[LoD]

There is certainly more to a permadeath and non-permadeath environment than it simply being a feature choice. Color or No Color is a feature choice. First Person or Third Person is a feature choice. Warrior or Blademaster is a feature choice. Permadeath and Non-Permadeath are system choices, and they can result in an entirely different experience for the player.

Try to ignore Delerak when arguing these points, but it's not quite as cut and dry as you make it.

Delerak aside, I don't know that very many people are making this claim. RP can exist in both systems, but there's a group of people that want an experience that mimics or attempts to mimic a realistic experience where there is not any kind of afterlife, reincarnation, or ressurection possible. A system where death is final in all senses of the word. This isn't a decision that affects how "good" someone's RP is, but how the system will differ toward the player's actions and general attitude toward facets of the game.

Well developed books, games, and movie worlds incorporating non-permanent death systems does not change the fact that the system is different from a permanent death system. It isn't a feature, it's a global condition by which many aspects of one's character development, character decision making process, and IC reaction to encounters are altered.

Let's say that you were walking home one day and someone stopped you and asked you to bet $20 on whether you could beat him in arm wrestling, double or nothing.

Now, let's say that instead of winning $40, they said that they would kill you if you lost.

Would that affect how hard you tried? Would it affect how you approached the match? Your attitude? The pressure you felt as a result of what the outcome would yield? Would it make you consider other courses of action, such as running away, fighting, talking your way out of it, or shouting for help? Would your mood change? How serious would you take each scenario?

If you agree that someone might feel differently about that scenario, then you should be able to appreciate some of the differences and nuances behind a permanent death system versus non-permanent death. The "issues" related to character development, role-playing, and keeping in-character are not related to a person's ability or their level of quality -- but more so a product of the environment.

This doesn't mean that players of non-permanent systems have "issues" with RP, it means that there are issues with achieving the same experience between the two systems.

The real question, in my mind, revolves around consequence. How could two players share the same experience if the consequences to their actions are not the same? If both players were made to run a distance of 100 meters in under 10 seconds, and one player was told if they don't finish they will have to start over and the second is told if they don't finish they will be shot dead -- won't that have a significant impact on almost every emotional and physical facet of the interaction?

Won't the permanent death system incorporate emotional responses that alter the decision making process differently than the non-permanent death system? Won't those responses alter the way people play? The decisions and choices they make? The risks they take? The way they address people? The cowardice or bravery they display? Does the consequence of permanent death not create situations that are unique to the system such as having notions of an ultimate sacrifice or irreplaceable loss?

Non-permanent death systems would have unique properties and conditions as well. How does someone integrate back into a system that has killed them? How do their relationships change? How does their role change from the experience?

They are vastly different and provide vastly different experiences. Don't try to place the two ideas in a linear system with one ahead of the other -- just accept them in the same space and play the one that interests you the most.

-LoD