Is there a typical way to do entity management in a large open world game. I am using Unity.

I have a background thread that manages server processing. This only runs in a Headless or Client Hosted game. This has a dictionary of entities defined by an interface. I have several different types of entities. The server manages “interests” i.e. When a player gets within range of an NPC, the interests for the Player included the NPC and vice-versa.

All players that are in the vicinity of each entity, or interested, will of course be able to interact with the entity and receive updates on the entities state.

All code has been optimised to avoid garbage collection.

Having never done this before. I would very much welcome recommendations from someone that has done this before. Especially things to avoid.