The Realities of Falling: Giving Gravity the Respect It Deserves

In most games, damage from falling is an afterthought, and tends to follow the formula of a small amount of damage every 10 feet, capping at 100 feet.  Falling is simply an inconvenience, and players are more worried about getting back up to where they were before they fell than the consequences of that sudden stop at the bottom.  Now, if you want everyone to be able to leap off a building and hit the ground in a Terminator-esque crouch, only to rise up and continue kicking ass (and possibly stealing clothes), read no further.  If you want to inject some realism into the nature of falling, here are some ideas.