History RealityIsUnrealistic / VideoGames

* ''VideoGame/{{Bully}}'' actually ''does'' have some events like what goes on in the game happen in real life. But don't worry, in RealLife, if ''half'' of the stuff that goes on in Bullworth happened in a single year, it'd get closed down by the end... probably before.

* In ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' series, there is serious debate regarding to the [[LizardFolk Argonians]] being depicted as plantigrade (walking with the foot flat against the ground) or depicted as digitgrade (walking on the toes with the heel raised). Many fan complaints revolve around their plantigrade depictions as being "unrealistic". That said, true realism also depends on what type of reptile Argonians are actually based on. Squamatas (which include lizards) and testudines (turtles, tortoises) have plantigrade feet, but most archosaur reptiles (dinosaurs, crocodilians, birds) have digitigrade feet. According to some interpretations of the series' lore, the Argonians originally were just lizards raised to sapience and humanoid forms by the Hist, [[TimeAbyss ancient]] and [[WiseTree sentient]] trees the Argonians worship. In this case, having them walk plantigrade is the most realistic. However, the Argonians have also been underoing an ongoing (justified) EvolutionaryRetcon throughout the series. In ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'', their most lizard-like (specifically iguana-like) appearance, they walk digitgrade, which is unrealistic. Through ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'', their appearance changes, making them look more aggressive, predatory, and (theropod) dinosaur-like. However, they are also changed to walk plantigrade, which for theropod dinosaurs, is unrealistic.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Okami}}'', when [[NobleWolf Amaterasu]] uses [[UrineTrouble Golden Fury]], she hikes her leg up in a way that most people associate with male dogs. This confuses some people. In real life, whether a wolf hikes its leg or not is dependent on the wolf's position in the pack hierarchy, not its gender. Alpha wolves raise their leg when marking/urinating and subservient wolves squat down to urinate. Some female dogs hike their leg, too.

* Any game that has a ripple effect when the player is underwater, such as ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' (it bears noting that Valve's other, more "realistic" games do not use this effect, so this is likely an aspect of the game's stylized look). Likewise the ripples when viewing the ocean through windows in ''VideoGame/BioShock''. In real life, water only distorts its contents when it's viewed from open air, through an uneven surface.

* In ''Super VideoGame/StreetFighterII Turbo HD Remix'', the characters are redrawn so as to give them better, somewhat more realistic proportions in High Definition. However when applied to Guile's stage, this trope kicks in: in the original games, the jet in the background is readily recognizable as an F-16, due to its distinctive cockpit and intake. The jet was redrawn so as to have an intake that no F-16, not even the testbed for the F-35's diverterless supersonic inlet, has underneath.

* The DrunkenMaster is a common fighting style seen in {{Fighting Game}}s, but very often those practitioners will ''actually'' be fighting inebriated (you can see them drinking in or out of the fight). Real Drunken Fist (Zui Quan) requires sobriety in reality because you're ''emulating'' being drunk in order to use the confusing movement to outwit an opponent. Because it involves a lot of intentional stumbling and loose movement, to practice the form whilst intoxicated would very likely result in losing the fight or self-harm.

* Anivia in ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'' and Articuno of ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' are in fact based off of the Simurgh, Persian bird of mythology. Yes, the cyrophoenix and an ice/flying bird are based off of that. Some people actually didn't believe that such a creature would come from Persian mythology of all places - mostly because when they think of Persia (or rather, Iran) people typically don't think of Iran's snow-covered mountains, they think of a country that's perpetually hot all year round (not unfairly, mind you).

