Life is Good

Looking over the mechanics from my earlier posts I decided to settle for the morbid mechanic of death. Dying in a game is very, very common and comes in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes it is humorous, such as watching a flattened Crash Bandicoot waddle around after being caught under a falling wall. Sometimes it is gruesome, such as having your head torn off by a Necromorph in Dead Space. And sometimes it is just weird, such as being blown up by a wave of exploding, zombified sheep in the bonus scenario missions in Warcraft III.
There are numerous ways in which games deal with death; three particular examples I want to address are from the Devil May Cry series, Dark Souls, and Pokemon. Strictly speaking the death mechanic in Pokemon is only fainting but it functions the same way as death does in most RPGs; the character's health/stamina/hit-points are reduced to zero and they are removed from combat or cease to function. All of these games treat death quite differently but the circumstances of dying are not as permanent as "death" would suggest. In the older arcade games death meant you lost, game over. Now with the accessibility of personal consoles, games were expected to last longer and provide more than just a simple concept such as "get the circles" or "shoot the aliens" (then again, some haven't stretched very far).

Stick with what you know I suppose...

Not every game abandoned the lives system but in contemporary games the status of "dead" has become only temporary. A decent length story would be wasted if it was cut short every time the player dies. The consequences of death are no longer as severe in terms of progress as they used to be, but by no means does that result in death losing its bite.
Devil May Cry is a masculine series of games, let's be honest. The main character is a big man who doesn't feel pain, wields big guns and an even bigger sword to kill demons and the female characters wear slightly more clothing than the average stripper. So when you die in these games it hits you where it hurts; pride. There's nothing stopping you from continuing the mission post-casualty, but there's nothing stopping the game from slapping you in the face with a great dirty "D" at the end of your mission for it. The first and third games in the series were particularly difficult in that an easy mode was  unavailable, somewhat mockingly, until the player had died a number of times in the normal difficulty.

The latest instalment by Ninja Theory, DmC: Devil May Cry, made death less critical as the player retained their "style points" but lost 20% of their final score. In the previous games death meant a loss of all style points accumulated up to that point because, let's face it, dying's just not cool. So death has the consequence of dissatisfaction at one's personal performance. It makes the player feel inadequate. You don't want to die, not because you will 'lose' the game, but because you want to feel like a man.

"SSS" could also stand for "Something So Satisfying"

Dark Souls is game that reminds players that just because there are infinite re-spawns, doesn't mean the game will be easy. It punishes players over and over with death. Death results in the player losing all their collected souls and humanity and if they die again before they find their body it is all lost. Dying doesn't just put the game on hold for a moment, it can actually cost you progress. You also get this lovely little message every time as if to say "hey, you suck".

But one must not be discouraged. Dying, in a twisted way, becomes a form of progress in its own right. You walk down a corridor and something comes from behind and stabs you in the back. Right, look both ways before taking a corner. You return to your place of death and continue down the corridor only to have corrosive ooze fall from the ceiling and engulf you. Sidestep here. Eventually you escape the corridor and encounter an enormous demon whose abilities are far beyond your own and he one-hitter-quitters you. Looks like you need to level up son. And there we have progress. Painful, gruelling, masochistic progress.
The consequences and brutality of death are also what gives the game part of its hook. While games like Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog remakes still cling to the lives system, death is practically meaningless and the tension it holds is lost. Dark Souls speaks to a generation of gamers who are looking for something to fear, to have real challenge rewarded with a sense of real triumph.

Awwwww yeah!

Lastly, we have Pokemon. The death mechanic in Pokemon is substituted with "fainting". In a combat situation it is like most RPGs in that the fainted Pokemon is unable to continue fighting and cannot be used, yet can be revived with special items, much like reviving "KO-ed" characters with "phoenix downs" in Final Fantasy X or giving unconscious characters potions in Kingdom Hearts. And a game aimed at children (aimed at doesn't necessarily mean it hits) isn't going to have death in it when it requires you to build a party. If your Pokemon died every time their hit-points was reduced to zero the game's inherent difficulty would mean one of the main messages it speaks would be lost. The Pokemon games are all about companionship and the development of your relationship with your Pokemon. Fainting doesn't just mean your Pokemon is out of the battle, there are several features that come with this. Firstly, if all six of your Pokemon faint in a battle you essentially lose the battle and lose money. Secondly, your Pokemon's happiness and trust decrease, meaning they will be weaker when they evolve and sometime will disobey in battle. Fainting, if a regular enough occurrence, has lasting negative effects. Because of this mechanic, players are encouraged to look after their Pokemon and are rewarded with stronger and more loyal companions.

Some in the online Pokemon community have gone against the mechanic of fainting, following a self-enforced set of rules that has come to be known as the "Nuzlocke challenge," named after the comics it originated in.

I got this but it took three tries

This style of play is supposed to forge stronger bonds between trainer and Pokemon as the fear of death is once again present. Not knowing if your next battle will be your last with your beloved Pidgeot adds to the intensity of the game.