RP Spotlight: Impermanent death
by David Bowers 
Jan 29th 2008 at 3:00PM
We all know that death is a one-way journey in reality: death's permanence affects everything we do in this world -- all our laws, customs, and moral values. Yet in Azeroth it is not so: the main consequence of dying is a tedious and expensive "corpse run" for your ghost to retrieve your body. If this sort of impermanent death were a reality on Earth as it is in Azeroth, then everything about our world would be changed. As Nibuca points out, people would take risks with their lives much more lightly, execution would no longer be the ultimate punishment, and doctors might sometimes find it easier to let their patients die and then resurrect them, rather than deal with the mess of curing their sicknesses.
Roleplayers have to be somewhat careful not to let impermanent death and other such necessities of computer gaming become realities from their characters' point of view. After all, if the rules of Azerothian reality were the same as the rules we have in the game -- where death never lasts and good gear is the ultimate goal -- then there is really nothing of importance at stake for any of the characters in the Warcraft stories, least of all yours. That kind of world would effectively be just a game, whether it was real for its inhabitants or not.
Can you imagine how real life would be different if death were impermanent like it is in the game? Would such game-world realities enhance our own real world, or reduce it to trivial meaninglessness?
Filed under: Virtual selves, Lore, RP
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Pingmeister Jan 29th 2008 3:11PM
I've never experimented with what the limitations are for interaction while dead but if you can communicate with other ghosts it might be fun to have a Ghost Guild on an RP server.
I could see people having seances or channeling, etc.
Monketsu Jan 29th 2008 3:15PM
But in certain instances, death is permanate.
Uther for one... what is the difference i wonder?
Robert H Jan 29th 2008 3:19PM
I like how LOTRO handles "death". You are more "defeated" instead of "killed". This makes a lot more sense when mixing some roleplaying into the mix. You can always try again when you are defeated after you get your health and energy back.
JaeZeela Jan 29th 2008 5:04PM
My Tauren had the view that each death had the chance to become permanent - it was only through the grace of the Earthmother that she could be rezzed. She was actually an arrogant little twit and after I got tired of her, decided that this death to would be the last straw.
I wonder if her corpse is still in the Badlands. :)
Milktub Jan 29th 2008 3:22PM
I'm more interested in the recent Warrior Forum thread, "Imagine being a tank IRL".
LostOne Jan 29th 2008 3:29PM
It wouldn't be quite as depicted in game. If you died anywhere near a group of semi-intelligent beings like in an orc camp or goblin town, you'd run back to your *naked* corpse. All your phat epix gone, ninja-looted by a filthy barbarian.
Dalamyr Jan 29th 2008 3:35PM
I am so glad that the healers I run with didn't go to the same school as your Azerothian doctor. "Bob got Garotted? Eh, I'll just rez him when the fight's over."
I'm guessing that the lack of a death penalty is why all those guys are still rioting in the Stockades, too. Jerks.
LostOne Jan 29th 2008 3:44PM
Easiest prison break ever. Get a fellow inmate to kill you, res at the spirit healer, run to freedom.
Floyd Jan 29th 2008 3:48PM
Interesting post.
That having been said, people who would confuse the two worlds to such an extent that such a discussion would be relevant should be doing other things, like going to special-folks school or something.
Brett Thomas Jan 29th 2008 4:17PM
I think it's actually not correct that death is impermanent in Azeroth. As noted above, we have notable examples from the lore (e.g., Uther) who appear to have permanently died. Also, if you speak with the angel of death at the graveyard, she informs you that it is not *yet* your time to die.
From an RP perspective, I've taken this to mean that, in fact, "ressurectable" means "mostly dead" (in the parlance of Miracle Max) and not "actually dead". Just because *this* time wasn't my time, doesn't mean the next time won't be.
Putting it more into the parlance of the mystical world of Azeroth - your character has some great, future role to play. Fate is conspiring to ensure he will be there for that day. But, that doesn't mean that, at some point, your fated role won't be to die nobly and inspire the actual crucial hero of the moment.
Anyway, that's the way I role play it - from my character's perspective, all of those "deaths" were just really really close calls (kind of like a near-death-experience). Just because he lived through the last one doesn't mean he'll live through the next one, and he therefore tries to avoid that risk.
Ametrine Jan 29th 2008 4:21PM
You, sir, summed up everything I was going to say perfectly.
Bravo, my friend, bravo.
jbodar Jan 29th 2008 10:34PM
Excellent summation.
It would be insteresting, for example, if Fate decided that after you caused your party to wipe for the seventh time that you are just too stupid to live and you stayed dead. Or that your death may serve as an example for others who do not respect the elevator in Undercity and its power to take your life (fitting for UC, I think).
Angelus Jan 29th 2008 3:51PM
There is an analogy I picked up from watching Battle Star Galactica (new series, not old), believe it or not. It's about how Cylons treat death.
When a Cylon dies her memories and conciousness go back to a ressurection ship where it's placed inside a new body to be re-animated. They learn from these painful deaths and try to adapt for the next time.
This is some what how I see life on Azeroth. Even the mobs come back to life. And its no fun to die, so we all avoid it when we can.
As one of my friends use to say, WoW is life and death exagerated.
brent Jan 29th 2008 3:58PM
How high were you when writing this one? I can smell the black lights.
Tridus Jan 29th 2008 4:21PM
Most RPers tend to split between temporary death and permanent death, simply because without some form of permanent death the entire Warcraft series of games makes no sense.
The Spirit Healer is a luxury afforded to the PCs, most NPCs stay dead story wise once you kill them.
niko Jan 29th 2008 4:38PM
weirdest. post. evar.
man, you guys are starting to make me worry.
way too deep for this game, guys, waaaaay too deep.
If you're going to spend the brain cells, spend them on the real thing, not on WoW.
Joe Klinkhoff Jan 29th 2008 4:51PM
You are of course assuming death IS permanent for us real lifers. . . .
Sean Riley Jan 29th 2008 4:57PM
I'm reminded of the story "The Soldier and Death" (brilliantly portrayed in Jim Henson's "The Storyteller" if you want to track down the DVD, they did it beautifully with no softening up for children). In it, a Soldier captures Death itself in a sack, with no-one able to die.
Wars continue, and never end. Duels go on from dawn until dusk. Young lovers hurl themselves from cliffs and have a long climb back up. And the old gather 'round the soldier's castle. Begging him to release death.
It would be a broken world. Death is needed for sensible life.
That said, let's imagine a few things.
One: War would be a very limited resource, perhaps occasionally useful (to force an enemy out of a piece of land, for instance) but overall, it would be impractical. But it might get used anyway, since, hey! The risk is low, indeed, practically non-existent.
Two: Healthcare actually becomes more of an issue, not less, since the population will inevitably trend toward old age. Illness and pain alleviation take center stage. I'm unsure what percentage of diseases that primarily target older people are transmittable, but that might also become a concern.
Three: Population becomes a dire scenario -- Way overpopulated. And you can't even really go to draconian efforts to stop it, if people have kids, what are you going to do? You can't even kill the child. Forced sterility might become the only way to go. Only privileged people get to have children.
See? It's pretty dystopian pretty quickly. Be glad we die. The alternative is worse.
haust Jan 29th 2008 5:45PM
What is the point of this topic ?? I trully don't get it. Sorry :)
Raegn Jan 29th 2008 6:45PM
I'm a roleplayer and, no offense, I found this whole post to be silly. It's a given. Yes, if there was no death, things would be different. And? It's non-relevant because it's common knowledge and no one really puts time into thinking about it.