Oblivion, Fallout, New Vegas

One thing the same in these games is that the NPCS seem to sleep ON the bed, fully clothed. Why dont they have covers? Why dont they change into something more comfortable?

Surely just a small thing like putting NPCs inside beds will make a huge difference to immersion.

Blankets were not invented yet.

Getting an NPC to walk over to a bed, get undressed, lift up the duvet and climb in all in real-time is probably harder than it sounds. It's a lot easier to just have then collapse ontop of the bed (which, when you think about it isn't entirely unrealistic)

Yep, I sleep like NPC's all the time.

This bothered me too. I'd break into the Count's castle and seeing him sleeping in his fancy clothes...Just looked so unnatural.

However, it's not a huge deal.

I knew someone would mention something related to the graphics/engine. They could do anything. It would take less than 3 seconds for an npc to get into bed. That animation must be so easy to make. We see NPCs sitting on the bed and lying down?

i so agree with this

Haha, that's true!

I would say it's getting the duvet to move realistically when the NPC lifts it up and gets under it that's the hard part. Also getting an NPC to lift off their clothes realistically isn't easy.

Huh? What? Sorry, I just woke up.

*climbs off top of bed fully clothed and ready to go*

Realistically, we're not going to get animations for everything. NPCs tucking themselves under the covers is probably up there with getting dressed/undressed animations - not likely to happen any time soon.

It's like teleporting through doors. Sure, it's a little awkward at first, but you quickly accept it as one of those amusing but far from game-breaking TES quirks.

Pssssht, I sleep in my clothes all the time. Although I will agree that wearing your shoes to bed is going a bit too far in this case.

Having them go beneath a blanket would actually probably look pretty awkward unless Bethesda put a stupid amount of attention into it, which is not exactly what I want to see them dedicating their resources to at this time.

Not to mention sleeping guards. Heavy armor is just so comfortable to sleep in, does wonders for your back I tell ya.

Well changing the clothes wont be a problem (because its instant when you put something new on) and maybe when the npc lies on the bed like normal the covers just instantly go over the npc, when they start to wake up, the covers insantly go away for the normal standing up animation. simple.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_quilting

Besides, this isn't exactly the real world we're talking about. Not to mention they're already on the http://images.uesp.net//6/61/OB-quest-A_Knife_in_the_Dark.jpg.

hey people do take their armor off when they go to sleep

Honestly, that would annoy me a lot more than seeing someone sleeping on the bed fully clothed. At least seeing someone sleeping on the bed in their clothes is plausible. Seeing someone's clothes magically beam off of them or seeing a duvet magically appear over them isn't.

I'm sorry to say this, but definitely another thing to be filed under 'unimportant'. And I wouldn't say making all the extra animations would be particularly easy.
What next, complaining because the covers don't move when they get fireballed? Why do all the beds have the same sheets, that's so generic? You can only fit so much realism in a game, only pay for so much development time, a line has to be drawn somewhere.

Maybe no one was taught how to use them?

Nobody was taught how to invent "insert commonly used object here"

I can't name a game where the player and NPCs strip and tuck into bed in real time. Nothing 3d, anyway.

You know, I think there may be a reason for this...

Naw, Cyrodiil was just too warm.

Perhaps you are a NPC, think about it and then prove you are not

Oblivion's http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16005 mod . . . no getting under the covers, but you could automatically change into sleepwear.

I'd be happy if NPC's just flashed out of their full plate-armor before going to bed. Seeing Paladins in Power Armor on their bunks just didn't look very comfortable.

Sims 2-3 has it and not very hard if you bypass most of the climbing under cover the same way as you bypass switching from street clothes to armor.

This is actually a dead serious issue, multiple fights was lost in medieval times as it took time getting into armor, the chain mail had the benefit over the plate mail that you put in on like a sweater, plate armor was more comfortable and just as heavy but you needed help strapping on the pieces.
Fast forward 800 years and body armor is a major issue, they give excellent protection against rifle shots but are so heavy it's drains endurance and agility.
And little new is new, the grunts doing foot patrols prefer to use lighter armor than the once who ride. yes something changes, communication is a bit faster and it was dammed hard trying to get air support during the battle of Hasting.