Death is inevitable, both in-game and out. In-game, death usually doesn’t lead to the loss of all your fancy loot (unless you’re playing some sort of roguelike/roguelite), but out-of-game, death is the end. All your guns, swords, armor, and cosmetic upgrades are lost forever after your passing.
Or are they? A new patent from Chinese publisher Tencent opens the door for a digital will to bequeath your in-game items to friends and loved ones after you shuffle off this mortal coil and head to the big arcade in the sky.
News of this new patent comes courtesy of Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad (by way of SegmentNext). The patent, which was filed in 2019 but was just approved in China this month, "relates to the inheritance of digital items and assets after a person passes away." Although the patent doesn’t specifically mention video games, the most important digital items outside of an online music collection are definitely your games, so video games are the likeliest application.
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Ahmad notes that Tencent's patent is similar to Apple's recently announced digital legacy service, with the exception that it "allows direct transfer of items if stated in the will." So if you want to make sure your friend inherits your Sword of Ultimate Destruction with the +200 Caustic Damage perk, then you can say so in your digital will.
Tencent obtained a patent this month, originally filed in 2019, that relates to the inheritance of digital items and assets after a person passes away.
While not fully related to video games, it has sparked discussions online about game accounts / virtual item inheritance. pic.twitter.com/ltmtFYndId— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) July 12, 2021
This hasn’t quite become a problem yet, but as those who grew up with the internet get older, our digital possessions are going to become at least as valuable as our real-life ones. And it’s not just in-game items either–what about our Steam libraries? That’s thousands of dollars of games that someone else could enjoy after you pass.
The obvious solution in the meantime is to just include your login info in your will, but maybe someday soon, starting a new game account will require you to enter in your next-of-kin info in case you croak.
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