Im sure it's also people losing their job too. No, people are not dying but as a gamer I would expect you to "get it". And mmo's are not just games, because you have to invest way more than just 15 dollars a month. You have to invest a lot of your time which is usually a big deal.
On the other hand this hurts me because i played a month of tabula rasa and I always promised myself to come back. I actually thought is was a promising mmo. I honestly do not understand what was lame about it. Great Ai, different, level grinding was not immensly evident and the game, ran great on many systems, and did not have high requirements. Quests were very interactive and story lines were strong at times. There was nothing tabula rasa did to deserve the title "lame". Lame is what you call overhyping your mmo (you know which one's) and not deliverying on the promises made. Sort of like a politician lol. Also the respect that the the game and dev team deserve, is for working closely with the community which you don't get anywhere else. Sure there are other dev teams that get involved with the community, only after the mmo hits rock bottom and they have no where else to go.

My overall point is that TR is a respectable and mmo. I would even call the game a sleeper mmo. There are players that have found that game they always have been looking for and when its canceled like this, it really hurts. Cheers to Tabula Rasa!