The Grand Theft Auto V role playing community is often hailed for the drama and hilarious debacles that arise between its players – but the death of a Brazilian YouTuber brought out a different side of the game’s playerbase, altogether.
Brazilian YouTuber and Twitch streamer Thiago Guilherme, known online as ‘Futebolista,’ tragically passed away at the young age of 16 after being hospitalized for several days.
Futebolista reportedly suffered from a condition that affected his muscles, and hoped to reach 100,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel before his passing.
With this in mind, members of the Brazilian GTA RP community began a campaign to help the young player reach his goal – but that wasn’t the only tribute they paid the ‘Soccer Player,’ by far.
After receiving news of his passing, the community of his server came out en masse in a touching tribute to the youngster, dressing their characters in black and collectively walking down the streets with hands held up in peace signs, while one streamer sang a rendition of Jeff Buckley’s ‘Hallelujah.’
A friend of Futbolista, Gabriel ‘Random Gamer’ Lopes, likewise paid tribute to the player, compiling an emotional video of his gaming moments with the help of another community member in remembrance of the youngster.
Even English fans were touched by the Brazilian playerbase’s memorial, with Reddit commenters finding themselves surprisingly moved by their in-game tribute after a clip of the stream went viral.
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates on Esports, Gaming and more.
“How is this making me tear up?” one commenter asked. “I don’t even know the guy. Bless this RP community.”
“Things like this really do give me hope in humanity,” another wrote.
This wouldn’t be the first time an online community has come together in support of another streamer, either; in early April, a few good-hearted viewers came to the defense of a streamer who was being bullied due to a facial birth defect, which ended up raising the broadcaster enough money for a new streaming PC.
Despite the well-documented vitriol often spewed by random internet groups, the Brazilian GTA V RP community shone a heartwarming light in the midst of a heart-wrenching tragedy.
