A Mortician's Tale; A Small Rant About Death-Positivity

There's a game I found on itch.io (which is currently only 2$) and I've been enjoying it quite a bit... however, it's a death-positive game. I was talking about it to a few of my friends and they were all a little put off, but this is "Just how Dalli is," so if nothing else, it went over well... or I thought it did.

I was playing with just another friend in voice chat (and he was doing a nuzlocke) where I came to a difficult segment. I would, potentially, have to clean and prep a corpse of a suicide victim. There was an opt out option, but because of who I am, I needed a second opinion. One one hand, I... I've lost friends, and I wanted to honour their memory, y'know? I wanted to let them know that... I miss them. On the other, I knew I would be emotionally distraught.

My friend was no help, and straight up told me, "How about you just stop playing?"

This, needless to say, was not helpful. And they kept with these comments as I continued with the game. (I chose to opt out.) Saying things like, "Yeah well honestly I don't like your game." And "Did you seriously just call a funeral cute?" (The ending was sweet btw, 9/10, definitely recommend.) And just overall either ignoring me completely when I tried to start up a convo about things, or leaving. Like, walking away from his keyboard because apparently even hearing me react to the game (there was a dude I wanted to punch so bad) was making him uncomfortable.

He didn't even tell me goodbye when we were both done. He just left.

I know that I should just suck it up because it's not really a big deal, but it's hurtful. I mean, if he didn't want to be around me that badly he could have just left to begin with. It would have been better than the snides. I just... I guess I just wish he understood. That this stigma and his reaction to it without knowing it... is exactly the demographic of people who need to play it. To get used to this idea that... we aren't permanent. By no means, leave faster, but... we aren't here forever. Our families are not here forever.

I suppose some just aren't ready for that realization.

Anyways, thanks for listening to me rant into the void... with a vague hint of gaming, lmao. Ah, I suppose leave a reply if you have something to add/are curious about the game/have played the game as well and want to talk to someone about it! I'm open.