The penalty of death in games (part 3)

Lose everything—not a very attractive prospect to a gamer who has spent hours, days, or even weeks accumulating all the money and items he could, only to lose it all to what he undoubtedly feels was an unfair death in the game. Whether the death was legitimate, was caused by unfair circumstances (bad camera angle, computer or internet glitch, etc.), or was due to his own underestimation, losing all earnings is a brutal punishment that causes a reluctancy to play further into the game, at least until the player has done some serious “grinding” (building up his character through repetitive actions to gain experience and level up). While wealth removal can motivate some to keep trying, it can shift the focus of the game into a grind, and the actual progression of the game itself becomes stalled while the player must perform repetitive actions to level his character up so he can resume actual game progression. Often, progressing through the game itself is the main incentive for players as story develops, new challenges and loot become available, etc. Wealth removal can be a significant deterrent to finding enough motivation to stay with a game, when all of a player's time investment is removed and he is essentially sent back to square one.