History Main / NPCRoadblock

* ''SlimeForestAdventure'' has moving NPCs, one of which found its way into a corridor. That NPC mentions he doesn't know which way he's going, and despite being able to move, will never leave the corridor when pushed using the whistle. Other NPCs also block access to other parts of the castle.

* Lampshaded by a town guard in the FanTranslation of ''VideoGame/{{Ys}} IV: The Dawn of Ys'':

** And in its sequel, ''Black and White 2'', in what is perhaps the most blatant example ever, a group of guys are blocking off the northern path to Black City/White Forest, claiming to be dancing for no reason and that someday they will disappear for no reason.
*** In the original ''Black and White they did the same thing!
*** Back to ''Black and White 2'' every single bridge that exist in the game at some point served as a ''Broken Bridge''.

* The first ''VideoGame/ShiningForce'' has an interesting bug in the first town where two guards who actively block your path can themselves be blocked by a fellow townsperson, letting you leave town earlier than intended, without the rest of your starting party.
** The ''Franchise/ShiningSeries'' is covered with this trope blocking doors and leading the party down paths where events are taking place.

* ''Slime Forest'' has moving NPCs, one of which found its way into a corridor. That NPC mentions he doesn't know which way he's going, and despite being able to move, will never leave the corridor when pushed using the whistle.

A SubTrope of BrokenBridge. A favorite tactic of the CityGuards. See also InsurmountableWaistHeightFence and DroneJam.

A SubTrope of BrokenBridge. A favorite tactic of the CityGuards. See also InsurmountableWaistHeightFence.

* Happens in ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'': An irate Zess T. will block a door to the west side of Rogueport because you stepped on her contact lens. You can order a replacement lens ''immediately'' after the incident, but if you forget to, you won't be able to purchase one until chapter 3, leaving her blocking your way for some time.

** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheMinishCap'', once you beat the first dungeon, you were unable to get past the guard blocking the west exit until you learnt the Spin Attack. He, and the guards blocking the north and east exits would run/walk parallel to you, preventing you from passing. Similarly, before going to Hyrule Castle for the first time, [=NPCs=] would block off each of the town's areas so you have to follow Zelda around.
*** Once the endgame starts, guards start appearing in various places around Hyrule Town, telling you that it's too dangerous to proceed. Baffingly, one such soldier is placed in front of the entrance to the library, leading one to wonder exactly what's dangerous about it.

* {{Spectrobes}} averts this trope by having every last NPC being both intangible and immobile.
* ''AliceMadnessReturns'' has a lot of obstructive characters in the London areas, forcing you to go through scripted areas.

* In the Anime/{{Hamtaro}} game, ''Ham-Hams Unite!'' for GameBoyColor, in one level, there's a hole you need to get through to get Cappy, but there's this one hamster who gets in the way and won't let you through, because he's "scared".

* In ''MedalOfHonor: Frontline'', two guys block your path upstairs at the Golden Lion pub, and you must tip the piano player to play a song to distract them.

** A very obnoxious one in Black and White involves a policeman standing at the entrance to a post-game route who refuses to let you past. His reason for not doing so? "There's something up ahead and you can't go through here." Nothing in the entire Pokemon canon hints as to what this mysterious "something" is.
** And in its sequel ''Black and White 2'' is in what is perhaps the most blatant example ever, a group of guys are blocking off the northern path to Black City/White Forest claiming to be dancing for no reason and someday they will disapear for no reason.

* In ''StarOceanTillTheEndOfTime'' there is a particular NPC in Airyglyph who just seemed to not get the point that you need to get through that door, dammit!
* ''LiveALive'' features a sort of puzzle in the Prehistoric Chapter. You come into a room with one caveman. You talk to the caveman, and another one shows up. Now both are running around frantically. Talk to one of them and a third one will run in. Keep this up and eventually the room will be overrun with cavemen running around, making it quite hard to navigate. This is not a large room, by the way. Finally, your goal is to talk to the twentieth cavemen (this despite the fact that all of them are identical). If you get it right, you'll get a reward and all but one of the cavemen will leave. Get it wrong and they'll just leave, making you start over. Try to leave the room in the middle and you'll find it all but impossible.
* AffectionateParody RPGMaker game ''JaysJourney'' has a guard that is rigged to only walk back and forth through a narrow corridor (which is a shortcut out of the area that was accessible earlier in the game). When Jay speaks to this guard, he tells the guard to move... but is only met with [[WelcomeToCorneria a single useless phrase over and over again]].

* ''EarthBound'' has a maze made of [=NPCs=]. You have to shift them aside by talking to them.
* Happens in ''PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'': An irate Zess T. will block a door to the west side of Rogueport because you stepped on her contact lens. You can order a replacement lens ''immediately'' after the incident, but if you forget to, you won't be able to purchase one until chapter 3, leaving her blocking your way for some time.

* ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' features a pretty literal example. Geno Dome, in the far future, contains a one-eyed guard bot that won't let you through to claim a key. There's no slipping past until you find a deactivated unit of the same model, give it a jump, and lead it back to short-circuit the guard and lock them both into a permanent staring contest. So, really, jamming the drone is the solution.

* ''{{Avernum}}'' still has the tile-based variant, as of ''Avernum 6'' released last year. There are few Dronejams by design, many more occur from NPC roaming.
* A particularly funny example in the ''{{Medabots}}'' [=RPGs=] for the GBA. In the first town, there are four exits leading to other areas. Four [=NPCs=] will be standing in front of them for no apparent reason, going away as the plot progresses. One of them is actually justifiable, as the path is still under construction and it can be assumed the guy was hired to stay there. The others? "I heard Medaropolis has huge markets! I wish I could go shopping there someday!". One assumes that her rationale is that if she can't go, then ''no one else will, goddamnit!''

