Death at appropriately dramatic or dangerous junctures can increase suspension of disbelief, but constant accidental death breaks it. This holds double for causes that generally only happen to computer game characters. Who accidentally walks off a cliff sober, in broad daylight, on a path as wide as they are tall? Only the gap between our imperfect control and view of the protagonist and actually BEING the protagonist makes a mistake like that possible. Generally speaking, it's not a good idea to emphasize the ways our controls and camera angles fall short of reality!
Random cliff deaths and falling bridges and so on make me feel less as if I'm playing out someone's story, and more as if I'm controlling a disposable sprite, like Mario. On the other hand, Gabriel Knight really should be in peril when he's surrounded by zombies, and Indiana Jones shouldn't expect to get off with a pat on the back if he loses a fight with a Nazi.
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