Star Trek Online players hold in-game memorials for Patrick Stewart

Star Trek Online players are gathering in-game to honor Sir Patrick Stewart, who died this week aged 86. Stewart played Captain Jean-Luc Picard in The Next Generation and a number of Star Trek films.

Stewart died after a battle with Alzheimer's disease and Lewy body dementia. Beyond Picard, his roles included Professor X in the X-Men films.

Across Cryptic Studios' 16-year-old MMO, players have been holding torches aloft at in-game locations. One post shared on Twitter with an image of a torch-lit crowd put it simply: "The memorial for Patrick Stewart in Star Trek Online is growing."

Out in space, players formed spontaneous guards of honor with their ships. Galaxy Class starships, the same class as Picard's Enterprise-D in the show, lined up and let off fireworks.

Reddit user wskelding, who posted about the gathering on the STO subreddit, described the scale of it: "From the mass gatherings at ESD, Academy and even Qo'noS to my personal favourite, the mass gathering of Galaxy Class ships outside ESD to form an Honor Guard."

Other posts were shorter. One Reddit thread showing ships gathered among the stars was titled "For Sir Pat." Another, featuring more torch-bearing players, read: "Rest easy Sir Patrick, you will be missed."

At least one player wants the tribute to outlast this week. A fan has posted a proposal aimed at Cryptic Studios, asking for a permanent addition to the game in Stewart's memory. Cryptic hasn't publicly responded to the request.