[MUD-Dev2] [DESIGN] Perma-death

[Tess Snider]

On 5/23/07, Jeffrey Kesselman <jeffpk at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 5/22/07, Phillip Lenhardt <philen at monkey.org> wrote:
>
> > > 5.) The player must be able to make a new character with the same --
> > > or roughly the same -- level of ability as the old one.
>
> This is a problem.  I've already seen it in action.

The original question was: "Is there /any/ ways perma-death can be
implemented without being hated by players?"  That was the question I
was answering.

#5 may well be a problem, and it is also a *necessity*.  You can leave
it out, but then you don't answer cruise's original question.  :)

> Player  kills ActionBoy, and recreates Action-Boy, who dies and
> recreates ActionBoy', who dies and recreates...

You know what?  They'll do this, even if you take away everything.
It's not about game mechanics.  Some people will even make the same
character on a totally different game, with totally different game
mechanics. Players are sentimental, and they get very attached to
their characters.  Their idea of who those characters are is much
bigger than your game mechanics -- and will, in some cases, outlive
them.  If you really want characters to stay dead, you need to court a
player base that gives a damn about fictional coherence.  And even in
that case, the game mechanics won't make any difference.

Tess