[Bakha]

Very, very true. Permadeath truly does explore the realm of tragedy (I'm not saying that non-permadeath muds don't) How many stories have you heard of players sitting at their keyboards and sobbing after losing a beloved PC? I'm not sure it's even completely healthy, but the investment is definitely real. I'll never forget losing my longest-lived PC (maxed out Drovian uber mul, over 2 RL years old with tons of cool development over time) in a completely stupid way. I was getting a quick fix before going to work that day. Went out into the desert to run an errand ingame and died to a siltflyer. I had to walk out the door and head to work 5 minutes later. I walked through the rest of the day in a daze.

I've also laughed at the death of other PCs of mine and eagerly went back to the drawing board to create something new and different. I think that's probably one of the attractions of permadeath to me (and this probably does backup somewhat what Threshold was saying about it actually affecting RPI players less) is that it allows for the possibility of different roles. In my time on Armageddon, I've played a rebel mul drovian, an establishment sadistic noble, a small time petty thief, a bumbling drunk, a loyal meathead guard captain, and others. Some made their mark on the world and became well known. Others never amounted to much of anything.

In related anecdotal news, I played Threshold for years as one PC, Magnus. I loved that PC. He was awesome. I did have a brief stint with some other PCs for playtesting other guilds, but for the most part I played Magnus. I probably played Magnus longer than it was healthy for my enjoyment of the game. I probably would have been better off retiring him and creating something different, but I would have never willingly forced myself to give up that beloved PC. It's times like those when the precarious nature of permadeath can provide impetus to continue to play. You know that you could lose that powerful, long-lived PC at any given time, so you better enjoy it while you can.

Edit: In looking back, I realize that some of my comments about "power" may have made me come across as obsessed with skills and coded power. I should probably should have said something more along the lines of well-connected, historical, famous, etc.. instead of powerful, as that tends to be what I think of as "power" in a game.