I remember how I felt when my very first sprite died. That was of old age, so it was quite a significant moment in both coding and world creation. Guess I’ve created a game where that sort of thing can and will happen, so like life, it’s just something to get used to. Okay then. It’s happened several times since then, and I’ve been noticing that the NPCs have picked up that something needs to be done with their possessions after they die.
Not that I’m about to programme in a skill tree for executors of will, because there are some careers that I don’t think would be tasteful to include as options…but at least they have a rudimentary last will and testament system in place. I went Diving into the home of a deceased man recently, just to observe the proceedings. He’d written a letter to be read out after he died, so it was kind of a will. The family gathered round, and then just took what belonged to them. End of story. All pretty simple, to be honest. If only proceedings could go that simply in real life.
I’ve only been present for that kind of event once, when my grandfather died. He lived alone, didn’t have too much, and fortunately we’re not the sort of family who’d argue over the small things. So it was just a matter of dividing up the small stuff, selling the house and that was pretty much it. You see this happens on TV a bit, which is often when the shouting and punching happens. Drama, right? Maybe I should be ramping up the drama in the game, just to keep people interested. People right now just get along a little bit too well…
But it won’t be will-related. I don’t fancy observing Victoria’s probates and gauging the exact responses of the bereaved. That falls under the ‘tasteless’ category I was mentioning earlier.