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{{Short description|Video game mode}}
{{Multiple issues|
{{More footnotes|date=February 2009}}
'''Deathmatch''', also known as '''free-for-all''', is a widely used [[gameplay]] mode integrated into many [[shooter game|shooters]], including [[FPS game|first-person shooter (FPS)]], and [[real-time strategy]] (RTS) [[video game]]s. Normally the goal of a deathmatch game is to kill (or [[Glossary_of_video_game_terms#frag|"frag"]]) as many other players as possible until a certain condition or limit is reached, commonly a ''frag limit'' or a ''time limit''. Once one of the conditions is met, the match is over, and the winner is the player that accumulated the greatest number of frags.▼
{{original research|date=June 2019}}
{{disputed|date=April 2021}}
}}
[[File:Wikibooks-AssaultCube14.png|thumb|Deathmatch mode in ''[[AssaultCube]]'']]
▲'''Deathmatch''', also known as '''free-for-all''', is a
The deathmatch is an evolution of competitive [[Multiplayer video game|multiplayer]] modes found in [[game genres]] such as [[fighting game]]s and [[racing video game|racing game]]s moving into other genres.
==
In a typical first-person shooter (FPS) deathmatch session, players connect individual computers together via a [[computer network]] in a [[peer-to-peer model]] or a [[client–server model]], either locally or over the Internet.
Deathmatches have different rules and goals depending on the game, but an example of a typical FPS-deathmatch session is where every player is versus every other player. The game begins with each player being "spawned" (starting) at random locations—picked from a fixed predefined set. Being spawned entails having the score, health, armor and equipment reset to default values which usually is 0 score, full (100%) health, no armour and a basic [[firearm]] and a [[melee weapon]]. After a session has commenced, arbitrary players may join and leave the game on an ad hoc basis.▼
=== Players ===
In this context a ''player'' is a human operated character in the game or a character operated by a computer software [[AI]]—a ''[[Video game bot|bot]]'' (see [[Reaper bot]] for example). Both the human and computer operated character do have the same basic visual appearance but will in most modern games be able to select a ''skin'' which is an arbitrary graphics model but that operates on the same set of movements as the base model. A human player's character and computer bot's character features the same set of physical properties, initial health, initial armour, weapon capabilities, the same available character maneuvers and speed—i.e. they are equally matched except for the actual controlling part. For a novice player the difference (i.e. experience, not taking into account the actual skill) between a human opponent and a computer controlled opponent may be near nil, however for a skilled player the lack of human intelligence is usually easily noticed in most bot implementations; regardless of the actual skill of the bot—which lack of intelligence can be at least somewhat compensated for in terms of e.g. extreme (superhuman) accuracy and aim. However, some systems deliberately inform the player when inspecting the score list which player(s) are bots and which are human (e.g. OpenArena). In the event that the player is aware of the nature of the opponent it will affect the cognitive process of the player regardless of the player's skill.<ref name="ARS_GAME_BRAIN">{{cite journal|last=Timmer |first=John |url=https://arstechnica.com/science/news/2009/02/humans-think-different-when-told-theyre-playing-a-human.ars |title=In games, brains work differently when playing vs. a human |journal=BMC Neuroscience |doi=10.1186/1471-2202-10-9 |publisher=Arstechnica.com |date=2009-02-05 |volume=10 |pages=9 |pmid=19193204 |pmc=2667181 |
Modern implementations allow for new players to join after the game has started, the maximum number of players that can join is arbitrary for each game, map and rules and can be selected by the server. Some maps are suitable for small numbers of players, some are suitable for larger numbers.▼
▲Deathmatches have different rules and goals depending on the game, but an example of a typical FPS-deathmatch session is where every player is versus every other player. The game begins with each player being spawned (starting) at random locations—picked from a fixed predefined set. Being spawned entails having the score, health, armor and equipment reset to default values which usually is 0 score, full (100%) health, no armour and a basic [[firearm]] and a [[melee weapon]]. After a session has commenced, arbitrary players may join and leave the game on an ad hoc basis.
