Over-Botch doesn’t have a great many NPCs, but they do add them every now and then for the most popular professions. I guess they’re very slowly starting to populate the universe, but Tom will always be my favourite. He’s the one that shows up at everyone’s house on their very first day of play and offers to explain the rules. I think in lore he’s supposed to be a professional at air conditioning repair near Sydney, which was one of the first professions available in the beta. Yeah, one of the development team used to do air con repair around Sydney, so obviously that’s why air conditioning repair and installation ended up being one of the first and most realistic options. You really can service air conditioning, exactly like in real life. That’s the draw of the game, I guess…
So you’ve got Tom, and he shows up and shows you how to play, and he suggests working in air con as one of the examples. Maybe that’s why it’s so popular. Or maybe everyone has just noticed that air conditioning is something that everyone is always going to need, and you might as well get yourself a virtual qualification while the going is hot.
As for me, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, hence why I chose air conditioning repair. Everyone was doing it, and Tom seemed really nice, and I guess I was lucky enough to get a shot at the open beta. Now I still visit his air conditioning workshop, not to get work done (it’s all for show- he leaves the work to the players) but just to chat.
It opened my eyes…to the fact that I’m not good at air con. There are Sydney based air conditioning servicing places already good at that, no input required from my butter fingers. But I DID realise that I’m brilliant at fishing, and later selling those fish. In real life, as well!