* ''KingOfFighters'' pretty much epitomizes this, with an incredibly byzantine storyline centered around the tournament that most players neither know nor care about, as long as they get to beat the crap out of people.
* ''MortalKombat'' has a convoluted and (probably deliberately) ludicrous {{backstory}} incorporating numerous gods, planar beings, rivaling clans of robot ninjas, etc. Most of the players probably don't realize which characters are the good guys, not least because [[FaceHeelRevolvingDoor many of them swap allegiances constantly.]]
** The beat-'em-up SpinOff ''VideoGame/MortalKombatShaolinMonks'' gets this reaction from the fanbase of ''Mortal Kombat'' anyway. The gameplay is solid, but the story is filled with continuity errors, characters getting killed off for no reason other than getting in the protagonists' way, and [[OutOfCharacterMoment out of character moments]]. Kung Lao gets hit with this the hardest, as the game is basically one long OutOfCharacterMoment for him.

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* ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters'' pretty much epitomizes this, with an incredibly byzantine storyline centered around the tournament that most players neither know nor care about, as long as they get to beat the crap out of people.
* ''Franchise/MortalKombat'' has a convoluted and (probably deliberately) ludicrous {{backstory}} incorporating numerous gods, planar beings, rivaling clans of robot ninjas, etc. Most of the players probably don't realize which characters are the good guys, not least because [[FaceHeelRevolvingDoor many of them swap allegiances constantly.]]
** The beat-'em-up SpinOff ''[[VideoGame/MortalKombatShaolinMonks Shaolin Monks]]'' gets this reaction from the fanbase of ''Mortal Kombat'' anyway. The gameplay is solid, but the story is filled with continuity errors, characters getting killed off for no reason other than getting in the protagonists' way, and [[OutOfCharacterMoment out of character moments]]. Kung Lao gets hit with this the hardest, as the game is basically one long OutOfCharacterMoment for him.

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* In ''StreetFighter'' all characters do have their motivations, but most of them are pretty simple. "This evil dude, Bison, killed your friend/father/classmate/whatever, and you want revenge". Until ''Street Fighter Alpha 3'', which has the most complex story in the series... and still no one seems to care about it.
* ''SoulCalibur'' (and its prequel ''Soul Edge/Blade'') gets confusing, with the title weapons changing hands a few times; Soul Calibur changes hands once, while Soul Edge changes hands twice. And then a single character splits into two, which is utterly confusing unless you read the story. And all the non-canon endings in story mode don't help much. It also doesn't help that there are CanonForeigner characters, such as [[StarWars Yoda, Darth Vader, and Galen Marek]] in ''IV''.
** When the story was being paid attention to, it was a good story... until ''Soul Calibur V'', where there is a short 20 episode story mode (with less fights than chapters), and half the cast only appears briefly, or worse, not at all. Sadly a result of time constraints, as WordOfGod claims the planned story mode was five times the size.
* Notably ''averted'' in ''VideoGame/GuiltyGear''; despite being a competitive fighter, Guilty Gear's quirky characters, bizarre plot, and odd aesthetic have all served to endear it to fans.
** Its SpiritualSuccessor ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'' obviously follows the suit. Even the Story Mode feels like a VisualNovel game with fighting matches in between.
* The problem started when it became standard practice for [[CuttingOffTheBranches one character's ending per game to be]] "{{canon}}". That means that all but two or three characters' stories are ''completely irrelevant''. It's tough to care about Julia Chang's environmental crusades or E.Honda's attempts to popularize sumo when there's zippo chance of seeing any resolution. The best way to make players care is to present each character's story as a ''part'' of the big picture, something ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'' has done (and ''Mortal Kombat'', too, though not as successfully).

