Death is Dead

I was playing Dead Space the other day and was struck by how stupid death is in that game -- and for that matter, most modern, friendly action games. So it's a horror game: One of the key elements of horror (in any medium) is the fear of death. And yet, Dead Space goes out of it's way to make death trivial and non-frightening, with frequent checkpoints, quick respawn cycle, no penalties. This is Friendly Game Design. Keeps players from getting frustrated. But it completely defeats the point of making a game in the horror genre. What to do?

After posing this to various friends, several of them countered with an example from an Ernest Adams Game Design Workshop which dealt with Vikings and Valhalla. It's not simply a game about death, but a constructive sim-game where dying is essential to success. Players must lead their villages to success, dying in glorious battle to earn honour for the village for future generations.

Although this is a brilliant idea that needs to be executed on, it doesn't quite address the problem. In character-centric, story based games like action games, what do you do about death that makes it non-trivial, but also fun?

A Beautiful Finish

I don't think you can do it and still adhere to a specific linear story. Effectively what I'm talking about is writing a story about the player: A record of their successes and shortcomings. If the player makes a critical mistake, how do we acknowledge that as a beautiful part of their experience, rather than a failure to 'beat the game'? I really can't see how this could be done without very sandboxy gameplay, or procedural storytelling, or a whole lot of content. (Please prove me wrong!)

Death is an important and common part of storytelling; it's not difficult to imagine a story in which the player dies. The trick is making the player not feel like they are somehow missing out on further content or a better experience because they died. Closure? Records of their accomplishments? Knowledge that that's as good as it gets (like Pac Man)?

No Rest For the Wicked

Another thing to consider is that most games consider the consequence for failure to be death. But why does that have to be the case? Consider some hypothetical game where you play a vigilante cop trying to take down an international drug lord (creative, huh?). The current mission is to infiltrate the hideout of some dealer, learn what you need to know, and take him out. So you go through the level, guns blazing indiscriminately. Somewhere along the way, you must have missed a healthpack, coz when you get to the last room in the basement, you get mowed down by the dealer's body guards.

In a 'nice' game, you'd respawn back around the last corner. This time you're smarter, so you fire a few shots to lure the guards towards your and take them out one at a time as they come around the corner. But your health is still too low, and they kill you again. So you respawn and try something different. And again. And maybe you run backwards in the level looking for health pickups. Some time later, you've finally passed the obstacle. You get to excute the dealer, but it really doesn't matter anymore -- you don't know why you're even here.

What if instead, you get shot to the ground. Hearing of the intruder's demise, the dealer waltzes up to you -- bleeding and wheezing on the floor -- insults you, and tells his guards to dump you off the pier. So you are evicted from the hideout and taken to the docks. But hey! You're an action hero! You take out the guards and escape back to your lair to reconnoiter. The next mission loads and the story progresses -- somewhat differently on account of your failure -- but carrying the dramatic line in any case.

That Age Old Debate

Really what this comes down to is a question of the effectiveness of games as a storytelling medium. Or rather, how to effectively use games as a storytelling medium. Games that don't focus on authored narrative (Viking Sim Game, Dwarf Fortress, Pac Man) can kill the player in meaningful ways all the time, since they don't have to deal with story content for player death.

What if the author of a game has a specific story to tell? If the player can choose-their-own-adventure the game by dying, does the author get to tell that story of the player? But if the player faces mounting odds, and fails, and then reappears 10 seconds in the past and tries again, until they succeed -- is that really telling the author's story either?

I don't think there are any easy answers to this. But until there are, I don't see myself enjoying horror games for a while.