David Kirk Ginder, better known by the pseudonyms Near and Byuu, was a programmer who specialized in emulation of video game console hardware. They developed

higan is a Buddhist holiday exclusively celebrated by Japanese sects for seven days; three days before and after both the Spring equinox (shunbun) and Autumnal equinox (shūbun). It is observed by nearly every Buddhist school in Japan. The tradi ...

, the first emulator to reach 100% compatibility with the

Super Nintendo The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), commonly shortened to Super NES or Super Nintendo, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South Korea, 1991 in North America, 1992 in Euro ...

library. Near also contributed to fan translations and SNES

preservation Preservation may refer to: Heritage and conservation * Preservation (library and archival science), activities aimed at prolonging the life of a record while making as few changes as possible * ''Preservation'' (magazine), published by the Nat ...

efforts.

Biography

Near started out in the emulation scene as an amateur programmer, translating Japanese video-game

ROM image A ROM image, or ROM file, is a computer file which contains a copy of the data from a read-only memory chip, often from a video game cartridge, or used to contain a computer's firmware, or from an arcade game's main board. The term is frequentl ...

s at the age of 14, and one year later developed a tool for displaying resized text font in games. After that, a ''patching assembler'' called "xkas" would follow, which streamlined the ROM-translation process. The development of bsnes, later known as

, was triggered by bugs during translation of

Super Famicom The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), commonly shortened to Super NES or Super Nintendo, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South Korea, 1991 in North America, 1992 in Euro ...

game ''

Der Langrisser ''Langrisser II'' is a tactical role-playing game for the Sega Mega Drive console. It is the sequel to ''Langrisser'', and was never released outside Japan. ''Langrisser II'' was remade for the Super Famicom by Masaya as ''Der Langrisser'', whic ...

'' that would only appear on the original hardware but not on 2004-era Super NES emulators; as such, the aim of bsnes was for accurate emulation. Near contributed to the translation of the Nintendo RPG ''Mother 3'' and to the improvement of the emulator Snes9x. They also engaged extensively in creating faithful copies of Super NES games for preservation. In 2019, Near retreated from the emulation scene, after "a series of escalating privacy intrusions and targeted Internet harassment" affected their mental health. In February 2021, Near released a new translation for the Super Famicom game ''

Bahamut Lagoon is a 1996 tactical role-playing game developed and published by Square for the Super Famicom. ''Bahamut Lagoon'' was released on the Virtual Console in Japan on September 29, 2009 for the Wii and on February 5, 2014 for the Wii U. Gameplay ''B ...

'', a passion project that they had attempted multiple times since 1998. This is also the game where Near's former pseudonym of ''byuu'' comes from.

Death

In a

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

thread posted on June 27, 2021, Near claimed to be the victim of long-term harassment from

Kiwi Farms Kiwi Farms, formerly known as CWCki Forums ( ), is an Internet forum that facilitates the discussion and harassment of online figures and communities. Their targets are often subject to organized group trolling and stalking, as well as doxxi ...

users. Near, who was

non-binary Non-binary and genderqueer are umbrella terms for gender identities that are not solely male or femaleidentities that are outside the gender binary. Non-binary identities fall under the transgender umbrella, since non-binary people typically ...

, said that they had endured lifelong bullying but that the abuse had recently centralized around Kiwi Farms, which had "made the harassment orders of magnitude worse". Near stated that they and their friends had been doxxed and goaded into suicide by members of the website, and that Near had been mocked for being

autistic The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...

. On June 28,

Hector Martin Hector Martin (26 December 1898–9 August 1972) was a Belgian road racing cyclist, professional from 1925 to 1935. In 1924 he won the "Tour of Flanders for Independents" and the Belgian championship cycling for independents . From 1925 to ...

posted a link to a

Google Doc Google Docs is an online word processor included as part of the free, web-based Google Docs Editors suite offered by Google, which also includes: Google Sheets, Google Slides, Google Drawings, Google Forms, Google Sites and Google Keep. Google Do ...

which he said came from a mutual friend of his and Near's, which said that Near had died by suicide, and alleged that the harassment from Kiwi Farms amounted to murder. Martin subsequently reported on June 28 that he had spoken to police who confirmed that Near had died the previous day. ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

'' reported on July 23, 2021, that it had confirmed with Near's former employer that they had died.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Near 20th-century births 2021 suicides 2021 deaths Free software programmers 21st-century LGBT people Software engineers Year of birth missing Nationality missing Non-binary scientists Autistic LGBT people Victims of cyberbullying LGBT-related suicides