As one discusses life in a virtual world, one must also discuss death in that same world. Fortunately, death in a virtual world is no where near as devastating as real life. That said, depending on how death is implemented (or not), a player may experience a range of emotions from almost comical to outright grief depending on the penalties associated with death of their character.
A virtual world has many options when it comes to handling the death of a character.
- No Penalty
- Repair Costs
- Vitae Penalty
- XP Penalty
- Loss of Items
- Permanent Character Death
- No Death
Some games do not need the concept of death of a character. The virtual world may be more socially structured and avoid combat or experiences that could lead to character death. Such worlds solve the death problem by never introducing the circumstances by which a character can die.
Another world may change the meaning of death to another term (morale comes to mind) so that characters automatically flee when their morale is gone. In the spirit of this discussion, that would just be a story-telling spin on death and the players will still view it as death (or simply a loss).
By having the penalty for death be minimal, the environment encourages the players to throw caution to the wind and try things that would otherwise be impossible to near impossible. If not carefully checked, players may also utilize this circumstance to leverage death for other game benefits (teleportation comes to mind).
With a high penalty for death in a game, players are discouraged in taking chances. Also, there is a greater sense of loss when the character death does occur. This can lead to players leaving the game after a perceived devastating loss.
Many of today’s popular titles utilize a minimal cost approach. The idea being to avoid adding a game mechanic that induces frustration for the player and possibly leads to them leaving the game. This can be seen at a deeper level as characters continue to become more overpowered compared to their non-player counterparts in the game. This behavior has left many more hard-core players with comments like “Everyone can reach the highest level now.”
For the game designer, the choice between normalizing the game so that more players enjoy the experience versus creating a world where only great players can reach the highest levels is one that often leads to the former. That said, the indie game designer may opt for a higher penalty to provide a higher-valued experience for their limited player base. Especially, if the world is meant to represent something historically authentic.
Where will I go with this? Unknown at this time, although I lean more towards the lower penalty as I cannot immediately justify a valid reason to be more severe on the penalty of death. That said, as the world design progresses, I will have to address this question.
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