History Main / Wallbonking

In most media, it's a {{Comedy Trope|s}} where the affliction's caused by the character is being incompetent, misled, etc. and steered into a dead end. And staying in that dead end. Alternately, it may be an overdramatic gesture to bonk one's head against a wall as if punishing oneself for one's mistakes or perceived idiocy; that one can be TruthInTelevision[[note]] but you local skull doctor says you shouldn't put too much strength into it. It hurts. And it scrapes the wallpaper.[[/note]].

* The [=NPCs=] in ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'', of the "sliding until a path is found" variety.

* The monsters in id Software's ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' series routinely take the shortest path toward the SpaceMarine, even when walls and obstacles impede them. Savvy players can exploit this mechanic by leading a mob of monsters into a cul de sac, then moving toward the access point; the monsters will usually emerge in ones and twos rather than all at once.

* ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'': Bot pathfinding is still a work in progress, and sometimes they can be seen stuck running endlessly against walls; this was especially obvious in Payload maps, since the way most of them are set up it made the RED-aligned bots think that the quickest way to get on the battlefield was through the back wall of RED spawn, and the Medieval map also features RED bots crowding around walls due to a window of RED's starting fort being inaccurately marked as a possible exit.
** Sniper bots exhibit a slight variation where, instead of constantly running into a wall, they spend ages zoomed in staring at a wall, even at point blank range, due to their AI prioritizing aiming rather than movement.

** The series is infamous for its ArtificialStupidity, CPU!Officers (both generic and playable) and {{Mook}}s had always had trouble on ''not'' running into walls to go from point A to point B. They also do things like constantly "change their mind" on whether they should do something or not, like if you swim to the middle of a lake, officers who are supposed to follow you are divided on whether they should swim towards you or "follow you to where you are going" on land, meaning they repeatedly "test the waters" until you actually move back on dry land elsewhere where they will finally follow you. The officers can be so stupid at times they delay important {{Scripted Event}}s by insisting on jumping on a fence with an InvisibleWall instead of going around it. Here's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTVxIumLTNc that and a couple more in Dynasty Warriors 8]] (Player!Officers getting stuck on objects and obstacles, the mentioned jumping glitch, stupid horse, etc.).

** There's also the lack of collision detection for walls and gates in general, which you can exploit in ''VideoGame/DynastyWarriors 6'' at "The Battle of He Fei Castle", Where there's this gate which you have to open which has a ConveyorBeltODoom that pushes people to a moat below it, where you can use your [[SuperSpeed True Speed]] character's infinite dash attack to wail at the gate without worry of falling until it breaks.

** The same thing happens in the ''Franchise/{{Persona}}'' games.

* Standard trick in ''Videogame/GrandTheftAuto'' when you have to protect a character from becoming target practice for the enemy. Carry him elsewhere where he can safely wallbonk when you gun down the enemies on your own - his firepower on your side wouldn't have made a difference anyway.

* In an episode of ''[[WebVideos/ItSeemsMarisaHasBecomeATaser It Seems Marisa has become a TASer]]'', Marisa ends up stuck endlessly walking against a wall because she was attempting to console verify her run but it desynced (i.e. the timing of the button presses doesn't match up with the timing of the actual console).

* Similarly, automatic vacuum cleaners (usually not made by Roomba themselves, as their pathfinding is fairly robust, but the lower-priced competitors leave much to be desired) can get trapped if trying to navigate a chair whose legs leave a gap just barely big enough for the vacuum cleaner to pass through, as it can get stuck between the "hit an obstacle" and "navigate a chair leg" algorithms.

* Similarly, automatic vacuum cleaners (usually not made by Roomba themselves, as their pathfinding is fairly robust, but the lower-priced competitors leave much to be desired) can get stuck if trying to navigate a chair whose legs leave a gap just barely big enough for the vacuum cleaner to pass through, as it can get stuck between the "hit an obstacle" and "navigate a chair leg" algorithms.

* In an episode of ''WebVideos/ItSeemsMarisaHasBecomeaTASer'', Marisa ends up stuck endlessly walking against a wall because she was attempting to console verify her run but it desynced (i.e. the timing of the button presses doesn't match up with the timing of the actual console).

* In an episode of ''WebVideos/ItSeemsMarisaHasBecomeATASer'', Marisa ends up stuck endlessly walking against a wall because she was attempting to console verify her run but it desynced (i.e. the timing of the button presses doesn't match up with the timing of the actual console).