* The first ''ShiningForce'' has an interesting bug in the first town where two guards who actively block your path can themselves be blocked by a fellow townsperson, letting you leave town earlier than intended, without the rest of your starting party.

* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}''. The cranky Old Man in Viridian City won't let you pass until [[MustHaveCaffeine his coffee takes away the grumpiness]]. (In the original he's just drunk and needs to wait until he's sober.)

* ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'' had Altair or Ezio lightly push [=NPCs=] from his path when walking through a crowd, or collide with them more forcefully if he was running.
** The former being less effective against the [[GoddamnBats beggar women and minstrels]], who actively try and block your path.
** Ezio can ''cause'' Drone Jams by throwing some money to the ground while fleeing. Any civilians in the vicinity will rush to pick them up, slowing down any enemies trying to catch him.
* Horribly obnoxious in ''TheForceUnleashed'' when Rancors can trap you in a corner if you aren't careful.

* ''VideoGame/PeasantsQuest'' has a guard blocking access to Trogdor's mountain for most of the game, until Rather Dashing can convince him that he's a pesant.
--> '''Guard''': "You're not ''dressed'' like a pesant, you don't ''stink'' like a pesant, and you most certainly are not ''on fire'' like a pesant!"

[[folder:Driving Games]]
* ''DestructionDerby 2'' has this (semi-)intentionally on the Chalk Canyon track, featuring a very narrow passage directly after the start. If you nudge an opponent in this section this usually causes them to get stuck and completely block the road, causing a pile-up involving every single opponent that follows. They will still be there when you complete your first lap, though of course now [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZ5WF5RAe2U you have to get past them]] in order to continue racing.
* Opponents in ''ForzaMotorsport 3'' tend to drive in tandem to block you from passing. On tight turns or narrow tracks, this can result in a pile-up involving you.

[[folder:Edutainment Games]]
* Happens a lot in VideoGame/SlimeForestAdventure. It got so bad the developer put in a "whistle" item that speeds up the movement of nearby {{NPC}}s for a few seconds, so they'll get out of your way faster.

[[folder:First-Person Shooters]]
* In ''VideoGame/{{Marathon}}'', your only hope was to shoot a nearby wall, which would "wake up" [=NPCs=] and hopefully cause them to get out of your way.
** Assuming you are nice. The game actually encourages you to grenade your own allies at one point - it was even a requirement for the "Vidmaster Challenge" to kill every friendly you came across.
*** There was now-well-known secret text hidden on a map with a lot of Bobs (human friendly [=NPCs=]) on it: "Bob Jam? Apply Grenades Liberally".
** More annoying in the levels where you have Pfhor as allies (the Pfhor being the normally-hostile aliens), as Pfhor Hunters are both larger than Bobs (and thus it's a lot easier for them to block doors and passageways) and a lot more dangerous if you tick them off (i.e. accidentally shoot one, which would quite reasonably cause it to become hostile to you). I've been killed trying to use the "shoot the wall and hope it moves" trick and accidentally shooting a Hunter, who then decided he'd mangle me.
* ''Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold'' for the PC. A bit of setup for the uninitiated: In this FPS, there's a group of [=NPCs=] called informants who work against Dr. Goldfire by giving you ammo packs, food tokens for the vending machines ([[HyperactiveMetabolism the better to heal bullet wounds with, my dear]]), and information. The trick is that they look exactly like the scientists who are ''loyal'' to Goldfire. Most of them move around, which isn't usually a problem. However, they do seem to have their own zones which they will not leave. One such zone boundary was a door at the far end of a one-person-wide hall with a one-way door at the ''other'' end. If the informant went in first, and you followed, the informant would be trapped between you, the invisible boundary, and the walls of the hall. The only way out of that one would be to shoot the informant, making him no longer an obstacle but depriving you of your floor bonus for leaving all the informants alive.
* ''HalfLife 2'', with the co-dependent rebels that squad up with you. You can tell them to go away, but they come back after a while to crowd around you again and obstruct your movement.
** Standing next to one and looking at them appears to be [[HeroicMime Gordon's way of saying "Move out of the way"]], as they'll back up and say "Sorry doc" when the player does this. But it doesn't work very well if two more are behind the first.
** The game also does this intentionally at various points to make you listen to certain dialog or prevent you from going OffTheRails. A single NPC can block most doors reliably.
** Happened once to this troper when he was playing Episode 2. You know that room where Alyx hacks that computer to disable the force field, but she has to stay there so she can't come with you? Well, I was at the box of grenades in that room, and she was blocking my exit from the little alcove with the ammo crate. She wouldn't respond to anything. I eventually had to load a previous save to finish.
* In the original ''Team Fortress'' and ''VideoGame/TeamFortressClassic'', griefers could block narrow doorways or passageways with their body, or knock people off small platforms with explosives. This was changed in ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'': now players on the same team pass through each other (but not through enemies) and are not budged by friendly fire. This has actually become a tactic for detecting spies, where players will try to run into people on their team, since they'll fail to go through a disguised spy.
* Quite surprisingly for a game build on a modern FPS engine, ''VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines'' has this problem. Some [=NPCs=] seem to be inside magical rectangles that block all movement through them. This leads to some situations where an NPC will be standing in a gate/passage with visibly enough room to move around or over them only for the player to walk into a solid, invisible barrier as they try to walk past.
** It's a problem in the Asp Hole especially.
* ''JudgeDredd'' for XBox has a variation on this problem. Several tasks require leading innocent people to safe zones. If you don't get them to follow -just- enough, they can stand just inches out of the zone and the next event is not triggered. By the way, some of the zones aren't as safe as they seem...
* ''VideoGame/{{Counter-Strike}}'' can cause player fueled versions of this. HilarityEnsues when a griefer [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqB1uoDTdKM enters a server]].
** For this reason ''Global Offensive'' makes players pass through each other in casual, but keeps the colliding in classic.
* In ''Left4Dead'', Survivors can pass through each other, as can player-controlled Infected. In the [[WordOfGod developer's commentary]], it's mentioned that this was done to prevent {{Griefer}}s from being able to push players off of roofs, killing them. Played straight between Survivors and Infected, however - during random zombie hordes, it's typically impossible for players to continue on ''at all'' until they've killed everything. The sequel is a bit better about this, with both adrenaline that prevents zombie attacks from slowing you down, and melee weapons that cut through them faster than even the auto-shotguns.
* The original ''RainbowSix'' often forced you to ''shoot your own team-mates'' when they refused to move out of the way. Particularly egregious since the point of the game was suffering as few casualties as possible.
** The same goes for ''GhostRecon'', your fellow teammates tend to block the door way you just entered, or stand on a narrow bridge your trying to pass, although you are free to switch to the other teammate if needed.
* In ''MedalOfHonor: Frontline'', two guys block your path upstairs at the Golden Lion pub, and you must tip the piano player to play a song to distract them.
* Rather annoyingly at the end of {{Bioshock}}, when you end up escorting a little sister, she can block your way quite effectively, even in the middle of a firefight.

