Yep, you're pretty much right on all counts, I guess. Well, just to clarify my stance on death in games, I played through the original AvP as a young child. On all difficulties, with everything, and it's still the best and most engaging shooter expirience I've ever had. Wouldn't dream of trying it with a save game feature.
EDIT: On the other hand most people found it offputting and the concept never really caught on in the genre, to my great dissapointment. EDIT2: And most people were clamoring for a save game feature to be imlemented, and by the time a completely pointles one WAS implemented, the gaming comunity had allready written the game off as "unplayable". Then it took a decade (or more?) for Demon Souls to get released -.-'
Interface improvements will fix my particular gripes for sure, but those metrics still feel odd. If puzzles and challenges are counted in there then they don't paint the picture right at all.
EDITED IN TO AVOID SPAMMING:
@Speedbal: intentionaly leaving in mechanisms which would let people die through no fault of thier own because it increeses "engagement" would be wrong. I'm not saying anyone's doing it (well with a straight face I'm not), but if someone was then it would be kind of objectinable. I remember a spotlight video with some guy and one of the devs, where the guy said "and death protection, or as I like to think of it missclick protection", so the issue was there and it's being worked on (and has allready been improved by several things, like the combat predictions and stuff). So yay!
@Dreamdancer, below ^^: Dying after you kill the boss probably happens to everyone (except possibly Sidestepper
). If all you have left is lvl 8 or 9 guys or hard candy, and you've spent a big bunch of resource on the boss(es) you're in a strange situation of hightened danger, false security and haste to get on with it.