History Main / RuleofFun

** One of the most dramatically complex wargames ever is [[http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/4815 The Campaign for North Africa]]. The map is 10 feet long. The game is supposed to take 1,200 hours with 10 players. Most of the time playing the game is spent doing paperwork about food, fuel, uniforms, ammo, water, truck convoys, prisoners of war (you gotta feed them!), and so on. The game rules specify that Italian forces use more water than the other nationalities because [[UnfortunateImplications they eat a lot of pasta]]. The water for the Brits evaporates faster than the normal rule at the beginning of the game because of the design of the cans they used. Yes, you're supposed to track all of this. '''By hand'''.

* The primary reason the most common dice roll in DungeonsAndDragons is an attack, rather than "DC 17 Profession (farmer) check."

* The goal in overhauling the rules for the 4th edition of ''DungeonsAndDragons'' was to strip out the tedious elements and focus on the fun simplifying character builds and fight mechanic while retaining options and even expanding tactical opportunities. The debate comes from stripping out mechanics that supported non combat/adventure situations and limiting certain character build decisions. Roleplayers argue that this either removes support for anything aside from combat or frees them from the constraints of things like mechanics based parley.

* An actual rule of ''TabletopGame/{{Paranoia}}'', mixed with the RuleOfFunny. (A lot of the time, the dice are really just suggestions).

->''"While it might be 'realistic' for a nearly dead character to limp, move slowly, and have generally less effective moves, [[UnstableEquilibrium it's not fun]]."''

-> '''''Cranky Kong:''' "We apes have no need for the laws of physics!"''

* WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic: Pinkie Pie. Almost everything she does is motivated by a desire to make her friends smile. When she isn't amusing her friends, [[ItAmusedMe she's amusing herself]].[[note]]Sometimes, as in [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS4E14FilliVanilli "Filli Vanilli"]], amusing herself has unfortunate consequences.[[/note]]

* ''VideoGame/NoMansSky'': Why does it only take a few seconds to a few minutes to transition between atmosphere and interplanetary space, why are planets grouped so closely together, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and why on]] ''[[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking earth]]'' [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking do starships larger than yours all look like giant]] ''[[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking bricks?!]]'' Because it's ''fun'', dang it! The developers even went as far as to deliberately {{Invoke|dTrope}} the trope, putting it and the RuleOfCool above scientific accuracy.

* The WWF/WWE Smackdown series was built on this trope, after years of wrestling games requiring combos for the simplest of moves and offering little backstage areas or customisation. However, from the first Smackdown Vs Raw game onwards, the decision was made to make the games more realistic by doing such things as light wrestlers not being able to pick up certain heavy ones, and limb damage, and removing many of the weapons and backstage areas. Later games even removed the ability to have males and females in the same match. Whilst the game presentation was well received, these changes were not well received amongst fans, but the company continued to implement them anyway.

* ApocoalpyticLogistics: Sure it is probably unrealistic that the survivors AfterTheEnd can consistently get hold of effective weapons and what not after modern infrastructure is no more, but isn't it badass to see your favorite characters duke it out with some abandoned tanks, and manage to find just enough fuel for them too?

* NotTheIntendedUse

* The ''VisualNovel/AceAttorney'' series is based off a [[TheThemeParkVersion complete bastardization]] of any fair and just legal system, wherein a single line of false testimony from a barely credible witness can completely screw your client, but that's okay -- more fun that way! ''OBJECTION!''
** It is confusing for anyone in America to imagine a juryless court system in which the burden of evidence is on the defense, but in Japan, the Justice system [[RealityIsUnrealistic was actually a lot like that until recently]]. That's right, the off-color justice system in the ''Ace Attorney'' series is actually [[https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Ace_Attorney#Court_system Social Commentary]].

** A few things to keep in mind with the whole sense of scale thing. First of all, you have to remember the point of view you have in the game; right behind your spaceship, whereas even coming up to dock with the planet the view never shifts to within its atmosphere. For a simpler explanation look here; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25N-4zrk390. Secondly, even if the planets are still fairly small compared to say Jupiter or Saturn, there's nothing wrong with that. Most of the planets seem to be uni-ecological which would in fact make more sense on a smaller planet than a larger one. Finally, if the designers had sized up the planets they would also have had to increase the distance between them to keep the whole thing proportional, it already takes ages to get from one place to another in that game without the possibility of having to circumnavigate a gas giant half way through a journey.

Tropes that exist partially or totally due to the RuleOfFun:

* ''BlastCorps''. A damaged nuclear missile needs to take the most direct route to a safe demolitions site, but there are a bunch of cities blocking its path, so the player needs to destroy them all. Why do you get to choose which order to play the cities in? Why do you get a medal for destroying all the other buildings that weren't in the way? Why can't you fly the impervious mecha all over the place instead of having to use what amounts to a big pick-up truck for half the levels? And why can you spend all the time you feel like fiddling around with bonus levels, when the missile is always a few seconds away from crashing whenever you enter a mission critical city? And why isn't there anyone else to help you? Who cares, It's fun!

* The ''KatamariDamacy'' series: [[BellisariosMaxim it's best not to think too hard about that premise, really]], just roll the ball already.

* The ''TombRaider'' series has a handful of inaccuracies and "how the hell can that happen!?" moments, but the games are just so much fun that you tend to not care. Gorillas within some ruins in Greece? Sure, why not? Blasting a T-Rex in Peru with dual pistols? It's cool! Infiltrating a military research base in the United States to obtain the MacGuffin? Go nuts! Fighting a punk teenager in an underground skating arena filled with lava pits as he rides a skateboard and shoots you with uzis? Hell yes. The developers pretty much admit most of the stuff they did seem quite ridiculous now when they think about it, but it's so much fun to engage the events that you don't care how out of place they may look.

* This very wiki. Why do we have stuff like SugarWiki, DarthWiki, {{Trope-tan}}, the TropePantheons, or MadeOfWin? Why are our articles so casually-written in comparison to ThatOtherWiki? Hell, why dedicate an entire site to tropes some people don't even notice in the first place? Because it's '''''fun''''', dammit!

* The ''PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'' series is based off a [[TheThemeParkVersion complete bastardization]] of any fair and just legal system, wherein a single line of false testimony from a barely credible witness can completely screw your client, but that's okay -- more fun that way! ''OBJECTION!''
** It is confusing for anyone in America to imagine a juryless court system in which the burden of evidence is on the defense, but in Japan, the Justice system [[RealityIsUnrealistic was actually a lot like that until recently]]. That's right, the off-color justice system in the ''PhoenixWright'' series is actually [[https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Ace_Attorney#Court_system Social Commentary]].

** Two small but significant examples: The Demoman is a heavy drinker and The Spy is frequently seen smoking cigarettes (it's almost part of his trademark), yet both are perfectly medically sound to be fighting a war and never collapse on the battlefield from ailments brought on by years of their bad habits. What kind of fun would that be?

* FakeSkill

** The ''Donkey Kong'' series is by far the most "realistic" one of all the Mario-verse game series, though, at least as far as ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry'' is concerned. The settings are very naturalistic and the baddies look like your [[ReptilesAreAbhorrent average fantasy / sci-fi evil reptilian race]], even if the series as a whole does angle toward the cartoony side of things, especially in DKC3. The [=DKC=] games were made by Rareware under a license by Nintendo; however, Miyamoto had [[http://wii.ign.com/articles/110/1100039p1.html much influence]] on the series' design.

** Because [[spoiler:The previous incarnations were defeated by the trascendent one in his fortress, who took the memories to prevent you to regain your mortality.]] In gameplay there is one place where dying means game over, because dying there will cost you your memories.