History Main / ThrivingGhostTown

** Played straight, however, in that while city sizes are at least above the threshold of sustainability (unlike most games), they're still ridiculously small for the cities in question, to provide better game balance and the possibility of a player actually upgrading a city within a reasonable amount of time. This is most notable in ''Rome'', where the practical upper limit on population is ~36000; whereas in RealLife one of Rome's many advantages was its effectively infinite manpower compared to its rivals (the city itself having a population in the ''millions''. In the ''ancient world''.).

* VideoGame/Borderlands2:

* The town of Fyrestone in Borderlands is described as having two dozen residents, despite having only one human inhabitant you actually see or hear. Midway through the game the NPC moves to another town, leaving the town seemingly abandoned.

* ''{{VideoGame/Xenogears}}'' handled this in an interesting way. While the trope is played straight with small towns like Lahan and Dazil, larger cities, like Nisan and the capitals of Aveh and Kislev, have their own overworld-style maps, indicating that the cities are realistically-sized, but only certain sections have anything of interest to the party.

** Some cities in 20th century U.S. were incorporated on the strength of a handful of people, who literally represented all or most of the residents at the time (yes, as few as a dozen people in a single nursing home). (Cities of Irwindale and Industry in California, for example.) They were often designed as tax havens for the local businesses who did not feel like paying extra taxes to the city governments.

** The population of Manhattan was much smaller around 1900 than it is today. In addition to the suburban flight, the very expensive real estate prices in heart of today's New York City has also contributed to this.

** The population of Manhattan was much smaller around 1900 than it is today. In addition to the urban flight, the very expensive real estate prices in heart of today's New York City has contributed to this.

** ''VideoGame/ZeldaIITheAdventureOfLink'' tries to avert this by depicting towns with houses that serve no plot or game purpose and where {{Non Player Character}}s are constantly walking past you and off screen. Of course, there are still a small number of character models and most of the extra {{Non Player Character}}s just [[WelcomeToCorneria repeat the same generic dialogue]].

* ''Franchise/MassEffect'' averts this. For the most part, you're only visiting small colonies and outposts. The Citadel and Omega Station have lots of NPCs wandering around, and the areas you can access aren't the residential zones, either.
* While most ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' games play this straight ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'' averts it. The main city is big, with lots of people milling about. It displays why this trope can be a [[TropesAreNotBad good thing]], though, as if you want to TalkToEveryone, you need to use your minimap to find NPCs you can actually talk to.

* A typical village generated in a ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'' world generally consists of a few buildings and a dozen [=NPCs=]. Not that this stops players from expanding them, or building their own.

* ''VideoGame/Xenogears'' handled this in an interesting way. While the trope is played straight with small towns like Lahan and Dazil, larger cities, like Nisan and the capitals of Aveh and Kislev, have their own overworld-style maps, indicating that the cities are realistically-sized, but only certain sections have anything of interest to the party.

* Unusual for a real time strategy game, ''VideoGame/StarWarsEmpireAtWar'' features small to sizable civilian populations and are interactive in that they'll either side with you and be controllable by the player, or side with the enemy, depending on that planet's pre-determined allegiance. Not only that but, when used in a large enough group, ''they were actually pretty powerful units'' (capable of taking down enemy walkers and tanks even!) and if nothing else they were strong enough to make for very useful distractions or at minimum scouts (they respawn).

[[folder:{{MMORPG}}]]
* ''WorldOfWarcraft'' cleverly plays with this trope. Towns are nearly always too small, but cities have plenty of buildings. It's just that the developers didn't model the insides of a great many of those buildings and locked the doors shut. This has the added bonus of creating walls where the players aren't supposed to go, ''and'' giving Blizzard a place to add buildings--Stormwind's Auction House, or the barber shops, for example, were originally just those empty shell-buildings.

