[wmervine4]

After posting my long reply, I had two other thoughts on this topic I felt were worth sharing.

First, I have some thoughts on the topic of levels and the need for them or not in video games. In this area, I agree with the posters that say levels are not needed. Sure, they may be a prominent feature in many popular video games, but they are hardly a requirement. In a GURPS-based game, character point total could serve the same niche that level serves, more or less, as an indicator of relative forward progress for a character. As we all know, CP totals do not map directly to combat effectiveness, but they are absolutely a measure of progress. When and how much CP to award and for what tasks are all issues that would require answers specific to the video game being imagined, but I do not believe having levels is any kind of requirement for a video game. If it matters, I could see grouping the positive/negative points into the Physical, Mental, and Social buckets (as Advantages and Disadvantages are tagged in the Basic Set). This doesn't tell you much but a 200 CP character with 80/-10 points in Social traits may not be as effective in combat as a character with only 10/-40 points in Social traits. Of course, it would also be easy in a video game to automatically calculate a character's Challenge Effectiveness Rating which is a better measure of combat effectiveness.

Second, I was thinking about survival mode I've seen in some video games lately (e.g., Fallout 4). Some hardcore gamers really want a challenge beyond simply bashing on bad guys, so survival mode typically provides that by forcing players to consider encumbrance, eating/drinking, sleeping, staying protected in extreme temperatures, avoiding disease, and limited save opportunities. From what I have experienced in these modes, they do add interesting elements to the game, but dealing with some is either easily avoid (e.g., extreme cold is avoided by wearing warm enough clothing) or uncontrollably annoying (e.g., randomly catching a disease that is difficult to cure while sleeping). GURPS nicely provides many gradual effects to deal with these situations like FP loss from missed sleep, starvation, dehydration, heat, and cold. GURPS could expand in many areas by using the rules for FP loss for overexertion, running, and swimming; applying effects from acids, irritating and incapacitating conditions, pressure effects, and suffocation to name a few. GURPS also has extensive rules for diseases, poisons, and infections from wounds. If you wanted to get really harsh about it, you could even employ The Last Gasp rules. When it comes to survival mode, I think GURPS has a great framework for applying real consequences to ignoring your character's needs.