* In an episode of ''WebVideos/ItSeemsMarisaHasBecomeATaser'', Marisa ends up stuck endlessly walking against a wall because she was attempting to console verify her run but it desynced (i.e. the timing of the button presses doesn't match up with the timing of the actual console).

* In ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreed'', some characters appear to become... [[SomethingElseAlsoRises a little]] [[CargoShip more than obsessed]] with walls out of nowhere, due to the "pushing" animation appearing on loop. Read about it in Website/{{Cracked}} [[http://www.cracked.com/blog/the-5-most-hilarious-abuses-video-game-glitches/ here]].

* in the Core era ''VideoGame/TombRaider'', collision detection works fine on walls for Lara, but enemies still run when in contact to one. Doors are right out though, as Lara will run/walk in front of them until she slides to the wall beside the door. It's even worse in ''[[VideoGame/TombRaiderTheLastRevelation The Last Revelation]]'' (and by extension, levels made with the LevelEditor, which run on the ''TLR'' engine), where only the level geometry causes Lara to stop - she will run in front of urns, sarcophagi, statues, and other non-geometry 3D objects.

* This is a common occurrence in ''LetsPlay/TwitchPlaysPokemon'', due to the frequent inability of the viewers to cooperate with each other.

In video games, however, when it's simply the game designers not bothering with a "unit has detected a wall and is stopping shot" animation, it most often shows up as a common [[ErrorIndex glitch]]. Collision data is complicated -- No matter how smart the AI is, there's bound to be some problems where they forget the location of a wall or a building and just try to run through it, sometimes for hours if the player doesn't intervene somehow. Another, more common variation is that they strangely slide sideways while running until they find a path that they ''can'' run through. This is often caused by TheAllSeeingAI when the player's location is always detected, but in exchange for everything else. As minor instances are pretty common, generally only examples that either affect gameplay or are [[GoodBadBugs interesting to look at]] should be added for this type. If a player's avatar in an online game winds up doing this, lag is usually the culprit. Other times, however, certain types of gamers such as {{Speedrun}}ners can invoke this as sometimes it can, when done [[GoodBadBugs "correctly", allow them to clip through games' boundaries]] so that they may finish them faster or [[SequenceBreaking outright skip huge portions of them]].

* in the Core era ''Videogame/TombRaider'', collision detection works fine on walls for Lara, but enemies still run when in contact to one. Doors are right out though, as Lara will run/walk in front of them until she slides to the wall beside the door. It's even worse in ''[[VideoGame/TombRaiderTheLastRevelation The Last Revelation]]'' (and by extension, levels made with the LevelEditor, which run on the ''TLR'' engine), where only the level geometry causes Lara to stop - she will run in front of urns, sarcophagi, statues, and other non-geometry 3D objects.

** Because of the way [[LevelEditor custom stages]] are handled in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros Super Smash Bros. Brawl'', the AI would occasionally get confused and do this, but more commonly and more infamously, if a stage had a spike hazard, the computer opponents seemed to do absolutely everything that they could to stay above them and keep getting hit, racking up hundreds of damage to the point where even a weak attack would cause CriticalExistenceFailure.
** A similar problem occurs in ''Super Smash Bros. for Wii U'', where, depending on how a stage is put together, an Amiibo, which attempts to be like a human opponent, may be repeatedly stuck in lava, like in Brawl, or if there's a miniscule gap between two stage pieces, [[GameBreakingBug which is not up to you]], the Amiibo will attempt to continually charge through it as if they thought they could fit.

* This is one of the many {{Video Game}} [[{{Cliche}} Cliché Moments]] you can collect in ''VideoGame/TheSimpsonsGame'', uncovered when you find [[TheDitz Ralph Wiggum]] running in a corner like this.

* VideoGame/TeamFortress2: Bot pathfinding is still a work in progress, and sometimes they can be seen stuck running endlessly against walls; this was especially obvious in Payload maps, since the way most of them are set up it made the RED-aligned bots think that the quickest way to get on the battlefield was through the back wall of RED spawn, and the Medieval map also features RED bots crowding around walls due to a window of RED's starting fort being inaccurately marked as a possible exit.

