Near, formerly Byuu, emulator developer, presumed dead from suicide following online harassment

Well-known scene and emulator developer Near, previously known also as Byuu, is reported to have passed away, according to a statement made by a close friend. The concerns began yesterday, as Near expressed grief on Twitter at ongoing harassment they'd faced online, stemming from Kiwi Farms, a message board that Near claimed doxxed and bullied those close to them. Kiwi Farms members also went as far as "suicide baiting" one of their friends, according to multiple people involved.

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
— Near (@near_koukai) June 27, 2021

Ending on a message that thanked their followers for kind words of support and said they would "finally be at peace", Near then went silent on social media. The worst has been presumed after fellow developer Hector Martin shared a post from a mutual friend of his, about Near. In the post from the anonymous friend, they state that Near had been a victim of abuse and harassment throughout their whole life, relentlessly attacked by the aforementioned Kiwi Farms users, and that the attacks extending to their friends had broken Near.

At 11:45 on Sunday, I was on a phone call with Near. They’d just taken a large overdose of codeine and guanfancine. I saw a photo of the noose.

30 minutes into the call, Les Voyages De L'âme by Alcest started playing at the other end. I wouldn’t hear their voice again.

“Near took their own life”. That’s how a news article would phrase it. Suicide is a voluntary action, a problem with oneself. Implying nobody is to blame but the victim and perpetrator, one and the same.

But that’s not how human brains work. We are not cold, calculating machines. We are a product of our environment. We are shaped by our experiences. A single, powerful traumatic event can change a person forever. So can a million small ones. This is not a weakness of the mind, it is a fundamental part of what it means to be human.

Near has been an influential person within the world of emulation, responsible for creating bsnes, the "100% compatibility" Super Nintendo emulator, higan, a hyper-accurate multi-system emulator, ares, an emulator that has been in development since 2004, featuring support for 27 different platforms, all in the name of accurate preservation of classic games, along with numerous other projects, tools, and fan-translations throughout the years.

With this tragedy in mind, we want to remind our users to always report any harassment seen, and to keep in mind that behind each account they interact with online, there is a human being.

Near did not commit suicide. Near was murdered. Victim of a lifetime of harassment. After an abusive childhood, and followed by community toxicity, Near was eventually targeted by Kiwi Farms. Members of that website make a sport of preying on the less fortunate, on those in positions liable to being emotionally abused. And they do so relentlessly. From the comfort of anonymity, of sitting in front of their computer thousands of kilometers away, they take glee in slowly destroying the psyche of others, bit by bit. To death, if possible.

UPDATE:

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