What is more boring than a "Mutually Assured Death" then a respawn ? In order to fight this boredom, why not having a look at SEGA's NLH' 92 Hockey game ? In this game, when a fault was commited, the player sometimes got access to a 1vs1 fighting beetween 2 hockey players : So, what about introducing a mini game when 2 people get a "Mutually Assured Death" ? Each of the 2 players may click on an "Accept" or "Cancel" button. We may then "socialize" a bit more with our opponent with digitally fighting each other's , or go to a 1vs1 short duel, or any other skill based stupid game...And maybe even win usless rewards ?
I think what you are going for is some more interaction when two players seem to be equally matched and die simultaneously. The only thing I can think off, is allowing both players to go into a near-death state. They lie on the floor incapacitated, realize their opponent is still alive and whip out their pistol (if they were using it the pistol magically got reloaded). Then they have a short time, say three to five seconds, to shoot the other guy. The one who kills the other first wins and gets some kind of reward, such as a "victory after draw" statistic or something alongside an XP bonus and the possibility of winning cosmetics in that category, such as a shiny new decal for their pistols. Alternatively, the survivor gets to revive himself if he wins this showdown, albeit with very low health. This might be enough of a bonus and adds some excitement to these draws. You could then hang some kind of rough&tough "kept going despite the odds" directive on this. You might be able to expand this directive with surviving large odds IE you are the only one within 50m distance and won against 3+ players who had no prior damage within X seconds or one drawn out battle, defined by being within enemy vision or you having an enemy in vision during this time. Or maybe winning a battle despite having low health from the start, or getting hit by more than 4 different people and surviving until your shield regenerates fully (non MAX players only). To prevent this becoming a cheap way to kill another guy while you are down your pistol will deal reduced damage against other targets than the enemy that's down.
Maybe you could expand this to include deaths caused by shots to non-vital areas(legs). Like if your HP was reduced to zero from a legshot you wouldn't die immediately but go into an incapacitated state instead, in which you are allowed to fire your pistol. You might be able to take out your killer, earning a sweet XP bonus. However you could also be finished off if you take any damage at all. Obviously this would not apply if you were hit by tank shells or explosives. Headshots and chest shots would also kill you outright. Mines might incapacitate you instead of killing, except for betties since those explode at chest level.