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* In ''Franchise/StreetFighter'' all characters do have their motivations, but most of them are pretty simple. "This evil dude, Bison, killed your friend/father/classmate/whatever, and you want revenge." Until ''VideoGame/StreetFighterAlpha 3'', which has the most complex story in the series... and still no one seems to care about it.
* ''[[VideoGame/SoulSeries Soulcalibur]]'' (and its prequel ''Soul Edge/Blade'') gets confusing, with the title weapons changing hands a few times; Soul Calibur changes hands once, while Soul Edge changes hands twice. And then a single character splits into two, which is utterly confusing unless you read the story. And all the non-canon endings in story mode don't help much. It also doesn't help that there are CanonForeigner characters, such as [[Franchise/StarWars Yoda, Darth Vader, and Galen Marek]] in ''IV''.
** When the story was being paid attention to, it was a good story... until ''Soulcalibur V'', where there is a short 20 episode story mode (with less fights than chapters), and half the cast only appears briefly, or worse, not at all. Sadly a result of time constraints, as WordOfGod claims the planned story mode was five times the size.
* Notably ''averted'' in ''VideoGame/GuiltyGear''; despite being a competitive fighter, ''Guilty Gear''[='s=] quirky characters, bizarre plot, and odd aesthetic have all served to endear it to fans.
** Its SpiritualSuccessor ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'' obviously follows the suit. Even the Story Mode feels like a VisualNovel game with fighting matches in-between.
* The problem started when it became standard practice for [[CuttingOffTheBranches one character's ending per game to be]] "{{canon}}." That means that all but two or three characters' stories are ''completely irrelevant''. It's tough to care about Julia Chang's environmental crusades or E. Honda's attempts to popularize sumo when there's zippo chance of seeing any resolution. The best way to make players care is to present each character's story as a ''part'' of the big picture, something ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'' has done (and ''Mortal Kombat'', too, though not as successfully).

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* ''ModernWarfare'': The storyline and political messages in the game are fairly interesting and make a pretty good plot; too bad most people jump straight to the multiplayer, or play the single-player with the mind set of "shoot whoever shoots back, pick up/bomb the objective, etc."
** Singleplayer does make some efforts to make the storyline interesting. You have bouts of ControllableHelplessness where some major plotline event happens and you die. In the first game, [[spoiler:it serves to cement your hate against Ultranationalists using nukes, and in the second, against the general who burns you alive.]] Sadly after the three spinoff games for the ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'' series, it killed of some plot-based characters so frequently in each game, that some fans say that [[{{Narm}} the drama just fell flat]].
* ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' started with a briefly sketched ExcusePlot to explain why the red and blue teams were fighting each other, but with each update and expansion it built up a generation-spanning tale of family feuds, [[AppliedPhlebotinum incredible mineral]], {{mad science}}, corporate malfeasance and gravel. {{Valve}} say that it's developed the most in-depth plot of any of their franchises, though it's told through [[AllThereInTheManual supplemental materials]] such as [[ExpandedUniverse comics on their website]] and has little impact on gameplay.

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* ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare'': The storyline and political messages in the game are fairly interesting and make a pretty good plot; too bad most people jump straight to the multiplayer, or play the single-player with the mindset of "shoot whoever shoots back, pick up/bomb the objective, etc."
** Single player does make some efforts to make the storyline interesting. You have bouts of ControllableHelplessness where some major plotline event happens and you die. In the first game, [[spoiler:it serves to cement your hate against Ultranationalists using nukes, and in the second, against the general who burns you alive.]] Sadly after the three spin-off games for the ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'' series, it killed of some plot-based characters so frequently in each game, that some fans say that [[{{Narm}} the drama just fell flat]].
* ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' started with a briefly sketched ExcusePlot to explain why the red and blue teams were fighting each other, but with each update and expansion it built up a generation-spanning tale of family feuds, [[AppliedPhlebotinum incredible mineral]], {{mad scien|tist}}ce, corporate malfeasance and gravel. Creator/{{Valve|Software}} say that it's developed the most in-depth plot of any of their franchises, though it's told through [[AllThereInTheManual supplemental materials]] such as [[ExpandedUniverse comics on their website]] and has little impact on gameplay.

