No, but...
If they make an autosave (so you don't lose too much if you hadn't saved in a while), and if the death fits within the game (you're in a dangerous situation and you just did something of which you knew it *might* kill you), then meh, go for it. I'd prefer no deaths at all - it's not really necessary for my immersion, but meh, handle it well and I won't mind. Of course, if you're doing something that'll obviously result in immediate death (like jumping in a pool of piranha's while wearing a bacon swimsuit just for the fun of it), then I'd prefer if the character just says "Uhmm, I'm not doing that, it'd kill me."
A good example is facing the giant scorpion in King's Quest VII: The Princeless Bride. When the scorpion is next to you, you have three options:
- Run away to safety (or better: exit the cave through that hole the scorpion can't get through).
- Divert him with a flag so he'll attack it (and pin himself to the wall in doing so) - the solution to this particular puzzle.
- Try something that doesn't work (or do nothing for ten seconds) and die.
Giving you an exit strategy to allow saving the game and thinking things over is a great way to handle this. And you are still facing a giant scorpion, so the risk of death should be there.
However, if deaths are more or less random like in the early Sierra games, then F#!% OFF, I'll go play something else instead. Click too far on the map and fall off a cliff, inspect an item and die, pull a rock that should have been pushed and die, etc. All these will make me throw the game across the room.
It's basically what most of you have already been saying, but as a "No, but..." instead of a "Yes, but...".
Games where death was possible and implemented well: the final chapter of Phantasmagoria and the final sequence of Full Throttle.
From what I hear and read: The Last Express has death or imprisonment at every corner, but they implemented a great auto-rollback feature. The same apparently goes for Amnesia: The Dark Descent (although that one is too scary for me to ever attempt).
And I loved Monkey Island's *scare* in having Guybrush walk off a cliff and getting a Sierra-like "I hope you saved recently"-message. It managed to panic me since I hadn't saved in ages. That was, of course, BEFORE the rubber tree...
