character-death
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Storyboard: Only mostly dead
Dead is dead. I can't stand when comics endlessly bring back dead characters, I can't stand when shows bring back dead villains, and I can't stand when death is treated less like the final note and more like a brief inconvenience. If you want someone to come back from the dead, don't kill the character in the first place! Death needs to be permanent to have any impact. So this week's article is all about ignoring that and bringing characters back from the dead anyhow because the only reason to have rules is to know when to occasionally break them. Roleplaying deaths are already rare, of course. I can count how many characters I've actually killed on one hand, and that's stretching back to roleplaying in Final Fantasy XI (abortively). But sometimes you decide that you want someone alive after all. And when it's done carefully, you can actually make the revival interesting again because you're not doing it for shock value so much as making a point.
The Daily Grind: What dumb death do your characters repeatedly suffer?
MMOs offer players many, many dumb ways to die. Personally, I tend to die by grossly misjudging the safe falling distance. I've learned more about how games handle falling deaths than would seem entirely healthy. Guild Wars 2 just kicks you to a waypoint for your idiocy, while Star Wars: The Old Republic is kind enough to let you treat it like any other death. Albeit a particularly dumb one. But falling is hardly the only way to kill yourself and feel like an idiot. You can jump into something harmful and not remember to move. You can pull when the tank, healer, or both are away from the keyboard. You can even go AFK yourself in an area filled with things due to respawn in the near future. And while some dumb deaths are accidents, today we want to know what dumb way you keep dying in your games of choice. Even if yours is also falling. Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
The Daily Grind: Which character death did you find the most memorable?
Your character will die. You know this going in. Death penalties in some games are harsher than others, but every single MMO assumes that your character will at some point drop to zero hit points. By the time you hit max level, you'll usually have several deaths under your belt. Some of them fall into the category of doing something you knew was stupid at the time, some of them were just mistakes, and some of them... well, they were the sort of deaths that you remember. Maybe you died because you were raising a teammate in City of Heroes and didn't think about where you were standing. Maybe you died from a knockback effect in Warhammer Online that threw you right off a ledge. Whatever the case, today we want to hear about your legendary death stories, the times when your character met his or her end in the most spectacular fashion possible. Which of the many deaths you've experienced still sticks in your head? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Permadeath considered for World of Darkness MMO
CCP unveiled the World of Darkness MMO at The Grand Masquerade earlier this week where Justin Achilli hosted a well-attended panel for World of Darkness fans. The goal was to hear from those looking forward to the MMO and get a feel for what they want to see. Attendees talked about some of the standard elements such as immersion and casual vs. hardcore, but there was a surprising suggestion thrown out as well: permadeath. Justin's notes from the panel read "Permadeath. Server type preference?" Permadeath is an interesting concept -- even more so in a game centered around immortal beings -- and Ardwulf took a long look at it in his newest post on Ardwulf's Lair. Want to weigh in on permadeath in WoD or see the rest of what was discussed? Check out the full list of panel notes on Justin's site.
