History Main / ComplacentGamingSyndrome

* During the trivia sections on ''[[Series/{{Double Dare|1986}}'', a team could "Dare" and pass the question onto their opponents if stumped or believed the opponents didn't know the answer. That team could "Double Dare" and pass it back, earning the other team twice the cash if they answered it correctly. However, they could go for the "Physical Challenge", where they would play a game to earn the cash. Most of the time, a team would only Dare if they didn't know the answer and only one family managed to exploit the Double Dare strategy.

* During the trivia sections on ''[[Series/DoubleDare1986 Double Dare]]'', a team could "Dare" and pass the question onto their opponents if stumped or believed the opponents didn't know the answer. That team could "Double Dare" and pass it back, earning the other team twice the cash if they answered it correctly. However, they could go for the "Physical Challenge", where they would play a game to earn the cash. Most of the time, a team would only Dare if they didn't know the answer and only one family managed to exploit the Double Dare strategy.
* In ''HighRollers'', it was ''very'' rare to see a contestant roll the dice if there was so much as a 25% chance of rolling a bad number. Even if there were tens of thousands of dollars in prizes available on the board, players immediately started passing the dice to their opponent as soon as there was a semi-decent chance that they could roll a bad number and hence lose the game.

** Furthermore, in ''3.5'' and earlier, many players refuse to play primary spellcasters outright, regardless of their [[LinearWarriorsQuadraticWizards immense power difference]] [[MagikarpPower at higher levels]]. Who wants to read another two chapters of 8-point text just to be able to make a simple attack? Give me a Barbarian called Gnar or Blarg anyday.

* The original regular format of the ''Series/WheelOfFortune'' BonusRound gave a blank puzzle, for which the contestant had to provide five consonants and a vowel to assist in solving within 15 seconds. Before long, most people were choosing RSTLNE (five of the most common consonants, and the most common vowel, in the English language). Beginning on October 3, 1988, both versions changed the rules to give players RSTLNE from the outset and ask the player for three more consonants and a vowel, countered by making the puzzles somewhat harder (it's rare for RSTLNE to reveal so much as half of the answer) and reducing the time limit to 10 second. Even then, a very large number of contestants pick CDMA, because those are among the next most-common, even though this combination doesn't work most of the time. BGHO (sometimes with P in place of B) has become a popular "three more consonants and a vowel" choice after a fan forum and a news article both discovered that this is strategically the best choice.

* A significant amount of people will reach a point in their lives in which they seldom if ever seek out unfamiliar music, and are perfectly content simply relistening to their old favorites whenever they listen to music.

* While not a gaming-related example, a significant amount of people will reach a point in their lives in which they seldom if ever seek out unfamiliar music, and are perfectly content relistening to their old favorites the overwhelming majority of the time.

* In ''Epic'', where the game is how people get real-life goods and services from the government, there is pretty much one way to play - play as one of a very few classes, put all your points in strength or intelligence or health, spend hours grinding every day. When the main character, out of desperation, decides to play as a completely unheard of class and put all his points in beauty, his friends think he's lost his mind - until two NPCs give him a personal quest and an immensely valuable jewel, of the sort it takes years of leveling to afford, right out of the gate.

** Part of the reason the original banlist was created was that certain "staple" cards were both [[GameBreaker overpowered]] (especially for that point in the game) and generic (could be played in pretty much any deck and had no significant cost), meaning that basically every somewhat serious deck invariably used them. The most generally-agreed-on list was seven cards[[note]]Raigeki, Harpie's Feather Duster, Pot of Greed, Graceful Charity, Monster Reborn, Change of Heart, Imperial Order[[/note]], so even though all seven were limited to one, that still basically meant that 17% of the cards in any given deck was identical to those in any other, and when "semi-staples" [[note]]Mirror Force, Dark Hole, Confiscation, The Forceful Sentry, Delinquent Duo, Witch of the Black Forest, Sangan, Mystical Space Typhoon, Heavy Storm, United We Stand, Yata-Garasu, Jinzo, Ring of Destruction[[/note]] were accounted for, that number could easily rise to half or more.

'''Steven:''' (''bleep'') YOU!

* During the trivia sections on ''[[Series/DoubleDare1986 Double Dare]]'', a team could "Dare" and pass the question onto their opponents if stumped, though that team could "Double Dare" and pass it back, earning the other team twice the cash if they answered it correctly. However, they could go for the "Physical Challenge", where they would play a game to earn the cash. Only one family managed to exploit the Double Dare strategy.

In BoardGame circles, if a gaming group wind up doing this for a particular strategy, it's known as Group Think, and seems to occur when a group collectively decides on a 'best' strategy for a game, however balanced that strategy is against other strategies - The best remedy to it is simply to introduce new blood into the gaming group, or at least for some members of the group to play the game with another group and pick up some new tricks to introduce back into the gaming group suffering from it. Alternatively it could simply be a GameBreaker that wasn't discovered in play testing.

