Since this seems to be a hot-button issue, I thought I'd share my thoughts and hopefully lay some of the concerns to rest. (As an aside, I'm very disappointed at how quickly the previous thread on this topic took a turn for the worse, and this one threatened to do likewise before Archduke's timely intervention. Even if you feel strongly about something -
especially if you do - being respectful and refraining from personal attacks is just a baseline of civilized behavior, and is required for a meaningful conversation. With that out of the way...)
Save games are an interesting topic. On the one hand, they're not clearly part of the game mechanics - rather, part of the infrastructure, the "software" part that makes the "game" part work. On the other hand, if you've got a giant "undo consequences" button staring you in the face the whole time you play, it can't help but affect your experience.
I don't think it's an issue of having self control vs not. It's an issue of the game asking you to keep exercising that self-control the entire time you play. It's like having a bridge without handrails - "Oh, surely you're not going to fall off", the builder says. "That would be so
clumsy." And so, crossing the bridge - while within your capacity - becomes stressful because you've got to worry about falling off every time you cross.
Just add the damn handrails. You're not calling everyone a clumsy oaf by doing it.
Obviously, a player that really wants to reload a save can avoid whatever scheme you've got set up to thwart it. The goal isn't to stop them from jumping off a bridge. It's to make it inconvenient enough so that they don't simply fall off. Having to kill the game and restart it, for example, should be a sufficient deterrent - and then, you throw in the distinct flavor that they're "cheating" by doing that, because it's not something the game lets them do normally. If that's not enough, there's not much more you can do anyway - not in a single player game.
This only applies to players that want to have this kind of experience, though. To take the analogy much too far, you wouldn't build handrails around a swimming pool.
In other words, you're very likely to see an optional "save on exit" game mode. It'll likely even be the one the game is balanced for - because you can't balance if you assume the player is able to save/load their way out of every predicament. It probably won't be the default for a new game, but the game should try to create the perception that this mode is the "intended" way to play.
That's not to diminish someone that wants to have complete freedom in reloading when they want, or to play at 50% damage. These are perfectly legitimate ways to play the game - you're not being "criticized" by the game for not playing on the normal difficulty setting. It's just being honest with you. ... although, I suppose that also depends on just how those options are presented.
On the subject of restricting when the player can save: that makes more sense for games with discrete levels, where the skill being tested is "can you get through this level without messing up". For a free-form sandbox, that would just add an unnecessary burden for the player and alter their behavior within the sandbox for no good in-game reason. "Oh, great, I've got to burn some fuel and get to a station because the game designer is a #$%&". <Achievement unlocked: immersion broken>
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll go back to getting 0.53.1a out the door.
