Line #39 Main/BenevolentArchitecture


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7	[[quoteright:350:[[Webcomic/TheAdventuresOfDrMcNinja https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rampable_8397.jpg]]]]
8	[[caption-width-right:350:[-Man is only separated from heaven by that which he will not ramp.-]]]
9
10	->'''Shepard:''' Hold on. We're about to find hostiles.\
11	'''Garrus:''' What makes you say that?\
12	'''Shepard:''' ''[points]'' Strategic cover.
13	-->-- ''Webcomic/AwkwardZombie'', [[http://www.awkwardzombie.com/comic/cover-story regarding]] ''VideoGame/MassEffect3''
14
15	It seems in certain shows and video games involving vehicles or characters with special abilities, the setting the characters inhabit was planned from the get-go with their mischief in mind, usually regardless of whether or not it would be useful to anyone else (say, for example, the people who ''live'' there). In the case of vehicles, for example, the town may have an abundance of broken bridges that [[RampJump can be jumped over]], flimsy fences protecting places where cars aren't "supposed" to go, a strange overabundance of seemingly useless ramps, etc. Of course these could be considered AcceptableBreaksFromReality, but still, you have to wonder why someone doesn't complain about those bridges.
16
17	Now, if you want to get Meta, the world ''was'' designed with the main characters in mind, but BellisariosMaxim means it's not that simple.
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19	The polar opposite of MalevolentArchitecture, yet you will often see both of them in the same place. Overlaps almost completely with ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman or PlotTailoredToTheParty. Also see ThemeParkLandscape (which can be both malevolent or benevolent).
20	----
21	!!Examples:
22
23	[[foldercontrol]]
24
25	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
26	* ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'': Justified. The reason everywhere seems perfect for 3D movement gear is because it was designed ''for'' those places. The cramped walls of the towns provide plenty of places to shoot ziplines, and the entire reason the scouts set up an ambush in the redwood forest was because it was one of the few areas outside the Walls where the 3DM gear would be effective. On the open fields, the gear is just used to zip up to the Titans' shoulders and attack their weak points, which doesn't work that well when there's more than one of them.
27	[[/folder]]
28
29	[[folder:Arts]]
30	* Art/SistineChapel: In the middle of the Red Sea, there happens to be a Greek pillar just in place to separate the Egyptians from the Israelis just in time for the Egyptians to be crushed by the ocean. JustifiedTrope, since {{God}} dropped the pillar there to protect his people.
31	[[/folder]]
32
33	[[folder:Comic Books]]
34	* {{Lampshaded}} in ''ComicBook/SecretWars1984'' when ComicBook/SpiderMan spends a couple of panels wondering if all the Mysterious Alien Architecture he is swinging from was placed on Battle World strictly for his benefit.
35	[[/folder]]
36
37	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
38	* ''Film/District13'' is absolutely full of convenient parkour architecture, the prime offender being a rope conveniently hanging down the side of one building (although it's possible the character in question had deliberately [[CrazyPrepared set up an escape route only he could navigate]]). Given that the Parisian concrete-jungle setting of the film is exactly where LeParkour was developed in the first place, this could be TruthInTelevision.
39	* ''Film/{{Gymkata}}'' Gymnast on a covert mission running thru a Eastern European Town finds the town filled with Perfectly Powdered Gymnastic equipment just when he needs it.
40	* In Creator/JackieChan movies, he uses everything that's there that he can use, and if it's not enough, he adds more. He also makes some (visible or invisible) changes to make dangerous stunts more survivable. Of course, it's all well planned and choreographed long before any shooting happens, unlike with the characters who can improbably improvise on the spot.
41	* ''Film/TheSpirit'' (2008) lampshades this; the [[CharacterTitle titular hero]] feels that he was reborn as the GeniusLoci of Central City, and that it aids him as he fights for it. He ''does'' finds plenty of convenient structures for him to LeParkour his way around, and snow ''does'' tend to fall on {{Mooks}}' heads just when he needs a distraction...
42	* ''Film/TerminatorSalvation'' features a base built by an evil AI, who thoughtfully filled it with human-accessible control panels, walkways, doors, and computer monitors. Sort of an inversion of the trope, in that the place ''should'' require an inhuman shape/size and abilities to get around in, but doesn't. Maybe it's because of all the RidiculouslyHumanRobots, but still mighty convenient for humans despite the obvious remodeling.
