[LoD]

I've played several MUDs over my many years and Armageddon since it began almost 18 years ago.

People seem to be drawing conclusions that personal preferences or opinions on the benefits of permadeath somehow discredits or trivializes the experiences they have on their non-permadeath MUD. It does no such thing.

Some people are seeing the statement, "Beef is only good when it is cooked."

What people are saying, however, is more akin to the statement, "I can't appreciate Beef unless it's been properly cooked."

What's further true is that there are unique properties to cooked beef that are simply not possible without the cooking process. The same can be said of permadeath and non-permadeath systems. There are unique textures, tastes, and experiences inherent to -both- systems that simply cannot be achieved without implementing one or the other. And many people in the permadeath camp are likely of the opinion that slaying someone only to see the exact same person, with the same personality and the same agenda any time in the future would pose several major problems with their role-play.

How could a character truly feel a sense of loss for another character if they cannot actually perish?

How could a character truly feel victory over a bitter rival if they could never truly be killed?

How could a character truly make the ultimate sacrifice or show extreme bravery if there is no ultimate price?

How could a character truly feel frightened if their character cannot truly die?

How could a political assassination work if the character isn't truly dead?

How could you frame someone for murder if the murder victim can simply come back?

How can you truly savor narrowly escaping death when you know full well that even had your character perished, you'd simply be penalized rather than killed?

There are entire ranges of emotions, felt both by the character and the player both, that many feel exist only under a true permadeath system. From what I've perceived on both sides of the fence, I definitely have to lump myself into that same category from the many years I've played. There are countless situations and actions that would've been completely trivialized or rendered completely pointless if characters were allowed to return from the dead.

Imagine two 30-year old soccer players; one is a professional and pursues his game for a living while the other one enjoys the sport as an amateur and plays pick-up games with friends.

The professional and amateur both appreciate soccer. They could both be fans of professional soccer players. They could both spend a lot of time playing the game, but they both may have very different goals and opinions about what makes a good match. Saturday afternoon kicking around with friends at a park might be enough to satiate one man's needs, to give him the experience that he was after, while leaving the other one completely unfulfilled. Does this make either man appreciate the game any less?

The professional may have a different (not necessarily higher) set of standards for what must exist for the "game" to be exciting and rewarding compared to the amateur. That isn't to say that permadeath supporters are professionals and the rest are amateurs at their game -- but that everyone has different expectations and requirements to find their MUDing experience exciting and rewarding.

And the group that favors permadeath are simply after a different experience. The fact that RP can exist within both systems should be a given, not a point of contention.

-LoD