Dying in games.

[Brainst0rm]

Maybe I'm a wuss, but when I die in a game, I typically stop playing that game. The reason is very simple: DYING SUCKS. I DON'T LIKE IT.

Giving death serious enough consequences must be really difficult, because there are very few games that handle it well. The typical BioWare title just sends you off to your last save, which would be fine if ANY of their goram games had a halfway-decent autosave feature. But they don't. And why should I regularly pause my experience, rise from the glorious immersion, and tell my computer to record it's 1s and 0s? Really? THAT'S NOT MY JOB!

SAVE POINTS are a glorious thing. Not only do they remind you to save, but they keep saving from being so totally, disgustingly un-immersing. They can essentially serve as optional checkpoints for players managing several files (as fans of BioWare's titles often do). I think that's part of what limits the auto-save features in their games - not everyone wants it to save all the time.

So, BioWare, listen up. Get yourselves a goram functional autosave features, or gimme some check points.

 

[nick n stuff]

try crash bandicoot. dying in that series was always fun cos of the variety

i agree with save points being awesome but i much prefer the ability to save wherever

 

[RowdyRodimus]

With the absurd amount of auto saves in most games (like you mentioned, Bioware doesn't put them as close together as others do) there really isn't a point in having the player die since all they do is take a minute to reload the last 15 seconds before you died. I like how they do it it Bit.Trip Runner where when you "die" you begin at the start of the level immediately but the levels are short enough that you don't mind.

 

[Javarino]

I think probably the best thing to do is either make frequent autosaves to save time (not just complete a level, get a checkpoint) or go the way of Metroid Prime.( I like this one) In metroid prime there are these evenly spaced save stations, each time showing a little animation. They are spaced where gamers normally need a break, and before every boss fight you can find a save point so if you die, you aren't suddenly battling the guy again, you are reloading from a previous save. It's the best way to go, and makes dying not so bad, but not nice enough that you would want to die repeatedly.

 

[Ironic Pirate]

A cracked article had an interesting idea, and I will expand upon it: Basically, you don't get shot, like in action movies. My idea is similar, but there's a percentage that determines how many bullets miss you, it starts off at maybe 1%. As you take fire, though, and more people shoot at you, it would increase. When no one is shooting, it goes down.

If you do eventually get hit, damage is semi-realistic, you drop and start bleeding until you can bandage it up, at which point you will be negatively affected depending on shot location. The injury and affects then slowly fade (and I mean slowly) until you're good as new.

Death occurs when shot in the head/you bleed out. Death require some serious shit to happen, like going back to a save point. Or something.

 

[Tourette]

Dying is better in an MMO if another player killed you as the revenge is so much fun

 

[Hiphophippo]

Maybe I'm a wuss, but when I die in a game, I typically stop playing that game. The reason is very simple: DYING SUCKS. I DON'T LIKE IT.

Giving death serious enough consequences must be really difficult, because there are very few games that handle it well. The typical BioWare title just sends you off to your last save, which would be fine if ANY of their goram games had a halfway-decent autosave feature. But they don't. And why should I regularly pause my experience, rise from the glorious immersion, and tell my computer to record it's 1s and 0s? Really? THAT'S NOT MY JOB!

SAVE POINTS are a glorious thing. Not only do they remind you to save, but they keep saving from being so totally, disgustingly un-immersing. They can essentially serve as optional checkpoints for players managing several files (as fans of BioWare's titles often do). I think that's part of what limits the auto-save features in their games - not everyone wants it to save all the time.

So, BioWare, listen up. Get yourselves a goram functional autosave features, or gimme some check points.

Interestingly, I feel the exact opposite.

 

[No-Superman10]

Dying in games actually tends to make me more likely to keep playing, the repeated deaths in Mirrors Edge were the only thing that convinced me to complete it. (In a "This shit will not beat me" kind of way)
Fallout 3 is a prime example of good autosaves, with it saving everytime you wait, sleep or go through a door, that saved me a lot of re-doing in the long run.

