[MUD-Dev2] [DESIGN] Perma-death

[Ammon Lauritzen]

cruise wrote:
> Okay, to get something going again, here's a nice controversial one :P
>
> Is there /any/ ways perma-death can be implemented without being hated
> by players?

The Discworld mud has an interesting death system. Every character
starts the game with 7+1 lives (ie, the one you're using right now and
seven spares). Once they die without any spare lives remaining, they are
completely dead.

Extra lives may be purchased from the gods through extravagant donations
at the temple, but there's not really any set formula (that players can
see at least) for how much each additional life costs you.

When you die, you turn into a ghost. Your belongings remain where you
left them, on your body. Your ghost must visit a priest to be raised.
Obviously, player priests are much handier than having to trek all the
way back to town to get raised... and then trek all the way back out to
your corpse.

Now, the way in which you manage to kill yourself has interesting
implications. Death through standard combat makes for an easy corpse
retrieval, so long as whatever killed you is dealt with. But death by
drowning leaves your body on the bottom of the river/lake/ocean, often
with your belongings strewn over a small distance if you were discarding
and things (to lose weight) as you got carried along by the current ;)

While you're dead, other players can't just run off with your corpse,
and it sticks around for plenty of time - but if you do abandon it, your
 loot is gone, but only the stuff you were carrying on your person.
Anything you had stored in banks or houses is still there for you.

Death is a major inconvenience, but it's not a show stopper. Mostly, it
just costs you time. If you're on your last life, well, you know it, and
you know to be careful. You have time to put your affairs in order - or
to find a way to avoid running out of lives. You can farm money on an
alt, etc...

One of my most memorable deaths back when I played the game was caused
by lag in a PUG. I was annoyed initially, but the experience of getting
me put back together made me some friends that would otherwise just have
dissolved back into anonymity had our little play session gone
flawlessly.

Discworld deaths don't discourage people from taking risks. There are
plenty of ways of avoiding death, and the buffer lets you make and learn
from mistakes.

Ammon