[MUD-Dev2] [DESIGN] Perma-death

[Caliban Darklock]

On 5/23/07, Jeffrey Kesselman <jeffpk at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> As much as this addresses my "loss of accomplishment" issue, it
> effectively makes perma death meaningless in game mechanics, and
> players will then treat it then as if it had no meaning in game.

Why does it need to have meaning?

Honestly, why? Players risk their characters' lives as a matter of
course. Indeed, that's the only way to progress in most games. If life
is so cheap as to be risked on a daily basis, why does death need to
be in any way remarkable? Why not just have it be along the lines of
"oops, try again"?

The vast majority of players are not playing out their epic fantasy
tales in your game. They may THINK they are playing out an epic
fantasy, but they're not. They are escaping their drab little boring
lives. When you construct death in such a way that it drops them back
into the drab little boring game they've already played, your game
sucks - unless the boring part of the game gets a hell of a lot easier
AND FASTER with real-world experience.