SNES Emulator Creator "Near" Dead of Suicide

[Bobby Barrows]

The Brilliant SNES Emulator Author Known As Near Has Died

The author of bsnes and higan, Near consistently pushed emulation's state of the art

www.google.com

The brilliant, highly respected emulator developer Near (previously known as Byuu) appears to have taken their own life.

Concerns first arose yesterday evening, when the famously private programmer tweeted a photo of themselves followed by a string of messages suggesting suicidal intent.

Then, early this morning, well-known security consultant and hacker Hector “Marcan” Martin shared a Google document (content warning: contains explicit details) said to be authored by a real-life friend of Near’s, which is widely being accepted as proof of their death.

Writing in their Twitter thread, Near, who identified as nonbinary, recounted a lifelong history of abuse at the hands of bullies, which continued online over the years and more recently became centralized around notorious internet cyberbullying hub Kiwi Farms.

Near wrote:

"But Kiwi Farms has made the harassment orders of magnitude worse. It’s escalated from attacking me for being autistic, to attacking and doxing my friends, and trying to suicide bait another, just to get a reaction from me. I lost one of my best friends to this. I feel responsible

The internet is not a game. It’s real life. I’m a real person. This stuff really hurts. I poured my entire life into this. I have no real-life friends, I have no other reason for being. Only this. And now I have nothing.

It’s too late for me, but I pray that someone, at some point, will do something about that website. There’s too many people suffering, and no one seems to care because we are relative nobodies online, and they know that. Evil triumphs when good men do nothing."

Near rose to prominence in 2004 with the creation of bsnes (later renamed higan), which quickly grew to become the single most accurate emulator of Nintendo’s 16-bit Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Near famously scanned some 1,200 Super Nintendo games, down to their circuit boards, in pursuit of long-term preservation and truly cycle-accurate emulation that covered all possible edge cases.

More recently, they were in the news for releasing a much-improved translation of Square’s 1996 Super Famicom RPG Bahamut Lagoon.

The National Suicide Prevention Hotline in the U.S. is available 24 hours a day at 1-800-273-8255. A list of international suicide hotlines can be found here.

This kills me inside. A normal human being harassed to the point of finding taking their own life to be the only way out. It disgusts me, shocks me, and makes me angered. It didn't matter if they were non-binary, or autistic, or even furry. They were a real person. A real person with real feelings. The internet isn't a game. You're not speaking to some faceless person. You're talking to a real human being. Maybe there will come a day when justice can be done for these victims of hate.

Rest in peace, Near. We won't forget you.

 

[RDK]

*warning* difficult read

Post in thread 'Byuu / byuu_nyan / setsunakun0' https://kiwifarms.net/threads/byuu-byuu_nyan-setsunakun0.43056/post-9313342

This was his offer to the owner of Kiwifarms which after several unanswered emails he gave up on . Kf guy gonna face a stiff backlash I would presume for the wider media.

 

[Bobby Barrows]

Reading some of those comments I just had to close it.

 

[Lady Redfield]

Holy shit

the internet is such a haven for fucking assholes. It’s really become a regular thing to be a piece of shit with ease because we are all hiding behind computers and mobiles, safely in our homes. Back in the day, it was a fucking beat down if you said this shit face to face, people didn’t do it much. Now, my god, it’s the easiest thing someone can do.

I love the internet for its information and entertainment, but, I hate it for what’s it’s made society become, just super comfortable being a piece of shit.

RIP