In Memoriam: Tributes to Michael A. Cunningham
On August 25, 2018, RPGamer’s long-time Editor-in-Chief and #TeamHandheld founder Michael A. Cunningham (aka Macstorm) sadly passed away. On what would have been his birthday, we wish to help celebrate his life by posting those tributes that people have been kind enough to send us. Many people have reached out to us, including our friends at RPGFan, RPG Site, and in the industry, and all of their kind words are greatly appreciated.
We put a call out to ask those who knew Michael in whatever capacity to provide some of their tributes and memories of him, and those that we received can be found on the link below; if you wish to add your own tribute on those that have already been provided, please e-mail it to severinmira@rpgamer.com and will we ensure that it is added.
We will be providing further tributes to Michael coming in the near future. Some additional audio tributes can also be found on the latest episodes of both our Q&A Quest and RPG Backtrack podcasts. We also wish to thank Mike Salbato and Donald Theriault for their kind posts in memory of Michael on RPGFan and Nintendo World Report, and for RPGFan’s Twitch host Scott Clay for his kind messages ahead of the site’s recent streams.
Again, we would like to thank all of those who have offered their support and condolences both publicly and privately, and wish to pass our own deepest condolences to Michael’s friends and family.
RIP Mac. I feel like leaving a message. I’ve been visiting this site since I was 13, and I am now 28. This site has played in important role in how I view RPGs and just video games in general. It’s been a constant bookmark for all of those years, and even helped me to realise that I wanted to be a writer; in the distant past I even considered writing reviews for the site. Michael was a big part of that and also has played a role in why I wish to write going forward. I feel a sense of regret for never having pursued the reviews or interacted with him on the site and been more a part of this wonderful place.
Even though I didn’t know him, nor anyone else associated with this site, he will be missed by many more like me. It’s a sad loss for the industry and I can only offer condolences for those closely affected. This site will miss him but he helped build it into what it is now, so this place will offer as testament to him and those he helped give a vehicle to in terms of their writing careers. His inspiration resonates clearly throughout.