[[folder:Hack and Slash]]
* In ''DiabloII'', the various undead minions summoned by Necromancers were decidedly solid. They were patched into being passable for the very reason this article exists.
** The Maggot Lair is among [[ThatOneLevel the most hated areas of the game]] because in multiplayer you get stuck behind your party members.
** Also seen in ''Diablo II'' the unpatched version: City gate. Sand leaper. Attacks disabled inside city limits. HilarityEnsues.

[[folder:MMORPGs]]
* This is one of the common complaints in NPC-heavy areas of the {{MMORPG}} ''CityOfHeroes'': not only are player characters unable to push [=NPCs=] out of the way, [=NPCs=] are perfectly capable of pushing player characters around. This is not as bad as it could be, since [=NPCs=] are generally constantly in motion. The henchman-centric Mastermind class compounds the problem, although they can command the henchmen to move out of the way using the "Go To" command.
** However, Controller/Dominator pets cannot be given commands at all and a trio of Fire Imps can still clog a narrow doorway. At least some pets like Singularity and Dark Servant are intangible, making this problem irrelevant as you can walk ''through'' them.
* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' was specifically made with no character collision to avert this. So instead of a few dozen players standing in front of a set of doors preventing others from entering or exiting, you get a few dozen players ''standing in the middle'' of an NPC others might want to click on/interact with. Yay.
** Nowadays, even ''World of Warcraft'' has [=NPCs=] with collision, though it's handled by building an invisible force field around them or placing them on a pillar. This was made because huge characters (Tauren!) on even huger mounts (Netherdrakes!) loved to sit down on highly frequented [=NPCs=]. In addition to rendering these [=NPCs=] very hard (if not impossible) to click on, players often intentionally flagged themselves for [=PvP=] combat, causing opposing faction players attempting to activate the NPC to attack the flagged player instead. This would then invoke the wrath of the guards, who proceeded to kill the "offending" player. Much nerd raging ensued.
** You can turn on NPC lifebars and click on that instead, but most people don't know that. It's still pretty annoying to do, but at least you can work around the problem instead of waiting for them to go away.
* There is an area in ''GuildWars'', near the broken wall, with a narrow path. You can't see to the end so if you like to explore (as I do), you will walk down it and your hirelings will follow behind..Not too bad since you can walk through hirelings, but I was a Ranger-type...And your pet is solid! I was trapped on a narrow ledge, no way back, and my pet would not move. I had to teleport back to town and it was a good distance away.

