History Main / ComplacentGamingSyndrome

** On Magic Online, there was a fan-made variant of the team format Emperor known as "Gent's Rules." The format's targeting restrictions that usually kept the Emperors (the middle players on each three-person team) from targeting each other directly were restricted further so that the Emperors could only affect their teammates, which led to some unlikely cards such as Hundted Wumpus being broken in half. Additionally, there was a gentleman's agreement (hence the name "Gent's Rules") that kept players from playing counterspells, discard, land destruction, or anything else to infere with the other team's play. The result was a variant with only one strategy allowed: the two flankers would help the Emperor ramp up his mana, then he would help them cheat out big monsters to send at the other team. Since you couldn't stop the other team, it was purely a race to see who could do it first.
** Many players, particularly in the Modern and Commander formats, are quite vocal about cards that "need" to be banned--typically cards that run counter to their play style. In the March 2014 bannings, this led to (genuinely oppressive) Deathrite Shaman and Sylvan Primordial being banned in Modern and Commander, respectively. It did not lead to the proposed bannings of Snapcaster Mage or Birthing Pod in the same.

* The GM is just as vulnerable to Complacent Gaming Syndrome, and this can both kill game balance and fun. The GM may simply not know how to build a wide variety of encounters, may over-use his favorite monsters/clan/faction/powers while completely ignoring or even putting down his least favorites, may have too few personalities for the [=NPCs=], may refuse to tailor the general thrust of his plots to the players' interests, may fail to take into account player experience when building encounters (either wiping out new players or leaving vets bored), may ignore the possibility for players to try diplomatic or sneaky solutions and just demand they fight his villain, or may just limit the scope of the setting to some corner of it he likes. This can occur in any game.

** Unless the DM tells you no and hands you a randomly made character, and yes, this is a suggested way to play. Also, a new six-pack costs a lot and suffers from genetic drift (getting this cleaned up costs even more, and is only legally available at Blue clearance and up).

** When it was introduced in 1981, 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.

Compare DefaultSettingSyndrome, when players keep picking the default options for the game, whether because the alternate options are less balanced or fun, aren't aware can change the options, or are just ''too lazy'' to change it.

Compare DefaultSettingSyndrome, when players keep picking the default options for the game, whether because the alternate options are less balanced or fun, or because they don't even ''know'' they can change them in the first place.

** In ''TabletopGame/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 ''TabletopGame/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 ''TabletopGame/MaidRPG'' also states that if you want, you can just choose character attributes.

* In ''Series/KamenRiderSaber'', villain Kamen Rider Durendal has the ability to erase time, creating a period where he can walk around freely while his opponents continue what they'd be doing if he hadn't activated the ability. Used creatively, this power should make Durendal essentially unbeatable[[note]]For an example of a character who uses the same ability more creatively, see ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureVentoAureo''[[/note]]. However, Durendal ''always'' uses his time erasure to walk behind his opponent so he can attack them when time resumes, and once he fails to defeat an opponent this way the first time, they learn to attack behind themselves as soon as he disappears from sight. Durendal's failure to vary his tactics means he walks straight into these counterattacks every single time.

* In Major League Baseball's American League, the designated hitter is optional. However, since the DH was implemented, teams have elected not to use one (over letting a pitcher hit) only four times, the last being in 1976. There have been several cases since where a team has forfeited its DH spot during a game due to using the player who was DH into the field.

** Contestants who landed on [[BonusSpace Free Play]], were permitted to call any letter or attempt to solve the puzzle with no penalty for an incorrect guess; consonants were worth $500, and vowels were free. With very few exceptions, contestants tended to go for the free vowel if any are left, even when it would not be beneficial to do so.

** Contestant who landed on [[BonusSpace Free Play]], were permitted to call any letter or attempt to solve the puzzle with no penalty for an incorrect guess; consonants were worth $500, and vowels were free. With very few exceptions, contestants tended to go for the free vowel if any are left, even when it would not be beneficial to do so.

