History of Funerals on Roblox
A look into the history of funerals on the ROBLOX platform and what they mean.
Background
Funerals on Roblox take various forms, ranging from players creating memorial maps for people, items, features, and more to roleplay maps where people partake in services on a daily basis. These maps can be classified into a few categories.
- Memorial Games: Built to memorialize something held dear to the game's creator.
- One-off maps: Built to be used for a single funeral or event, these maps are sometimes left open and serve as a memorial.
- Dedicated Funeral Maps: These maps are built specifically for hosting funerary processes.
There is no good explanation as to why this sub-genre came into existence; the most common explanation is to do with how kids often act out things to understand complicated topics. Whatever the case, funerals on the platform have been a part of players' lives in one way or another since the beginning. One of the most common use cases has been in what is known as an account retirement, which these are celebration dedicated to a player who is leaving the platform for good. There is no clear point at which the funeral theme was started with these events, but it has been a staple of memorializing a player's time just as long as the game has given people the ability to create their own games.
Below is a timeline of the various points in the game history and their relation to the topic of funerals.
Early Days (2007 - 2010)
Since the beginning of custom maps on Roblox, players have had and used funeral-themed items; it was only inevitable that a few individuals would take things one step further and create maps dedicated to funerals. Some of the earliest examples of funerals on Roblox come in the form of Sunshine Funeral Home and the Jones Brothers funeral maps. These early games utilized both custom buildings and freemodeled ones alike. A common trend that is seen in this subgenre of maps is utilizing the funeral home as part of horror showcases. The very first games that allowed you to bury your friends arrived during this time frame as well. The technology of this time was rudimentary, often relying on basic build tools. Merchandise was also fairly crude, with basic coffins, headstones, and even hearses made using the building blocks provided at the time.
Examples of early models created by players for use in funeral gameplay.
2011 - 2015
The early 2010s on Roblox saw a lot of change development-wise in terms of the platform; maps all around became more detailed and of a higher quality. Terrain technologies like Block, then eventually smooth terrain, allowed maps to expand without having to increase brick count and complexity for hills, and the introduction of technologies like Solid Modeling made creating assets such as the hearses, caskets, and more, better as more detail was now possible. It was also this time that Roblox's roleplay scene began incorporating funerals into its scenarios more often. Prominent funeral groups such as Cedar Memorial, Jones Funeral Home, and the like began appearing on the scene to cater to these communities. One of the biggest events during this time was the passing of Roblox's Co-founder, Eric Cassel, at the hands of cancer. Several games were created in his honor and a special hat was sold with proceeds being given to cancer research.
The original Eric Cassel memorial game, made after his death was announced.
2016 - 2019
2016 marked a major milestone in the sub-genre; the year saw an uptick of funeral homes being created, with several catering towards a growing African-American community on the platform. Technology was also improving; this era saw the introduction of custom meshes to the game, bringing in even more ability to add detail to funeral maps. On a darker note, this era also coincided with the increase in the proliferation of exploitation programs such as Synapse, which enabled rampant theft of assets among groups. 2018 saw the creation of the first standards committee for the sub-genre, the ROBLOXian Funeral Directors Association. The groups, which run on a voluntary membership, serve as a means to standardize such things as casket sizes, common elements of funeral maps, and more.
A collection of items that were used during this time period.
2020 - Present
With everything, this era was marked by changes, especially involving the COVID-19 outbreak. With on;ine presence increasing, more funeral groups appeared on the scene. Prominent funeral homes that have made the news, such as T.L. Greene, came to be during this time period. Technology continues to play an important role in the sub-genre, with a lot of groups creating ways to allow for traditions and more that are often taken for granted in real life to be performed on their games. The theme of funerals as a whole is still strong, with many games incorporating funeral elements into their gameplay.
A lot of funeral games today utilize a showcase style approach to game design.