Wednesday 6 February 2013

Death penalty in World of Tanks

The death penalty in world of tanks is a near-perfect death penalty. It fulfils Nils' requirement that the perfect death penalty be a extremely effective deterrent, but completely harmless when it does occur. Also it is a"clear-cut" penalty, to use Nils' term. Of course, he doesn't really mean clear-cut (i.e. clear and obvious), that's just his German English. He means that it once it happens, it's over, and has no lasting effect (for instance by leaving you with a loss of experience, or a loss of a crew-member, or something like that).

While driving your tank, you absolutely want to stay alive. But once you die, you forget about that battle immediately and skip on to the next one in a different tank. Battle.net are even kind enough to let you know that the crew is still alive ("This tank has had it. Everyone get out!"), for people like me who worry about the welfare of NPCs .

It has two very minor flaws:
1. Sometimes the death penalty isn't quite as effective a deterrent as it should be. We've all seen tanks rushing towards the enemy and certain death alone, in the hopes of winning a scouting achievement.
2. There is an aftermath for people who like to keep on watching the battlefield to see how the game pans out. I do this often. In this self-inflicted situation, the dead tanker can see what's happening, but not contribute much. It can be a pleasant aftermath if you are able to help your team win by keeping them informed of each-other's position (by a flaw in the game, dead people can see all their team, living people can only see those in radio range. But dead people can still talk on team channel). It is a painful aftermath, though, when you realize that the guy you thought was defending your base is actually AFK! I stop watching games I've died in as soon as I've used up my 5 reports/day on these AFK tanks. Otherwise the pain is too great!



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