Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun video games, slang Permanent death, where the player cannot continue but is obliged to restart the game from the beginning.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

perma- +‎ death

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Examples

  • (Then again, protection against permadeath is hardwired to the genre of the campaign; the protagonists really are protected by Genre Fiat here, which is all cool with us.)

    On Immersion « Geek Related 2009

  • It adds a new custom character creation feature and the ability to toggle off permadeath, meaning your allies can be made to return for subsequent battles.

    IGN PSP 2010

  • People who want things like "permadeath" and/or other ways to "lose" want it so that they can both win AND feel their win has more "value" because A) they could have lost but didn't, or B) other players lost but they did better than those guys.)

    Is Inflation Fun? 2005

  • But I'm not sure I see much to say, in term of superior morality, about the permadeath or no PD choice.

    Fortitude, Save Games, and the MMO 2010

  • And yes, there should be permadeath if you let the house die out without an heir.

    Correcting Reality 2008

  • Laws that assume things about gameplay could be too blunt an instrument, though: saying that you're entitled to your character back if it is destroyed might make sense in WoW, where you're only going to lose it if someone hacks your account and deletes it, but it wouldn't make sense in a game world with permadeath, where you could lose it in the course of regular gameplay.

    The Point of No Return 2008

  • Permadeath is bad enough, but permadeath with an 18-year delay in creating new characters is unspeakable.

    Virtual World Has Billions of Residents 2007

  • Their ability to interact with other players was immense: you could attack and kill permadeath other players; you could steal things from them; you could lock them in rooms from which they couldn't escape.

    Do virtual worlds liberate us? 2007

  • Albeit vaguely related - one must mention the eternally controversial idea in commercial MMO design: permadeath ref TN: "New York Times on Permadeath".

    "What is missing is the chaos of battle" 2007

  • So i'll keep on working on dynamic content and i'll continue with a design that offers voluntary permadeath.

    Oh tragedy 2007

Comments

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  • GameSetWatch: 'There have been a number of intriguing articles written over the last few weeks about one of the key concepts, and most criticised features, of roguelikes: permanent death, often shortened to permadeath. This is the notion that should the game avatar die, the player should start from the beginning of the game.'

    July 18, 2009