Understanding Player Elimination in Boardgames as a Form of Permadeath

This extended abstract, presented at DiGRA 2018, examines player elimination in boardgames as a form of permadeath, arguing that boardgames have long offered permanent or temporary player exclusion well before videogames adopted the concept. The authors frame elimination as a case in which a player loses agency and is forced to watch the game continue, a condition that differs sharply from digital play where a player can simply log out or create a new identity. They contrast the absence of elimination in modern European-style games, which emphasize indirect competition and hidden scoring, with its natural prevalence in American-style games built around direct conflict.

The paper distinguishes between permanent and short-term forms of elimination. Permanent exclusion appears in games such as social deduction titles and Cluedo, where eliminated players must still contribute information, while short-term elimination occurs in round-based games like Diamant (Incan Gold), where players can exit a round early, and in Contract Bridge, where the dummy player's lack of agency is only temporary. Proponents of elimination argue that it heightens tension, supports thematic elements, and spares players from prolonged, unwinnable positions.

Methodologically, the work rests on a thematic analysis of online discussions and forums, rather than a formal survey or experimental study, and the authors do not specify the size or composition of the community sample. The analysis is oriented toward understanding the player experience of elimination and testing whether meaningful play, as defined by Salen and Zimmermann, can determine whether elimination is experienced as a good or bad outcome.