43	[[/folder]]
44
45	[[folder:Literature]]
46	* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'':
47	** Played with in ''Literature/MenAtArms'', when Cuddy and Detritus fall into some tunnels under the city, but find them to be conveniently illuminated by light coming through cracks overhead. The narration Lampshades how neither of them actually ''need'' so much light, Cuddy being a cave-adapted dwarf and Detritus being a nocturnal troll, but narrative imperative dictates that all subterranean locations be equipped with luminous fungi, glowing crystals, or other light sources for the convenience of human heroes who might wander in.
48	** In ''Literature/CarpeJugulum'', it's mentioned that vampire castles ''always'' have objects lying around that could easily be turned into makeshift religious symbols or stakes. [[InvokedTrope Intentionally so]] for at least one vampire who likes to give clever “guests” a sporting chance.
49	* In ''Literature/DragonBones'', the architecture of castle Hurog is ''actually'' benevolent -- Oreg, who is a kind of GeniusLoci, likes the mute girl Ciarra, and provides her with escape routes so she can get away from her abusive father or from the cousin who teases her.
50	* {{Lampshade}}d and discussed in ''Literature/TheLordOfTheIsles'' by Creator/DavidDrake. It's BenevolentArchitecture that a building crumbled in such a way that one character can easily climb the rubble from higher levels to reach a second-story window -- but it's MalevolentArchitecture that said rubble blocked the front door.
51	[[/folder]]
52
53	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
54	* In ''Series/TheDukesOfHazzard'' it seemed that every time they needed to jump over something with their car there was a convenient ramp (usually a dirt ramp, but wooden ones and even auto carriers have been shown as well). There are also frequent instances of backroad turnoffs, offroad shortcuts, and hiding places in the woods that are used to outfox or hide from the cops.
55	* ''Series/PacificBlue'' had this trope in spades. Not only did Santa Monica have a strange abundance of drivers that don't mind Bike Policemen and women skitching their cars, it seems that every alleyway in the city has a plywood ramp, some of which seem to teleport out of nowhere.
56	[[/folder]]
57
58	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
59	* The Runner's Guide sourcebook in 4th Edition ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'' offered this as a perk you could select for your hideout. If you were attacked while inside a hideout, you and your allies would gain defensive bonuses while enemies took defensive penalties, with the justification being the layout of the walls and furniture just sort of naturally made the place easy to defend.
60	[[/folder]]
61
62	[[folder:Video Games]]
63	* {{Racing Game}}s in areas affected by [[AfterTheEnd natural disasters]]. The city is full of rubble, except for the track, which instead has buildings that collapsed in such a way as to form ramps and stunts (examples: ''VideoGame/MotorStorm Apocalypse'', ''VideoGame/{{Wipeout}} 2097'', ''VideoGame/{{POD}}'', ''VideoGame/{{Fuel}}'' and many others). This could be lampshaded by assuming that the race organizers scoured the entire city and found [[AnthropicPrinciple one area that happened to be raceable]] and set up camp there, but in ''Apocalypse'' disaster tends to strike ''during'' the race and conveniently causes a ramp or blocks only half of the track so as to make it more interesting. ''FUEL'' even has benevolent ''tornadoes''.
64	* The ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'' series takes what would otherwise be a blatant use of this trope and works it subtly into the meta plot. First, the FramingDevice of using the [[AppliedPhlebotinum Animus]] to create a VR simulation of the protagonist's GeneticMemory creates a handy excuse for all kinds of GameplayAndStorySegregation tropes: in this case, the Animus is specifically programmed to make the environment easy to move around in so as to improve the user's ability to "synchronize" with his ancestor's memories. The result of this is a vast array of conveniently located poles, ledges, and other environmental features that seem to be tailored perfectly to Altaïr and Ezio's [[LeParkour free-running skills]]. Oddly, once Desmond starts acquiring these same skills via the [[UpgradeArtifact "bleeding effect"]], he begins finding areas in the real world that operate in exactly the same way.
65	* In the ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamSeries'', Batman and his villains live a Gotham City where essentially every building is either an ArtDeco skyscraper or a Gothic cathedral. As such, there are simply a ton of conveniently located gargoyles, sculptures, ledges, terraces and other architectural features for Batman to grapple onto in the middle of a firefight for an easy escape. The first game in the series, ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamAsylum'', takes place in the titular [[BedlamHouse loony bin]], and there are gargoyles liberally spread throughout the complex. A few {{Mook}}s will occasionally comment on this, and they eventually get wise and boobytrap them; but after it fails to stop Batman they don't try that again. {{Handwaved}} by the fact that Bruce Wayne apparently donated generously to Arkham, and may have deliberately filled the place with gargoyles [[CrazyPrepared just in case he needed them]].