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* Every MMORPG with a team mechanic falls prey to this. "Hey guys, wait up, I want to read the history of Doomy [=McEvilton=] and why he wants the MacGuffin of Glory to...ah nuts to this, where's my XP?"
** ''GuildWars'' also has this happen. Most people who engage in the PvP aspect of the game probably have never seen any of the cutscenes in the game. On the plus side, though, it's possible to play through the story campaign yourself, where you don't have a message saying 7/8 members of the group want to skip the scene and getting yelled at by everyone else for making them sit through it. (Often justified with runners, who've probably seen the cutscene [[MemeticMutation over nine thousand]] times and don't wanna hear it ''again''.)
** The same thing can happen in ''VideoGame/TheLordOfTheRingsOnline''. Some group quests vital to the main storyline requires you to talk to {{NPC}}s to get the quest going, but the first one who gets there can activate the NPC without the rest of the group getting a chance to read whatever plot information that NPC were willing to share. One example is in Moria, where the players are heading into a dungeon to find a powerful axe, and ends up fighting the Watcher in the Water. If one person gets there before the rest and activates the Watcher, it's not impossible that players don't realize they just saved a NPC who was taken by the Watcher and presumed dead earlier in the storyline, until they actually talk to him again. Lately the game has been steering away from this, making most of the main storyline solo-playable so that people can enjoy the story in their own pace.

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* Every MMORPG with a team mechanic falls prey to this. "Hey guys, wait up, I want to read the history of Doomy [=McEvilton=] and why he wants the MacGuffin of Glory to... ah nuts to this, where's my XP?"
** ''VideoGame/GuildWars'' also has this happen. Most people who engage in the [[PlayerVersusPlayer PvP]] aspect of the game probably have never seen any of the cutscenes in the game. On the plus side, though, it's possible to play through the story campaign yourself, where you don't have a message saying 7/8 members of the group want to skip the scene and getting yelled at by everyone else for making them sit through it. (Often justified with runners, who've probably seen the cutscene [[MemeticMutation over nine thousand]] times and don't wanna hear it ''again''.)
** The same thing can happen in ''VideoGame/TheLordOfTheRingsOnline''. Some group quests vital to the main storyline requires you to talk to [[NonPlayerCharacter NPCs]] to get the quest going, but the first one who gets there can activate the NPC without the rest of the group getting a chance to read whatever plot information that NPC were willing to share. One example is in Moria, where the players are heading into a dungeon to find a powerful axe, and ends up fighting the Watcher in the Water. If one person gets there before the rest and activates the Watcher, it's not impossible that players don't realize they just saved a NPC who was taken by the Watcher and presumed dead earlier in the storyline, until they actually talk to him again. Lately the game has been steering away from this, making most of the main storyline solo-playable so that people can enjoy the story in their own pace.

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* ''MapleStory'' has a story long and detailed enough to invoke ArchivePanic, but almost ''all'' of the players who can actually do the quests to find out the storyline are a ton of {{Munchkin}}s. The game's {{backstory}} is so easily ignored that there are some players who ''don't even know it exists.''
* ''[[AirRivals Ace Online]]'' has a relatively long and interesting plot spanning all three episodes, from the colonists starting Bygeniou City (BCU) in Episode One, to the machinations of the Shrines and Phillons and the defection of Arlington City (ANI) in Episode Two (which introduced the Nation Wars mechanic), to the new frontiers and the breaking of an uneasy truce between ANI and BCU in Episode Three. Most players just pick a nation with their friends and go warring/mobhunting, ignoring walls and walls of political cloak-and-dagger text in the mission briefings.
* ''EveOnline'' has an incredibly detailed gameworld with four factions who each have their own unique history and the constant political squabbles between them. The website is regularly updated with short stories which further flesh out the game world. All this background detail has little to no impact on the actual game, and roleplayers are few and far between. For a long time there has been only one roleplayer faction holding any 0.0 space and that was due to a "gentlemen's agreement" amongst {{PVP}}-oriented factions that they be left alone. A change to game mechanics made them too inviting a target and this tacit understanding subsequently collapsed.
* {{Bioware}} did their best to avert with with ''StarWars'' MMORPG ''TheOldRepublic''. With a huge amount of story in place and nearly every line fully voiced, they want people to care about the story of the game. When in a party with other players, every player gets their chance to shine and direct the conversation.
** Quite a few players believe that this effort has bitten them in the behind as the team has had a hard time getting new parts of the story out in time to please hard-core content burners while still keeping it at a (arguably) high enough standard to remain part of ''StarWars'' {{canon}}...because surprise, surprise, the hardcore players ignore ''everything'', breeze right through it and then [[UnpleasableFanbase bitch that there's no content]].

