The Trouble with Death
Kim S of VideoGameOlogists.com writes:
"In video games, your character will die. Sometimes on boss fights, sometimes to average grunts and it generally means nothing, other than possibly making you a bit frustrated at the game. There are no consequences. There is no pain.
But your character’s death almost never means anything. Even in Metal Gear Solid, your aide’s screams of “Snake, Snaaake, Snaaaaaake” upon your death quickly become irritating and comical. I can think of only three games that make death mean something: Demon’s Souls/Dark Souls, Journey, and Crusader Kings II. In Dark Souls, the consequences of death persist in your ‘new life:’ if you fail to reach the spot where you died, everything you collected in that life will be permanently lost. This is the simplest way of making death worth my attention: make it cost. Make death hurt the player, instead of respawning their avatar in the same untroubled state as always."
