(Where the hell was my news team!?)
WOW. That is violent. I could literally watch this all day. Digressing, anyway the fact that you can't lose everything in a video game gives playing them a relaxing factor, a form of catharsis in which you're not worried about failure because there's no such thing. This was pretty much true of all games, with the exception of one or two when I was growing up. Namely, Diablo 2's Hardcore mode, where if your character died, they DIED. Permanently, name and all. I made one, but was personally too scared to log in ever.
Because the notion that all of your hard work could be lost forever is a truly harrowing thought to your average nerd. Yet that hasn't stopped games from implementing permadeath with untold levels of success. If you like Zombies, you've probably at least heard of Day Z. The zombie-filled mod of Arma 2.
When you start Day Z up you spawn a character along a beach, with very limited supplies, and a hunger and health gauge. As you play, you must always remember that death is permanent, and destroys your character along with all of their gear. Because of this cautious gameplay becomes vastly encouraged and you'll often find yourself on the edge of your seat, dropping to prone at the sound of nearby gunfire. Because other players can kill you, the choice to become a 'hero' or a 'bandit' becomes a segued affair, you can literally do whatever the fuck you want to anyone. Even using the games built-in microphone system to tell another player you've snuck up on to "drop all your shit or I'll put lead in you." Of course, I always shoot them even if they comply, can't have a jilted robbery victim following you around with revenge on their minds, right?
But this is just my point, games where you can die. Like die die. Encourage survival by any means necessary. And I just LOVE that about them, in fact, so do lots of people. Permadeath is slowly incorporating itself into way more games these days. Like the ever so popular 'Minecraft,' in which death in Hardcore mode not only deletes you, BUT THE ENTIRE GENERATED WORLD. Talk about bringing the world down with you. Also Battletoads, man, fuck Battletoads right in it's impossibly difficult asshole.
Because the notion that all of your hard work could be lost forever is a truly harrowing thought to your average nerd. Yet that hasn't stopped games from implementing permadeath with untold levels of success. If you like Zombies, you've probably at least heard of Day Z. The zombie-filled mod of Arma 2.
When you start Day Z up you spawn a character along a beach, with very limited supplies, and a hunger and health gauge. As you play, you must always remember that death is permanent, and destroys your character along with all of their gear. Because of this cautious gameplay becomes vastly encouraged and you'll often find yourself on the edge of your seat, dropping to prone at the sound of nearby gunfire. Because other players can kill you, the choice to become a 'hero' or a 'bandit' becomes a segued affair, you can literally do whatever the fuck you want to anyone. Even using the games built-in microphone system to tell another player you've snuck up on to "drop all your shit or I'll put lead in you." Of course, I always shoot them even if they comply, can't have a jilted robbery victim following you around with revenge on their minds, right?
But this is just my point, games where you can die. Like die die. Encourage survival by any means necessary. And I just LOVE that about them, in fact, so do lots of people. Permadeath is slowly incorporating itself into way more games these days. Like the ever so popular 'Minecraft,' in which death in Hardcore mode not only deletes you, BUT THE ENTIRE GENERATED WORLD. Talk about bringing the world down with you. Also Battletoads, man, fuck Battletoads right in it's impossibly difficult asshole.
(If you can beat this, I hate you)
I guess what I'm trying to say is that even with the most advanced, realistic first-person shooter on the market, you can't die. You just keep respawning, and it encourages balls-to-the-wall, shoot everyone in the face at once, style gameplay. Whereas when you have one life, you're going to want to spend it as productively as possible, so you'll take it slowly and make sure that every situation is tactically analysed so that no one gets a cheap grenade kill and leaves you screaming at a failure screen like a 12 year old throwing a temper tantrum.
(don't let this happen to you)
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