* ''Videogame/DynastyWarriors''
** The series is infamous for its ArtificialStupidity, CPU!Officers(both generic and playable) and {{Mook}}s had always had trouble on ''not'' running into walls to go from point A to point B. They also do things like constantly "change their mind" on whether they should do something or not, like if you swim to the middle of a lake, officers who are supposed to follow you are divided on whether they should swim towards you or "follow you to where you are going" on land, meaning they repeatedly "test the waters" until you actually move back on dry land elsewhere where they will finally follow you. The officers can be so stupid at times they delay important {{Scripted Event}}s by insisting on jumping on a fence with an InvisibleWall instead of going around it. here's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTVxIumLTNc that and a couple more in Dynasty Warriors 8]] (Player!Officers getting stuck on objects and obstacles, the mentioned jumping glitch, stupid horse, etc.).
** summoned horses[[note]]i.e. the horse you chose before the battle which you can call to your side if you leave them "parked" far from you[[/note]] who "autopilot" towards you by teleporting nearby and running to you are also pretty stupid, often getting stuck running through obstacles by going straight towards them as if they can't see.
** There's also the lack of collision detection for walls and gates in general, which you can exploit in ''Videogame/DynastyWarriors 6'' at "The Battle of He Fei Castle", Where there's this gate which you have to open which has a ConveyorBeltODoom that pushes people to a moat below it, where you can use your [[SuperSpeed True Speed]] character's infinite dash attack to wail at the gate without worry of falling until it breaks.

* In ''Videogame/BattleZone1998'''s original release, [[WorkerUnit Scavengers]] were particularly infamous for plowing over anything in their path (or attempting to), be it [[CarFu squishy little you]] or an immovable BaseOnWheels. The 2013 update rectifies this behavior, though it can result in dogpiles of units that are incapable of moving because it would result in them smashing into each other or buildings. The bug returns with a vengeance in the sequel, where units will often get stuck in the far more densely built bases, and can result in oddities like building-sized Assault Tanks somehow wedging themselves through a 6 foot tall doorway and subsequently getting stuck inside a room that the tank physically cannot fit in.
* In ''Videogame/{{Warframe}}'', [[EscortMission Rescue missions]] usually have the rescue target get stuck on a railing. Luckily, they will teleport if they fall too far behind. The dog-like Kubrow companions with almost inevitably get stuck under a staircase if a room has a staircase. Kubrows and melee enemies are also prone to falling into the BottomlessPits found in Spy datavaults, where they will be teleported back to safety only to run right back into the pit.

* In ''Videogame/EliteDangerous'', [=NPCs=] and the docking computer are ''usually'' good with docking at space stations, but it's not uncommon to things to go wrong. The Beluga Liner starship is infamous for getting stuck in the 'mailslot' airlock because of its ginormous tailfuns, whereupon the station will blast it to pieces because [[FelonyMisdemeanor loitering is a crime punishable by death]]. If too many ships attempt to enter or leave the mailslot at once, they'll start grinding against each other, bouncing back and forth until the station murders them all.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* One of the symptoms of the "[[FanNickname auto-pillock]]" in the ''[[VideoGame/{{X}} X-Universe]]'' series is that ships have trouble maneuvering around large objects. They fly straight towards their destination, detect something in their path, turn and fly away from it for a bit, turn back towards their destination, and repeat until they either get around it or crash into something. This is (sort of) fixed in ''VideoGame/XRebirth'' with a rewritten pathfinding algorithm, though it's not uncommon to find a SpaceFighter wedged between some storage tanks on a space station, bouncing back and forth endlessly, though collision damage is far less deadly than it was in previous games.

* ''Webcomic/BrawlInTheFamily'' made [[http://brawlinthefamily.keenspot.com/comic/505-comicreviewpikmin3/ a comic review]] for ''VideoGame/{{Pikmin}} 3'', illustrating that some Pikmin tend to get stuck because of this trope, and gives it a 9/10 rating [[BrickJoke because the 10th Pikmin was still behind that wall]].

* Early on in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashFlash2'''s development, the [[Manga/{{Naruto}} Hidden Leaf Village]] stage was impossible to play a solo match on, as the wall of the building on the right proved to be stupidly irresistable. The computer players would do nothing but keep trying to run into it, even under vicious attack by the player.

