4,000-strong online gaming community remembers fallen moderator, victim of fatal motorcycle crash

A 25-year-old Des Moines man will be remembered by not just friends and family, but also thousands online after he died in a fatal motorcycle crash Wednesday.

Michael "Mikey" Fiori died at Iowa Methodist Medical Center after sustaining life-threatening injuries in a crash between his motorcycle and a car in Grimes.

Fiori was an avid fan of cars and motorcycles, loved traveling to Colorado for mountain hiking and moderated a clan for Runescape, an online role-playing fantasy game, leading to friendships around the world, including right where he worked. 

Michael Campbell, who met Fiori through Runescape before realizing they both worked at Hicklin Power Sports, posted in the 4,000-member clan, OSRS Veterans, about the loss of their friend, which prompted responses including favorite memories and pictures of Fiori.

"Out of all my friends that I've had, my gaming friends, he's probably one of the strongest friendships that I've ever had," Campbell said.  

Campbell said Fiori "tremendously cares about his friends."

The best example of this, Campbell said, was when one of Fiori's friends in Chicago, Dan Godsel, was struggling after he lost both his job and his girlfriend. Fiori drove 12 hours round-trip to pick up his friend and bring him to Des Moines to cheer him up for a week. 

"Honestly, there's not many people I'd do that for, either," Campbell said. "It takes a special person to do something like that."

Godsel posted about the week he spent with Fiori in their clan Facebook group. 

"He held my hand the entire time, talked me through everything, reminded me that I was worth something," Godsel wrote. "He was was one of the most genuine, whole-hearted human beings I've ever had the pleasure of calling my friend and I'm absolutely wrecked that I will never get to talk to him again."

Outside of his online community, Fiori had a group of bikers he regularly rode with after he started biking a year or two ago, one of his riding buddies, Jeremiah Fliss, said. Campbell said Fiori used riding motorcycles as an escape.

"Riding made him sane," Campbell said. "Sad, mad, anything — he'd ride."

Fliss said Fiori was test-riding a bike during the fatal accident after trading in his old motorcycle. 

News of their friend's death does not deter Fliss and Campbell from riding. Fliss said he's lost others to riding accidents, but this loss has been the hardest and most unexpected. 

Fliss continues on riding because he knows if Fiori were here, he'd be biking alongside him.

"He'd be out doing exactly what we're doing right now," Fliss said. "Once you ride, you don't stop; once it's in your blood you don't stop."

This Friday, Campbell and Fliss will honor Michael as they get his friends together to ride and share their favorite Fiori stories. 

Family was not reachable, but an online obituary paints a picture of a man who lived his life to the fullest, enjoying time with friends and family and traveling. 

"It doesn't matter how long you live, what matters is how you live," the obituary reads. "Mike lived his life how he wanted."

Danielle Gehr is a breaking news reporter at the Des Moines Register. She can be reached by email at dgehr@dmreg.com, by phone at 515-284-8367 or on Twitter at @Dani_Gehr.

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