Nearly all instances of death of the char fall into two categories:
1) accidental death due to bugs or buglike issues (clumsieness on keyboard, lag, etc.).
2) death due to lack of other options (no knockout system, etc.)
The first version is ignored completely for RP, as it's obviously OOC. Wipes fall in that category, too, at least for me.
The second version is viewed as being knocked out or so seriously wounded that further actions aren't possible ATM.
The remaining deaths are very very few, and those are usually RP'd as death and return from the DR, though many players don't RP the seriousness of it, and hence it has almost zero effect on their chars, which is sad. Others actually delete their chars when they die an RP death, which can be a tough decision. Another reason is the use of death as a final culmination, the ending of, or a significant break in, the big story.
@Under the moon: Shortcomings in the implementation are no excuse for not adhering to the setting. IMNSHO it is mandatory to avoid any and all known clashes. If you would have to change the settings to have something work: drop it. You can perfectly well RP within PS without clashing with the settings. Sure it will happen that one must make assumptions and guesses about parts of the setting that aren't clear or don't exist at all yet, and these may, once officially defined, clash. To minimise chances of failure there, one must, of course, work out the most likely version out of all possible versions. To do that, one must take into account the broader context inside the setting, and, if that doesn't suffice, pick the version that's most realistic.
RP that doesn't adhere to the setting is invalid and thus not RP. By your definition it would be RP to play a spaceship commander in PS. Yes, this would, in theory, be justifiable. No, due to the sheer breach of the atmosphere and unlikelyhood of the event, it is not RP.
Also beware: by RPing invalidly, you risk invalidating some or all RP of everyone who you RP with. All in all I despise the attitude of "The devs can't tell us how to play PS". I think they can, and should. There are more than just a few points on which the intent is pretty obvious, and I am completely sure that having a setting classifies as obvius intent. You may reason about what playing style - PL, RP, storytelling, etc. is still within the intended use of PS, but there can't be a question about the setting.
There is no benefit in wondering whether anything we do will count in the final setting. However, if you don't bother to make your RP valid, then you are not only reducing the chances of this happening, but you also reduce the dev's trust in the player's judgement, and thus you reduce chances of them ever allowing the playerbase to modify the settings. For example, if a significant amount of "RPers" were to adopt your attitude, players becoming octarchs will never happen, and justifiedly so.
So, sorry, don't "clash away"!