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* ''VideoGame/MapleStory'' has a story long and detailed enough to invoke ArchivePanic, but almost ''all'' of the players who can actually do the quests to find out the storyline are a ton of {{Munchkin}}s. The game's {{backstory}} is so easily ignored that there are some players who ''don't even know it exists.''
* ''VideoGame/AceOnline'' has a relatively long and interesting plot spanning all three episodes, from the colonists starting Bygeniou City (BCU) in Episode One, to the machinations of the Shrines and Phillons and the defection of Arlington City (ANI) in Episode Two (which introduced the Nation Wars mechanic), to the new frontiers and the breaking of an uneasy truce between ANI and BCU in Episode Three. Most players just pick a nation with their friends and go warring/mobhunting, ignoring walls and walls of political cloak-and-dagger text in the mission briefings.
* ''VideoGame/EVEOnline'' has an incredibly detailed gameworld with four factions who each have their own unique history and the constant political squabbles between them. The website is regularly updated with short stories which further flesh out the game world. All this background detail has little to no impact on the actual game, and roleplayers are few and far between. For a long time there has been only one roleplayer faction holding any 0.0 space and that was due to a "gentlemen's agreement" amongst [=PvP=]-oriented factions that they be left alone. A change to game mechanics made them too inviting a target and this tacit understanding subsequently collapsed.
* Creator/{{BioWare}} did their best to avert with with ''Franchise/StarWars'' MMORPG ''[[VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic The Old Republic]]''. With a huge amount of story in place and nearly every line fully voiced, they want people to care about the story of the game. When in a party with other players, every player gets their chance to shine and direct the conversation.
** Quite a few players believe that this effort has bitten them in the behind as the team has had a hard time getting new parts of the story out in time to please hard-core content burners while still keeping it at a (arguably) high enough standard to remain part of ''Star Wars'' {{canon}}... because surprise, surprise, the hardcore players ignore ''everything'', breeze right through it and then [[UnpleasableFanbase bitch that there's no content]].

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[[folder: Platform Game ]]
* Any ''SonicTheHedgehog'' game that attempts to have a story more complex than "Sonic fights Eggman" is immediately met with scorn by pretty much any professional reviewer and [[BrokenBase many fans as well.]]
** Taken to a head with ''ShadowTheHedgehog''. That game gives the hero at least five different [[OriginStory origin stories]] and reasons for existing. The only thing fans remember? [[{{Narm}} "FIND THE COMPUTER ROOM!" "Where's that DAMN fourth Chaos Emerald!?"]]
* The ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' platform games typically eschew elaborate plots to avoid this trope. ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'', however, contains a relatively detailed backstory for Rosalina and the Comet Observatory, and only because the production team snuck it in when series creator Creator/ShigeruMiyamoto wasn't looking. Even though the backstory was brief and fairly easy to skip (it can only be found in a completely optional room in the HubLevel), some fans didn't like this direction, and neither did Miyamoto, so ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy2'' reverted back to the plot-free gameplay of the series.
* The first Spyro The Dragon game has a fairly simple plot of 'rescue all the dragons and fight Gnasty Gnorc'. The second and third games introduce LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters who Spyro interacts with, making the plot very convoluted.

