I used to play a Star Wars MUD that had permanent death and a similarly aggressive PvP policy. As a result, there wasn't a single character that survived more t

I used to play a Star Wars MUD that had permanent death and a similarly aggressive PvP policy. As a result, there wasn't a single character that survived more than a few months. Considering the huge up front cost you had to pay in leveling, skill training and resource collection, eventually people got sick of having to start with nothing. Every time you died, you had to make the decision if it was worth starting over. The longer you played, the greater the chances that answer was "no." Player turnover was bad, especially for MUDs at that time. That's all my way of saying Permanent death may sound great in theory, but it takes a hell of a lot of balancing against to make it work well in the long term. Maybe making it easier to get up to speed with any single character? Or maybe making it worth your while to be altruistic to other players (I'm not sure what that mechanic would be, but it would be interesting to see something that make people more social as opposed to the antisocial element that PvP tends to foster).