Drama is an interesting thing. I have done little in the face of discussing GamerGate (Don't turn away, that's not focus point of this article. I promise!) beyond what I said around the matter before it was even a very public matter. I don't read up on it daily, but its a topic that still has my attention and from time to time I end up losing hours into reading about it, because I'm fascinated and upset with how the drama and varying philosophies work behind it, and what it means for our gaming culture. Then something occurred that halted everything about that vacuum of an attention grabber. At least 5 tabs I was getting around over the subject were going around when I totally stopped caring about it because reality slammed into my face. Its the sort of topic that hits you and reminds you of just how silly you are for getting this wrapped up over drama within (sorry for the upcoming crude term:) nerd culture. I went to destructoid and and found this. Please read it all before you continue reading mine, its far better than what I can hope to accomplish with my own article. I still feel so personally moved though that I need to contribute something here. I don't usually cover a subject like this, but I feel staying quiet would be a disservice considering all the work this person has done, and how great it felt to watch his work.
Kitty0706 was an amazing video maker. He was into animation, and was among the first to popularize the use of Garry's Mod (or Gmod) as a tool for such a medium, essentially spending hours puppeteering ragdolls, and crafting limited audio into finely tuned comedic stories. Gmod machinima was certainly a big step up in the general Machinima area, and before Valve produced official tools it pretty much became the go-to area for turning games into movies for PC gamers. So in complete honesty, he deserves to be remembered as a pioneer for this whole art. It was hard work, but it had a high payoff considering the laughter it could get. I remember around when I was in school watching Kitty's videos and similar machinma, often alongside my sister. His video "heavy goes bowling" was probably one of the first I've seen in Gmod driven comedy, and it was hilarious. I found out about The idiots of Gmod, and The Idiot box (don't get those names confused) from there. It was a gateway into an area of comedy I still look forward to seeing today. Even though I knew a bit about the game itself, each time I watched these it always inspired me to run back in and enjoy the game itself some more. Heck I could say the same about Team Fortress 2. Gmod's area practically turned TF2 into a community driven cartoon series based loosely on what Valve offered us with their pre-built rules and characteristics, and that kept people not only entertained and coming back to the videos, but it kind of gave the games themselves more value and gave us more reason to enjoy them. It was in large part thanks to Kitty, and videos on something as weird as Heavy weapons guy going bowling. Of course there was more beyond that, in fact his greatest accomplishments were probably Mass Defect and Team Fabulous 2 which were both amazingly lengthy videos forming a huge story alongside countless well timed parodies. I'm pretty sure when I actually started completely using my youtube account, his channel was one of the first I subscribed to. He took his time making content, but whenever a new one showed up it just made a whole day even better and was worth any amount of waiting.
The extra shocking part was when this event revealed his age. Its not only another sad case of someone going way too young, but it struck me a little harder to hear he was actually within the same generation as me. He was born in the same year, and actually quite some months younger. While the most I contribute to society is these blog articles nobody reads, he was out there making Youtube comedy gold at what must been at least the age of 15. That's just incredible to sit and think about, and its equally as shocking to know it happened around the same timeline as I was sitting through. While I was in high school, spent my free time casually, he was uploading grand achievements that pioneered an entire area of comedy through video games. That kind of accomplishment is inspiring on the level of thinking someone can do that much at such a young and busy age, but its also sad to know that he wasn't given the fair life time to continue moving up and to take his ambitions to a more professional level (assuming that's what he wanted to do). He seemed to be ready to not only continue making amazing comedy through new and old gaming means, but he had ambitions to tackle other formats of animation as well. Its kind of terrifying and sad to the point of shiver and tears when someone this ambitious just leaves so soon. Its the sort of sadness and terror that evokes strong emotions one rarely should ever feel. However there is one stronger emotion than that, and this particular artist had the will and power to bring it out in everyone: Laughter. Laughter cheers us up in practically any situation. It distracts us from our fears, our sorrows, or just our rough day, and it will make good days even better. I read a comment on how one of Kitty's hilarious videos actually brought a family closer together because of its humor, and I can truly believe Kitty's work had the power to do such great things. That's why I'm going to link the previously mentioned video (heavy goes bowling) below at the very end of this article (and in a real link to, its not the type of thing that should be lazily watched on this page). The news of his passing is grave and sad news, but I doubt he'd want us to just be sad. He was an animator, and artists, and a comedian. He wanted his work to bring joy to people, and he was very successful. He may have gone early, but he still left a good mark, and I think that's what we should all really appreciate.
Thank you for all the laughs, inspiration, and joy Kitty0706. You put a lot of hard work into some great and hilarious videos that generations from now will likely still be enjoying. If anyone has yet to see his work, or just wants to re-watch them I'd suggest starting with Heavy goes bowling. His channel contains many other good videos worth watching.
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