[[folder:Real-Time Strategy]]
* In general, this is a great tactic to use to protect your more fragile units: use larger, tougher units to block off enemies while your ranged units and {{SquishyWizard}}s go at it.
* Odd example: in Blizzard's RTS title ''StarCraft'', some units are known for bad pathing (stupid movement AI). Some genius decided to take advantage of this to intentionally jam up a ramp (or other small passage), thus pushing the opponent's units out of the way. You then go tell the workers to do something else, and rush up the ramp. The unit used? It's called a drone. The maneuver is called a dronedrill. It's now a fairly common tactic. To get to the point, when it fails (not uncommon), your worker drones just sit there getting butchered by enemy units while your fighting forces mill around behind the dronejam. Especially annoying since these aren't even [=NPCs=] - you technically are telling them where to go, which means you screwed up.
* ''VideoGame/SupremeCommander'' has some serious routefinding issues, among them workers who stand in the way of the unit they are assisting. It makes it look like the ACU plays soccer when [[strike:pushing]] kicking an Aeon tier 1 engineer out of the way, but slows things down a lot.
* In ''{{Sacrifice}}'' this becomes a real problem for larger armies, especially for melee-using flying units who need a lot of room to manoeuvre and do uninterrupted attack runs. Dragons, in particular, become almost useless in groups larger than two.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Roguelike]]
* In ''Videogame/DungeonsOfDredmor'', the Killer Vegan skill tree makes wild animals refuse to fight you. This is great for staying alive, since it means fewer enemies attacking you, but unfortunately the animals still wander around the dungeon, and they still block your movement. And you can't just kill them to get them out of the way, since targeting an animal with a melee attack as a vegan triggers a crippling "Fallen Vegan" debuff that blinds you and makes your stats plummet, so you've either got to suck it up and spend 200 turns with no stats, skip your turns until they move out of the way, or [[SplashDamageAbuse get creative]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Role-Playing Games]]
* All the ''FinalFantasy'' games prior to the move to 3-D. In most of them, unless the NPC is blocking an area you're not supposed to get to, pressing against them for a few seconds will make them hurry out of the way for you.
** Pretty much summed up in this [[http://move8bitch.ytmnd.com/ link]]
** Of note is ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'', in which you move through [=NPCs=] if you press up against them long enough. The same is done in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXI'', and you can also move through [=PCs=] like this as well, but the "pushing though" must be done for each character model you're trying to get though, which can cause a bit of a delay in a crowded area.
** At least one since the move to 3-D- in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' it's possible to get stuck in small shops behind fellow customers- they try to move out of your way, but there's not enough space.
** In the GBA remake of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyI'', one of the levels in one of the bonus dungeon involves [=NPCs=] basically trying their best to block you from moving around in narrow corridors, forcing you to either walk on "spiked tiles" where a random encounter is guaranteed, or just pulling your hair out trying to get that TINY opening to get past when there aren't even any spiked tiles to bypass them.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyMysticQuest'' got around this by letting you ''leap over them.''
* The ''SaGa'' games for the Game Boy (aka the ''FinalFantasy Legend'' series). Partially ameliorating the problem, a player can jump over an interposed NPC if there is a free space on the other side and the NPC is not an intentional obstacle.
* The ''VideoGame/GoldenSun'' games avert this. Your overworld character will actually stick out his hands and push {{NPC}}s aside in any direction you make him.
* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}''. As a bit of a compromise, pressing against an NPC will cause them to hustle out of the way. Usually.
** The notable exception being the cranky Old Man in Viridian City, who won't let you pass until [[MustHaveCaffeine his coffee takes away the grumpiness]]. (In the original he's just drunk and needs to wait until he's sober.)
** When Saffron City is under siege, several buildings are blocked by Team Rocket members standing in front of the door. Bizarrely, you can only get past one when he ''falls asleep'' and somehow moved one square to the right.
** In the fourth generation games, there's a man that blocks access to Sunyshore City because...there's a blackout. Exactly ''why'' that would make it dangerous to go to the city is a mystery.
** And then there's someone who escorts you to see Brock's Gym. Several times. As in, until you actually beat him, the bastard ''will not let you onto the next route''.
** Another particularly annoying one: in ''Platinum'' you're chasing a criminal who just SET OFF A BOMB. He leaves the vision of the player, but if you follow the path which you saw him leave from, you come to the entrance of a lakefront blocked by two generic men with cameras saying "we're filming the lake." Guess where the whole evil organization sets off another bomb...
*** However, it's implied in companion materials that the two are disguised members of Team Galactic.
** A very obnoxious one in Black and White involves a policeman standing at the entrance to a post-game route who refuses to let you past. His reason for not doing so? "There's something up ahead and you can't go through here." Nothing in the entire Pokemon canon hints as to what this mysterious "something" is.
** And in its sequel Black and White 2 is in what is perhaps the most blatant example ever, a group of guys are blocking off the northern path to Black City/White Forest claiming to be dancing for no reason and someday they will disapear for no reason.
* In ''VideoGame/TalesOfPhantasia'', there's a crab in the Alvanista port that is there specifically to block your access to a chest (at least in the PSX version). Talking to it cause Cless to lash out at it.
-->"What do you want from me, crab?!"
* In ''StarOceanTillTheEndOfTime'' there is a particular NPC in Airyglyph who just seemed to not get the point that you need to get through that door, dammit!
* A huge issue in ''VideoGame/MountAndBlade'', wherein the player can easily get stuck behind the lines of their own army, as there is no way to force the [=NPCs=] to move. It gets really ridiculous during castle sieges...What's this, you have an army of three hundred? Congratulations! You outnumber the enemy two to one! Have fun [[MookChivalry attacking the enemy four at a time]], because there's only one ladder!
** On narrow walls, there are times when the two armies are so tightly packed that soldiers in the middle of the group ''literally cannot move a step'', and are forced to watch the ensuing battle, unable to take part until every rank in front of them is cut down.
** Although this is very much TruthInTelevision, as the entire history of ancient and Medieval warfare can attest, so is not an issue but a feature. Except the part about only having ''one'' siege ladder or tower...
* ''LiveALive'' features a sort of puzzle in the Prehistoric Chapter. You come into a room with one caveman. You talk to the caveman, and another one shows up. Now both are running around frantically. Talk to one of them and a third one will run in. Keep this up and eventually the room will be overrun with cavemen running around, making it quite hard to navigate. This is not a large room, by the way. Finally, your goal is to talk to the twentieth cavemen (this despite the fact that all of them are identical). If you get it right, you'll get a reward and all but one of the cavemen will leave. Get it wrong and they'll just leave, making you start over. Try to leave the room in the middle and you'll find it all but impossible.
* ''KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' provides a way to deal with this: the player can take control of a party member and move them out of the way. But it's still annoying. In the sequel, party movement has been fixed so they automatically make way for the currently controlled character.
* ''JadeEmpire'' mostly fixes this problem for large crowds: Not only do the random extras move out of your way, you can also walk right through them if they don't move quickly enough.
