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Xander9009 died on 12/1/2019, at the age of 29.
His real name was Richard, and according to a post he made on 3/31/2015, his family calls him "Rick" or "Ricky". He is survived by his mother, father, brother and sister.

MasterXploder7 was able to contact a member of Richard's family. Although overwhelmed with sadness, they kindly gave him some some words for us to share on the forum.

Richard's sister said "I know he had worked on programs for years, he would spend countless nights up."
"...I want people to know that he was a beautiful soul. He was just fighting demons on the inside. Everyone can put on a front but please never think suicide is the answer because it isn't.
And yes you can tell them he died due to suicide.
And also don't let a temporary problem become a permanent solution."

She also said, on behalf of her parents "...they love and miss him very much as we all do. They have a lot to say but they don't know how to say it."

Richard's brother said "He was a great brother and a person that would help anyone."

He will be sorely missed.

Thank you, and goodbye, Richard.

Some details of Xander9009's time with SlightlyMagic:

His forum profile reads:
Location: Indiana, United States
Occupation: Programming Hobbyist
Interests: Coding, Modding
Real Name: Richard

He was the moderator of our Duels of the Planeswalkers forum, and I had given him the rank of "Programmer" not just because of his demonstrated proficiency but also because of his steady, meaningful contributions.

His first post was a bug report on June 29, 2013.

He last posted October 23, 2019, as always, helping and contributing.
viewtopic.php?f=109&t=15783&p=239790#p239790
In fact he was proven extraordinarily helpful and appreciated, being near the top of the first page of our 28 page "Thanks" list. People like that are what makes a forum a place worth coming to.

He wrote this introduction to the project he spent so much time on: https://sites.google.com/site/dotpcommu ... troduction
Of course, he thanks a list of people without mentioning his own name. If you look elsewhere on that site you will readily see the tremendous amount of work he put into it, for example https://sites.google.com/site/dotpcommu ... stallation.

His writing is thorough and clear. His humility is evident as he lays out the history of the project giving credit everywhere it is due, while taking none himself.

And here is a link to the Google Drive he kept updated: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... 0ZPZGNRR2M

Finally, this is important for me to share: We would never have known about this had not MasterXploder7 become concerned and done a lot of internet investigation.
MasterXploder7 told me "Xander's only trail was the name I saw in google drive. It was the only thing that lead me to any of this. Had he been any more secretive, we would be in the dark forever."

May we all have a friend like MasterXploder7. Thank you.

I am grateful to anyone who shares any memories they have of working with Xander9009.

HB

Xander has done so much for our community that it's difficult to single any one thing out. He was consistent and professional about it as well, almost like it was his profession. I know I took his presence for granted. I know I haven't thanked him (nor the rest of the community) enough for what has been provided in their work. I hope we could all give some form of heart-felt thanks and appreciation to the people who give us the fun that we experience from this site and that everyone would be able to come closer together. Thank you, Xander, for all your hard work, your dedication to the community and for just being you.

I remember Xander ever since I signed up for slightlymagic's board. Around that time, he had a dream of starting a community where coders can share their contributions and he asked for help. Even though I had never coded before, I was one of the first to offer my help since I loved the mod of DOTP2014. Since the Community Wad was a new project, there was much to do so I was happy to lend a hand with whatever I could. At first it was getting permission from other coders to put their cards in the community and make a few changes here and there to those cards. Afterwards, I tried my hand at coding. Even now I am not good at coding, I have learned a bit here and there from fixing cards that didn't work and "stitch" what I could looking at others contributions. Now the Community Wad is a great success with the hard work of Xander. He will be greatly missed by all.

I hope that heaven has a computer section.

migookman

Xander9009 was probably the modder who made DotP 2014 the most popular version of DotP (in the modding community at least). With the Community Wad he gathered everyone's contributions into a single place and made it simple for people to get and keep it updated. The entire community may have contributed to it and he thanked everyone no matter how large or small the contribution. It was his hard work that made it possible, through getting permission and including existing work, soliciting and organizing new contributions, as well as setting up the underlying infrastructure. He started out like we all did, not knowing how to mod, create decks, cards, and/or images, but through his hard work and diligence learned all that and more. He created dozens of scripts, function files, and even several sub-systems of his own. He contributed thousands of cards to the Community Wad both as an author and as an editor fixing bugs and mechanics.

When I first heard of the possibility of his death I was both shocked and alarmed wanting, wishing that wasn't the case. His presence on these forums will be dearly missed.

I would have never thought I could be this sad for someone I didn't know personally..

Xander gave this community so much. His brother was right, he would always help.

Thank you Richard

I have never worked directly with Xander but I was aware of his awesome work on DotP. I always felt like he was overly modest given the amount of stuff he figured out and documented. I think Huggybaby summarized it well with "Of course, he thanks a list of people without mentioning his own name".

I had close friends that fought against suicidal thoughts. The struggle is nowhere close to what I could and can imagine. Sometimes you catch the struggle before it's too late and are given a chance to help. Sometimes you can't.

RIP Richard.

This is extremely sad news. I can only reiterate what everyone above me has said; Richard was always willing to help out, and he did so in such a patient and understanding way, often going above and beyond expectation. I always admired his commitment and dedication to the community WAD project, which drove me to try and contribute as much as I could in kind. He has left a legacy in the community WAD, which I am so grateful for -- to date I've sunk 2649 hours into DOTP 2014, mostly thanks to the community WAD, so it has clearly been of high value to me.

Truly sad news.
From what I read he seemed like a gentle soul, and those are often fragile for this world.

It's certainly an "illogical" act, for a single moment's weakness ends up closing up all possibilities, all future bits of happiness, all the possible successes. But not even coders are all logic, and all of us can only do our best.
If they read this, my condolences to the family, from a fellow player who crossed his path somehow in this little community.

I think of Richard often, and I am heartbroken that he has left this Earth.

He had such a brilliant mind. As a modder, I would share coding challenges I was facing and he always had solutions. A lot of times, I thought "there's no way to code this" but he would find a way.

He also did so much for DOTP 2014 fandom. He organized everything and kept it going. He was the heart and soul of this whole thing.

Many of you may not know this, but he also created mods for Skyrim as well. I haven't played that game, but someday I will because I want to see what he created there as well.

I am thankful I got to know him a little bit through this game. He was a remarkable person, and I will always keep him in my heart.

Thank you everyone for your remembrances.

I wish I had seen this earlier. I was lucky enough during the time Xander worked on DOTP 2014 to be in nearly constant communication with him. He was always clear, brilliant, helpful, and thoughtful in every interaction I had with him. Though I'm sure I exasperated him at times, he never once showed it, always taking the time to patiently answer every question, no matter how stupid or off-the-wall it might have been. I've been lucky enough to be tutored by every great modder here except kevlanohta and sumomole, and I can say Rick was among the best in terms of talent, and THE best in terms of his personal qualities. He is the model I strive to follow when I code or provide advice. I'm deeply saddened at his loss, and often think of him. I hope that now he has found the peace he did not find in life. "Si monumentum requiris...."

dude, wtf... i didnt know, i've been off this site for awhile
that sucks man. been on this site for years, =[

xander helped me with my butterfly deck and some other stuff

dude, like wow.