History Main / DystopiaIsHard

* ''[[Creator/JanuszZajdel Limes Inferior]]'' is set among the criminal circles of a FalseUtopia. The protagonist himself makes his living by conning the system in one of the myriad ways it's possible, and eventually notices that the Man not only overlooks, but downright ''encourages'' faking tests, all sorts of BlackMarket trade, fraud, thieft, domestic abuse... Turns out someone is sabotaging the system [[spoiler:because it has been set up by aliens of a MechanisticAlienCulture that want to make the entire universe exactly like them, and humans who know what's going on have decided to preserve humanity for as long as possible, even if it has to be a bunch of [[HumansAreBastards bastards]] about it.]]
* ''Literature/WarriorWolfWomenOfTheWasteland'': McDonaldland looks invincible and self-sufficient to the common citizen, but it's actually suffering from increasing shortages and would have gone under by now if not for the Outlanders providing extra resources and trade with other surviving cities, not to mention keeping the Warriors at bay. And then the Outlanders succeed so well in fighting the Warriors that they decide that they should be the ones to run McDonaldland...

* ''VideoGame/JakIIRenegade'' radically switches setting to dystopian Haven City ruled by Baron Praxis with an iron fist. The moment Jak (your PC) lands there he's taken into a prison and experimented on with Dark Eco for two years. He then escapes. Despite being escapee and immensely valuable target and the whole city swarming with Krimzon Guard (local version of police) nobody tries to apprehend him (even after you attack the palace ''and fight Praxis'') beyond some specific points (which is justified by other reasons), mostly because of implications that the guards are corrupt, but also because trying to anger someone to whom the goverment itself ''essentially gave superpowers'' is probably a lost cause. Besides this, there is also the conflict with Metal Heads, which Praxis has to bribe with Dark Eco so they only attack enough to justify his rule, but that is not longterm solution because resources of Dark Eco are thinning. And yes, despite city being full of police there is an [[LaResistance Underground]] and mafia operating; it could be justified that the police is useless against someone with SuperPoweredEvilSide, but being useless against regular people kinda degrades it even more. [[spoiler:It's machinations between Jak, Underground and the mafia, willing or [[EnemyMine otherwise]], that causes the destruction of the shield protecting the city from Metal Heads, which leads to the death of Praxis and causes trouble for the city that are ultimately resolved only in [[VideoGame/Jak3Wastelander next game]], after which the whole setting changes for the better.]]

* In ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'' the Terran Hegemony and the Star League had tough time in its late rule, it not only had to govern thousands of worlds, they had to stamp out rebellion in the Periphery regions, and stave off constant pirate attacks. Later the Inner Sphere houses are always on constant threat with each other as their own enemies live right next door to them, and their technology has stagnated and interspace travel and communications have been limited due in part that they have spent several decades nuking each other in the first two Succession wars.

In short, Dystopia Is Hard and often falls apart quickly.

* The Seers of the Throne in ''TabletopGame/MageTheAwakening'' have run into this problem before even ''getting their dystopia off the ground''. When your organization is split into five or so separate factions, trying to get them around the table to plan how you're going to subjugate and control the masses is like herding cats without any form of tools. It's noted, in the prehistory of the setting, that after their divine masters managed to trigger the Fall, they were the dominant magical faction, and all those who still swore to the dream of Atlantis were run ragged and easy to destroy. And then the Seers started discussing who should rule their new order... and everyone thought they should be in charge. A few years later, ''one in eight'' Seers had died in the infighting, giving the Atlantean Orders enough time to regroup and rebuild.

* The Seers of the Throne in ''TabletopGame/MageTheAwakening'' have run into this problem before even ''getting their dystopia off the ground''. When your organization is split into five or so separate factions, trying to get them around the table to plan how you're going to subjugate and control the masses is like herding cats without any form of tools.