* ''MegaManStarForce'' suffers this trope badly.
* Occasionally a serious problem in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout|1}}''. Avoided in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 2}}'' by a special "Talk to the hand"-looking button used to move friendly {{NPC}}s out of your way, even during combat. (When used on cattle, it causes them to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cow_tipping tip over,]] of course.)
** Most notoriously in the series, was the Gun Runner island in ''Fallout''. Their building was on a small island surrounded by toxic waste with a one tile wide plank for a bridge. If a companion followed you on to the bridge, you better hope you have an older save because there is literally no way to get out.
** In ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'', you get to hire several different companions based on Karma, Money etc; One such companion, Fawkes, who can be hired towards the end of the game, takes up almost an entire doorway in-game. If you're stuck in a tight space with Fawkes stuck in the doorway, he is practically unmovable, and although it is possible after several minutes of running into him to free your character, many people choose to re-load their save instead.
** Or you know tell him to go home and wait an hour.
** The Citadel is another likely place to get trapped -- Brotherhood scribes ''love'' to gather in hallways and bonk repeatedly into each other, [[ArtificialAtmosphericActions issuing a greeting with every collision.]]
** Pleasantly enough, the Companion Wheel in VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas brought back the Fallout 2 workaround.
* This was a big problem in some of the older BioWare games using the Infinity Engine, especially in closed spaces like narrow hallways and, of course, doors, which made it impossible to do anything constructive if a single character was getting overrun by a group of smaller enemies. ''BaldursGate II'' corrected this problem by allowing player characters to automatically "bump" [=NPCs=] and other party members to the side for a moment while they passed.
** ''NeverwinterNights'' and its sequel have this issue, made all the more annoying by the fact that the D&D rules explicitly state you can pass through ally-inhabited spaces. Possibly worse is the fact that, in the earlier ''Neverwinter,'' passing "friendly" [=NPCs=] can nudge you out of their way, possibly into a piece of level geometry. You don't know frustration until one of your own summoned animals shoves you through a pillar, trapping you forever.
* In ''VideoGame/NetHack''[='s=] Sokoban sublevel, you often end up with a non-hostile creature standing between you and the pit you need to fill. Unicorns are especially a pain, as no one can teleport in Sokoban, and this causes them to just stagger endlessly back and forth. However, since these aren't true [=NPCs=], there are ways to "deal" with them - damaging ray spells work well.
* A sidequest in ''LostOdyssey'' is almost entirely based on this. In the Kelolon worshiping sidequest, the only difficulty whatsoever is found in various [=NPCs=] that will randomly but deliberately block off paths for an arbitrary amount of time. They'll move eventually, but often not before you run out of time.
** The actual design flaw also shows up on occasion, including a particularly annoying case: after stealing the speedboat, you can get cornered on deck by one of your party members, forcing you to reset and steal the boat all over again.
* ''VideoGame/SwordOfVermilion'' actually [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] this. In one of the later towns, the tavern owner is serving free food to celebrate your arrival, causing his place to be overrun with many [=NPCs=]. If you do make it to the other end of the room, one NPC will tell you "This place is so crowded, you might have trouble getting out!". Indeed, you most likely will have.
* ''VideoGame/TaskMaker:'' Pushing against an NPC will cause your character to say "excuse me," and after enough tries, "get out of the way!" However, it won't necessarily get the NPC to move.
* AffectionateParody RPGMaker game ''JaysJourney'' has a guard that is rigged to only walk back and forth through a narrow corridor (which is a shortcut out of the area that was accessible earlier in the game). When Jay speaks to this guard, he tells the guard to move... but is only met with [[WelcomeToCorneria a single useless phrase over and over again]].
-->'''Guard:''' We're renovating the tower!
-->'''Jay:''' That's nice. Could you move? The shortcut's over there.
-->'''Guard:''' [[WelcomeToCorneria We're renovating the tower!]]
-->'''Jay:''' ...stupid NPC.
--> And later, if you decide to take the staircase at the other end of the shortcut up...
-->'''Guard:''' We're renovating the tower!
-->'''Jay:''' Are you STILL here?!
* Averted in ''MightAndMagic 6-8''. Friendly [=NPCs=] can block your way but there's a special command (Yell) that will make them move out of the way. This does create an interesting situation in the 7th game, when you get to the City in the Sky and have to shout "MOVE!" at angels...
* ''EarthBound'' has a maze made of [=NPCs=]. You have to shift them aside by talking to them.
* An NPC in ''TheElderScrollsIVOblivion'' will try unsuccessfully for a few minutes to nudge someone out of the way, then whip out their sword and callously murder the obstacle. "Radiant AI" apparently means "Don't fuck with me."
** In ''{{Morrowind}}'', if there was a drone jamming your doorway, you were out of luck. The community made a mod out of necessity that forces the pathfinding algorithm to roam.
*** There was a console command to fix this: just enter the command RA (Reset Actors) to put everyone back where they belong. You might need a hotkey macro assigned to that command.
** In ''{{Daggerfall}}'' you could walk through enemies if you weren't careful. If you were trying to drop down a hole and there was an enemy in the chamber below you that was aware of your presence, however, more than not it would stand right under where you would fall. And then you'd be stuck [[CraniumRide on top of it]] until you find the magic angle from which you could hit it.
** Similarly, ''VideoGame/DeusEx'''s [=NPCs=] will frustratedly pace back and forth against obstacles you've put in their path. If suitably barricaded so that they can't make progress, they'll eventually get fed up and smash through the obstruction---''without attacking''. They just nonchalantly stroll through as it explodes into fragments at the touch of their shins.
** The same happens in Gothic. But at least the [=NPCs=] warn each other or you to get out of the way before they start getting rough on you.
* ''{{Skyrim}}'', on the other hand, intentionally averted this - [=NPCs=] can still get in your way, but if you sprint into them, the NPC will stumble aside, allowing you to pass. This may elicit a "Hey, watch it!" or other such reaction line, but no other negative effects result.
* Happens in ''PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'': An irate Zess T. will block a door to the west side of Rogueport because you stepped on her contact lens. You can order a replacement lens ''immediately'' after the incident, but if you forget to, you won't be able to purchase one until chapter 3, leaving her blocking your way for some time.
* If you've played ''{{Persona 3}}'', you've probably gotten ambushed by Shadows at least once because you were running from it and ran smack into one of your party members. When not trying to flee, it's less of a problem because your party will run around you to get back behind you if you head their direction. It's also averted for NPC characters, as they all have fixed positions.
** This problem was fixed in ''{{Persona 4}}'', which has your party members stay so far behind you that they won't get in your way if you run towards them.
* The ''Anime/CodeGeass'' RPG for NintendoDS has a few instances of guards blocking item boxes (including the one containing the [[GameBreaker Guren Mk-II Kai parts]]). Talking to them goes into a [[CompellingVoice Geass]] sequence: ordering them to sleep or dance permanently blocks the item, while ordering them to commit suicide or go home clears the way.
* In ''VideoGame/FableII'' when you reach a certain level of celebrity annoyingly adoring townspeople will crowd around you and often get in the way.