 

[iBlooba]

Why don't you just uhh, get better?

 

[TaylorPaige09]

Dying in games actually tends to make me more likely to keep playing, the repeated deaths in Mirrors Edge were the only thing that convinced me to complete it. (In a "This shit will not beat me" kind of way)

Same for me. I die all the time in Mirror's Edge, but I just keep going at it. I can't help myself.

OT: I don't mind pausing and saving a game. I'm constantly saving work documents and projects on the computer right in the middle of them, or anytime I make a change. So it's really no different with gaming for me. I've kind of made a habit of saving a lot if it's necessary.

 

[Korten12]

I dont think you would like Demon's Souls then. lol.

 

[JamesJoltWolf]

Maybe I'm a wuss, but when I die in a game, I typically stop playing that game. The reason is very simple: DYING SUCKS. I DON'T LIKE IT.

Giving death serious enough consequences must be really difficult, because there are very few games that handle it well. The typical BioWare title just sends you off to your last save, which would be fine if ANY of their goram games had a halfway-decent autosave feature. But they don't. And why should I regularly pause my experience, rise from the glorious immersion, and tell my computer to record it's 1s and 0s? Really? THAT'S NOT MY JOB!

SAVE POINTS are a glorious thing. Not only do they remind you to save, but they keep saving from being so totally, disgustingly un-immersing. They can essentially serve as optional checkpoints for players managing several files (as fans of BioWare's titles often do). I think that's part of what limits the auto-save features in their games - not everyone wants it to save all the time.

So, BioWare, listen up. Get yourselves a goram functional autosave features, or gimme some check points.

Interestingly, I feel the exact opposite.

i just want a game to have an option to have saves where you want to, but to also feature regular auto saves. Which is something alot of games lack because theres areas of games where it saves to much and then they forget to save elsewhere. As for save points i think they should be where they deserves to be. In TPA (third person action) games. Such as Dantes Inferno and Prince of persia. Because getting to the next save point is all i really feel those games are about.

Example of badly used save points: Final fantasy games.
Where i spent 10 minuets forgetting where i had to go or what i had to do, just to hunt down a save point because i had leveled up a character important to me.

 

[teqrevisited]

I've always taken ingame deaths as a challenge to do better. Not going to let a piece of software get the better of me! Now, crashing is different entirely. I lost 3 hours of progress on a game yesterday, getting lost in the gameplay without remembering to save... I'll learn from that "Death", too.

 

[Phishfood]

I must admit, dying in a game doesn't bother me UNLESS (taking fallout 3) I just spent an hour wandering the wilderness, climbing tricky cliffs, gone corner to corner and then die and realise my last autosave was THAT long ago.

In an MMO I feel death HAS to have impact, otherwise PVP is just as much grindy wank as PVE. It does make victory much sweeter knowing that not only have you deprived someone of their billion isk blueprint but that now YOU have the billion isk blueprint.

 

[Johnnyallstar]

Dying, or at least failing, is an integral part of all gaming, and how each game individually tackles that problem is always a fun thing to check out.

Games like MGS3 that have a death sequence in the middle of it always add a momentary WTF effect, which is good to give gamers every now and then.

One of the best ways I've ever seen death handled was in the old Tex Murphy games. In Under A Killing Moon whenever Tex would die, he would then be seen in a black background making excuses to God (amazingly well voiced by James Earl Jones) as to why he failed. In Overseer Tex was telling the story retrospectively, so whenever you die or irrevocably screw up, it would fast forward to the "present" and he would say "I thought about doing that, but it would have got me shot. So here's what I did...."

Man... I want to play those games again...

 

[WorkerMurphey]

Arkham Asylum wins the best fail/death experience award in recent memory.

 

[Kryzantine]

I'd love to see you play IWBTG. That game is ridiculous and requires a sacrifice once every 6 seconds.

I used to hate death in games, but now I simply accept it and move on. The only time I really hate dying is when:

1. It's once every 10 seconds
2. The opponent is cheating, using glitches, hacking, etc; if his kill requires no gaming skill.