Don't Fear the Reaper

Or at least mildly inconvenienced

 Last week I wrote about how permadeath can add tension to a game. It can also add frustration and kill the replay value if you have to go through a long slow introduction period at the beginning of each new game. While permadeath is a lot less common in modern games, back in the 'good old 8bit days' where games were heavily influenced by the arcades it was the norm. Sure some games used a continue system or passwords but there was almost always some serious set back associated with dying.

Jump forward to today and most games try to minimise the inconvenience of death. Quite often they include regular check points to keep the amount of lost progress and time following death minimal; other games use a respawn, rather than reload mechanism, where you are returned to life at or near the point of death in exchange for some kind of penalty. I find looking at the different ways developers approach player death interesting, especially as it can have a major affect on the feel of a game.

In Bioshock I find that the respawn near to where you die with no penalty (and sometimes even a benefit in the form of more health or eve) to greatly weaken the experience. When I first started playing it, I found the whole game world creepy, the splicers calling out in the darkness and the boom of a Big Daddy's feet as it walks the halls gave a fantastic atmosphere. And then I died, which resulted in me promptly popping back to life in the room next door with health, eve and the damage I had inflicted still on the enemy that had killed me. So when I had my first Big Daddy fight, rather than wasting health packs and eve stims I just let him kill me, and ran back to continue the fight. This lack of penalty had turned the 'big bad' into a timid kitten and as a result I find the game most engrossing and exciting when not fighting. Borderlands has a similar respawn system except it docs some money and heals all the enemies on the map, so you can't just advance by attrition.

It's interesting to note that often 'lets players' (people who record video and commentary of themselves playing a game) often change the rules regarding death, either by making the game easier through cheat systems or harder with restrictions such as one life runs, no healing or no continues. It make me wonder what it would be like to do a permadeath lets play World of Warcraft, especially on a PvP server.