Permadeath

The event where deaths of characters are permanent.

The avatars and characters that players control in games are often at risk of dying. While this makes gameplay risky, many games soften this by letting players have many lives or letting them start at a previous location if they die. A few other games instead have Permadeath. In these the death of one's avatar or character ends the game sessions.

Wikipedia has a entry on Permanent Death in games.

Note: World of Warcraft uses Permadeath for other purpose ("roleplayed deaths" and removals of characters from servers). These connotations are not included in this pattern but see the entry on the WoWWiki for more information about this alternative use.

Examples

Some Tabletop Roleplaying Games do let player cheat death by reincarnation spells, memory backups, and other devices but these may not be available for players with inexperienced characters. For others, e.g. Call of Cthulhu and Hârnmaster, death is irrevocable either because they try to simulate reality closer or they focus on the frailty of humans.

The text-based adventure games NetHack and Rogue uses Permadeath so making single mistakes can lead to game sessions ending, and this feature is a central aspect of this type of games. Permadeath is considerably more rare in other type of computer-based games; there is a version of BatMUD where death is permanent and Diablo II has an option for "hardcore" gameplay that includes Permadeath. Player can restart from earlier positions in the Fallout series but selecting hardcore modes in Fallout: New Vegas means that the deaths of companions are Permadeaths.

Counter-Strike can be said to have Permadeath since players' avatars do not respawn after being killed. This does not hinder them from playing for long however, since matches usually are pretty short and all players spawn when new matches begin.

Using the pattern

in a [Player] paper?

(Units typically have Permadeath but this has little effect on gameplay since they most often can be replaced and they have no or little individuality compared to other [Units]]).

Relations

Characters Avatars Lives Challenging Gameplay Replayability Smooth Learning Curves Save-Load Cycles Difficulty Levels

History

New pattern created in this wiki.

Acknowledgements

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