Do You Like Rogue-Likes? (part 1)

If you're unfamiliar with the genre of video games known as “roguelikes,” it is really a subgenre of role-playing games. The most defining characteristic of a roguelike is the permanent death of the player-character, though this at first doesn't sound like anything unusual—character death is a common penalty for not playing a game well enough to survive its challenges. However, where roguelikes differ from other RPG's is that the only way to make progress in the game is to die. Continually. Over and over. In a normal RPG, though it may be challenging to keep your character alive, the game is designed to allow skilled and patient players to advance their character, steadily accumulating new abilities, more powerful items, and often more “hit-points.” Roguelikes can be said to be the same at first glance, but the game designers created challenges in the game that you can only hope to defeat after your character has been defeated countless times. What exactly is the difference, and is a roguelike the kind of game for you?