* ''GuildWars'' Zig-zags this. A couple places that are implied to be capitals or important towns actually look really ''really'' small. (Lion's Arch in particular) However, many of them have backgrounds that the player can't really access. ''Factions'' is probably the biggest aversion ever - Kaineng City takes up ''half the continent''. While the Kurzick locations play this straight, it's actually a little more justified with the Luxon areas (Luxons are a bit more nomadic.)
** ''GuildWars2'' averts this, there are hundreds of [=NPC=]s just wandering the city streets that serve no purpose other than ambience, making it feel like it's truly alive. Notably, as well as those who just pass by to add to the atmosphere the cities have many named [=NPC=]s with no relevance to the player's quest who have their own individual designs and topics to discuss- their current crush, their missing brother etc. and you can overhear conversations between [=NPC=]s who have clear cut personalities.

* Most of the ''PhantasyStar'' [=MMORPGs=] (namely ''PhantasyStarOnline'', ''PhantasyStarUniverse'', and ''PhantasyStarOnline2'' play with the trope through the design of populated areas. While the accessible areas of a city, space station, or colony ship--and the number of [=NPC=]s to interact with--are comparable to that of a ThrivingGhostTown played straight, the skyline and other background scenery afforded clearly shows that players only have access to part of a much larger place. Special mention goes to Pioneer 2 in ''PSO'', Clyez City and Holtes City in ''PSU'', where airborne traffic regularly flies by overhead or in the distance.
** ''PhantasyStarUniverse'' averts the GatelessGhetto with metrorail stations in a number of the visitable cities, even though players can only use them to get to areas of interest. ''PSU'' also attempted to give the impression of many more people walking through the accessible (and background) areas of visitable cities with generic [=NPC=]s wandering aimlessly. However, they were transparent, tinted a random color, and would disappear when approached.

* Unusual for a real time strategy game, ''StarWars: Empire at War'' features small to sizable civilian populations and are interactive in that they'll either side with you and be controllable by the player, or side with the enemy, depending on that planet's pre-determined allegiance. Not only that but, when used in a large enough group, ''they were actually pretty powerful units'' (capable of taking down enemy walkers and tanks even!) and if nothing else they were strong enough to make for very useful distractions or at minimum scouts (they respawn).
** Likewise, in ''[[CommandAndConquer Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2]]'', large cities usually had a (sparse) civilian population spread throughout the city, which for the most part the player couldn't interact with beyond using them as target practice. In multiplayer, Soviets could mind control them Yuri, and wrap them in explosives with Ivan---this even worked on cattle. The expansion pack ''Yuri's Revenge'' expanded the set of mind control units and provided a "grinder" building you could feed them to for resources. Soylent Tank is people.
* ''UniverseAtWar'' has a strange example. Most of the maps are fought in urban areas, but there are no civilians on the field. If you start to collect resources (buildings and stuff), people will start to run out. So they hide in houses, makes sense, but for some strange reason around 10-15 people live in one suburb house.
* TotalWar plays this straight and averts it in some installments. During siege battles, there are no civilians to be seen, even in massive cities like Rome or London. It is later [[AvertedTrope averted]] when Rome allowed the player to view cities in the battle map. They were filled with thousands of peasants milling around.

* Several of the later ''{{Ultima}}'' games, ''UltimaVII'' in particular, had towns larger than the norm, where every NPC had a home they returned to at night. Still, even the capital city of Britain has a population of fifty or so. ''The entire game'' clocks in at slightly over 100.

* In ''KingdomHearts'', Traverse Town and Twilight Town (both [[FirstTown First Towns]]) had large numbers of random citizens irrelevant to the story; the other cities, however, are populated almost entirely by Disney licensed characters. But then again, the other cities are essentially [[DungeonTown town-shaped dungeons]].

* ''EarthBound'' has quite large towns (though some buildings have no door), ''except'' for the "largest" one, Fourside, which appeared quite small compared to what it's supposed to be. It can be assumed that [[GatelessGhetto only the south corner]] of the town is visible, however.
* While ''BaldursGate'' definitely has less citizens than you'd expect, there are still a lot of people hanging around, a lot of houses are inhabited, and there are always a lot of people at the local pub.

