In short, the answer to that question is yes. Death is a natural part of things, so why shouldn't it be so in games? Now, the real question should be along the lines of, "Do you die less in better designed games?" Death is there for challenge. A game like Prey comes along where you can't die and there is no challenge. However, get a game with too much death and it's too hard (looking your way Ninja Gaiden and Mega Man). So, middle ground - there is your answer.

From the article:

How hard should a video game be? Should it tromp on your skull the whole way through until you break multiple controllers in aggravation? Or should it hold your hand throughout, offering a plethora of tutorials and stages easy enough for anyone to complete? Of course, the obvious answer is somewhere in between the two, but I think that it is even a little more complicated than that.

Take dying, for example. Losing a life in a video game is obviously something you want to avoid as often as possible. Heck, in Contra you can only do it three times before you have to start all over again (without the code, of course). So if you are a good player, why should it even happen once? In a perfectly designed game shouldn’t you be able to make it through an entire quest without ever seeing a “Game Over” screen?

Read the full article over at destructoid.com