By all accounts, the space-dwarf mining sim Deep Rock Galactic has the last positive community left in any video game. There is something about being a squad of stout and shy men who go on a rampage to steal resources from the galaxy that brings out the best in people. Perhaps that's why more than 8 million people have joined the game since its early access release in 2018, according to year-end 2023 statistics from developer Ghost Ship Games.

At the very least, 8 million people have purchased the game, and a significant number of them probably have it sitting in their Steam libraries as is. Still, DRG is doing well, selling 2.5 million copies in 2023 alone. But we must talk about these other statistics.

Ghost Ship also provided us with the top five causes of death in gaming. Three of them (#2, #4, and #5) are, as expected, the game's enemies, the alien lifeforms, the Griffids, who get very angry when you try to mine them; the number one way to die, causing nearly 50 million early deaths, is from fall damage, which may be related to the 155 million beers consumed throughout the year This may have something to do with the 155 million beers consumed throughout the year.

However, gaming's funniest community also cites "friendly fire" as the third most popular way to die, with nearly 21 million people found shot by a teammate in 2023. In fact, it is the only cause of death among the top five that has increased from the previous year; up 2.59% from 2022.

A bit of a contradiction, it must be said. While the name may be a bit confusing, Friendly Fire seems like the least friendly thing to do. Perhaps this means that other co-op shooters have experienced a gazillion friendly fires, and the DRG is winning in kindness by default.

Here's the stats: here's my resolution for 2024: stop drinking enough to kill my friends. Please, for my sake.