** If a contestant lands on [[BonusSpace Free Play]], they are permitted to call any letter or attempt to solve the puzzle with no penalty for an incorrect guess; consonants are worth $500, and vowels are free. With very few exceptions, contestants tend to go for the free vowel if any are left, even when it would not be beneficial to do so.

* Every tabletop gamer in ''ComicStrip/KnightsOfTheDinnerTable'' except for the [=DMs=] and possibly Sara. It gets to a point where they abuse the offscreen training rules [[FinalDeath so that when their character dies]] they can literally SendInTheClones at a minor loss on level. When forced to break out of this trope, [[TheRealMan Dave]] showed signs of secretly being TheSmartGuy, and poor {{Munchkin}} Brian was so paralyzed by this that he could hardly play a competent character. Even Sara is most often seen playing a barbarian or a cleric: some variation of the "fighter with benefits" niche. As for Brian, after literally a decade-plus of playing nothing but high-level mages, he was so used to the high firepower and versatility that when forced to play as a fighter, he loaded him down with proficiencies for ballistas, catapults, and other siege weapons, along with a high number of leadership traits. The problem is, that most of his leadership skills won't kick in for several levels, he won't have access to siege weapons until he's in a position to lead armies, and he's completely neglected to be proficient in so much as a regular sword or any other melee weapon, making him all but useless on a typical dungeon crawl.

-->-- '''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'''

--> '''Jontron:''' You see, there is this little thing in game theory called “Dominant Strategy”, it tells that if you’re given an ultimate method of disposing of obstacles in a game, you’re ''always going to use it''! Why even make this complex moves list when you can just one-button-mash your way through the game?

-->'''Roto''': "Why go through all the hard work of becoming a better fighter when all you have to do is to press a button?"

-->-- WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants

-->-- '''''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'''''

* A significant amount of people will reach a point in their lives in which they essentially stop seeking out unfamiliar music, and are perfectly content simply relistening to the songs and albums they enjoyed in their younger days.

*** This rule was broken ''hard'' with the release of 6th edition and the Tau Empire and Eldar codices. Tau Empire, a faction which had previously been strictly mid-tier due almost solely to the (in-game) cost of most of its units being somewhat harsh in comparison to other armies, became a ridiculously efficient and mobile army with the capacity to a) put out a withering amount of firepower, and b) override core game mechanics more or less at will through the markerlight mechanic (in particular the ability to completely strip cover saves from a target unit rendered several entire armies almost completely defenceless against them). Eldar meanwhile, another army whose previous incarnation was mid-tier at best, suddenly gained easy and almost ubiquitous access to Divination, a psychic discipline which also stripped cover saves from whatever enemy you wanted and also granted re-rolls to shooting which essentially removed any aspect of luck from the game (which wouldn't have been unfair if it weren't for the fact that it '''only applied to them'''). This combined with the newly-inserted and not yet fully tested allies mechanic meant that for an extended period Warhammer 40,000 tournaments saw three kinds of players: Taudar (Tau allied with Eldar), Deldar (Eldar allied with Dark Eldar to use one excellent special character and one excellent unit from that book), and everybody else. The 7th edition release has slightly reduced this tendency, but it's hard to argue that Tau and Eldar are not still the most effective factions in the game, and recent tournament results appear to be bearing this out.

** ComplacentGamingSyndrome/MonsterHunterWorld

* ''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.

