This has been suggested in the past, though from skimming the thread it doesn't appear to be for the same reason I'm recommending it.

In a time where impeccable stats are treasured more than just playing a game, a player seeing that their deaths are being tracked and on display for everyone may be more cautious about engaging in activities where they may die, and possibly be more upset when they do die.

This stat doesn't serve any purpose in the game, and since the game has matured somewhat from it's initial days as SpaceQuake, there is even less reason for this to be tracked or displayed.

-1
The thing is, there's already so little consequence to dying that it doesn't matter.

Your comment makes no sense. What do the penalties of death have to do with encouraging players to do things that might get them killed because they don't have to worry about maintaining impeccable (meaning close to 0) death stats?

Interestingly enough, on the topic of games that track deaths and offer rewards, Guild Wars has two mutually exclusive accomplishments that can be earned. One of them is reaching level 20 without dying. The other is reaching level 20 before leaving the training area and continuing on with the rest of the game (this requires dying).

Oh for fuck's sake.

-1 you care bear

+1 who cares about explosions? why track them?

are you suggesting this 'cause EP keeps repping mid-fight to safe his k/d lately? :P

This stat doesn't serve any purpose in the game

Not to you maybe. For me it's interesting to see how many times i've exploded, and it serves as confirmation of my k/d ratio.

Is it hugely important? No.

Is it hurting the game? Absolutely not.

-1

A count of player-killed would be more useful than just total overall deaths.

I think the OP's reason behind this was because he is under the impression that once users realise that their deaths are being tracked, that it makes them not want to die; or take part in things in which they may die (I got this impression from a chat I saw on 100). I could be wrong - I often am - but I think most players who try to avoid death are actually not that bothered when they die to AI, but really really dislike dying to another players hands. Removing the stat will not fix this, and there really is very little to lose in VO by dying, except pride of course.

So -1, it will not change anything.

+1. Death is no big deal in this game right? Desensitize players from dying. It's not going to stop those from bragging. Hell, Players like Wes and Voidance brag even when they die. It's not going to stop smurfs from running because it's easy to dis-engage from a target and run and rep. Smurfs don't want to lose a valk so they typically run as the distance is further to get a replacement. Perhaps a better solution to that problem is to move the common battlefield to Odia instead of Sedina. Though I suspect the kill-deny problem runs deeper than just distance.

Though I suspect the kill-deny problem runs deeper than just distance.

lol, ya think?

-1. It amuses me to know how many times I've died (12302 so far!). If anything, I want more death-related statistics: how many were /explode, how many were collisions (and with what), how many were my own splash, how many were due to other ships exploding, how many were bots, etc.

-1 to the OP

+1 to Rin's suggestion above

It's very much a psychological thing that contributes to anti-competitive behavior as individuals attempt to preserve their stats or ratios. It's not limited to just new players, and I never insinuated that it was. XeraX's claim of an experienced player engaging the same behavior is just one example. There was even a new, mobile player a while ago that was complaining about the difficulty because he was so focused on not dying even to bots.

I'd agree with Rin, a more comprehensive analysis of kills and deaths would be welcome.

This is a sandbox game with many valid play-styles. Playing for survival is not invalid, and trying to get a high K:D is not at all anti-competitive. I might mock those people and put extra effort into killing them, but that's just part of the game -- they take enjoyment from their successful escapes, and I take enjoyment from my successful kills. As long as survival is skill-based just like fighting is, I'm fine with it.

As for the few who are so obsessed that they can't handle the game tallying their failures, VO obviously isn't for them, and removing the death stats isn't going to change that. That kind of person will just find other things to obsess and get upset over.

"Sandbox game" is a cop-out for having little direction/ownership.