* ''VideoGame/JakIIRenegade'' radically switches setting to dystopian Haven City ruled by Baron Praxis with an iron fist. The moment Jak (your PC) lands there he's taken into a prison and experimented on with Dark Eco for two years. He then escapes. Despite being escapee and immensely valuable target and the whole city swarming with Krimzon Guard (local version of police) nobody tries to apprehend him (even after you attack the palace ''and fight Praxis'') beyond some specific points (which is justified by other reasons), mostly because of implications that the guards are corrupt, but also because trying to anger someone to whom the goverment itself ''essentially gave superpowers'' is probably a lost cause. Besides this, there is also the conflict with Metal Heads, which Praxis has to bribe with Dark Eco so they only attack enough to justify his rule, but that is not longterm solution because resources of Dark Eco are thinning. And yes, despite city being full of police there is an [[LaResistance Underground]] and mafia operating; it could be justified that the police is useless against someone with SuperPoweredEvilSide, but being useless against regular people kinda degrades it even more. [[spoiler:It's machinations between Jak, Underground and the mafia, willing or [[EnemyMine otherwise]], that leads to destruction of the shield protecting the city from Metal Heads, which leads to the death of Praxis causes trouble for the city that are ultimately resolved only in [[VideoGame/Jak3Wastelander next game]], after which the whole setting changes for the better.]]

** You can prevent the super powers from invading if you create a [[NukeEm nuclear program]], but it will only keep them away as long as you can keep the system running, which requires you NEVER go in the negative. Which is very difficult, since pissing off either power means you have pissed off at ''least'' the capitalists and/or communists, who make up the two largest factions on the islands.

** The VastBureaucracy is taken to insane degrees where people can (and usually do) die of old age while waiting in line for their birth certificate; the problems with the [[ObstructiveBureaucrat Bureaucrats]] are taken to such a degree that the overwhelming majority of files needed for government to function are simply left in a giant mountain of files and simply forgotten about.

->''"And remember this: The Imperial need for control is so desperate, because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear."''

->'''President Snow:''' Whatever problems anyone may have with the Capitol, believe me when I say that if it released its grip on the districts for even a short time, the entire system would collapse.\\
'''Katniss:''' It must be very fragile, if a handful of berries can bring it down.\\
'''Snow:''' It is fragile, but not in the way you suppose.
-->-- ''Literature/CatchingFire''

* ''Series/{{Andor}}'': A recurring theme through the show is that maintaining the Empire's grip on the galaxy requires enormous effort, due in large part to the totalitarian agenda of TheEmperor. To be sure that nobody can topple the Empire or overthrow the Emperor, constant control and monitoring of people is needed at all levels of society. Because of those intrusive efforts to strictly order their lives, a large portion of society only grudgingly goes along with the Empire or barely tolerates it at all. And because of the need for such tight control on such a large scale, it means that all of the Empire's institutions must also be enormous in scale; so much that [[VastBureaucracy these bureaucracies and institutions are inevitably vast and bloated networks]] and [[WeAreStrugglingTogether the individuals within them are often at odds with each other]] or [[InterserviceRivalry with other organizations that they're supposed to be working with]], and thus are much less stable than one would think just from looking at the surface. The much feared [[StateSec ISB]] is a [[RightHandVersusLeftHand back-stabbing, infighting den of bureaucratic vipers]] whose efforts at weeding out rebel activity often comes second to their individual career advancement or petty control of their little fiefdoms. When Luthen is stopped by an Imperial patrol ship, the guards checking his ship's ID need to wait in a queue because the sheer amount of collected data and the number of inquiries put into the system slows it down, which buys him precious time he needed to load up his secret weapons and countermeasures. While the Empire finds it easier to hide behind hundreds of small daily injustices than one big atrocity, each one of those small, daily tyrannies creates one or two new people who become more willing to oppose the Empire after they or their loved ones are crushed under the Empire's boot. In Nemik's manifesto, he states/speculates that it's actually the nature of tyrannies to be difficult to uphold, because they go against basic desires for freedom and justice.

