Remembering Geoff 'InControl' Robinson
2019-07-23
I shared this on Facebook for friends/family who won’t understand the connection you can have with someone like Geoff. Did my best to make sense of why it would matter. It felt good getting it out. I hope people here can relate and feel something with me.
I’m reflecting today on the sudden illness and death of 33yo Geoff “InControl” Robinson, a professional StarCraft player/commentator who I followed closely around 2010-2012. Professional gamers are an enormous part of the new world of live media, and their fame is as tied to their personality as their skill. InControl was one of these people, famous first as a person of incredible wit, charisma, and energy, with enormous exposure as a podcaster, commentator, team captain, spokesman, and more. He could also bench over 4 plates and measured weights in 100 lb increments he called “nerds”. He was a major influence in my decision to join a gym and take fitness seriously. He was also an avid debater at a time when structured debate fascinated to me. He was proof that gamer stereotypes were not relevant, and gaming could be a craft worth perfecting and not a black hole for one’s time.
To be clear, I didn’t know Geoff, but those who follow people like him will understand how extensively and easily you can come to know someone who routinely streams their everyday life for hours, webcam on their face, unscripted, with downtime between games full of casual conversation and daily living. It’s not celebrity worship, like it may sound. It’s more of an incidental one-sided friendship.
At StarCraft’s peak, I would wait for the State of the Game podcast’s live recording, which InControl dominated, and if I missed it, I’d listen for hours on my next daily commute. It’s been quite a few years since that time, but he’s been on my mind a lot lately. The video he released of his wedding was the first professionally produced wedding video I ever saw, and one I’ve thought of often as I now plan my own wedding. I’ve shown an occasional witty highlight of his to Hazel as they popped up over the years, good enough to appreciate despite her never following StarCraft. The day before he died, while totally unaware of his illness, I was describing some of his corporate sponsorship arrangements to coworkers over coffee.
It hurt a lot more than I would have guessed when I learned the news. Enough to feel the need to say something about him.
The video that convinced me to go to the gym: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHaDsqKZ-gM
The video I think of every time I think of wedding videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5syIH8zB4g
The last random amusing clip of him I showed Hazel, who does video production: https://clips.twitch.tv/NimblePleasantSheepMcaT
The gaming glasses I was talking about just the day before he died:
