History Main / ConspicuouslySelectivePerception

** Justified in one instance in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2'', in which a guard can be seen dancing up and down a hallway. If you get close enough, you can hear the tiny noise of headphones. As a result, he is oblivious to everything short of you walking up in front of him and socking him in the jaw.

** In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4'', much of the early game takes place in various warzones. It is possible to disguise yourself as a rebel fighter during these sequences. However, if a [=PMC=] soldier notices Snake, they will immediately go full alert and ignore the other dozen or so rebels attacking them to hunt you down.

[[folder: Curiously unaware]]

-->'''Aide''': President Madagascar, somebody just sneezed in Brazil!\\
'''President''': ''SHUT''...''DOWN''...''EVERYTHING!''

[[folder: Blatant lack of awareness]]

* ''[[VideoGame/LauraBow Laura Bow: The Daggar of Amon Ra]]'' has a minor but interesting case. In the armory room there is a large tapestry in the far left of the screen. To collect evidence, Laura can use this tapestry to hide behind it to surprise or remain undetected while other [=NPCs=] are dropping important clues [[GuideDangIt at particular time intervals]]. You can use it from listening to a conversation to leaping out and scaring the hell out of another suspicious party, nobody will suspect anything (although one conversation with Wolf and Olympia lampshades this). However, in Act 5 when Laura is chased by the killer [[spoiler: a character, I might add, you could NOT use this trick against prior]], hiding behind the tapestry regardless of how well it worked before (or the fact you blocked off all possible ways or indication the killer could've seen her hide there during the chase) will cause the killer to instantly know she's there and smack her with their spiked club of doom through the tapestry.

* In ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'', one level is populated by creatures called antlions who go crazy and attack anything that moves on sand... provided that it's human. Explosions and moving objects have no effect. True, footsteps sound different from dragged objects and explosions, but an injured {{NPC}} attracts their attention by ''sitting up''. This was spoofed in ''Webcomic/{{Concerned}}'', where the protagonist nailed wooden planks to his feet to walk through the level undetected.

* ''VideoGame/{{Postal}} 2'' is quite similar to the GTA IV example (and predated it by a number of years). Cops and armed civilians will consider ''anyone'', not just the player, a threat if they're seen firing a weapon. This can lead to massive shootouts if the player kills someone then hides; civilians will pull out their guns in response to the threat, then suddenly see all the ''other'' armed civilians around, consider ''them'' a threat, and pretty soon everyone is shooting at everyone else.

* The ''Videogame/{{Thief}}'' games have many examples of this: guards react to the players footsteps, but not to the very noisy elevator the player rides on, even when it is the middle of the night and the elevator running should be unexpected. Drop a platter accidentally picked up onto the same kitchen counter it had been on and people in another room immediately shouts "Help! Thief!", knowing instantly it was you and not some random kitchen noise. In the third game, this went even further, as [=NPCs=] who found [=NPCs=] killed by other [=NPCs=] would attribute the foul deed to the player. Assassins that hunted the player would patrol the streets. Every time they bumped into an NPC guard or civilian they would announce that they had found ''you'' and promptly attack said NPC. On the other end of the spectrum, you could whack the last man in a three-man patrol, dump the body in a nearby alley, wait for the other two to come around again, knock the one in behind, drag ''him'' off, wait for the leader to come around on his own, oblivious to the fact that they're even missing ...
** This was dealt with in the third ''Videogame/{{Thief}}'' game, ''Deadly Shadows''. Guards would react to a ''huge'' number of things compared to the original two. A door left open, an item missing ( stolen ) from somewhere, a light you put out earlier.. if they come by such things on their patrols, they get suspicious. One such discovery they may shrug off unless it's important, two they'll have a quick look. If they're already suspicious, they'll then go searching, and if they get clues beyond that, they'll raise a riot. This also applies to not meeting guards on their patrol routes. More than this, [=NPCs=] will run and find someone to help them if they catch you, often resulting in several guards gathering and going after you, alerting other guards along the way. All this also applies to most sounds, environmental or otherwise - including sometimes ones that you Don't make - and even if they do eventually give up looking for you, their suspicion level won't ever reset back to blissful ignorance.

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' and ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' suffer the same problem as shopkeepers in their Creator/{{Bethesda}} ''Elder Scrolls'' sister series (due to running on the same engine), but it's amplified because both games introduce a button that allows the player to physically pick up and move an object in the world without adding it to their inventory, and the fencing system (and corresponding recognition of stolen objects) is removed. The Silver Rush in New Vegas is especially prone to this problem, as it's loaded down with hundreds of pounds of high tech energy weapons and ammunition worth an obscene amount of caps, and has an extended hallway to the bathrooms where one can go. The player can freely move all of the objects in the store into the bathroom and steal them out of sight, and nobody cares as long as the Courier doesn't just shove a plasma rifle into his bag in front of them.