[[folder:Game Shows]]
* ''Series/MatchGame'' had a final round where contestants had to pick one celebrity to match their answers with in order to win the big prize money. Almost every episode that had Richard Dawson had him as the one contestants turned to in the final round, because he rarely mismatched his answers with contestants.
** In June 1978, they [[https://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? ''[[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments Dawson]]''. The panel performed a mock walk-out in disbelief — '''''including Dawson'''''.
* ''Series/WheelOfFortune'' has many examples:
** 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.
** When it was introduced in 1981, 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.
** Also, contestants used to have the option of picking their own prize. When a $25,000 cash prize was first offered in 1987, the vast majority of contestants would go for either it or a car, while passing up items such as boats, jewelry, annuities, or sometimes {{Undesirable Prize}}s such as a "Shipboard party" or build-your-own log cabin kit. This was finally circumvented in September 1989 (but only on the nighttime show) by making it a random draw from five enveloped labeled W-H-E-E-L — one concealed $25,000, the other four contained prizes that changed weekly, and any prize that was won was removed for the rest of the week. Beginning in September 1998, the $25,000 envelope was kept in play even if won. On September 3, 2001, the prizes changed to three different cars and two $25,000, all of which remained in play all week; on October 22, this changed again to the current 24-envelope Bonus Wheel.
** In the German version ''Glücksrad'', RSTLNE was so widespread they simply called it "ERNSTL" — a diminutive of the common German name "Ernst" — without naming the individual letters any more.
** In the United Kingdom version, it is very common for contestants to keep spinning and not buy a single vowel. On rare occasions, no vowels will be purchased for the entire game, nor will any be called in the Speed-Up. If it is any indication, host John Leslie would immediately tell a contestant that he/she must solve if only vowels remained in a puzzle.
** 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 until ampersands returned permanently during Season 35.
** Similarly, many contestants have figured out that if N is the next-to-last letter in a long word, it's very likely to end in -ING. This shows up most often in the "What Are You Doing?" category, where virtually all of the answers have at least one -ING ending.
** And if a T leads off a three-letter word, the next spin gives an H, and then comes the buying of E.
** If a contestant lands on [[BonusSpace Free Play]], they are permitted to call any letter or attempt to solve the puzzle with no penalty for an incorrect guess; consonants are worth $500, and vowels are free. With very few exceptions, contestants tend to go for the free vowel if any are left, even when it would not be beneficial to do so.
* ''Series/{{Pyramid}}'' had the "Mystery 7", a category in which the subject is not revealed until after the fact; getting all seven words in the category won a mystery prize. Initially, the box just said "Mystery 7" instead of a category name, and as a result, almost every team went for it first. Later on, the show changed it so that all six categories fit into the show's HurricaneOfPuns theme, with the Mystery 7 hidden behind one of the six.
** And its sister, the 7-11 (which was always "hidden" behind a category), offered either $50 per word or $1,100 for getting all 7 right. Almost no one ever took the former, so the latter quickly became the only option.
** In addition, players had the option of either giving or receiving clues for the Winner's Circle. Most of them opted to receive, mainly because that was the predominant convention at the time (in ''Series/{{Password}}'', for example, the celebrity always gave clues in whatever bonus round they played), and the round was difficult enough without putting someone who's much more comfortable in the giver's chair in the receiving position.
* 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 Creator/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.
** One complacency present in all versions of ''Jeopardy!'' is the fact that contestants almost always pick clues top-to-bottom, even in situations where it would be advisable to do otherwise. For instance, if it's late in the round and you're behind, it might be wise to go to the higher-valued clues first, especially if a Daily Double (which are rarely in the top two boxes) hasn't yet been uncovered.
** In Final Jeopardy, the player in the lead would always wager just enough to beat second place by one dollar if both of them got it right and second place wagered everything. For example, if second place had $7,000 and first place had $12,000, you can always bet on the leader wagering $2,001.
* 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.
* In ''Series/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.
