Wait, so he's afraid of dying in Planescape? Because if so, he, like, totally missed the point.

I usually don't like it when my characters die, specially in stuff like Baldur's Gate where they talk to you and whatever. But as you said, we have reloads...

The only way I could see caring if I died or not is if it was some weird hardcore game where death literally meant wasted hours of your life getting your character to that point. At that point though I wouldn't be sad, I'd be pissed.

Then again, I never "become" the character I play, I merely play the character presented to me. I'm sure if I developed some sort of weird connection to my toon I would be more disturbed when I die, but I like to separate the fantasy from reality for the sake of my own sanity

I see scenarios like this frequently in our Team Fortress 2 games here. Some guys stay "safe" behind cover afraid to charge the opposing team because they fear getting "killed". You are going to "die" in this game anyway. It is inevitable. So, go with style. If you can take out a key member of the other team or effectively damage their defenses before you die it was worth it. You'll respawn in a few seconds. If you die like a doofus instead, well, so what. Have a good laugh. It's only a game!

In a scenario where death advances the story... yeah... your friend has some issues with the subject that goes beyond normal.

That said, I prefer games that don't trivialize death. Where staying alive amidst chaos and threat speaks to your skill. And even in games like WoW, I take great pride in surviving those encounters that others talk of multiple deaths before overcoming.

Of course, some of the best tales told 'round the PC come from spectacular death events that were shared with friends and/or combatants.

Has he played King's Quest 6? Would that ease him into the idea?

I play way too many Final Fantasy games to have any real trouble with dramatically necessary death. Stuff like the end of Halo3 with him trapped in that drifting ship bothers me a whole lot more.

I was gonna suggest he could play Steel Batallion to get used to it. That one not only "kills" your character if you don't punch out, it will go in and delete your saved game. You learn real fast not to try to ironman your way through a reactor meltdown or critical hit.

Or the pen and paper games "Call of Cthulhu" or "Paranoia". Paranoia is so deadly each character some with six clones of itself at creation because they know you're going to die gruesomely so often you couldn't maintain a session - at least if your GM plays the Computer the way he should be played.

I've run into this breed of power gamer a couple times. Somehow they can divorce themselves entirely from the plot in order to pursue a more powerful character, but still maintain a nearly unbelievable attachment to that character. I don't really understand it, but I think it might sometimes be a more exaggerated version of the "everybody wants to be Superman" drive in many gamers.

Ha! Now I remember a dude in high school that tried to play C&C(I think that was it) with me.

He went crazy because he couldn't stop his tiny soldiers from dying. He'd micromanage them to run waaay out of danger when they got their health bar into the yellow, and the only map I ever saw him win, he ended with a contingent of injured soldiers in a corner of the map. I don't think he played RTSes for very long. I just hope he went into medical school or something similar.

For the most part, character deaths don't phase me, but in Guild Wars you can earn the title "Survivor" by getting your character to Level 20 without dying. I did that for a few characters and it made for some tense moments. Honestly, it made some of the content a lot more challenging and nerve wracking.

They even have additional tiers of the "Survivor" title, but I only went for the first one.

Hah, good call. I was going to mention "Paranoia" but you beat me to it. In fact, I think any player that actually "wins" a session has all of their remaining clones killed by the computer anyway out of spite. As for PS:T, I really can't understand the aversion to death. The game opens with the Nameless One waking up in a morgue, for goodness' sake.

I go well out of my way to save the characters I like in games, and generally play the extreme "good guy" type character whenever possible. For example, I'm playing through Deus Ex again. Even though all-out continuous stealth is too tedious for me, I make every reasonable effort to prevent the deaths of characters who I like. Both NSF and UNATCO troops get the stun baton treatment, and I went through that ridiculous fight in the hotel to save Paul. I don't mind using the conventional lead on the MJ12 guys. If I can't save every protagonist myself from their death when the game might allow me to, it's as if their deaths are my fault even if I would have to do things that I would otherwise consider "unfun."

On the other hand, however, if I find a character is obnoxious, I have no qualms with killing them off or allowing them to die. I think I actually shot that one party member in Fallout 2 who says the same lines over and over again.

Yes! I must have spent twice as long on that game because I wanted to keep my buddy Dogmeat safe. Sure, he couldn't help carry my metric ton of irradiated garbage or get within ten feet of a chaingun-wielding mutant, but he pledged his life to me just because I had a bitchin' leather jacket. He was pure awesome embodied in canine form.

I find it odd how we more readily empathise with domesticated animals than humans, even in games.