** In ''VideoGame/SplinterCell: Double Agent'' the guards in several levels are actually at war with others. The prison riot is a good example. You can sneak around pretty easily and sometimes the guard will stop shooting at you if another prisioner shows up.
** In ''VideoGame/SplinterCell: Conviction'', the guards have difficulty noticing Sam in the shadows, but they will spot him if they get close enough. And alerting any single guard will have him call out to all the other guards before pursuing, putting everyone on alert. However, in many cases, you ''want'' the guards to know where you are, or at least, where you ''were'', so that they'll assault your Last Known Position (LKP in the game) while you slip, unnoticed, into an ambush position to take them all out.

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblem'' enemies, at least in the [=GBA/GameCube/Wii=] games, often seem to be a bit more comfortable with their current spot then they should, considering the situation. A common tactic against these guys is to sneak until you get a few units just outside detection range, then let a heavy defender (Knight/General) enter, lure the guy out (finally) and let him get the crap beaten out of him. Despite the low movement range of the heavy defenders, you will have plenty of time to set this up.

* Happens a lot in ''Videogame/WarCraft 2'': melee units will just sit and get shot repeatedly without making any move to attack the unit that's not even THREE FRIGGIN' FEET AWAY!
** This was common to almost all older real-time strategy games. Eventually it became more common for units to react to being shot at, either by closing in and retaliating or, if they can't see or can't hit the enemy, [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere running]]. This came at different times for different series: ''Videogame/{{Starcraft}}'' prominently used this aversion (since it was unusual at the time), whereas ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert3'', many years later, continues to not.

* In Disgaea enemy units won't move towards your characters unless they're in range and they'll never move away. As a result it's possible to kill some enemies with a gun (the weapons class with the longest range) or magic (which can [[GameBreaker reach the other side of the map]] at high levels) without any reaction on their part.
* The Raiders in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' can sometimes be incredibly oblivious, it is frequently possible to blow off the head of a person they are standing right next to without them noticing. In addition, you can sneak around a building, knocking around shopping carts and other junk, but they're never notice. Justified by the fact that they are high 99% of the time that they aren't stealing drugs.

* ''[[Videogame/LauraBow Laura Bow: The Daggar of Amon Ra]]'' has a minor but interesting case. In the armory room there is a large tapestry in the far left of the screen. To collect evidence, Laura can use this tapestry to hide behind it to surprise or remain undetected while other [=NPCs=] are dropping important clues [[GuideDangIt at particular time intervals]]. You can use it from listening to a conversation to leaping out and scaring the hell out of another suspicious party, nobody will suspect anything (although one conversation with Wolf and Olympia lampshades this). However, in Act 5 when Laura is chased by the killer [[spoiler: a character, I might add, you could NOT use this trick against prior]], hiding behind the tapestry regardless of how well it worked before (or the fact you blocked off all possible ways or indication the killer could've seen her hide there during the chase) will cause the killer to instantly know she's there and smack her with their spiked club of doom through the tapestry.

** The problem of often not being the same race is Hand Waved by the way of the fact that 47 is a multiracial clone, made up of a Columbian, a Chinese, and two Europeans. The fact that, say, a full Chinese looks different from a quarter Chinese is Hand Waved again, by saying that at a distance, 47 looks enough like the race he's supposed to be that nobody will really pay attention unless you get close, in which case your suspicion meter starts to rise.

* The enemies in ''VideoGame/HotlineMiami'' are admittedly capable of hearing the player's gunshots and seeing him... sometimes. Apart from that, they are curiously inept, to the point where they'll completely ignore corpses of their buddies, and won't react at all when the guy in front of them is suddenly shot and killed. The "fat" enemies (who take a while to die after being shot) won't even react to getting hit with a bullet if they don't hear the gunshot, and will happily keep walking ahead while bleeding to death. [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools Not that we're complaining]] - you're fragile enough without the guards being ''competent''.

* ''VideoGame/FarCry 2'' takes enemies distinguishing the player's footsteps from ally's footsteps to ludicrous levels. In that game enemies can detect you even if you're driving an enemy's boat, jeep, or car, from a distance of up to a half-mile, and through tinted glass. Further, both you and your enemies are foreign mercenaries of all ethnic types, with no distinguishing uniforms or badges, dressed in a variety of casual outdoorwear -- how can they tell you're an enemy in the first place?

