walking dead

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Adjective

walking dead (not comparable)

1. (video games) Corresponding to an unwinnable game state, where the player can still act in the game world but victory is impossible.

   Synonyms: unwinnable, softlock (Noun), softlocked

   • 2005 March 4, M. Damian Dollahite, “Re: Boundlessness & IF”, in rec.arts.int-fiction‎ (Usenet):

     The term I've typically seen used for the latter is "walking dead" -- meaning you can still wander around, but no progress can be made, and therefore you have effectively lost the game -- ie "died" -- and just don't know it.

   • 2018 October 3, Kurt Kalata, “Dragon Lore II: Heart of the Dragon Man”, in Hardcore Gaming 101‎:

     There are numerous ways to instantly get killed, as well as walking dead situations, which were practically banned across all other adventure games when this game was released in 1996.

   • 2021 February 23, Joe Pranevich, “Missed Classic: Bureaucracy - Won! And Final Rating”, in The Adventurers Guild‎:

     [I]t’s inevitable that we’d have some walking dead scenarios. Regretfully, I hit one. [...] I left my Boysenberry computer at my house when I headed off to the airport. [...] I [...] jumped into a cannibal-infested jungle before discovering that I lose immediately if I parachute in without the computer.

Noun

walking dead pl (plural only)

1. Zombies.