** Common examples of what uninformed posters complain about are what weapons the Army uses (specifically the lack of [[GoodGunsBadGuns expected]] [[RareGuns weapons]]), the slow speed of the reloading animations, the [[HeroicRROD dramatic stun effects]] of flashbangs, the [[ReliablyUnreliableGuns frequency (if not existence) of weapon jams]], the slow movement and gameplay speed, the lack of some [[GunsAkimbo ridiculous practices]], and other things commonly misrepresented by other games. You know a media-caused misconception is ingrained firmly when [[KnowNothingKnowItAll people think they understand something about combat better than the actual Army]]. The more frequent than expected weapons jams in America's Army's current weapon of choice are frustrating professionals in [[http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/the-usas-m4-carbine-controversy-03289/ real life as well]].

** A Historical balanced mode was released, but was unpopular because it resulted in people only wanting to choose large durable vehicles such as the Tiger instead of the M18 Hellcat 76mm. Players tend to want [[RareVehicles prototype weapons that were rarely if ever used]] instead of common and real weapons.

* VideoGame/DonutCounty, a game where you play a hole that makes things fall into it, ran into this problem with physics and large objects. People ''expect'' larger objects to fall faster, even though physics says they don't; the game's developer eventually [[https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2018/08/29/how-donut-countys-hole-works/ yielded to complaints from testers]] and faked physics to make larger objects fall the way people expected them to.

** This can be seen in the original version of Halo 2, and the Anniversary edition. In the original game, Miranda goes GunsAkimbo with [=SMGs=] spraying them at the Arbiter. In the remaster, she's only using one, she's got it braced into her shoulder, she's leaning into the weapon, aiming down the sights, and firing in short controlled bursts. Like someone who's spent a solid part of her career handling firearms realistically would. Funnily enough, if you watch closely, you'll notice that she actually scores a couple of hits, however The Arbiters shield NoSell the few rounds that do hit.

* Some younger ''VideoGame/GuitarHero'' fans thought [[Music/GunsNRoses Slash]] was a [[http://www.joystiq.com/2012/02/22/slash-looks-back-at-working-with-activision-on-guitar-hero/ fictional person created just for the game.]]

* When ''VideoGame/TheSims4'' launched with Teens that were the same height as Young Adults, Adults, and Elders, the fanbase was outraged because TeensAreShort, as proven by the fact that they were [[TheyChangedItSoItSucks visibly shorter than their elders]] in ''VideoGame/TheSims2'' and ''VideoGame/TheSims3''. Of course, the lack of variable heights has been a contentious point in ''Sims'' fandom [[FranchiseOriginalSin for a long time]], but nevertheless in real life it's far from uncommon for a person to reach their full adult height by their mid-teens.

* In almost any PlatformGame, the gravity, especially the 3D ones. The intuitive and forgiving jump arcs in most games would lead people to assume that the gravity in most games is close to that of Earth's, if not lighter. In actuality, most games have gravity at least 2-3 times stronger. It turns out that Earth's gravity of 9.8 meters per second per second is actually rather slow and makes for very clunky platforming when using video game JumpPhysics. For some context, ''VideoGame/SuperMarioOdyssey''[[note]]Assuming a world scale based around Mario's canon height of 5'5"[[/note]] is a modern example that's about as close as you can get to 9.8m/s^2... on the ''moon''.

* Invoked and lampshaded in ''VideoGame/WhereInTimeIsCarmenSandiego1997'':
** In 1002, you can see a realistic viking helmet that does not have horns. A nearby viking [[AluminumChristmasTrees scoffs at the idea]] of horned helmets.
** In the Aztec Empire case, an eagle whistle is played with a realistic call - Anne Tikwitee says "WHOA! For a big bird, that's one ''small call''!"