If the player can [[DressingAsTheEnemy disguise himself]] or otherwise be unknown to the enemies so as to be allowed to pass, they will instantly know that it's the player as soon as he does something vaguely suspicious. And by "suspicious", we mean anything the developers want to [[FakeDifficulty hinder the player with]], such as running or having a weapon in hand. The VideoGameAI will happily ignore all the [=NPCs=] running around like headless chickens but if the player does it, he might as well have "spy" tattooed to his forehead.

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblem'' enemies, at least in FE 7,9,10, often seem to be a bit more comfortable with their current spot then they should, considering the situation. A common tactic against these guys is to sneak until you get a few units just outside detection range, then let a heavy defender (Knight/General) enter, lure the guy out (finally) and let him get the crap beaten out of him. Despite the low movement range of the heavy defenders, you will have plenty of time to set this up.

* ''[[VideoGame/GoldenSun Golden Sun: The Lost Age]]'' has a brief stealth segment. At one point, you need to get to a particular ladder without being seen, but there's a guard patrolling in front of it. The solution? Boxes. The guard won't notice you unless you step out from behind a box, even if you're pushing the box toward him at the time. He also won't step around boxes, and doesn't seem to notice his patrol route getting shorter as a result.

* In ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion'', the guards don't just focus on you, if you are under attack from anyone and they do not see you strike first they will actually help you out. (e.g. If you got too close to the pirate ship the pirates don't like it...) Likewise, the stealth aspect is quite realistic, items that make loud noises are noticed. However, if you move an item by kicking it around or pushing it with another object, the owners of the object will ignore you until you actually grab it yourself.
** Favourite use for the Weak Fireball spell, you can go to a bookstore and splatter the shop's inventory all over the damn place, as long as you don't accidentally graze the shopkeeper they never object.
** It's also possible, by ridiculous over leveling, to have a Sneak skill high enough that [=NPCs=] will fail to notice you standing right in front of them in broad daylight.
** Judicious use of Telekinesis magic allows you to pick up an object you want to steal, quickly run to a corner (the shopkeeper will usually follow you, but you can get out of sight for a half-second usually) and grab it, they won't notice that the object disappeared into thin air.
** Incidentally, if you have a bounty on your head (even if this is a bounty for killing every other killable person in the game) they will confront you first, and if you pay off the bounty or go to prison for a few days, they let you go without further ado. If an NPC commits any detected crime (even stealing a crumpled piece of paper), all nearby guards will try to cut them down where they stand.

** Guards won't mind if you steal a horse in the middle of nowhere, ride it up to the town gates, dismount, and go in to the city, as long as nobody saw you steal it. Get back on the horse you just got off of, though, and they will act like you just stole it right in front of them.

** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'' has [=NPCs=] programmed for eyesight and hearing which usually work pretty well. Unfortunately it also means that if you put a bucket on a (non-hostile) person they no longer have the ability to see you at all.
*** They also appear to have NoPeripheralVision, especially minor [=NPCs=] who will sit down and lock their heads straight forward instantly becoming blind to everything that occurs to their left and right.
*** It's also pretty hilarious to stealthily kill a person and watch their friends run around to find the cause for a minute before sitting down next to the corpse of their buddy and complain about being spooked by the wind.
*** Even funnier is when its said by someone you're trying to kill via bow, whereupon they go back to drinking with an arrow sticking straight through their skull.
** Also in ''Skyrim'', time won't stop when you start a conversation, so things will continue happening realistically in the background. Unfortunately the conversation will cut off the NPC's AI, so they won't react in any way, even if a dragon starts attacking the village behind them.

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' and ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' suffer the same problem as shopkeepers in Oblivion (due to running on the same engine), but it's amplified because both games introduce a button that allows the player to physically pick up and move an object in the world without adding it to their inventory, and the fencing system (and corresponding recognition of stolen objects) is removed. The Silver Rush in New Vegas is especially prone to this problem, as it's loaded down with hundreds of pounds of high tech energy weapons and ammunition worth an obscene amount of caps, and has an extended hallway to the bathrooms where one can go. The player can freely move all of the objects in the store into the bathroom and steal them out of sight, and nobody cares as long as the Courier doesn't just shove a plasma rifle into his bag in front of them.

* The enemies in ''VideoGame/HotlineMiami'' are admittedly capable of hearing the player's gunshots and seeing him... sometimes. Apart from that, they are curiously inept, to the point where they'll completely ignore corpses of their buddies, and won't react at all when the guy in front of them is suddenly shot and killed. The "fat" enemies (who take a while to die after being shot) won't even react to getting hit with a bullet if they don't hear the gunshot, and will happily keep walking ahead while bleeding to death. [[TropesAreNotBad Not that we're complaining]] - you're fragile enough without the guards being ''competent''.