** They'll sometimes follow you into buildings, crowding the exit and making it difficult or impossible to get out. At this point, your only options are to climb to the top floor and hope there's a window to jump out of, or to scare them away by unsheathing your weapon.
* ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' features a pretty literal example. Geno Dome, in the far future, contains a one-eyed guard bot that won't let you through to claim a key. There's no slipping past until you find a deactivated unit of the same model, give it a jump, and lead it back to short-circuit the guard and lock them both into a permanent staring contest. So, really, jamming the drone is the solution.
** Another example occurs early in the game right after Crono's jailbreak, when the guards chase the party into Guardia Forest and cut off the exit. What makes this example particularly {{Egregious}} is that you were flattening guards left and right not two minutes ago.
* ''Albert Odyssey: Legend of Eldean'' includes a dronejam of the game-resetting variety. When visiting dragon-man Gryzz's hometown, inspecting every possible item receptacle like [=RPG=]s have taught us to do can randomly lead to one of the [=NPCs=] blocking your only path out of a certain corner ''and getting stuck themselves''. Naturally, walking into [=NPCs=] in this game ''doesn't'' make them move. Fortunately, there's nothing in that corner to find, so you can avoid the bug without missing anything.
* ''{{Avernum}}'' still has the tile-based variant, as of ''Avernum 6'' released last year. There are few Dronejams by design, many more occur from NPC roaming.
* There is a particular X-rated freeware game where, at one point, the player can get trapped by a mouse.
* FinalFantasyAdventure averts this trope in that the player can kill [=NPCs=], providing a rather [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential vicious]] solution to the problem.
* A particularly funny example in the ''{{Medabots}}'' [=RPGs=] for the GBA. In the first town, there are four exits leading to other areas. Four [=NPCs=] will be standing in front of them for no apparent reason, going away as the plot progresses. One of them is actually justifiable, as the path is still under construction and it can be assumed the guy was hired to stay there. The others? "I heard Medaropolis has huge markets! I wish I could go shopping there someday!". One assumes that her rationale is that if she can't go, then ''no one else will, goddamnit!''
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Simulation Games]]
* ''AnimalCrossing'' allows you to push townsfolk around by walking or running into them--especially useful if they've randomly fallen asleep outside. However, they'll get mad at you if you shove them too much.
** The best part is in the Nintendo DS version of ''Animal Crossing: Wild World'', the "normal" personality will get upset and may even say a line about how you could have just asked them to move if you wanted them to move, making this something of a [=Lampshade=].
* In the game ''SimAnt'', often when trying to enter/exit an anthill, your travel click will instead be interpreted as "bug the hell out of the ant that was just clicked."
* Inverted in ''MagiciansQuestMysteriousTimes:'' While [=NPCs=] will usually move out of the way if you try to walk into them, if you stand in ''their'' way while ''they're'' walking, they'll get mad at you for blocking them.
* Most every critter in the tile-based ''VideoGame/DwarfFortress'' takes up one whole tile when they stand in it. However, any number of creatures can lie down in the same tile. To pass in narrow corridors, one dwarf/kitten/dragon/whatever lays down and lets the other crawl over it. Optimizing fortress layouts to avoid the resulting traffic jams caused by people having to lay down and stand up over and over again was at one point a fairly important part of fortress efficiency.
** Critters (and their remains) will also prevent doors from closing, resulting in [[strike: serious]] [[HilarityEnsues hilarious]] security breaches during sieges. One memorable incident from [[LetsPlay Boatmurdered]] involved a ''monarch butterfly'' jamming the gate during an elephant attack.
* ''VideoGame/TheSims'' had this problem when two or more Sims would attempt to leave through the same door, resulting in horribly annoying traffic jams. The problem was fixed in subsequent Sims games, and now the Sims can filter easily in and out of doors, even if there are multiple Sims using it at once.
* NPC freight ships are the bane of entrepreneur-type players in ''VideoGame/{{X}}3'', because they have an annoying tendency to clog up docking ports on player-owned stations (particularly ones that produce Inexplicably Popular Goods like computer parts). It's so annoying that somebody wrote a [[GameMod script]] to force them to undock.
* ''Almost'' averted in {{Spore}}. All [=NPCs=] can be easily pushed out of the way. . . with the exception of your crew-members in the Galactic Adventures expansion who never walk unless they're following you, which provides a bit of a DroneJam catch-22 if you find yourself wedged between a crew-member and a wall (or between two or more crew-members). They won't move unless you move, and you can't move unless they move. You can sometimes get out of this with a high enough jump ability, but quite often they end up blocking you from doing that as well.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Sports Games]]
* This can be a serious problem in Football videogames, if your running backs get stuck on your own players or your AI receivers run smack into the referee.
** Watch a 'Football Follies' video. This can be TruthInTelevision.
** In ''Mutant League Football'', if you run into the referee you're as likely to plow straight through him. LudicrousGibs ensue.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Stealth-Based Games]]
* In ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'' you can gently push [=NPCs=] out of your way. A controller button is dedicated to this exact purpose. (Of course the other way of getting through a crowd is running against it, in which case you will push [=NPCs=] violently to the side, but that will draw a lot more attention.)
** You can also tackle bystanders out of the way while running. Though it can be tricky to pull off successfully when you're bravely fleeing from a horde of city guards. Some bystanders can and will knock you on your ass.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* Used in-'verse in ''DungeonsAndDragons''. Living flesh blocks any [[PlaneScape ethereal]] travel. So, all the walls of high-security buildings either have gorgon blood mixed into the mortar or [[OrganicTechnology are sort of alive]] and thus impenetrable for self-styled ghosts, but what to do with its door? Simplest solution is a big sentry blocking the doorway.
** In the 4th Edition, shaman summons can drone jam. Worse, many cannot be targeted or hit with effects, and nothing but Dispel Magic will eliminate them. They can be more useful as blockers than for what you're really summoning them for.
* The Tabletopgame/YuGiOh card game has a card called [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/The_Dark_Door The Dark Door]], which prohibits your opponent from attacking with more than one monster per turn. Essentially, this forces their monsters to block ''each other''.
* Common in many older AvalonHill games, especially the tactical games such as ''PanzerLeader'' and ''PanzerBlitz'' where it was often a good strategy to use a weak unit, or even empty horse-drawn carts, to block entire columns of tanks on road in the woods.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}''. The presence of living creatures (including plants) can block travel by astral entities. Some companies use walls of ivy or even a soup of astrally active bacteria to block astral intrusion into their facilities.
* Turns up in most GamesWorkshop games as well- in general you can't come or pass within 1" of an enemy model without charging into close combat with it (or pass within 1" of a melee combat). ''{{Warhammer40k}}'' lets you move through infantry units on your own side (although understandably, you can't just run through vehicles), and jump infantry can jump over any enemy units, provided the end-point of their move is at least 1" from an enemy model, and the move is otherwise legal.
