Death

[Thomas]

In many works of fiction death play a large role, so it is not strange if it does so in games too.

In normal games death is very common and comes in the form of a trial and error mechanic. If the player cannot overcome a certain obstacle, she dies and has to try again. In a notgame, obstacles like this are best avoided, so how to do death?

For me death, symbolizes the ultimate loss and think this is why it is so common. At first glance one might think that games have a much more simpler way to incorporate death, but in reality the death normally found in games is not much of a loss (unless one is playing some hard core perma-death game). It is just a form of set back and not at all the kind of "ultimate loss" that it is in other media. This makes me feel like there is a lot more to explore regarding death in (not)games.

Other than having the normal "character dies as part of plot", what sort of way can it be implemented? I am really interested what you all think about this and if you have any good examples of games that deal with death in an interesting way.

[Michaël Samyn]

I don't think "death" is really death in most games. Because most games are simply abstract systems. Recently these systems have been skinned to look like humans and so suddenly the removal of a pawn is portrayed as "death". But it usually has no narrative implications or real meaning.

There are many stories in the world that don't feature a single death. So death is not a vital ingredient for a powerful experience at all. That being said, the fact that we are mortal does colour what we do and think. In a way, death is always present, lurking in the corners of our mind.

As it happens (and I swear this is complete coincidence), almost all of our major games at Tale of Tales have dealt with death:

• in The Path, the goal of the game is to die six times,
• in The Graveyard, you play an old woman who can die if you paid for the full version,
• in Fatale, your head is chopped off in the beginning of the game and you say goodbye to life in the rest,
• and Vanitas, of course, is about the futility of life.

Are we emo or what?  

I'm not sure if I was fascinated by death before we started making games. But I know I am now! I have some strange curiosity for my own death. Maybe I should try to design a dying simulator...

[Michaël Samyn]

Now that I'm seeing our games in a list and thinking about how death is treated in most games, I notice a remarkable difference. In most games, you play the killer, you murder all your enemies and you survive. Obviously this is again simply skinning of an abstract game system. And since most videogames are single player games, there's not much point in losing them. So the player wins/survives every time, usually at the expense of hundreds of losers/victims.

I guess we have criticised this seeming inevitability in our games by making losing the most interesting option. In almost all our games, the character you play dies. But dying is not failure. To die, in game terms, is your mission. I guess it doesn't make much sense to talk about this in game terms.

I've always had a fascination for the victims in shooter games. Has there ever been a game where you play the bad guy and you simply get shot as soon as the hero appears on the scene?

Anyway, I'm sure there's far more intersting things to discuss than games regarding the topic of death.

[axcho]

I've always had a fascination for the victims in shooter games. Has there ever been a game where you play the bad guy and you simply get shot as soon as the hero appears on the scene?

Not that I know of. But perhaps there should be. It could be pretty easy to make, though it might be harder to make it more than just a one-off joke.

[David]

i always felt sad for all the mushrooms beings that Mario killed.
they only seemed to want to walk straight ahead...

[Michaël Samyn]

Not to mention the kawaii colossi! 

[Albin Bernhardsson]

Reminds me of Execution by 2Dcube. Although being incredibly unpolished and dealing with the matter way too briefly to be very interesting at all, it's still different from most death in the media.

(Quite ironic considering 2dcube's most poplar games, the Karoshi series, in which the goal is to kill yourself a million times over.)