* ''Series/{{Andor}}'': A recurring theme through the show is that the effort the Empire needs to maintain an iron grip on the populace because people often barely tolerate the Empire's intrusive efforts to order their lives. Because of the need for such tight control on such a large scale, it means that all of the Empire's institutions must be enormous in scale; so much that [[VastBureaucracy these bureaucracies and institutions are inevitably vast and bloated networks]] that are [[WeAreStrugglingTogether often at odds with themselves]] and much less stable than one would think just from looking at the surface. The much feared [[StateSec ISB]] is a [[RightHandVersusLeftHand back-stabbing, infighting den of bureaucratic vipers]] whose efforts at weeding out rebel activity often comes second to their individual career advancement. When Luthen is stopped by an Imperial patrolship, the guards checking his ship's ID need to wait in a queue because the sheer amount of collected data and the number of inquiries put into the system slows it down, which buys him precious time he needed to load up his secret weapons and countermeasures. In Nemik's manifesto, he states/speculates that it's actually the nature of tyrannies to be difficult to uphold, because it goes against basic desires for freedom and justice.

* ''Series/{{Andor}}'': As Nemik's manifesto states, "tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle." A recurring theme through the show is that the effort the Empire needs to maintain an iron grip on the populace means that it is a vast, bloated, network that is often at odds with each other. The Imperial prison Narkina 5 relies [[CripplingOverspecialization on electrified floors to keep prisoners in line, but provides very few guards that can be easily overpowered]], [[RightHandVersusLeftHand the ISB are a back-stabbing, infighting den of bureaucratic vipers]] whose effort at weeding out rebel activity clash with their career goals. When Luthen is stopped by an Imperial patrolship, the guards need to wait in a queue to check his (faked) carrier ID due to the vast network of surveilliance, buying him precious time to load up his secret weapons and decimate them.

* In ''ComicBook/{{Thunderbolts}}'', a team of supervillains pretend to be superheroes to TakeOverTheWorld. However, Moonstone betrays their leader because ruling the world is too much work and she would prefer to use their ruse to continue running smaller scams.

* As [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxdD9xei2Ss this video]] by ''WebVideo/TheTemplinInstitute'' points out, Panem from ''Literature/TheHungerGames'' is so incredibly incompetent that their collapse was pretty much unavoidable.

* Played up to comical extremes in ''VideoGame/StreetsOfRogue''. The city is under the complete control of the Mayor, to the extent that if [[TheMainCharactersDoEverything some Goon dialogue is believed they are even directly in charge of assigning individual jobs]], but in spite of this absolute authority and [[WeHaveReserves seemingly infinite army of police]] it's still a complete disaster everywhere you look. Homelessness is rampant, rival gangs openly wage war in the streets, the penalty for any crime (even "broke a few too many trash cans") is immediate death at the hands of whatever cop saw you, disasters like fatal radiation blasts periodically hitting an entire floor and [[ZombieApocalypse zombie outbreaks]] are extremely common even in the wealthiest districts, there is a [[LaResistance thriving resistance whose operatives regularly kill hundreds of civilians while causing untold property damage]] and the list goes on and on. The best example of this being a failed attempt at running a dystopia by far has to be the extremely short life expectancy of whoever takes the reigns, it's practically a daily occurrence for the Mayor to either [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority be murdered for their hat]] or step down after losing an election (then presumably still dying violently off-screen to any of the previously mentioned horrors of the streets).

* In the ''Film/SuperMarioBros'' movie, this is seen as Koopa's motivation. His dictatorship mismanaged Dinohattan so terribly that the world is running out of resources, so he plans to merge it with Earth and plunder its resources.