** ''WarhammerFantasy'' is a little more strict (you can't move through your own units either, but given that they're generally formed regiments, this is usually justified), although odd situations can come up in the cases of armies with skirmishing units (not ranked up in regiments, but spread out) and cavalry wanting to charge[[hottip:note: this lead to the Bretonnian army, in particular, getting a special rule that lets them charge heavy knightly cavalry units through their peasant skirmish line: "Make Way, Peasants!"]].
** Their licensed version of ''LordOfTheRings'' has the same limitations, although one in particular hits more often than in their original games- you can't fight through another model without a spear or pike, so choosing the order in which you charge your men into combat is particularly important, as poor judgement can result in Aragorn being unable to charge that troll because [[{{Mook}} Random Minas Tirith Warrior 1-3]] have already charged and block his path.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Third-Person Shooter]]
* The ''VideoGame/{{Crusader}}'' series of games sometimes gave you or the civilian in question bad timing; just as he entered a doorway, the civvie would raise his hands, surrender...and then refuse to move. Simple enough to remedy: kill the idiot who won't move out of the way of the big armored guy with a gun.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Turn-Based Strategy]]
* Dronejamming is a good tactic for this genre in general. Even if you can't stop an enemy unit completely, you can still force them to take a less direct route to get to your more vulnerable units. Whether they waste a turn or just go for a unit that can take a hit, it's a good thing you blocked the way.
** Even nastier if there's reaction fire or attack of opportunity, AI doesn't see "crushing anyone in the way" as a valid route ''and'' mission targets or [[IShallTauntYou taunting]] units has overriding priority. Attackers may run the gauntlet without retaliation while trying to get there via the only unblocked, but heavily guarded way.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}} 2'', this could get extremely annoying because this game had the concept of ''zone of control'', which made it impossible for all but a few special units to move adjacent to squares surrounding an enemy unit, meaning that a rival civ could jam large portions of land with cheap mooks controlling not just their own square but all squares surrounding them, and you cannot get past them without sparking a war or negotiating a right-of-passage agreement. Naturally, you cannot utilize this rule because it only applies to the player; computer-control civs can ignore zone-of-control all they want without consequence. Thankfully, zone-of-control was not a concept which remained in the series past this game.
* In the ''{{X-Com}}'' series, when fighting aliens in a Terror Zone (or later-game equivalents), NPC civilians would occasionally block a doorway or stairwell, preventing the passage of your soldiers. Fortunately, this being ''X-Com'', you have several options aside from just waiting for them to move. You can shoot them (and lose points), stun them (avoiding loss of points, AND ensuring that they won't get a FaceFullOfAlienWingWong and end up converted to Chyrssalids), Mind Control them out of the way (which turns them hilariously hostile towards you afterward), or [[BulletholeDoor shoot a hole in a nearby wall]] and walk around them. On upper floors, there's even the hilarious option of shooting the floor out from under them, causing them to fall down to the floor below.
* In a bit of a reversal, the drawbridge during a siege in ''HeroesOfMightAndMagic III'' would stay ''open'' one of your people is standing on one specific tile, and if they die there, their body will hold the gate wide open for your opponent!
** Gates in ''VideoGame/AgeOfEmpiresII'' were similar. At least you could lock them shut if you needed them to stay that way.
* The first ''ShiningForce'' has an interesting bug in the first town where two guards who actively block your path can themselves be blocked by a fellow townsperson, letting you leave town earlier than intended, without the rest of your starting party.
** The ''Franchise/ShiningSeries'' is covered with this trope blocking doors and leading the party down paths where events are taking place.
* ''JaggedAlliance 2'' had a command that let you swap tiles with adjacent [=NPCs=], specifically to avert this trope. Some exceptions do exist, as there are [=NPCs=] that will simply refuse to move if you try swapping tiles with them (which the game will kindly tell you).
* Actually a ''legitimate strategy'' in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics''. Less so in the sequels, though.
* In ''AdvanceWars'' this is how you guard your [[GlassCannon indirect units]].
* A huge problem in the ''CombatMission'' series, if you make the mistake that telling a large number of units to go in the same direction. Even if they start off in a well spaced and orderly line, they will inevitably dogpile around a choke point, and they will resort to taking ridiculously long routes around the blockage (instead of simply waiting a moment).
* ''AdvancedStrategicCommand'' allows units to bypass each other depending on circumstances, so no catching airplanes with tanks. But since an unit isn't allowed to ''stop'' on a hex with another unit even on a different height, it can be forced to either hold back or get too close. For example, a submarine with range 2 torpedo instead of striking with impunity as usual must pass under a hovercraft or a plane into the hex under reaction fire from range 1 depth charges of a cruiser. With a little forethought, layered reaction fire wipes out several attackers before they can shoot just because of unreachable units squatting on the optimal firing line.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Wide-Open Sandbox]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Prototype}}'' has an animation if you run into an NPC of [[HeroicSociopath Alex Mercer]] violently shoving them out of his way. [[VideogameCaringPotential He'll be more gentle if you have a side-menu open]]. [[VideogameCrueltyPotential Alternatively]], you can [[TankGoodness jack a tank]] or use the [[TheJuggernaut armour power]] and [[EvilLaugh watch the corpses fly]].
* Civilian ships the ''VideoGame/{{X}}-Universe'' games are infamous for hogging docking ports at player stations. They'll buzz around randomly in a sector for a while, then dock at the nearest station for about ten minutes - this includes your stations, when there is only one docking port left. They can prevent player ships from docking at the station temporarily, and the only way to stop this from happening (without mods or scripts) is to prevent ''any'' non-player ship from docking, which can limit your profit potential.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Games]]
* ''Habbo Hotel'' has suffered serious amounts of drone jam as a result of regular raids by hacktivist groups.
** [[MemeticMutation POOL'S CLOSED]]. DUE TO AIDS, [[RozenMaiden DESU DESU DESU DESU DESU]].
* This can happen in ''MitadakeHigh'', though with other players rather than [=NPCs=]. Luckily, since these are living players they'll generally walk around you, and if they go AFK you can just push them out of the way. It doesn't stop the occasional traffic jam as players swarm around to see something that's happened.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Non-Game Examples]]
* In one {{Dilbert}} strip, Dilbert has an unfortunate encounter with a pair of [[http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2001-09-30/ oblivious slow-walking women]].
* In the [[TheMetaverse virtual reality internet world]] of SnowCrash, Hiro has to enter an ultra-exclusive nightclub, where the entrance is so crowded by wannabes and hanger-ons that he couldn't have gotten anywhere close if it were real life. But since the software that runs the Metaverse has better things to do than map out millions of avatar collisions, he simply walks through the crowd like a ghost until he gets to the front.
* ''NerfNow'' [[http://www.nerfnow.com/comic/270 suggests]] AntiAir tactics, making fun of ''AdvanceWars''.
* This often happens to LetsPlay/{{Gronkh}}, and he usually snarkily comments it.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Real Life]]
* Ever try to walk down a narrow corridor, see someone coming in the other direction, and then end up getting into each other's way while trying to sidestep them?
* Or get stuck in a hallway behind a pair of people walking as slowly as they possibly can?
** Or, similarly, you're trying to pass through an aisle in a store, but can't.
* Rural neighborhoods are likely to have one single-lane driveway-like road leading to several houses. Whenever you're returning or leaving home in your car, watch for neighbors happening to do the opposite at the same time.
[[/folder]]

