History Main / ComplacentGamingSyndrome

** When Same Name was introduced in 1988, many people began by calling D and N, then buying an A because those puzzles always had AND in them[[note]]the category is two words or names that end in the same word, such as CHRISTMAS AND FAMILY TREE or MARK AND SHANIA TWAIN[[/note]]. This was averted completely by using an ampersand starting in 1989. The category relapsed into spelling out AND sporadically for the following two decades. For some strange reason, Same Name puzzles using AND saw frequent usage in the 2010s. Ampersands seemed to have returned permanently during Season 35.

** When Same Name was introduced in 1988, many people began by calling D and N, then buying an A because those puzzles always had "And" in them[[note]]the category is two words or names that end in the same word, such as "Christmas and Family Tree" or "Mark and Shania Twain"[[/note]]. This was averted completely by using an ampersand starting in 1989, but as of 2008, "And" has begun creeping into the category with increasing frequency.

** According to {{Word of|God}} [[ChaoticEvil the]] [[TabletopGame/{{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.

** 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, where PvP is often more likely to occur than in a standard tabletop campaign) might be a case of ComplacentGamingSyndrome all its own.

* Discussed in ''WebVideo/{{Jontron}}'s'' review of ''[[Franchise/{{Aquaman}} Aquaman: Battle For Atlantis]]'' when he remarks on how the game provides you with a myriad of complex combos to use when simply ButtonMashing is the most effective way to defeat foes:

Nine times out of ten, gamers will become attached to one mode/stage/ruleset/character choice, such that they may lose sight of the other options available. Complacent Gaming Syndrome occurs when the player is not able to break out of their comfort zone of control and continues to use the same exact settings for every match onward. This could be because they have found a [[GameBreaker supposedly unbeatable strategy]], or because they feel the need to sacrifice other features for CompetitiveBalance, or because they simply love those settings and feel that other settings are really un-enjoyable at best. This mindset fuels some of the flames in the CasualCompetitiveConflict, as outside observers tend to feel that their fun is being ruined by every match being the same.

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.

** During the early years, after solving a puzzle, a contestant was allowed to spend their winnings in prize showcases presented after the rounds. At any point, the contestant could choose to put his or her money "on account", meaning that it would carry over to any subsequent shopping rounds, or put it on a gift certificate to Service Merchandise. Likely because putting money "on account" left it vulnerable to a [[{{Whammy}} Bankrupt]] or to being "wasted" should the contestant fail to solve another puzzle, almost every contestant who had money left over at the end of a shopping round would opt for the gift certificate. The shopping element was {{retired|gameshowelement}} at the end of TheEighties.

** That being said, there are plenty of players who will pick less-used combinations purely because of the benefits they offer. Champion Fighter becomes a lot more appealing when you've focused mostly on Constitution and magic items that buff AC and you've used your higher-than-normal Ability Score Increases to take feats that allow you to get expertise in some skills like Bards, Rogues, and Knowledge Clerics get. Suddenly a commonly considered subpar fighter can now tank incredible amounts of attacks, which does in fact matter in 5e where there is only one definitive 'save or die' ability, and it's tied to a PC class. (Monk, Way of the Open Hand.) 5e does a good job of giving the player a lot of options to choose from, and while some combinations can be amazing if you want to get a leg up on certain aspects of the game, the sheer amount of combinations and the fact each combination tends to have a specialization that no other combination can quite match means that there's a class combo for everyone. Circle of Land Druids don't sound so bad when you realize how much better they are at battlefield control than Circle of Moon Druids; battlefield control is generally a more demanding responsibility for players, and Circle of Land is unmatched in comparison to every other Druid (Itself a class focused on battlefield control) in terms of separating enemies and keeping the pressure on them, for example.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' had the same problem as above during its own 7th edition, to the point that just before 8th edition was released '''every single army''' used at most tournaments was either Vampire Counts or Daemons of Chaos.

* In a curious example, ''Film/TheGamers: Dorkness Rising'' has Leo, who has decided to break tradition and play a bard named Flynn. However, Flynn turns out to be an insta-kill magnet, so Leo has some friends make up fifty identical back-up bards. Lampshaded later on when Leo throws bard after bard in the way of harmful spells to give Luster enough time to get off a major spell with a long casting time, and afterwards another character suggests they take cover "behind the pile of dead bards". [[note]] There, in fact, exists an official "pile of dead bards" miniature. [[/note]]
** It doesn't help that he plays him like a completely inept Fighter instead of an actual Bard. He doesn't use magic, inspire his teammates, acts like a fighter despite carrying only a dagger and being unarmored, and has to be continually reminded that he has Bardic Lore that can help give the party information.