▲In this context a ''player'' is a human operated character in the game or a character operated by a computer software [[AI]]—a ''[[Video game bot|bot]]'' (see [[Reaper bot]] for example). Both the human and computer operated character do have the same basic visual appearance but will in most modern games be able to select a ''skin'' which is an arbitrary graphics model but that operates on the same set of movements as the base model. A human player's character and computer bot's character features the same set of physical properties, initial health, initial armour, weapon capabilities, the same available character maneuvers and speed—i.e. they are equally matched except for the actual controlling part. For a novice player the difference (i.e. experience, not taking into account the actual skill) between a human opponent and a computer controlled opponent may be near nil, however for a skilled player the lack of human intelligence is usually easily noticed in most bot implementations; regardless of the actual skill of the bot—which lack of intelligence can be at least somewhat compensated for in terms of e.g. extreme (superhuman) accuracy and aim. However, some systems deliberately inform the player when inspecting the score list which player(s) are bots and which are human (e.g. OpenArena). In the event that the player is aware of the nature of the opponent it will affect the cognitive process of the player regardless of the player's skill.<ref name="ARS_GAME_BRAIN">{{cite journal|last=Timmer |first=John |url=https://arstechnica.com/science/news/2009/02/humans-think-different-when-told-theyre-playing-a-human.ars |title=In games, brains work differently when playing vs. a human |journal=BMC Neuroscience |doi=10.1186/1471-2202-10-9 |publisher=Arstechnica.com |date=2009-02-05 |volume=10 |pages=9 |pmid=19193204 |pmc=2667181 |accessdate=2011-05-31}}</ref>
All normal maps will contain various [[power-ups]]; i.a. extra health, armor, ammunition and other (more powerful than default) weapons. Once collected by a player the power-up will respawn after a defined time at the same location, the time for an item to respawn depends upon the game mode and the type of the item. In some deathmatch modes power-ups will not respawn at all. Certain power-ups are especially powerful, which can often lead to the game rotating around ''controlling power-ups''—i.e. assuming ''ceteris paribus'', the player who controls the [most powerful] power-ups (namely collect the item most often) is the one that will have the best potential for making the best score.▼
===Deaths===
The goal for each player is killing the other players by any means possible which counts as a frag, either by direct assault or manipulating the map, the latter counts as a frag in some games, some not; in either case—to attain the highest score—this process should be repeated as many times as possible, with each iteration performed as quickly as possible. The session may have a time limit, a frag limit, or no limit at all. If there is a limit then the player with the most frags will eventually win when the session ends.
[[File:Wikibooks-AssaultCube24.png|thumb|A player in spectator mode]]
The health variable will determine if a player is wounded; however, a wounded player does not entail reduced mobility or functionality in most games, and in most games a player will not bleed to death. A player will die when the health value reaches equal to or less than 0, if the value is reduced to a very low negative value, the result may be [[Gib (video gaming)|gibbing]] depending upon the game.
In most games, when a player dies (i.e. is fragged), the player will lose all equipment gained and the screen will continue to display the visible (still animated) scene that the player normally sees, and the score list is usually displayed—the frags. The display does not go black when the player dies. Usually the player can choose to instantly [[respawn]] or remain dead.
The armor variable affects the health variable by reducing the damage taken, the reduction in health is ''in concept'' inversely proportional to the value of the armor times the actual damage caused; with the obvious differences in various implementations. Some games may account for the location of the body injured when the damage is deduced, while many—especially older implementations—do not. In most games, no amount of armor causes any reduced mobility—i.e. is never experienced as a weight issue by the player.
The lost equipment (usually not including the armor) of a dead player can usually be picked up by any player (even the fragged player, respawned) who gets to it first.▼
===Simulation===
Newtonian physics are often only somewhat accurately simulated, common in many games is the ability of the player to modify the player's own vector to some degree while airborne, e.g. by retarding a forward airborne flight by moving backwards, or even jumping around a corner. Other notable concepts derived from the physics of FPS game engines are i.a. at least [[Bunny hopping|bunny-hopping]], [[strafe-jumping]] and [[rocket-jumping]]—in all of which the player exploits the particular characteristics of the physics engine in question to obtain a high speed and/or height, or other attribute(s); e.g. with rocket-jumping the player will jump and fire at rocket at the floor area immediately under the feet of the same player, which will cause the player to jump higher compared to a regular jump as a result of the rocket blast (at the obvious expense of the health variable being somewhat reduced from self-inflicted injury). The types of techniques available and how the techniques may be performed by the player differs from the physics implementation as is as such also game dependent.
Most modern deathmatch games features a high level of [[graphic violence]]; a normal modern implementation will contain high quality human characters being killed, e.g. moderate amounts of blood, screams of pain and death, exploding bodies with associated ''[[gib (video gaming)|gib]]s'' are common. Some games feature a way to disable and/or reduce the level of gore. However, the setting of the game is usually that of a fictional world, the player may resurrect in the form of mentioned ''respawning'' and the characters will usually have superhuman abilities, e.g. able to tolerate numerous [[point blank]] hits from a machine gun directly to the head without any armour, jumping extreme inhuman distances and falling extreme distances to mention a few things. These factors together may make the player experience the game less real as the game contains highly unreal and unrealistic elements.▼
▲The lost equipment (usually not including the armor) of a dead player can usually be picked up by any player (even the fragged player, respawned) who gets to it first.
