Damion Schubert and Permadeath?
Damion Schubert has been visiting the topic of Permadeath a few times this year with distaste on his blog.
In one blog entry he posted the futility of discussing the topic on any forum for a MMORPG. The conversation that ensues is VERY predictable and I think he does a pretty good job of summing it up.
In yet another entry he questions other issues like: Why the need for Permadeath surfaces in the MMO genre and no other? Why getting rid of high level characters makes any difference? He also predicts we'll never have a MMORPG that features Permadeath. *cough* didn't mourning just release? Ok so Mourning's idea of Permadeath is pretty primitive (And not really Permadeath) in nature and the game has overall sales totalling less then the number of keys on my keyboard but it is out there. (I didn't buy it) Trials of Ascension however is implementing a REAL permadeath solution: http://www.shadowpool.com
But lets first look at why Permadeath request only surfaces in MMORPG. (Ok so Counterstrike has permadeath already... Yeah, diablo hardcore.... Ok any strategy game on the market... But Age of Empires would be so much better if when you built your city it was always there when you began the next game.) But lets look at a few games that many cite as not having permadeath: Tribes 2 or Unreal Tournament (You pick the game in this FPS genre) All of these games feature permadeath over time. Look at what you start with: A Character. What can your character gain throughout a game? Points, Weapons, Armor, Strategy points, Flag Captures etc. Now when the game ends everything you've acquired throughout the game is gone. Your back to your starting point, with no points, armor, weapon and essentially reset. You just permadied! The same is true in the strategy genre, every building and troop you created and all the resources your horded are gone and your back to the beginning. In almost any genre permadeath exists EXCEPT MMORPGs and that is why the request is so often made.
In a MMORPG when you die, nothing is reset no matter how many times you die. It leads to boredom and a sense that your characters actions are futile. Sure you improved your avatar overtime but nothing else you have done means anything in that game world. Thats why when people relate to permadeath in a MMORPG they are so horrified. Without my avatar what would I have? In most games... nothing. That shows that there is a fundamental flaw in the game design. Damion even relates to how he thought about going back to SWG because his high level wookie armorsmith was there and were it not he wouldn't even consider it. I think that kinda illustrates his point of view... A player only has his avatar and building that avatar is the focus of the game. You can't expand much on the genre because of this flaw. Anything that could inhibit or prevent the basic concept of the game, improving your avatar, can't be implemented. If you do implement something that interferes with this core mechanic you have to make sure that disruption is minimal.
Yes you should be able to improve your avatar but that should not be the focus of the game. First of all its unrealistic, when Borimir died in LoTR he did not respawn in Rohan with half life and a death shroud and jump on his horse to rejoin the fray. Nor did Lurtz or any of the thousand or so Urak Hai or Orcs. Second it detracts from the excitement of the game, its tough to get ramped up over combat if death has no effect. Its simply a pointless exchange of blows to 'Test your template' or get a free ride home to reequip. (Or not if you had no items to begin with) Your guild will want to go RAID someone and the Guild leader would say Why? Ok we'll go do some PvP, We'll win or we'll lose and neither they nor us will be worse for the wear. Yey lets go. Third point, because the focus of the game is solely on improving your avatar then there is no point to anything that does not improve your avatar.
And why don't we want High Level characters staying that way forever? For alot of the same reasons we want permadeath but also to fully enjoy the entire scope of the game. The lower levels have a tendency to pass by very quickly and you could spend (Take shadowbane for instance) 10 levels in one spot and leave that area of the world never knowing there were other things to explore. (And why would you explore? The goal is to level your avatar as quickly as possible, if you have something that works then why change the next time through) Another point is high level people in a permadeath world will likely get much more attention and their actions in game will mean more. People who acquire fame will also acquire enemies leading to much more engaging political and social environment driven completely by the players. In the last permadeath game I played one character decided he was the King of the town. He then elected a Mayor and a govenor. Everyone thought it was fantastic. But then he decided to make some new laws and post them on the forums. (We had in game bulliten boards) This is when he started to acquire enemies. Now protecting, attacking ignoring the conflict was a complete player generated quest that was active for quite some time. Also the dynamics of the game would change when the core of the game does not revolve solely around improving your avatar. Currently Trials of Ascension seems to grasp at what a virtual world is and what simulating one will mean and the only one whose ruleset would convince me to try the genre again. Until then you can find me in BfME, Unreal Tournament, Tribes2 and soon exclusively in AoE3. (This is RTS3, This is RTS3 . . .)
