Back in the DikuMUD days, when you died, you lost a level. Period. Kinder MUDs might only, say, drop you to the start of your current level (which was done to prevent the code nastiness of making you unlearn spells, rather than any inherent benevolence on the part of the Admins). This seemed so much kinder than the option of permadeath (and yes, that ludicrous debate existed even back then).

When EverQuest came out some years later, there was actually some scoffawing about how light and fluffy the death penalty was – lose something like 10% experience and do a corpse run. What, are we in care bear land? Of course, since then, the death penalties have gotten progressively lighter and lighter, to the point where in WoW, death is considered by many to be a slap in the wrist, an insubstantial cost on the risk vs. reward meter.

But our thinking on the subject as designers has morphed quite a bit. Consider who the classic EQ corpse run punishes: those who solo, those who lack friends who are clerics, those who don’t have a large guild support structure, those who don’t have the time and energy to keep four sets of equipment in the bank, and those who die a lot. Translation: the casual, the casual, the casual, the casual, and the casual. No wonder the hardcore players like the death penalty in Vanguard – by comparison, they’re getting a free ride!

On the flip side, WoW’s death penalty (repair costs) really only punishes one type of player – the person who has scads of purple epic gear and had quaffed 10 buff potions before the fight. Hint: that’s not Joe Six-Pack.

Could death penalties in MMOs be a tad harsher? Possibly, but here are some things to think about.

  • High death penalties lead to players boring themselves to death. One commenter in the Vanguard thread said that casual players should stop trying to take chances, and instead grind on easy monsters. As game designers, you should be encouraging players to fight oranges, not greens! If fights are close, players are forced to use tactics and occasionally risk death. If the risk of death is too high, players will avoid it at all costs, resulting in them killing creatures who will never get them below 50% health, up until the moment they hang themselves on their own mouse cable to escape the utter tedium.
  • Games should encourage taking chances. We play games because we can experiment, and try things we’d never do in real life. You should feel okay building a radically experimental character build. You should not be afraid of trying a wacky strategy that has one shot in a thousand of working. You should be able to have a Leeroy moment.
  • Lighter death penalties allow the designer to make the game harder. If failure doesn’t cause the customers to quit, designers can feel free to make challenges that are more difficult, and require more teamwork to pull off.
  • There is no reload button. If you believe that death isn’t penalizing enough in WoW, you must also by extension believe that death isn’t penalizing in every single player game ever played — thanks to the handy ‘reload’ option that those games have. And yet, people still strongly want to avoid death in those.
  • High death penalties strongly discourage pickup groups and by extension, are bad for building community. Really – do you want to take a chance on an unproven cleric when it could cost you a week’s playing time?
  • Casual gamers have a much lower tolerance for stupid death penalties. It’s possible to claim that WoW has spoiled them forever. That’s tough, this is the market we’re in now. In retrospect, it’s shocking it took so long to get there.
  • Hardcore features should be optional. WoW’s just not hardcore on the surface. Tell me this isn’t hardcore. (On my server, at least, no one’s beaten Hyjal yet – I’m not sure they have anywhere). Diablo II had Hardcore mode, but you didn’t have to play it. Hardcore gameplay should never be on your critical gameplay path, unless you are content with having no casual audience.
  • High death penalties really conflict with PvP High death penalties only work if you are guarunteeing the player will win 99.9% of the time. PvP penalties result in death for the player’s approximately 50% of the time. Or more, if you suck. Note: the players that suck do not end up sticking around if they take 10 steps back every gankage.
  • If you disagree with me, you should really ask yourself why you so clearly hate players and that ‘fun’ concept, and if game design is really something you should be dabbling in. Not that I feel strongly on the idea, mind you.

Oh, and permadeath is still a stupid idea.

Original comments thread is here.