From ATS: Common Causes of PC Death

[Patuk]

My degree of stupidity is so great, even my pk deaths are due to me being dumb.

[flurry]

19 past characters

7 stored
6 killed by PC
5 killed by aggro NPC
1 killed in a strange way (too IC, but I like to think if there was a Zalanthas version of 1000 Ways to Die, it would be on there)

[Twilight]

Some it didn't say, but for what it did:

Gith - 7 (highest NPC category)
Other NPC - 50
PC - 12
Poison - 4
HRPT - 1
Death Flag - 3
Storage - 2

This is only since the account system went in.  I had a small handful of characters before that as well.

In review, I seem to do really, really dangerous stuff with new characters.  So stupidity sounds about right as a leading cause of death.

[RogueGunslinger]

In review, I seem to do really, really dangerous stuff with new characters.  So stupidity sounds about right as a leading cause of death.

Imagine the characters that finally survive all the stupid shit will be really, really badass. Not to mention have awesome stories. This is why I do most of the stupid shit I do, thinking "alright I've died 9 times trying this, surely this one will make it through.)

[Bushranger]

In review, I seem to do really, really dangerous stuff with new characters.  So stupidity sounds about right as a leading cause of death.

Imagine the characters that finally survive all the stupid shit will be really, really badass. Not to mention have awesome stories. This is why I do most of the stupid shit I do, thinking "alright I've died 9 times trying this, surely this one will make it through.)

"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein

Then again, I was the person Adhira told "Stop doing stupid shit" when I asked how I could improve my life expectancy of characters.

[i can haz mantis]

Um... I kind of feel bad...

In 7 years of playing:

15 total PCs
9 stored
1 died doing something that was a completely OOC stupid mistake
1 PK'd
2 suicided
1 gortok'd
1 gith'd

[Jenred]

Suicide... every single one.

[benegesseritwitch]

What are everyone's favorite methods of suicide?

[Ayamane]

What are everyone's favorite methods of suicide?

Somewhere in a dark room lined with monitors, a man just scribbled down something in a notepad.

[i can haz mantis]

Suiciding your PC isn't really condoned, per se.

[Malken]

What are everyone's favorite methods of suicide?

What? You're supposed to pretend that your most favorite PCs have been characters with the most horrible stats ever and deeply flawed in every possible ways, with absolutely no way to pull yourself out of the shithole you dug yourself in.

You must be new on the GDB.

[Kaineus]

What are everyone's favorite methods of suicide?

What? You're supposed to pretend that your most favorite PCs have been characters with the most horrible stats ever and deeply flawed in every possible ways, with absolutely no way to pull yourself out of the shithole you dug yourself in.

You must be new on the GDB.

Many half-elves are self-loathing and suicidal. Also, there are stories from all over the world that involve characters who commit suicide, so why should that narrative be banned or censored from discussion.

Answer for Benegesserit: Silt Sea. I like it due to fruity emo reasons, complete obliteration, yadda yadda. If you're just suiciding due to a stat fail or other OOC reasons (such as no longer wanting to play an old character after a long absence), do it right--don't leave your corpse around and artificially enrich the game Submit a retirement request, or...

[benegesseritwitch]

I thought it would be okay (and an interesting question) to ask since several of you copped to it. Turns out I was right. It was an interesting question.

Personally I would never suicide a character unless they truly wanted to. I don't abandon characters lightly. But this thread isn't specifically about suicide so that's all I'll say about that.

[course correcting] Not sure if I'm allowed to specifically enumerate my deaths yet since I've only been playing a short time and I'm still figuring out what's sharable, but I will say I've already had my share of stupid deaths, mostly from face munchers. However, I'd like to think that I've learned from every death I've had, and will hopefully not get killed in the same way twice.

[The Silence of the Erdlus]

About 70% of mine were stored. The earlier in my history you go, the more often the die-to-somethings are. I tend to die a lot more in certain areas than others from a sheer lack of experience in some areas.

Most of the non-stored are deaths to npcs, with about four or five deaths to pc raiders. One to gith, one to mul, about, three? to kryl, one to halfling, and one to staff :3 My most recent rinthi is the only stored one, the rest were killed by npcs and one pc. I store if circumstances interfere with my storyline; I stored two special apps because their plots couldn't progress in the ways I generally wanted them to. I died to sorcery once also, and I never saw it coming.

My longest-lived pc fell off the Shield Wall, I was a newbie and didn't think that I might be approaching it. One of my more interesting pcs died from dehydration in the Allanaki sewers. My most boring pc, an experiment with whom I did literally nothing beyond tavern small-talk, died to a freak accident involving a fucking stupid crap mob being where one of them really ought not to be. One of my pcs died to a loophole in code, she was in a cavern and dropped her torch, still lit, to look for something, and it blew out, and she got poisoned from a thing she ate. being a ranger she managed to get out of the cave but she had no light sources and it was completely dark outside, and she died, despite having the cure she needed in her pocket.

[Barzalene]

I've had 47 pcs! 47!
47!

My favorite stupid death went like this.

We'll fight five gith, Lady Templar.
No, Lady Templar it will be fine. Don't worry. This will be beautiful.
Beep.

And I've been carrued. Do not bio while traveling the north road alone.

[hyzhenhok]

What are everyone's favorite methods of suicide?

What? You're supposed to pretend that your most favorite PCs have been characters with the most horrible stats ever and deeply flawed in every possible ways, with absolutely no way to pull yourself out of the shithole you dug yourself in.

You must be new on the GDB.

Many half-elves are self-loathing and suicidal. Also, there are stories from all over the world that involve characters who commit suicide, so why should that narrative be banned or censored from discussion.