* During the Big Sweep in ''Series/SupermarketSweep'', most contestants were smart enough to grab the expensive stuff — Farmer John hams, gallon-sized jugs of Bertolli olive oil, diapers, macadamia nuts, giant steaks, cheese wedges, frozen turkeys, medicine, etc.
* A couple of recurring techniques have cropped up on ''Series/ThePriceIsRight'' when four contestants are required to bid on an item to determine which of them will play the next pricing game. One typical action is for a contestant to bid one dollar, in the hopes that most of the other contestants will go over the actual retail price and they'll win by default. Another trick usually employed by the last contestant to place a bid is to give a figure one dollar higher than what they think is the best bid, with the intent of beginning just one dollar closer than their opponents.
** Sometimes, the 3rd contestant will make a $1 bid or bid $1 higher than the previous player if they have no idea what they're doing or just want to look like a smartass, causing the last contestant in the queue to bid $1 higher than ''them'', making the infamous "$2!" bid.
** The "$1 more" strategy was parodied on ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'':
-->'''Bob Barker:''' Alright, let's start the bidding. Jennifer, how much do you bid on the dinette set?\\
'''Jennifer:''' Um...$675, Bob! (''ding'')\\
'''Bob:''' $675, Steven.\\
'''Steven:''' Uh...$780.\\
'''Bob:''' $780. (''ding'') Tammy.\\
'''Tammy:''' What was the last bid?\\
'''Bob:''' $780.\\
'''Tammy:''' $781! (''ding'')\\
'''Steven:''' FUCK YOU!
** On the bright side, if you manage to get the price exactly right you not only can't be beaten but get a $500 bonus. Due to the rounding rule, this is the only way to win if somebody bids $1 more than you.
** In the pricing game portions of the show, in the games One Away, Money Game, Pocket Change, Stack the Deck, Cover Up, and Pathfinder, a contestant has to guess each digit in the price of a car from a set of possible choices. If one of the choices for the last digit is 0, 5, or 9, nearly every contestant will choose that ending. While this usually was correct in the Bob/Roger era, the Drew/Mike era often uses these endings as incorrect "trap" choices in hopes that the player will pick them and lose. Temptation is a subversion to this, where the car ''always'' ends in 0 or 5, but never 9. 10 Chances is also one due to every price always ending in 0.
* ''Series/FamilyFeud'' players who buzz in and give a higher-valued answer than their opponent have the option to either continue answering the question with their family (play) or let the other family answer (pass). Most players will choose "play", which led to a 7-year [[RetiredGameShowElement retirement]] of the option before being brought back.
* ''Series/{{Survivor}}'' always has the weaker or less loyal players voted out first; and then at or near the merge, the people who carried the tribe through the first half of the game are evicted because they're a threat. Everybody also starts to make an alliance of about three to five during the tribal game, trying to get others to vote with them as dummy votes just to get a majority at tribal council. There's always at least one time where someone who's stronger is voted out over a weaker person because they're less loyal.
** And after ''Samoa'', there's at least one or two people who hit the beach and start hunting for the idol. Especially since people generally tend to find it buried under a log or rock or hidden in a tree, sometimes in rather obvious places. And expect people casting dummy votes to flush out the idol.
** A more justified example is how every season starts off with the tribes building a shelter, looking for water, looking for edible vegetation, etc.
* The first two rounds of the Nickelodeon game show ''Series/GetThePicture'' were often subject to this.
** The first round, "Connect the Dots," had the game board divided into squares numbered from 1 to 16. Often contestants would pick 6, 7, 10 and 11 because they were the central four boxes, regardless of the dot placement.
** In the second round, "Dots", the corners of the boxes were numbered and the contestants had to connect the lines to reveal the squares. The contestants would try to close in the same four boxes (e.g. 7-8, 8-13, 7-12 and 12-13 would reveal the one that was square 6 in the first round).
* The American ''Series/BigBrother'' starts off with a lot of players outright ''throwing'' the early Head of Household competitions and only attempting to win the veto for defensive measures. (eg, they're on the block, their friend is on the block, or they believe they're in danger of being put on the block as a replacement nominee). When the numbers start dwindling, they start attempting to win ''both'' competitions, specifically so they can either keep the nominees the same or "backdoor" someone.
** It's worth noting that "Backdoor" has changed from its original use to "Sending the replacement nominee out". The reason behind this was [[ObviousRulePatch after Big Brother 5, where it was used to evict Jase without giving him a chance to play for veto]], and producers foresaw it happening every single week and making the show way too predictable.
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