Games often strife to mimic real life, but treat death very loosely. Some World of Warcraft players would probably crawl up in a corner and weep for days if their character was stolen, but do they care if their level 70 warlock falls in battle? Unlike life, death in games is rarely final, merely an inconvenience. PC gamers often expect to save at any time and are irritated by the infamous checkpoints of certain console games. You can only imagine the march of pitchforks if a game like Sub Mission was released nowadays, giving you just a single chance to succeed or lose your character forever.

A column in Guardian Unlimited takes a look at the acceptance of death in games and ponders the importance of a meaningful death, with quotes from developers and gamers. Does it affect you if a character dies in a game or do you quickload like there's no tomorrow?