Who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscovered country, from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
“Hamlet”, Shakespeare
“Permadeath” is the new black. Wired did a feature on it and games featuring it (above all DayZ) have made waves in the past year.
The more hours days I poured into Skyrim, the more I came to realise that the petty little stories associated with each minor quest bored the shit out of me. And so I would do my nails incline push-ups while the NPC quest giver was yakking about his/her missing uncle/heirloom meat cleaver/libido and just look up the quest marker when (s)he was done talking.
I’m gonna give that a fancy name and call it disengagement with the narrative.
 |
| Pretzel of Slow Death (Epic) |
| Damage: 10 Weight: 0.1 Value: 5.95 (Aldi) |
| Target takes 100 points of salt damage if no water is found within 60 seconds. |
As I enter the mind of the mad, bad, and above all late emperor Pelagius Septim III, a familiar voice greets me:
“Yes, yes, go, leave me to my ceaseless responsibilities and burdens.” The man talking is sitting at a dinner table. As he finishes, he vanishes in a purple mist.