Deathmatch

Deathmatch (abbreviated DM) is a widely-used gameplay mode very well integrated into first-person shooter computer games. The goal of a deathmatch game is to kill (or "frag") as many other players as possible in the time given (until the level is completed or a certain limit is reached). Once one of these conditions is met, the match is over, and the winner is whoever has accumulated the most frags. It is based around the idea of player spawns, and weapon/item/pickup spawns in one play session.

Background

It has been suggested that in 1983, Drew Major and Kyle Powell probably played the world's first deathmatch with Snipes, 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. The term "deathmatch" was originally coined by John Romero in 1993 during the development of Doom, and later gained mainstream popularity with the Quake series of games.

Related Topics:
1983 - Snipes - Novell Netware - Spasim - Maze War - John Romero - 1993 - Doom - Quake

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In a team deathmatch, the players are organised into two or more teams, with each team having its own frag-count. Friendly fire may or may not cause damage, depending on the game and the rules used — if it does, players that kill a teammate (called a team kill) usually decrease their own score and the team's score by one point; in certain games, they may also themselves be killed. The team with the highest frag-count at the end wins.

Related Topics:
Friendly fire - Team kill

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Other forms of deathmatch, though not necessarily for a first person shooter, include the Super Smash Bros. series' timed multiplayer mode.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~