Are lives in games an outdated mechanic?

[The_Liquid_Laser]

mZuzek said:

The_Liquid_Laser said:
Depends on the game. People like to use lives in Smash Bros, for example, or Street Fighter. I'm playing a lot of Super Mario 35 and I basically get 1 life. It's an extremely fun game.

I mean, yeah, but you know that's not the kind of life anyone's referring to.

It never hurts to be clear.  "Lives" depends a lot on genre.  I think what people are saying is they don't like lives in games where you complete stages and you are trying to gradually progress toward the end of a 15 hour+ game.  There are probably other genres that lives don't make sense: RPGs and open world games, for example.

On the other hand there are still genres where "lives" make sense.  Fighting games are a great example.  Competitive games, in general, are often better with lives because a match only lasts so long.  Roguelikes are another genre where "lives" make sense.  From the beginning the concept of a roguelike is that you get 1 life and once you are dead, then that's it.  Gradually roguelikes have let you carry a little bit over from one game to the next, but it's still basically built on the 1 life concept.

The original question was "Are lives an outdated mechanic".  My answer is "no", because it depends on the genre and how the game is designed.