Actor Leonard Nimoy, most famous for playing Mr. Spock on the original Star Trek, will be honored on March 5, 2015 with a permanent, in-game memorial inside Star Trek Online. Cryptic Studios executive producer Steve Ricossa took to game’s forum soon after Nimoy’s death to express his sympathy and let players know that the memorial would be going up during regular weekly maintenance.
“I want to once again express my heartfelt condolences to the friends, family, and fans of Leonard Nimoy,” said Ricossa. “Everyone at Cryptic Studios was saddened to hear of his passing and we want to make sure we never forget the cultural impact of the man or the character he played. To that end, the Star Trek Online team will implement a standing in-game memorial to Spock and Leonard Nimoy this Thursday March 5th with our regular weekly maintenance. In this way, we hope to keep his memory as alive in our game as he is in all of our hearts. LLAP”
“Live long and prosper” was of course Mr. Spock’s famous blessing to accompany the iconic Vulcan salute hand gesture.
Star Trek Online‘s community has already gathered to express its grief over Mr. Nimoy’s tragic passing. Once news of his death spread, at least 1,000 players spontaneously gathered on Spock’s homeworld of Vulcan to pay respects. Redditor MrMorlonelycat captured the above image of the gathering while barnacle999 estimated the roughly 1,000 players spread across around 20 instances of the game area.
Mr. Nimoy was involved with the game since its initial release, voicing Mr. Spock in addition to providing general narration, which can be seen below in a promotional video from the game’s launch lead-up. He also notably narrated the technology quotes for Civilization IV.
