Hello,
That's part of what makes death a "penalty". If you remove the annoying part of death, then it becomes trivial.
Forcing social interaction is what make NC so good and lacks from so many so called MMOs where you can do everything solo.
I understand sometimes it's hard to find a poker, but if you ask in /help "need a poker in medicare" there will always be somebody if you can wait couple of minutes. Add a tip in your broadcast if required ! That makes people log their pokers for sure.