===Powerups===
▲Modern implementations allow for new players to join after the game has started, the maximum number of players that can join is arbitrary for each game, map and rules and can be selected by the server. Some maps are suitable for small numbers of players, some are suitable for larger numbers.
▲All normal maps will contain various [[power-ups]]; i.
Certain power-ups are especially powerful, which can often lead to the game rotating around ''controlling power-ups''—i.e. all other things being equal, the player who controls the strongest power-ups (collecting the items most often) is the one that will have the best potential for making the best score.
===Sessions===
If the session does have a frag or time limit a new session will start briefly after the current session has been concluded, during the respite the players will be allowed to observe the score list, chat and will usually see an animated [[pseudo]] overview display of the map as background for the score list. Some games have a system to allow each player to announce they are now ready to begin the new session, some do not. The new sessions might be on a different map—based on a map list kept on the server—or it might always be on the same map if there is no such rotating map list.
Common in many games is some form of message broadcast and private message system; the broadcast message system announces public events, e.g. if a player died it will often be informed who died and how, if fragged, then often by what weapon; the same system will also often announce if a player joins or leaves the game, and may announce how many frags are left in total and other important messages, including errors or warnings from the game; instant text messages from other players are also displayed with this system. The private message system, in contrast, only prints messages for individual players, e.g. if player A picks up a weapon, player A will get a message to confirm that the weapon was picked up.
== History ==▼
▲Most modern deathmatch games features a high level of [[graphic violence]]; a normal modern implementation will contain high quality human characters being killed, e.g. moderate amounts of blood, screams of pain and death, exploding bodies with associated ''[[gib (video gaming)|gib]]s'' are common. Some games feature a way to disable and/or reduce the level of gore. However, the setting of the game is usually that of a fictional world, the player may resurrect in the form of mentioned ''respawning'' and the characters will usually have superhuman abilities, e.g. able to tolerate numerous [[point blank]] hits from a machine gun directly to the head without any armour, jumping extreme inhuman distances and falling extreme distances to mention a few things. These factors together may make the player experience the game less real as the game contains highly unreal and unrealistic elements.
The phrase ''death match'' was originally used in wrestling, starting in the 1950s, to denote certain brutal [[hardcore wrestling]] fights.<ref>{{Cite OED|death-match|6191712561}}</ref> The term "death match" in this sense appeared in the 1992 fighting arcade game ''[[World Heroes (video game)|World Heroes]]'', where it denotes a game mode taking place in an arena with environmental hazards.
▲== History ==
The
: "Sure, it was fun to shoot monsters, but ultimately these were soulless creatures controlled by a computer. Now gamers could play against spontaneous human beings—opponents who could think and strategize and scream. We can kill each other!' If we can get this done, this is going to be the fucking coolest game that the planet Earth has ever fucking seen in its entire history!'"<ref>{{Cite book|last=Kushner|first=David|year=2004|title=Masters of Doom|url=https://archive.org/details/mastersofdoom00kush|url-access=limited|isbn=978-0-8129-7215-3|page=[https://archive.org/details/mastersofdoom00kush/page/n148 149]|publisher=Random House Trade Paperbacks|location=New York}}</ref>
According to Romero, the deathmatch concept was inspired by [[fighting games]]. At [[id Software]], the team frequently played ''[[Street Fighter II]]'', ''[[Fatal Fury (series)|Fatal Fury]]'' and ''[[Art of Fighting]]'' during breaks, while developing elaborate rules involving [[trash-talk]] and smashing furniture or tech. Romero stated that "what we were doing was something that invented ''deathmatch''" and that "Japanese fighting games fueled the creative impulse to create ''deathmatch'' in our shooters."<ref>{{cite book|last=Consalvo|first=Mia|year=2016|title=Atari to Zelda: Japan's Videogames in Global Contexts|pages=201–3|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tH3TCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA201|publisher=[[MIT Press]]|isbn=978-0262034395}}</ref>
Some games give a different name to these types of matches, while still using the same underlying concept. For example, in ''[[Perfect Dark]]'', the name "'''Combat