* One of El Disgusto's primary traits in ''Literature/BinderOfShame'' is his refusal to play anything except a [[GratuitousNinja ninja.]] Even if the game is a medieval pseudo-European setting, a 1930s America-set ''CallOfCthulhu'' campaign, or ''StarTrek.''

** Also occasionally results in this trope being exploited by way of an IKnowYouKnowIKnow chain. If people are just going to perfect-defend any attack that comes their way, there's no point in putting anything flashy on the attack, which means there's no point in picking up other ways to defend against the flashy things that won't be on the attack because there's no point in flashy things on the attack so might as well save some EXP that could be put to better use elsewhere by using Perfect Defenses. This is perfectly sound logic when it's a brawl between the Exalt types that are just straight-up powerful in direct combat (and that's most of them); unfortunately, it falls apart painfully against the types that are weaker in a head-on brawl but specialize in esoteric control effects that don't have anything to do with hitting someone. Granted, the fact that the types that were good at that tended to be the least popular ones to play in all-types-OK games (going by census tallies on various Exalted chat-games and MUSHes, where PvP is probably more likely than in a standard tabletop campaign) might be a case of ComplacentGamingSyndrome all its own.

* Sometimes present in the original Art Fleming era of ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}'', which paid full winnings to all contestants, winning or losing. Some contestants would intentionally stop ringing in if they felt that they had earned enough money, or if another contestant picked up a significant lead. The AlexTrebek-hosted revival (1984-present) gave this an ObviousRulePatch by offering the full winnings only to the winner, to create more of an incentive to compete. The losing contestants initially got parting gifts, but starting in the early 2000s, second and third place respectively won a flat $2,000 and $1,000.

** This trope gets taken Up to Eleven in certain formats with "Tier Zero" Decks - those that are so strong that little else can stand up to them, resulting in said ridiculous number of Mirror Matches observed in tournament finals. Well-known examples include Tele-DAD of the early Synchro era, Dragon Rulers shortly after their debut, [=PePe=] (Perfomapals/Performages), and most recently Zoodiacs.

* Anime Example: Kite suffered this in YugiohZexal. To be more accurate, he suffered it a bit more in Zexal's second season. During season 1, while he relies on his ace Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon, at least he was willing to use/showcase other monsters in his deck. Come season 2, Kite almost ALWAYS opens his duels with the same method: Special summon Photon Striker and normal summon Photon Bouncer, then tribute them both for Galaxy Eyes. A solid strategy to be sure, but the rest of his deck essentially got the shaft.

** Charisma as a DumpStat, since it is the only primary stat that doesn't obviously affect a character in any way. (Strength affects weight-carrying limits, Dexterity Armor Class and Reflex Saves, etc.) Unless you're playing a class that uses Charisma for an ability (such as Sorcerers and Bards for spells and music, Clerics for Turn Undead, and Paladins for Charisma Modifier to Saves check bonus), most people have no problem letting it fall off, especially when high Intelligence and the resulting bonus skill points quickly and easily make up for having a Charisma Modifier of 0 to -2. Yes, an ugly jerk of a mage can conduct diplomatic peace talks better than some trained characters. Plus they have spells when that isn't enough, beginning with "polite" mind control such as Charm Person, and leading up to the much more blunt "Give me control of the kingdom, or I will call down Meteors on your head, send you to an alternate dimension, or just kill you outright if I'm pressed for time"

* TabletopGame/{{YuGiOh}}: In most tournaments, you'll likely only see three, maybe four decks (out of an abundance of archetypes possible) at most when it comes to the final brackets. Because of the Power Creep, what decks people main during tournaments fluctuates with each era, but none the less, you're unlikely to encounter any other decks besides the current meta decks in any major tournament. This naturally brings the problem among many fans of the game, even the said tournament players. The decks most commonly used WILL win and WILL get the job done; but they lead to an abundance of mirror matches which usually end up not being interesting and quite possibly draining.
** This trope gets taken Up to Eleven in certain formats with "Tier Zero" Decks - those that are so strong that little else can stand up to them, resulting in said ridiculous number of Mirror Matches observed in tournament finals. Well-known examples include Tele-DAD of the early Synchro era, Dragon Rulers shortly after their debut, and most recently PePe (Perfomapals/Performages).

** According to {{Word of|God}} [[ChaoticEvil the]] [[{{Eberron}} Keeper]], the ridiculous dependence on the RandomNumberGod, the obsession with insane numbers of poorly thought out stats, and the general head-up-arseness of ''TabletopGame/{{FATAL}}'' were intended to prevent this, because [[HonestRollsCharacter about the only thing you get to choose is gender]]. Proof that TropesAreNotBad, if the alternative is ''FATAL''. The rulebook ''does'' state that the [[GameMaster Aodile]] can let players choose their own races and classes (not stats, though), but implies that random determination is the preferred method.

* In ''ComicBook/AdventureTimeFionnaAndCakeCardWars'', the unbeatable Floop Master turns out to have stumbled upon one GameBreaker opening card combination, and is completely helpless when Cake becomes the first player to find a card that can beat it.