Personally, the issue is not which is more efficient - it's about which doesn't degrade readability. Too many people around here (including me at times) are obsessed with pseudo-optimisations.
You're right - in that my usage of is_user_alive() isn't filtering dead players. I negated the following (which would never need is_user_connected()) without thinking.
Code:
if(is_user_alive())
{
doUsefulStuffRatherThanBailing()
}
In any case, like many natives, show_hudmessage() checks whether or not they're connected before displaying the message anyway. Because of this a lot of is_user_connected() calls are redundant.
Maybe I should just shut up and stop arguing on both sides of the readability fence.
I think we may have overwhelmed Mrrr somewhat.