** The series is infamous for its ArtificialStupidity, CPU!Officers(both generic and playable) and {{Mook}}s had always had trouble on ''not'' running into walls to go from point A to point B. They also do things like constantly "change their mind" on whether they should do something or not, like if you swim to the middle of a lake, officers who are supposed to follow you are divided on whether they should swim towards you or "follow you to where you are going" on land, meaning they repeatedly "test the waters" until you actually move back on dry land elsewhere where they will finally follow you. The officers can be so stupid at times they delay important {{Scripted Event}}s by insisting on jumping on a fence with an InvisibleWall instead of going around it. here's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTVxIumLTNc that and a couple more in Dynasty Warriors 8]] (Player!Officers getting stuck on objects and obstacles, the mentioned jumping glitch, stupid horse, etc).

* Most of the main games in the ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' series have grid-based movement,so you will end up being very good friends with the walls,especially if you're running. ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiStrangeJourney'' even gives you achievements for this, with some snarky side text to boot.

* ''Webcomic/BrawlInTheFamily'' made [[http://brawlinthefamily.keenspot.com/comic/505-comicreviewpikmin3/ a comic review]] for ''VideoGame/{{Pikmin}} 3'', illustrating that some pikmin tend to get stuck because of this trope, and gives it a 9/10 rating [[BrickJoke because the 10th pikmin was still behind that wall]].

* Pebbles in ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'' frequently crawls into a wall like an errant roomba, only to have her doting mother pick her up and preposition her heading into a different direction.

* In a more sinister example, cats and dogs occasionally display similar behaviour, where they'll stand/sit with their faces pressed against a wall. It can be a sign of damage to the nervous system or some other severe illness, so if you see your pet doing this, get them to a vet ASAP.

* A possible bug in almost any VideoGame/LegoAdaptationGame is for characters you're not controlling at the time to constantly run into a wall or other obstacle. Sometimes it's because they can't follow the active character, other times it seems to be for no reason at all.

* In an episode of ''WebVideos/ItSeemsMarisaHasBecomeATASer'', Marisa ends up stuck endlessly walking against a wall because she was attempting to console verify her run but it desynced (i.e. the timing of the button presses doesn't match up with the timing of the actual console).

In video games, however, it most often shows up as a common [[ErrorIndex glitch]]. Collision data is complicated -- No matter how smart the AI is, there's bound to be some problems where they forget the location of a wall or a building and just try to run through it, sometimes for hours if the player doesn't intervene somehow. Another, more common variation is that they strangely slide sideways while running until they find a path that they ''can'' run through. This is often caused by TheAllSeeingAI when the player's location is always detected, but in exchange for everything else. As minor instances are pretty common, generally only examples that either affect gameplay or are [[GoodBadBugs interesting to look at]] should be added for this type. If a player's avatar in an online game winds up doing this, lag is usually the culprit. Other times, however, certain types of gamers such as {{Speedrun}}ners can invoke this as sometimes it can, when done [[GoodBadBugs "correctly", allow them to clip through games' boundaries]] so that they may finish them faster or [[SequenceBreaking outright skip huge portions of them]].

* VideoGame/TeamFortress2: Bot pathfinding is still a work in progress, and sometimes they can be seen stuck running endlessly against walls.

-->"Ran into walls 255 times! Fear not: the demonica's superior build quality won't get so much as a scratch. The most advanced materials were used to create it, and can take any punishment. ...Even so, 255 times is a bit much. calm down spaz."
** The same thing happens in ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTenseiPersona''.

* ''Disney/WreckItRalph'' calls out to the Video Game form when Markowski, the [[ShellShockedVeteran Shell-Shocked]] SpaceMarine Ralph meets at [[LocalHangout Tapper's]], gets a case of the "sliding until a path is found" variant, muttering a SurvivalMantra until Ralph interrupts him.

* In the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novel ''Discworld/{{Mort}}'', the hapless Mortimer of the title becomes apprentice to Death. An attribute of Death is that he can walk through walls as if they were not there. In theory, any authorized subordinate, carrying out the Duty on behalf of the anthropomorphic personification of Death, should inherit this ability. But it's all a bit hit-and-miss for Mort, who sometimes attempts to walk through walls only to be brought back to Disc with a dull thump and a few bruises...
** In ''Discworld/GoingPostal'' Mr. Tiddles, an extremely old cat, is so set in his ways that if one of the chairs in the Post Office ''isn't'' moved as he comes in, he'll stand there bonking his head against it.