[MUD-Dev2] [DESIGN] Perma-death

[cruise]

Thus spake 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.  :)

So this is the question still remaining: is it worth it? They may not 
hate the perma-death, but will you really get the results you want?

>> 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.

Absolutely - I have a stock set of characters I make always (if you see 
"Harlequinne" or "Ebon Angel" somewhere, it's probably me).

Actually, I've just had an interesting thought. Ever since City of 
Villains was released players and developers have been discussing the 
ability to switch their characters - have the hero fall to evil, or a 
villain redeem themselves. This sort of massive shift in character could 
have a similar "feel" to player death in many ways, but without the loss 
of the actual character...