* Odd use: ''NeverwinterNights2'' gives the titular city only a few guards and peasants but has an NPC count accurate to the official count of the city; they [[MoreCriminalsThanTargets all seem to be guards or thiefs that get slaughted en masse by the PC]]! Discounting the poor encounter design, this is played straight.

* ''JaysJourney'' mostly has houses with locked doors, but the only actual house (as opposed to shop) in one town belongs to the MsFanservice playable character... the UnfortunateImplications of which are ''not'' [[LampshadeHanging left unremarked.]]

* VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}} justifies this in that all of the towns you find are, in fact, ghost towns. They're just abandoned ruins of old decaying buildings that a handful of people manage to scrape by in. Usually only being about one or two houses, as with only a few limited guards and resources, there can only be so many capable of living in the area.

* While most FinalFantasy games play this straight ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'' averts it. The main city is big, with lots of people milling about. It displays why this trope can be a [[TropesAreNotBad good thing]], though, as if you want to TalkToEveryone, you need to use your minimap to find NPCs you can actually talk to.

[[folder: SimulationGames]]
* ''TrafficGiant'' gives you cities with many buildings and thousands of inhabitants, and individually keeps track of each one.
* Most of the games in both the ''HarvestMoon'' and SpinOff ''RuneFactory'' series tend to have the player settle into one of these. ''Island of Happiness'' and ''RuneFactory3'' are major exceptions: [=IoH=] has multiple {{NPC}}s move to the island and [=RF3=] has [=NPC=]s moving in and out of Sharance Village all the time; visiting, shopping or just travelling through.
* It almost goes without saying that ''DwarfFortress'' averts this one pretty thoroughly.

[[folder: Art]]

[[folder: Web Comics ]]
* [[{{Deconstruction}} Deconstructed]] in ''Webcomic/{{Erfworld}}''. All non plot important buildings in the city are completely empty, and seemingly serve merely to “be the city”; though they get occupied and used based on what they resemble. For example the slaughterhouse somehow feeds the troops through its mere existence, as there are no workers, and no slaughtering going on. Of course, the world they're in is based on TurnBasedStrategy tropes, where abstractions of this sort are commonplace.

* ''Quest for Glory'' is predominantly an aversion of the Trope: although the first installment plays it straight, the 2nd, 3rd & 5th games are all bustling metropolises full of townsfolk passing through that have no bearing on your story (and don't speak your language). The 4th game subverts it, as Mordavia is NOT thriving in the least: its isolation & danger have rendered its town stagnant with its population DyingLikeAnimals.

** Continued in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'' with Skyloft. Despite being the sole town in the game and the only remnant of Hylian civilization, it has fewer than three dozen residents and half as many buildings all together. And even without performing any sidequests, the player will meet nearly every single character during the course of the game.

** ''VideoGame/ZeldaIITheAdventureOfLink'' arguably tries to avert this by depicting towns with houses that serve no plot or game purpose and where {{Non Player Character}}s are constantly walking past you and off screen. Of course, there are still a small number of character models and most of the extra {{Non Player Character}}s just [[WelcomeToCorneria repeat the same generic dialogue]].

* ''VideoGame/MassEffect'' averts this. For the most part, you're only visiting small colonies and outposts. The Citadel and Omega Station have lots of NPCs wandering around, and the areas you can access aren't the residential zones, either.

* Though most of the ''VideoGame/QuestForGlory'' games are victims of this trope, the second game manages to avoid it by constantly having townspeople stream in and out of the plazas. You can't talk to them, however; you don't speak their language.
** ''Quest for Glory'' is predominantly an aversion of the Trope: although the first installment plays it straight, the 2nd, 3rd & 5th games are all bustling metropolises full of townsfolk passing through that have no bearing on your story. The 4th game subverts it, as Mordavia is NOT thriving in the least: its isolation & danger have rendered its town stagnant with its population DyingLikeAnimals.

* VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}} justifies this in that all of the towns you find are, in fact, ghost towns. They're just abandoned ruins of old decaying buildings that a handful of people manage to scrape by in. Usually only being about one or two houses, as with only a few limited guards and resources, there can only be so many capable of living in the area.
** VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas has Goodsprings, a very literal version of this trope, being an actual ex-ghost town in real life.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Terraria}}'', a world can have a maximum of ten friendly {{NPC}}s (eleven during the Christmas season). Although Terraria requires each of these [=NPC=]s to have a home to live in (and thus would constitute a small Thriving Ghost Town if a player built an actual ''house'' for each NPC), a "home" can be as simple as a room in a much larger structure, so it's more commonplace for players to construct a base or fortress instead of a town.

Related to SpaceCompression. See GhostTown for towns that are actually abandoned.

* ''ComicBook/SunnyvilleStories'': Noticeable when Rusty and Sam are shown walking around town. Buildings, houses, and shops can be seen in the backgrounds, but few townspeople are actually shown on the streets too.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Terraria}}'', a world can have a maximum of ten friendly [=NPCs=] (eleven during the Christmas season). Although Terraria requires each of these [=NPCs=] to have a home to live in (and thus would constitute a small Thriving Ghost Town if a player built an actual ''house'' for each NPC), a "home" can be as simple as a room in a much larger structure, so it's more commonplace for players to construct a base or fortress instead of a town.

** ''GuildWars2'' averts this, there are hundreds of [=NPCs=] just wandering the city streets that serve no purpose other than ambience, making it feel like it's truly alive. Notably, as well as those who just pass by to add to the atmosphere the cities have many named NPCs with no relevance to the player's quest who have their own individual designs and topics to discuss- their current crush, their missing brother etc. and you can overhear conversations between NPCs who have clear cut personalities.

* Most of the ''PhantasyStar'' [=MMORPGs=] (namely ''PhantasyStarOnline'', ''PhantasyStarUniverse'', and ''PhantasyStarOnline2'' play with the trope through the design of populated areas. While the accessible areas of a city, space station, or colony ship--and the number of [=NPCs=] to interact with--are comparable to that of a ThrivingGhostTown played straight, the skyline and other background scenery afforded clearly shows that players only have access to part of a much larger place. Special mention goes to Pioneer 2 in ''PSO'', Clyez City and Holtes City in ''PSU'', where airborne traffic regularly flies by overhead or in the distance.
** ''PhantasyStarUniverse'' averts the GatelessGhetto with metrorail stations in a number of the visitable cities, even though players can only use them to get to areas of interest. ''PSU'' also attempted to give the impression of many more people walking through the accessible (and background) areas of visitable cities with generic [=NPCs=] wandering aimlessly. However, they were transparent, tinted a random color, and would disappear when approached.

** In Twilight Town, this makes sense, since [[spoiler:they're replicas of the people in the real Twilight Town; when the simulation is interrupted, the literal [=NPCs=] disappear.]]

* ''VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines'' is rather obvious about this. True, there are substantial numbers of buildings in all the main hubs (a large proportion of which can be entered) and numerous [=NPCs=] walking around, but the game is still asking you to believe that Santa Monica consists of three streets.

* Most of the Tales series tends to play it straight, but VideoGame/TalesOfXillia averts it for the most part. Every individual area of a town or city usually has as many as a couple dozen or so [[NonPlayerCharacter NPCs]] milling around that the player is unable to interact with, in addition to the 5 or 6 that they are able to. Most of the cities in the game large enough to have a massive population go with the "lots of buildings in the distance that the player can't reach" model as well. Still, the marketplaces and such of cities tend to have much less people around than you'd expect.

* Most of the games in both the ''HarvestMoon'' and SpinOff ''RuneFactory'' series tend to have the player settle into one of these. ''Island of Happiness'' and ''RuneFactory3'' are major exceptions: [=IoH=] has multiple {{NPC}}s move to the island and [=RF3=] has [=NPCs=] moving in and out of Sharance Village all the time; visiting, shopping or just travelling through.