Permadeath

"Permanent death" redirects here. For the permanent death of living organisms, see Clinical death.

Permadeath or permanent death is a game mechanic in both tabletop games and video games in which player characters who lose all of their health are considered dead and cannot be used anymore.[1] Depending on the situation, this could require the player to create a new character to continue, or completely restart the game potentially losing nearly all progress made. Other terms include persona death and player death.[2] Some video games offer a hardcore mode that features this mechanic, rather than making it part of the core game.

Permadeath contrasts with games that allow the player to continue in some manner, such as their character respawning at a checkpoint on "death", resurrection of their character by a magic item or spell, or being able to load and restore a saved game state to avoid the death situation. The mechanic is frequently associated with both tabletop and computer-based role-playing games,[3] and is considered an essential element of the roguelike genre of video games.[4] The implementation of permadeath can vary depending on the type of game.

  1. ^ "Never-to-return death is called permanent death or PD." (Bartle 2003, p416)
  2. ^ "Some old-timers prefer the expansion persona death. Exceedingly old-timers might even use player death, but at least we're trying to break the habit." (Bartle 2003, p416)
  3. ^ Hosie, Ewen (30 December 2013). "YOLO: The Potential of Permanent Death". IGN. Archived from the original on 13 August 2014. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
  4. ^ Douall, Andrew (27 July 2009). "Analysis: The Game Design Lessons Of Permadeath". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on 13 August 2014. Retrieved 12 August 2014.