Answer for Benegesserit: Silt Sea. I like it due to fruity emo reasons, complete obliteration, yadda yadda. If you're just suiciding due to a stat fail or other OOC reasons (such as no longer wanting to play an old character after a long absence), do it right--don't leave your corpse around and artificially enrich the game Submit a retirement request, or...

The docs are pretty clear that even if your PC is a miserable half-elf who has nothing to live for, they still probably should not be suicidal. It's not just a rule against suiciding for OOC reasons.

[X-D]

I got staff kudos for a suicide once...but at risk of patting own back, it was epic.

I never did ask Sanvean how much of an audience we had....always wondered on that.

[Kaineus]

I got staff kudos for a suicide once...but at risk of patting own back, it was epic.

I never did ask Sanvean how much of an audience we had....always wondered on that.

Very nice.

See, children, suicide can be a meaningful act [worthy of Arma karma] despite our *modern* western bias against it. Examples of literature/drama with suicide in it: Antigone, Things Fall Apart, Anna Karenina, Romeo and Juliet, like five other plays by fucking Shakespeare.... List goes on for fucking ever if you want to be comprehensive.

Arma should always be about living the lives of your character in a way that makes sense for that character. Yes, "help suicide" states that most characters in Zalanthas will want to survive at all costs, which is absolutely in keeping with the setting. However, when happiness and honor destroying things happen to a person, as is often the case in Arma, suicide is often a logical result to such tragedies.

And again, I repeat: half-elves. When wolves are ostracized from their packs in the wild, sometimes those lone wolves become strong enough to survive on their own. But more often than not, they die alone.

[bcw81]

What are everyone's favorite methods of suicide?

What? You're supposed to pretend that your most favorite PCs have been characters with the most horrible stats ever and deeply flawed in every possible ways, with absolutely no way to pull yourself out of the shithole you dug yourself in.

You must be new on the GDB.

Many half-elves are self-loathing and suicidal. Also, there are stories from all over the world that involve characters who commit suicide, so why should that narrative be banned or censored from discussion.

Answer for Benegesserit: Silt Sea. I like it due to fruity emo reasons, complete obliteration, yadda yadda. If you're just suiciding due to a stat fail or other OOC reasons (such as no longer wanting to play an old character after a long absence), do it right--don't leave your corpse around and artificially enrich the game Submit a retirement request, or...

The docs are pretty clear that even if your PC is a miserable half-elf who has nothing to live for, they still probably should not be suicidal. It's not just a rule against suiciding for OOC reasons.

Suicide                                                            (Gameplay)

   Suicide is a serious matter in both real life and on Armageddon, and as
such, should not be taken lightly, or as a method of ceasing the play of a
character.  The people of Zalanthas generally have terribly strong desires
for self-preservation, and this is reflected in that there is no easy way
to inflict damage upon yourself to commit suicide.  However, this does not
mean that it is impossible to kill yourself, but you will have to figure
out exactly how on your own.


Notes:
   If you are mortally wounded (below 0 HPs), you may hasten your
character's end by typing 'quit die'.  This will end your character's
life.

See also:
   quit, rules, storage

It does not say that suicide is unheard of, not does it say 'don't suicide' is a rule. There have been two cases of suicide that I have seen in my time here at Arm that have both enriched the gameworld. (Though one was quickly ressurected.) At least one of those two had staffpowers as one of the key factors in the suicide.

[Potaje]

You must be new on the GDB.

Many half-elves are self-loathing and suicidal.

So its clear to new players, Half-elves are far from being said to be suicidal in the documentation. Matter of fact in the documentation it states that 'Zalanthand's have a predisposition to survival.' Just because a half-elf is conflicted with the desire to have friends and family and be a loner due to rejection does not make them want to give up on life.

Suicide is arm should be a rare act, not to say that it does not occur, and has nothing to do with western views on it (suicide is bad) or eastern philosophy (certain acts of suicide are honorable) , but rather does not identify well with the premise of the game world's intended idea of 'surviving at all costs'.

But where one says Suicide is the logical result of tragedy, I would counter and say, Revenge is the logical result to those that have the underpinned mentality to survive.

[Fnord]

I got staff kudos for a suicide once...but at risk of patting own back, it was epic.

I never did ask Sanvean how much of an audience we had....always wondered on that.

[Kaineus]

All good points above.

However, most people are not empowered enough to exact revenge. What's the solution then? Kill yourself. Most of the characters who kill themselves in the books/plays I referenced before have reason to get revenge on people who have done wrong to them, but they cannot, so they kill themselves.

In the case of half-elves, remember that -everyone- you interact with hates you. Mentioning the case of animals and ostracization again, some studies show that the moment of ostracization for these animals is correlated a with weakening immune system, lethargy, etc. People who are hated often become depressed, and depressed people aren't the type to execute amazing revenge plots. When you are scorned on every single occasion where you try to interact with other people, due to a prevailing societal bias, you start to hate yourself or avoid people completely in effort to avoid these feelings.

One of the prevailing half-elven archetypes is that of the rugged individualist, outdoorsy types who avoid civilization completely. But what if you're a rinthie half-elf with no property besides rags, no coins, nothing? Beg and whore for a few years, realized that you are inexorably trapped in a life of endless misery, and kill yourself like Hans Christian Andersen's Little Match Girl. I think this narrative is as equally valid as the badass Aragorn the part-elven ranger plotline.

[Case]

PC Deaths:
3 stored
5 lag

[Anael]

A few years back, I'd have thought that the most common cause of PC death was Halaster.

Also, HRPTs seem to be a pretty common cause.