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[[folder:Platform Game]]
* Any ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' game that attempts to have a story more complex than "Sonic fights Eggman" is immediately met with scorn by pretty much any professional reviewer and [[BrokenBase many fans as well.]]
** Taken to a head with ''VideoGame/ShadowTheHedgehog''. That game gives the hero at least five different [[OriginStory origin stories]] and reasons for existing. The only thing fans remember? [[{{Narm}} "FIND THE COMPUTER ROOM!" "Where's that DAMN fourth Chaos Emerald!?"]]
* The ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros.'' platform games typically eschew elaborate plots to avoid this trope. ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'', however, contains a relatively detailed backstory for Rosalina and the Comet Observatory, and only because the production team snuck it in when series creator Creator/ShigeruMiyamoto wasn't looking. Even though the backstory was brief and fairly easy to skip (it can only be found in a completely optional room in the HubLevel), some fans didn't like this direction, and neither did Miyamoto, so ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy2'' reverted back to the plot-free gameplay of the series.
* The first ''Franchise/SpyroTheDragon'' game has a fairly simple plot of "rescue all the dragons and fight Gnasty Gnorc." The second and third games introduce LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters who Spyro interacts with, making the plot very convoluted.

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[[folder: Third Person Shooter ]]
* ''DirgeOfCerberus'' is filled with {{cutscene}}s, but being a Action Game, they only break down the flow. This becomes even worse later in the game as the cutscenes are even longer and filled with {{Deus Ex Machina}}s.
* Surprisingly averted most of the time in the original ''OperationFlashpoint'' series, especially its expansion pack ''Resistance''. Though the game would at first seem as a no-thrills no-nonsense military sim, the story and characters are compelling on their own and heavily intertwined with what's generally going on, which lends the whole affair a very personal and immersive feel about ''being a soldier'', instead of "playing as a soldier who just shoots everything that remotely moves". Note that the main plot of ''Cold War Crisis'' is about the eruption of a short war between two small garrisons of NATO and Warsaw pact soldiers stationed in a {{Ruritania}} nobody cares about... which could get out of hand and lead to WorldWarThree and TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt if the player didn't work to stop it. The aforementioned ''Resistance'' expansion makes you really feel like the leader of a band of freedom fighters and makes no qualms about how under-equipped and vulnerable you are compared to the enemy. There's also a SadisticChoice you have to go through in one of the first missions. Simply put, you can't escape the game's overarching story even if you go frag-hunting on an enemy patrol. The ''[[SpiritualSuccessor ARMA]]'' series, while not having such a thrilling background to the overall story, still maintains a similarly in-depth-personal-and-asskicking-at-the-same-time narrative structure.

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[[folder:Third Person Shooter]]
* ''VideoGame/DirgeOfCerberus'' is filled with {{cutscene}}s, but being a Action Game, they only break down the flow. This becomes even worse later in the game as the cutscenes are even longer and filled with {{Deus Ex Machina}}s.
* Surprisingly averted most of the time in the original ''VideoGame/OperationFlashpoint'' series, especially its expansion pack ''Resistance''. Though the game would at first seem as a no-thrills no-nonsense military sim, the story and characters are compelling on their own and heavily intertwined with what's generally going on, which lends the whole affair a very personal and immersive feel about ''being a soldier'', instead of "playing as a soldier who just shoots everything that remotely moves." Note that the main plot of ''Cold War Crisis'' is about the eruption of a short war between two small garrisons of NATO and Warsaw pact soldiers stationed in a {{Ruritania}} nobody cares about... which could get out of hand and lead to WorldWarThree and TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt if the player didn't work to stop it. The aforementioned ''Resistance'' expansion makes you really feel like the leader of a band of freedom fighters and makes no qualms about how under-equipped and vulnerable you are compared to the enemy. There's also a SadisticChoice you have to go through in one of the first missions. Simply put, you can't escape the game's overarching story even if you go frag-hunting on an enemy patrol. The ''[[SpiritualSuccessor ARMA]]'' series, while not having such a thrilling background to the overall story, still maintains a similarly in-depth-personal-and-asskicking-at-the-same-time narrative structure.

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3rd May '13 7:52:30 AM ironballs16

Send ironballs16 a PM notification explaining the badness of natter: natter-fy

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3rd May '13 7:50:56 AM ironballs16

Send ironballs16 a PM notification explaining the badness of natter: natter-fy

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17th Apr '13 5:41:49 AM BigKlingy