* TabletopGame/{{KingOfTokyo}}: Staying in Tokyo for a full turn earns you 2 points. Staying in Tokyo also means you cannot heal unless it's with an upgrade or evolution, and every other character in play can attack you, with it entirely possible to be dealt 6 out of your 10 base health in one attack. Outside of Tokyo, you cannot be targeted by any player that is not in Tokyo, you can heal yourself, and you can still roll for 1~6 points every turn. Naturally most players avoid being in Tokyo as much as possible and just roll for points. The spiritual successor King of New York made it a point to break this up by making points more difficult and risky to obtain, giving more options to the players in New York to heal, and giving rising rewards for staying longer.

* 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 PowerCreep, 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.

** 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, Snatch Steal[[/note]] were accounted for, that number could easily rise to half or more.

** 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.

** Speaking of Races, in 3.X ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', [[HumansAreAverage humans]] are this when it comes to optimizing characters. They're a top pick in all online class guides because of their [[MasterOfAll immense versatility]]. No penalties, outside of any miscellaneous ones a DM might throw their way as part of the plot, a stat bonus anywhere the player wants, bonus skill points at every level[[note]]much of the "role play" aspect of ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' lives and dies by your skill points and areas of expertise[[/note]], a bonus feat at first level, which is a rare commodity that can jump start any character build. The only classes humans do ''not'' excel in are race-locked or badly-designed in general (and there's a Human-only feat that lets you take race-specific classes and abilities.) It took the creation of alternative class features, and additional sub races of the main races to make them be considered as high tier "viable" builds before that changed, and ''Pathfinder'' took lessons from that to instead give a lot more flexibility and power to the other main races.

** In June 1978, they [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGYIRK6bMsI introduced]] the "Star Wheel", which the contestant would spin to determine who they would attempt to match. The first person it landed on? ''[[FunnyMoments Dawson]]''. The panel performed a mock walk-out in disbelief — '''''including Dawson'''''.

* 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 ''TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu'' campaign, or ''Franchise/StarTrek.''

* 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 {{Non Player Character}}s 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.

* In a curious example, ''Film/TheGamers: Dorkness Rising'' has Leo, who has decided to break tradition and play a bard named Flynn. However, Flynn turns out to be an insta-kill magnet, so Leo has some friends make up fifty identical back-up bards. Lampshaded later on when Leo throws bard after bard in the way of harmful spells to give Luster enough time to get off a major spell with a long casting time, and afterwards another character suggests they take cover "behind the pile of dead bards". [[note]] There, in fact, exists an official "pile of dead bards" miniature. [[//note]]

[[/note]]

* In a curious example, ''Film/TheGamers: Dorkness Rising'' has Leo, who has decided to break tradition and play a bard named Flynn. However, Flynn turns out to be an insta-kill magnet, so Leo has some friends make up fifty identical back-up bards. Lampshaded later on when Leo throws bard after bard in the way of harmful spells to give Luster enough time to get off a major spell with a long casting time, and afterwards another character suggests they take cover "behind the pile of dead bards". [[note]] There, in fact, exists an official "pile of dead bards" miniature.

** In ''MaidRPG'', everything is randomly generated, but only the stats have an in-game effect, and you can wind up with something [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot ludicrous and fun]]. The amount of randomness in ''MaidRPG'' is such that you can have an albino with brown skin, or someone with both elf ears and cat ears. Of course, the sourcebook for ''MaidRPG'' also states that if you want, you can just choose character attributes.

* In a curious example, ''Film/TheGamers: Dorkness Rising'' has Leo, who has decided to break tradition and play a bard named Flynn. However, Flynn turns out to be an insta-kill magnet, so Leo has some friends make up fifty identical back-up bards. Lampshaded later on when Leo throws bard after bard in the way of harmful spells to give Luster enough time to get off a major spell with a long casting time, and afterwards another character suggests they take cover "behind the pile of dead bards". [[note]] There, in fact, exists an official "pile of dead bards" miniature. [[/note]]

* If you want to get into MMA, you're probably going to have to learn Boxing, Wrestling, Brazillian Jiu-Jitsu, and Muay Thai (for the latter two, an equivalent amount of Submission Wrestling and[=\=]or Kickboxing training can suffice). They're considered the four pillars of the sport because they're considered the most BoringButPractical styles (emphasis on practical).

* If you want to get into MMA, you're probably going to have to learn Boxing, Wrestling, Brazillian Jiu-Jitsu, and Muay Thai (for the latter two, an equivalent amount & type of Submission Wrestling and Kickboxing training can suffice). They're considered the four pillars of the sport because they're considered the most BoringButPractical styles (emphasis on practical).