** In ''VideoGame/SplinterCellDoubleAgent'' the guards in several levels are actually at war with others. The prison riot is a good example. You can sneak around pretty easily and sometimes the guard will stop shooting at you if another prisioner shows up.
** In ''VideoGame/SplinterCellConviction'', the guards have difficulty noticing Sam in the shadows, but they will spot him if they get close enough. And alerting any single guard will have him call out to all the other guards before pursuing, putting everyone on alert. However, in many cases, you ''want'' the guards to know where you are, or at least, where you ''were'', so that they'll assault your Last Known Position (LKP in the game) while you slip, unnoticed, into an ambush position to take them all out.

*** Occasionally guards you didn't even know you aggroed [[{{Determinator}} will chase you through miles of wilderness through lakes, packs of feral animals and mountains]] in order to remind you to "[[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments Stop right there, criminal scum!]]"

* In ''{{Mercenaries}}'', players can hijack a faction's vehicle and disguise themselves as a member of that faction. In the first game, this was essentially foolproof, no matter what vehicle you were in, as long as you didn't engage in any hostilities, enemy soldiers would not realize that you are an imposter, unless an officer was present, at which point your disguise would be ruined. This led to scenarios where a distinctive-looking mercenary could be driving along in a stolen open-top jeep, but still raise no suspicion from the North Korean troops, but driving in a tank with no means of anyone seeing you from the outside would raise an alert if you came across one officer.

* ''Franchise/SlyCooper'' might be one of the worst cases of this. For the most part it's decent, with thugs going to inspect anything slightly suspicious. However, they completely ignore any impact to the stage. Probably the worst case of this is in ''VideoGame/Sly2BandOfThieves'', when you are in Canada. Nobody seems to notice you bouncing the laser saw's beam all across the canyon.

If the player can [[DressingAsTheEnemy disguise himself]] or otherwise be unknown to the enemies so as to be allowed to pass, they will instantly know that it's the player as soon as he does something vaguely suspicious. And by "suspicious", we mean anything the developers want to [[FakeDifficulty hinder the player with]], such as running or having a weapon in hand. The guards will happily ignore all the [=NPCs=] running around like headless chickens but if the player does it, he might as well have "spy" tattooed to his forehead.

** Raiders are largely as oblivious in ''VideoGame/Fallout4'' but with the added hilarity of [[ItsProbablyNothing blaming the wind]] even if you just popped their friend's head off right at the side of them.

** Many mobs also track you via scent following aggro regardless of how they aggro you. This can result in a bizarre situation where a mob who aggros by sight will lose track of you even if you are only a few feet in front of them simply by running through a puddle.

** Some fans argue that lower levelled creatures are simply staying out of your way unless you go out of your way to invade their personal space.
*** Which works fine, for the Defias Brotherhood. Maybe not so much for the starving wolves.

* A particularly odd example, or possibly subversion, comes from Nexus Prince Shaffar and his guards in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft''. He has a room full of groups of five or so guards who you kill one group at a time as you work your way up to him. The kicker is that he ''greets'' you when you enter the room. He clearly knows you're there and has shouted it out in front of everyone, yet his guards stand there waiting to be slaughtered one group at a time.
** GameplayAndStorySegregation. Comparable instances where mobs don't attack you despite being only a few feet away are all over the place. If that mechanic wasn't in place, the game would either have to be far more spacious, have far fewer mob groups or be basically unbeatable. What ''does'' happen is that all mobs will gang up on you immediately if you sneak around them and attack the local boss first.

*** Occasionally guards you didn't even know you aggroed [[{{Determinator}} will chase you through miles of wilderness through lakes, packs of feral animals and mountains]] in order to remind you to "[[CrowningMomentOfFunny Stop right there, criminal scum!]]"

* In ''VideoGame/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheBurningEarth'' there are levels which require the characters to hide inside barrels and sneak into enemy locations. Guards will instantly notice if a barrel moves in their line of sight, but will completely ignore barrels which move behind their back. The worst offense is when you follow a guard - if you stop before he turns around, the guard will think nothing of the fact that the barrel which used to be on the other side of field is now right in front of him - even going so far as to walk around the barrel to get back on his appointed path!

* In ''[[WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender Avatar: The Burning Earth]]'' there are levels which require the characters to hide inside barrels and sneak into enemy locations. Guards will instantly notice if a barrel moves in their line of sight, but will completely ignore barrels which move behind their back. The worst offense is when you follow a guard - if you stop before he turns around, the guard will think nothing of the fact that the barrel which used to be on the other side of field is now right in front of him - even going so far as to walk around the barrel to get back on his appointed path!