* The Tabletopgame/YuGiOh card game has a card called [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/The_Dark_Door The Dark Door]], which prohibits your opponent from attacking with more than one monster per turn. Essentially, this forces their monsters to {{Dronejam}} ''each other''.

* ''TaskMaker:'' Pushing against an NPC will cause your character to say "excuse me," and after enough tries, "get out of the way!" However, it won't necessarily get the NPC to move.

* ''PeasantsQuest'' has a guard blocking access to Trogdor's mountain for most of the game, until Rather Dashing can convince him that he's a pesant.

* ''PesantsQuest'' has a guard blocking access to Trogdor's mountain for most of the game, until Rather Dashing can convince him that he's a pesant.

An {{NPC}} that prevents the PlayerCharacter from passing through a certain door or passage, [[BrokenBridge effectively blocking it off]]. This means that the player will have to accomplish some task before they can go through. The question of why the protagonist [[GameplayAndStorySegregation can't simply force the NPC to move]] is rarely brought up.

* ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'' had Altair or Ezio lightly push NPC's from his path when walking through a crowd, or collide with them more forcefully if he was running.

* ''{{Skyrim}}'', on the other hand, intentionally averted this - NPCs can still get in your way, but if you sprint into them, the NPC will stumble aside, allowing you to pass. This may elicit a "Hey, watch it!" or other such reaction line, but no other negative effects result.

->''"BOB-jam? Apply grenades liberally!"''
-->--'''Bungie''', ''VideoGame/{{Marathon}}''.