This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
Original discussion in YKTTW:
Tulling: A game trope, which results from errors in the internal logic of the game: When you must protect or preserve something, yet when this objective is accomplished and you logically no longer need to preserve it, deliberately destroying it results in mission failure. I can think of two examples: In Hidden & Dangerous there was a mission in which you had to destroy a water lock with the cannon of a parked tank. When you had accomplished this you'd think that you might as well blow up said tank, an in-game justification being denying its use to the enemy. Yet if you do this the mission will fail, even if the lock is already destroyed. Another: In Rogue Spear there is a mission in which you must reach a computer and download some files from it. If one triggers the alarm too early a guard will press a button that sets off a charge that destroys the computer, resulting in mission failure. Said button can also be pressed by the player. If one finishes downloading the files and decides to use this button to destroy the now unimportant computer, the mission will fail, even though the primary objective was accomplished and protecting the computer was no longer relevant. I have difficulty thinking of a good name for this. Irrelevant But Vital Objective? Superceeded But Vital Objective? Preserve The No Longer Useful?
Ununnilium: Irrelevant Importance? (Tulling: Better suggestion than mine. I went with it.)
I'm removing the NWN paragraph, which says: "Neverwinter Nights had a very frustrating inventory system, which would not allow you to dispose of used quest items." This is not true, you can throw away anything and everything, even the most important items relevant to your open quests. There is a magical way of getting these important objects back, so you don't even need to keep track of where you left them. The example was probably included because you cannot destroy all your items. However, no irrelevant importance is attributed to any of them. The game simply abstains from making them vanish into thin air, just like a house you had to visit is still there after you're done with that quest. Nothing bad happens when you throw away or actually manage to destroy an item.
Morgan Wick: Or maybe because it doesn't do it automatically.
