths. Some players got exhausted over 3 or 5 games and I get it, think a lot of players do, but sometimes Sletten was like a machine and could keep going. The strange part is while I forget who, I recall some player getting tilted vs him and starting to get rude. Sletten kept giving rematch after rematch and didn’t bad mouth him back. He didn’t cut out early either but just tolerated some disrespect. My interpretation of that was he preferred letting his play do the talking rather than his words, which is something I can only find the greatest respect for. Not just being a strong player but also a nice person who must’ve been somewhere in his early twenties back then is an incredible accomplishment to me. That’s stuff to be proud of.
That’s about all I wanted to say about Sletten. Thank you to anyone and everyone that took the time to read every word. The next part is something else that I feel like talking about as it may be appropriate. I thought I may as well add it here too. More about me.
I don’t know how many on here have dealt with the death of others they have known. I have lost another friend here around 10 years ago, William (Road), for those who also remember him. Even the past few months, there have been people IRL that I used to know that I have unfortunately come to learn have also passed away. People on a neighborhood I used to live in as a child for example. It’s strange because I felt like I never really understood death (I suppose as we are supposed to?) until my father passed away several years ago. I’ll be honest and say I didn’t have the best relationship with him.
So at first, I actually didn’t feel much of anything. But then within a year, suddenly something hit me, a certain thing of death. The never ending, infinite amount of nevers. Never can apologize to him, never can laugh with or at him, never can get angry at him, never can help him if he needs it, so on. Never can mend the relationship. It’s interesting how I went from more indifference to suddenly missing some things about him. And ironically I understand him more after his passing than I did in life. I’ve never seen death the same way afterwards. Someone who lost someone will be feeling the same amount of nevers if they think on it, and I always feel a little something after hearing about anyone who dies, whether I know them or not. I’ll always miss Sletten, and I’ll always treasure that game vs him since it is by far my fondest memory of him.
That is all I truly wanted to say. But if there is even one more thing I’d want to add very briefly, it’s that whenever our time is up, I can only hope it isn’t too painful for anyone and that in those final moments, we all see it was never an experience to truly fear. That’s at the very least, my wish for myself.