Re: Instant Death


13 Mar 1995 20:55:37 GMT

Oliver Crow <ocrow@zonker.cs.berkeley.edu> wrote:

>Sure, having a sense of mortality may enhance the game environment for
>some games. But you've got to be careful to give it meaning. Unless I
>die for a good reason, consistent with the game's world, I may feel
>frustrated with the game and ejected from it, rather than excited by the
>tension and danger and drawn into the game.

IMHO:

Dying in an int-fiction game turns me off pretty quickly. Finding out
all my save spots are useless because of something I didn't do five
hundred turns ago sends the game out the window. Being stuck, on the
other hand... I fiddle with it a while. I save the game and eat
something while trying to figure out what to do. I ask my brother if
he has any ideas. I sleep on it, sometimes waking with an
inspiration. I post in appropriate newsgroups. But I *don't* *give*
*up*, as long as the game doesn't *encourage* me to give up by
stiffing my character repeatedly.

On the other hand, in the right environment... (odd thought ahead!)

Edge of the Cliff

A chill wind whips over your body, threatening to throw you out into
space at any moment. Unfortunately, it's the least of the dangers to
you at the moment; the villagers are approaching from behind, and
they're armed with rather sharp axes. Think fast...

> look over cliff

It's about a thousand-foot drop onto jagged rocks; the tide's out at
the moment, which means that your body wouldn't be washed out to sea.
There is no way to climb up or down, though a long winding path leads
from the shore below to a quiet village.

The villagers are close enough to hear now. They're chanting
something about killing the demon. That would be you...

> jump over cliff

Given the circumstances, probably a wise move. Unfortunately, rather
a painful one.

*** You have died ***

Bottom of Cliff

The scenery here's rather nice, actually, but you can't really
appreciate it because you're dead. It will comfort you to know,
though, that the villagers have no way of reaching you here.

> wait

Time passes...

The villagers mill around the cliff edge a moment. One of them steps
too close; with a scream, he's sucked over by the wind. He makes a
huge mess right next to you.

> wait

Time passes...

With the warning of their dead comrade, the villagers hastily retreat,
confident that not even a 'demon' could survive that kind of fall.
Without the light of their torches, it gets rather dark out.

> wait

Time passes...

*** You have recovered ***

Bottom of Cliff

You're lying sprawled against some rather sharp rocks, a rather
uncomfortable position, and you think you've been lacerated in places
you didn't even know bled, but it beats having let the axe-wielding
maniacs above make a more surgical strike. A pity about the stinking
corpse lying next to you; not dead three minutes and he already smells
like a charnel house...

> get up

A difficult proposition, but you manage it. You see a rather large
bloodstain where you were lying, and reflect that a place where you
can rest and recover would be a very good idea. Preferably somewhere
out of the tide's reach-- as it's starting to rise.

...so what do you guys think? (:3

---Fred M. Sloniker, stressed undergrad
L. Lazuli R'kamos, FurryMUCKer
lazuli@u.washington.edu

Remember: once you pull the pin, Mr. Hand Grenade is no longer your friend.