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Fear, loss and meaningful play: Permadeath in DayZ

2017; Intellect; Volume: 9; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1386/jgvw.9.2.143_1

1757-1928

Marcus Carter, Fraser Allison,

Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion

Abstract This article interrogates player experiences with permadeath in the massively multiplayer online first-person shooter (MMOFPS) DayZ . We analyse the differences between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ instances of permadeath and argue that meaningfulness – in accordance with Salen and Zimmerman’s concept of meaningful play – is a critical requirement for positive experiences with permadeath. In doing so, this article suggests new ontologies for meaningfulness in play, and demonstrates how meaningfulness can be a useful lens through which to understand player experiences with negatively valenced play. We conclude by relating the appeal of permadeath to the excitation transfer effect , drawing parallels between the appeal of DayZ and fear-inducing horror games such as Silent Hill 2 and gratuitously violent and gory games such as Mortal Kombat .