▲Games that had such gameplay features beforehand did not use the term, but later it gained mainstream popularity with the ''[[Quake (video game)|Quake]]'' and ''[[Unreal Tournament]]'' series of games. ''[[MIDI Maze]]'' was a multiplayer [[first-person shooter]] for the [[Atari ST]], released in 1987, which has also been suggested as the first example of deathmatch before the term was used.<ref>{{cite web|last=Thomson|first=Iain|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-175206283.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140629100106/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-175206283.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 29, 2014|title=Gaming timeline|publisher=[[Personal Computer World]]|date=February 21, 2008|accessdate=October 21, 2012|via=[[HighBeam Research|HighBeam]]}}{{closed access}}{{subscription required|s}}</ref> [[Sega]]'s 1988 [[third-person shooter]] [[arcade game]] ''Last Survivor'' featured eight-player deathmatch.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Kalata|first1=Kurt|title=Last Survivor|url=http://hg101.kontek.net/lastsurvivor/lastsurvivor.htm|website=Hardcore Gaming 101|date=August 12, 2012}}</ref>
▲Some games give a different name to these types of matches, while still using the same underlying concept. For example, in ''[[Perfect Dark]]'', the name "'''Combat Simulator'''" is used and in ''[[Halo (franchise)|Halo]]'', deathmatch is known as "'''Slayer'''". <!-- In Perfect Dark, the Combat Simulator is the multiplayer mode. The deathmatch scenario/gametype is called Combat. -->
===
It has been suggested that in 1983, Drew Major and Kyle Powell probably played the world's first deathmatch with [[Snipes (video game)|Snipes]]{{Citation needed|date=May 2007}}, a text-mode game that was later credited with being the inspiration behind [[Novell NetWare]], although multiplayer games spread across multiple screens predate that title by at least 9 years in the form of [[Spasim]] and [[Maze War]].
Early evidence of the term's application to graphical video games exists. On August 6, 1982, [[Intellivision]] game developers Russ Haft and Steve Montero challenged each other to a game of Bi-Planes, a 1981 Intellivision release in which multiple players control fighter planes with the primary purpose of repeatedly killing each other until a limit is reached. Once killed, a player would be respawned in a fixed location, enjoying a short period of protection from attacks. The contest was referred to, at that time, as a deathmatch.<ref name="youtube_video">Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/I_PDo3V15lY Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20120629163604/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_PDo3V15lY Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_PDo3V15lY |title=Haft vs Montero 1982 Bi-Planes on YouTube |publisher=Youtube.com |date=1982-08-06 |
== Variations ==
In a '''
In a
Any arbitrary multiplayer game with the goal for each player to kill every other player(s) as many times as possible can be considered to be a form of deathmatch.
In real time strategy games, deathmatch can refer to a game mode where all players begin their empires with large amounts of resources.
== History, fundamental changes ==
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=== ''Rise of the Triad'' ===
''[[Rise of the Triad]]'' was first released as shareware in 1994 by [[Apogee Software, Ltd.]] and honed an expansive multiplayer mode that pioneered a variety of deathmatch features.
*It introduced the [[Capture the Flag]] mode to the first-person-shooter genre as ''Capture the Triad''.
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The Last Man Standing (LMS) version of deathmatch is fundamentally different from deathmatch. In deathmatch, it does not matter how many times the player dies, only how many times the player kills. In LMS, it is the exact opposite — the important task is "not to die". Because of this, two activities that are not specifically addressed in deathmatch have to be controlled in LMS.
* "Camping", which is a recognized expression for staying in one location (usually somewhat protected or with only one access route) and eventually using long range weapons, such as a sniper rifle, from that location. In standard deathmatch,
* "Staying dead" – after dying, player representations lie on the ground (where applicable) and are shown the results of the game in progress. They have to perform some action, usually click the "Fire" key or button, to respawn and reenter combat. This principle prevents players who might have been forced by real world situations (be it a sudden cough or a door ring) to leave the computer from dying over and over. In standard deathmatch, a player who stays dead is not a problem, as the goal is to score the most frags, not die the least times. In LMS, however, a player that would be allowed to stay dead after being killed for the first time might wait through most of the fight and respawn when there's only one opponent remaining. Because of this, ''Unreal Tournament 2003'' automatically respawns a player immediately after being killed.
== See also ==
*[[Player versus environment]]
*[[Player versus player]]
*[[Battle royale game]]
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
* {{cite book|last1=Rogers|first1=Scott|title=Level Up! The Guide to Great Video Game Design|date=2014|publisher=[[John Wiley & Sons]]|isbn=978-1118877197|pages=407|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UT5jAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA407|
{{video game gameplay}}
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