The Death Penalty and You: How to Fix the “Game Over” Problem

Gaming has evolved. Simple sentence, massive implications. But today’s not the day for a history lesson on how gaming evolved from a couple of dorks in their basement to bigger-than-movies production values and budgets. Today, we focus on an aspect of gaming that has actually devolved. The dreaded “Game Over” screen is now laughable at best. Whereas, at one time, those two words shook gamers down to their core (and consequently forced them to shake their pockets to try to find more quarters), nowadays “Game Over” basically means “Let’s warp/spawn you back to five seconds ago.”

Smart planning, “save anywhere” features, and sometimes good old-fashioned cheating has reduced the “Game Over” screen to little more than a momentary pause in action. From being the bane of all players to being about a five second gap. That’s quite a difference. Is it possible to somehow re-implement a stricter “Game Over” policy on games where it means next to nothing, while keeping overall frustration low enough that you don’t scream in defiance at those eight little letters? All it takes is a choice…literally.

Evvvvvverything in video games can be changed now. Don’t like it? Change it. Master volume? Subtitles? Audio and video setup? Computer games take it to the next level: resolution, graphical quality, even every single action that makes your character do anything can be changed at your leisure. Change is everything, change is good. So why on earth can’t we have changeable “Game Over” options? Instead of “Game Over” options and consequences changing based on difficulty levels, why not put even more control into the hands of gamers? Why not let us map out exactly how badly we should be punished for failing so horribly?

If you’re a casual player, imagine it: “Game Over” is little more than the aforementioned five-second gap. So you and your buddies hop online for your first game of Halo…only to get sniped out by a teenager whose voice sounds like a dying frog. Switch “Game Over” options, and it’ll take you all of five seconds to hop back into the game and earn some retribution on his prepubescent ass.

If you’re a more mainstream gamer that would like to know the sting of a good “Game Over” but don’t want it to ruin your day, why not implement options that determine what consequences you get for failing? Why not toggle how much ammo you lose, how much experience you forfeit, how far back you have to start, and more? That way, “Game Over” screens can be a motivational tool instead of a laughingstock, but won’t be severe enough to make you slam your controller down, throw you hands in the air, and wonder if it’s all worth it.

Those that are hardcore, super-cool could take pride in the fact that all their options are insanely maxed-out. The thrill would be at its absolute highest. Take more than a single hit, or even take only one hit but at a certain vulnerable part of your on-screen character, and… dead. Game over, you fail, you suck, start a new game. The thrill and excitement of gaming at its hardest would be even sweeter if you could fully control just how impossible you want to make your game.

I’m not calling for more difficulty levels—frankly, I’m tired of “Very Easy”, “Easy”, “Normal”, “Hard”, or game-specific options like “Hardcore” or “Olympian.” I’m talking about a comprehensive, game-spanning list of options where you can define just how badly the sting of “Game Over” wounds you. Most games have an almost infinitesimal array of options already. We, as gamers, can give as much power back to “Game Over” as we choose. Instead of alternating between being the bane of a gamer’s existence and being a restroom break, perhaps the ideal position of “Game Over” would be as the amorphous blob that shifts to suit your pleasure.