* ''Literature/{{Fatherland}}'' uses this to deconstruct the "Hitler wins" sub-genre of AlternateHistory. Nazi Germany in 1964 is not a nice place by any means, but rather than a fascist juggernaut steamrolling the entire world into a thousand years of Nazi-dominated horror, it's more of a shitty place to live where everything's beginning to fray at the edges anyway because it turns out living in a Nazi state isn't actually that much fun. Having all the ''lebenstraum'' in the east sounds a lot better when there ''aren't'' Soviet and Polish terrorists constantly waging a war of attrition against you, the Cold War against the United States isn't going so well because America is a lot less of a shitty place to live, and everyone's just kind of going through the motions because they'll get shot otherwise.

* ''Literature/{{Fatherland}}'' uses this to deconstruct the "Hitler wins" sub-genre of AlternateHistory. Nazi Germany in 1964 is not a nice place by any means, but rather than a fascist juggernaut steamrolling the entire world into a thousand years of Nazi-dominated horror, it's more of a shitty place to live where everything's beginning to fray at the edges anyway because it turns out living in a Nazi state isn't actually that much fun. Having all the "lebenstraum" in the east sounds a lot better when there ''aren't'' Soviet and Polish terrorists constantly waging a war of attrition against you, the Cold War against the United States isn't going so well because America is a lot less of a shitty place to live, and everyone's just kind of going through the motions because they'll get shot otherwise.

* ''VideoGame/PapersPlease'' shows this on the ground level. You are randomly assigned to be the border inspector for the nation of Arstotzka and your family is relocated to an apartment. The job does not pay enough to cover rent, heating, food, and medicine for your family, but if your family dies you are fired for not providing Arstotzka with strong and healthy subjects, and if you run out of money you are arrested for delinquency. All this does is encourage you to comprimise national security by taking bribes and looking the other way.

* While ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'' [[InvincibleVillain inverts this]] for horror, a short-story parody by Alan Coren named "Owing To Circumstances Beyond Our Control, 1984 Has Been Unavoidably Detained" plays this straight: the story shows Ingsoc's barren misery has completely gotten out of control in all levels of society and when Winston Smith is arrested and sent to Room101, the Ministry of Love turns out to be out of budget and lacking supplies to torture Smith with -- no, not even rats (winter in AirstripOne wipes them out). The story ends with O'Brien giving a figurative (and barely holding back doing a literal) FacePalm.

Any {{Dystopia}} allowed to be more than a [[MarySuetopia Straw Dystopia]] -- allowed contact with human nature as it is -- will go wrong (by the founder's standards) in ways that are often spectacular.

The huge majority of Dystopias present in fiction are FascistButInefficient, and would fall to bits the instant you apply anything like actual social dynamics to them. This trope happens when the author tries to puzzle out the kind of Herculean effort required to [[SinisterSurveillance keep tabs]] on everything a country of a hundred million people or more do at all times, and then guide it in the desired direction... only to fail miserably because the author forgot to puzzle out how to keep tabs on [[WhoWatchesTheWatchmen the people that are supposed to be keeping tabs on a country of a hundred million people]] and guide ''them'' in the desired direction.

** Making this dystopia even harder to run is that Lolth's three children -- Eilistraee, Vhaeraun, and Vandria, all of whom are also gods -- [[EvilMatriarch hate Lolth's guts and are actively working against her]]. Vhaeraun hates the fact that [[DoesNotLikeMen drow society is incredibly sexist towards men]], and wants to violently overthrow the whole thing. Vandria became a war goddess for surface elves because of [[MistreatmentInducedBetrayal how bad Lolth screwed her over during a war with the elven gods]]. And Eilistraee -- [[DefectorFromDecadence the only Good-aligned drow god who willingly exiled herself]] -- wants to guide the drow to the surface to do good deeds and regain their rightful place among the forests. The only reason Lolth's drow go up to the surface is because they kidnap people from the surface as slaves just to keep things running. When the drow have a slave rebellion -- and it's not if they do, it's ''when'' they do -- the drow have to drop everything to get their slaves back under control. Will all of this working against her, Lolth's drow are barely holding together.