@ZeframCochrane
Interesting points indeed! I too was amazed at the idea that you couldn't die in some early adventure games but when I was young it didn't bother me too much.
I'm brought back to games like Resident Evil, which, when I was young, scared the daylights out of me. I would literally feel strange and uneasy after turning the game off, almost as if I had done something I wasn't supposed to do. I do remember, in those horror games, the terrible feeling of dying while remembering that the last time I saved was an hour ago. Generally, it caused me to put the game down in disgust for a few hours (sometimes a day) before I had enough spirit to return and do everything again.
But weren't games supposed to be hard? I mean, not extremely hard, but look at all of the hand-holding we see in games today. The number one complaint I hear about new games is that they're "too easy." The problem is, people have been brought up to think games should be easy (this generation that is) and people also, in my opinion, have been more prone to ignoring personal responsibility in their daily lives.
So perhaps that's what emotion the game brings to the table when death is a possibility. MY actions, MY decisions, can lead to MY own downfall. There is no game to hold my hand, no second chance (except to re-load a previous save of course
) no redemption. People are terrified of making mistakes and games can bring that out in us.
Also, and here's an interesting concept, death is the great equalizer. Its something that we're all annoyed by in games and, of course, fear in life. While generally, a game is only as scary as the person who plays it allows, death in games is something that even the most hardened person will be "afraid" of. So for someone who literally puts themselves in the shoes of their character and immerses them into the world, fear will come as a result of their involvement in the story. Those people who don't do that end up complaining that the game wasn't "scary."
I don't know. I'm not trying to prove anyone wrong either, just tossing my two cents into the ring ;p
