| Jim Meriwether | |
| Definition | Protagonist of Game (NEVER) Over |
| Age | Mid to late thirties |
| Last occupation | Law firm employee |
| Hobbies | Blogging Video games |
| Vectrex relationship | Owned a Vectrex |
| Status | Deceased |
Background[]
"Creepypastas" are short stories that are found all over the internet (wikis, YouTube, dedicated creepypasta sites) that are written in an attempt to scare the reader, having elements of horror, suspense, shock and/or gore.
"Game (NEVER) Over" is a video game-themed creepypasta about a man named Jim Meriwether who buys a game for his Sega Genesis, which strange things begin happening once he starts playing it. The Vectrex gets several mentions in the story as well (as he owned one, along with several homebrews).
Personal and professional life[]
Meriwether was an employee at a law firm, although it was never made clear through his blog what exactly his position was, nor what kind of firm he worked in either. However, it was insinuated in his May 12, 2013 entry that the firm did not specialize in any kind of field, due to that entry saying that “both criminal attorneys” at the firm would be present at a meeting the following Monday, which it could be concluded that the firm handled both civil and criminal cases.
When Meriwether began his new blog (it was never made clear exactly how his former one disappeared, although due to calling the host of his former blog “incompetent”, it was obvious he was not satisfied with them) on April 21, he wrote about how he had been recently divorced and had began renting a new house to start his life over with. Although also never made clear, it did not seem that he had any children produced from the marriage, as he discussed the rest of his family in his blog, namely his older brother Dave, who suffered some sort of unexplained brain trauma, and his divorced mother, who was taking care of him. Meriwether also spent time with Dave and left his mother money occasionally to try to help out. Meriwether was mostly an "old school video gamer", as he had an Atari 7800, Vectrex, Genesis, 32X, Sega CD, some handhelds, plug and play units, PC games, and a Wii.
Final months[]
The final months of Meriwether’s life were detailed in his last blog, which ran from April 21 through June 3, 2013.
During this time, he mostly told about a rare video game for his Genesis that he acquired from a local resale shop called FD Rescue Team. At first he thought he had never heard of the game until he started playing it (as told in his April 22 blog entry), which he was then reminded of Dave owning the game, although he did not recall what happened with the cartridge.
As the weeks wore on, Meriwether attested of strange circumstances happening with FD Rescue Team, such as repeatedly seeing a skull-like face appearing in various places in the game. A roach also awoke him during one morning, which, after he tried to scare it away from his game, the roach seemed to mysteriously disintegrate, leaving a skull-shaped mark on the cartridge. The cartridge also seemed very hot when he pulled it out of his Genesis a few days after that, and upon beating the game not long afterwards, a person that he had to rescue in the game (named Linda) appeared to have her face turn into a skull momentarily. Dave also began yelling in a panic when Meriwether showed him the game later, along with finding that someone had burned the shape of a skull into his car seat while he was inside his mother’s house on that day. Also, a friend of Meriwether’s refused to play the game at one point when it was shown to him, along with Meriwether finding an Easter egg and special bonus in the game also having disturbing images, characters’ behaviors in the game changed, and Meriwether even had a nightmare about the game at one point. He also started seeing an odd figure that was very pale, tall, thin, and seemingly had no face around town, which he attributed the blame on the game, along with someone leaving abusive messages on his blog in regards to FD Rescue Team, yet Meriwether had never activated the comments on the blog.
It is unknown what Meriwether’s mental state was during this time.
Finally, by the first of June, Meriwether had quit playing the game altogether, yet somehow woke up one morning to find that, not only was he sitting in front of the tv with the game running, but he also somehow went through playing almost an entire game without waking up. He was at a part in the game where he had to rescue Linda, although that area of the game had radically changed. Then the pale, seemingly faceless person appeared, warning Meriwether that the game had a cursed nature to it and that he would soon die. Meriwether turned off the game and armed himself, spotting what he assumed to be the same person outside of a window.
Although not entirely clear how, Meriwether perished at some point during the first week of June via spontaneous human combustion (SHC).
Vectrex ownership/mentions[]
Meriwether owned a Vectrex, which earned several mentions in his blog.
The part of Meriwether's blog with a Vectrex mention and photo.
He stated in one entry that he had several of the console’s homebrews. He also commented about a friend of his (only being identified as "Jess") nearly earning his first victory against Meriwether in a two player game of Sundance. A picture of Meriwether’s Vectrex running Space Frenzy accompanied this mention, with the caption referring to the dialog of the alien from the beginning of a game, calling it a "creature". An (possibly also Meriwether’s) AtariVox+ with its cover off can also be seen in the photo.
In one of his very last blogs, Meriwether had quit playing his FD Rescue Team game, saying that he would go back to where he started over with the Vectrex, with Vecmania being the very first homebrew he bought for the system. He also stated about how harmless Spike was, as Molly’s cries for help couldn’t be taken seriously due to her choppy delivery. VecSports Boxing also could not be taken very seriously, even as a beat 'em up, due to the pun of "Spike Tyson" in the game.
At the end of the story, a new blog was started by someone named Bil Bo, telling of how he had been to Meriwether’s estate sale and purchased Meriwether’s entire game lot, which included his Vectrex and games.
Links[]
This article was featured from March - April, 2019.