* Many games with a historical setting involving Byzantium have the nation represented with various tones of purple or violet, particularly royal purple or the so-called [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantium_(color) byzantine purple]]. Examples are the ''VideoGame/TotalWar'', ''VideoGame/EuropaUniversalis'' or ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}}'' series. Actually, Byzantine emperors wore Tyrian Purple, as the Romans did, which has a shade of a more reddish tone, to the point it is sometimes called [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyrian_red#Modern_hue_rendering tyrian red]]. However, the former colours are so deeply associated with Byzantium that changing the colour palette to a more realistic tone often attracts complaints. Even if the "byzantium" colour was actually synthetized first in the XX century!
** It should be also noted that the Byzantines never referred to themselves as such, always calling theirs as the (Eastern) Roman Empire. Byzantium was never called as such during the Middle Ages, being Nova Roma (New Rome) or Constantinople. The name Byzantium only referred to the pre-Christian Greek town before emperor Constantine refounded the city in 330 AD. The term byzantine was first used by German and French scholars in the XVII century, many years after the fall of Constantinople, being also a derogatory term, and it is today radicated in common knowledge outside scholar debate. However, many times players complained if anything different from Byzantium was used in games.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' had some people [[HypeBacklash less enthused with the game after hearing how great it was]] express disbelief that Hyrule would be so green since it's supposed to be set AfterTheEnd. Actually, from what we know, this is fairly realistic - and Hyrule doesn't even have anything to pollute the environment, so naturally it ''should'' look fairly green.

* The [=PS5=] remaster of ''VideoGame/SpiderManPS4'' and its sequel, ''VideoGame/SpiderManMilesMorales'' recasted the face model of Peter from John Bubniak to Ben Jordan and many people complain that his face looks too young for the 23-year-old Peter Parker in the game compared to the original face, comparing him to Tom Holland who plays the character in the MCU and saying he looks 16, or younger than Miles. Thing is, Jordan ''was'' 23 when they scanned him into the games, as was John Bubniak. The game's engine unfortunately de-aged him slightly, but it also originally aged up Bubniak a bit. On top of that, 23-year-olds can still look pretty young. In fact, Tom Holland was 19 when he was first cast in the MCU and he hasn't aged much in the 6 years since ''Captain America: Civil War.'' Miles' actor, Nadji Jeter is also several years older than the character, making his face slightly older than it ''should'' be. So, people complaining about this have thee wrong expectations on what a 23-year-old ''should'' look like.

* The [=PS5=] remaster of ''VideoGame/SpiderManPS4'' and its sequel, ''VideoGame/SpiderManMilesMorales'' recasted the face model of Peter from John Bubniak to Ben Jordan and many people complain that his face looks too young for the 23-year-old Peter Parker in the game compared to the original face, comparing him to Tom Holland who plays the character in the MCU and saying he looks 16, or younger than Miles. Thing is, Jordan ''was'' 23 when they scanned him into the games, as was John Bubniak. The game's engine unfortunately de-aged him slightly, but it also originally aged up Bubniak a bit. On top of that, 23 year olds can still look pretty young. In fact, Tom Holland was 19 when he was first cast in the MCU and he hasn't aged much in the 6 years since ''Captain America: Civil War.'' Miles' actor, Nadji Jeter is also several years older than the character, making his face slightly older than it ''should'' be. So, people complaining about this have thee wrong expectations on what a 23-year-old ''should'' look like.

* The PS5 remaster of ''VideoGame/SpiderManPS4'' and its sequel, ''VideoGame/SpiderManMilesMorales'' recasted the face model of Peter from John Bubniak to Ben Jordan and many people complain that his face looks too young for the 23-year-old Peter Parker in the game compared to the original face, comparing him to Tom Holland who plays the character in the MCU and saying he looks 16, or younger than Miles. Thing is, Jordan ''was'' 23 when they scanned him into the games, as was John Bubniak. The game's engine unfortunately de-aged him slightly, but it also originally aged up Bubniak a bit. On top of that, 23 year olds can still look pretty young. In fact, Tom Holland was 19 when he was first cast in the MCU and he hasn't aged much in the 6 years since ''Captain America: Civil War.'' Miles' actor, Nadji Jeter is also several years older than the character, making his face slightly older than it ''should'' be. So, people complaining about this have thee wrong expectations on what a 23-year-old ''should'' look like.