66	* ''VideoGame/{{Bomberman}}''. Every stretch of land is rectangular, isolated, and filled with blocks in a grid-like pattern.
67	* Paradise City, the setting of ''VideoGame/BurnoutParadise''. While by no means the first driving game to include an open world for you to drive in, this is the city in which the trope is more apparent: {{Broken Bridge}}s everywhere, flimsy "Private Property" fences that can be knocked down by merely touching them (and which the game encourages you to destroy), highways full of gaps in the walls, ramps scattered around for no reason, a rail system without any (moving) trains that seems to serve no purpose other than a shortcut, etc. All of this is heavily {{lampshade}}d by the game's DJ, who every so often thanks the "lazy City Works Department" for not fixing the bridges and highways.
68	* Much in the same vein, the ''VideoGame/{{Carmageddon}}'' series has always featured environments that are suspiciously apt for the insane sort of racing that goes on in those games. Ridiculously steep country roads that no actual car could hope to climb, industrial machinery with just-large-enough passages, buildings with unfeasibly wide windows and corridors and cities whose layout makes very little sense in the context of traffic. But then, ''Carmageddon'' takes a very lax approach to realism even compared to ''Grand Theft Auto''...
69	* In ''VideoGame/ChibiRobo'', there was always some way for Chibi to get to seemingly out of the way areas, be it by cord, house plant, books, etc.
70	* ''VideoGame/{{Control}}'' has the Ashtray Maze, [[MobileMaze a maze with constantly-shifting dimensions and gates]] designed to protect an important sector of The Oldest House, which is able to keep [[EldritchAbomination The Hiss]] out of it (good), but for most of the game also keeps PlayerCharacter Jesse out of it (bad). However, once Jesse gains the key that allows her to pass it, the maze promptly becomes benevolent -- not only do [[AlienGeometries the walls, floor, and ceiling rapidly twist and turn to form a path for her]], there are several instances of Hiss {{mooks}} trying to catch her but getting cut off behind impenetrable walls. Given the [[EldritchLocation eldritch]], [[GeniusLoci ambiguously sentient nature of the rest of the Oldest House]], it may very well be that the maze is consciously fighting for Jesse.
71	* Happens in ''VideoGame/DarkForcesSaga Jedi Academy''. Normally, the [[NoOSHACompliance lack of railings]] and {{bottomless pit}}s would qualify most of the levels as MalevolentArchitecture. However, if you take into account the fact that your character has [[MindOverMatter the Force]], it generally works in your favor, allowing you to send enemies flying over the edge.
72	* ''VideoGame/DarkMessiahOfMightAndMagic'' features a mechanic where kicking enemies into spikes causes instant death; why the enemies set up racks of spikes in their homes or gardens is never explained.
73	* While the ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'' series is more notable for [[MalevolentArchitecture active hostility to the player]], there are some areas where the environment is set up to do you favours. For example, many gruelling areas, especially in the first and third games, are designed so that once you've fought your way past a small army of Hollows or whatever the issue is, you'll find either a bonfire or a reusable shortcut back to a bonfire you've already used. There are also boss arenas that are designed with exploitable elements: the Asylum Demon and Taurus Demon in ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsI'' can be fought in areas that allow you to drop violently on their heads, for example. The otherwise extremely difficult fight with two of Sulyvahn's Beasts behind an illusory wall in Irithyll of the Boreal Valley in ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsIII'' is particularly generous: the arena is laid out so that you can pick a fight with one Beast without attracting the other if you're careful, and there's a gigantic ladder that the animalistic Beasts can't use, allowing you to do plunging attacks.
74	* In ''VideoGame/DeadSpace1'', oxygen recharge stations are never seen outside areas that will be exposed to vacuum. Apparently the Ishimura's designers knew exactly where the hull breaches (or a deliberately vented atmosphere) would occur. In ''VideoGame/DeadSpace2 '', The Sprawl is similarly designed.
75	* ''VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution'' has convenient cover available almost everywhere for [[PlayerCharacter Adam Jensen]] to optionally sneak his way through any level. In fact, the only enemies that you absolutely have to kill are the bosses. When cover isn't available, Adam can always pick up a box or a fridge (with [[SuperStrength upgraded strength]]) and place it in such a way that it can be used as cover. [[TheGuardsMustBeCrazy No enemy will wonder]] why a fridge is suddenly standing in the middle of a room instead of the kitchen. There are also plenty of Jensen-sized air vents with unlocked covers. All you need to do is crouch to enter them.
76	* Of all the places in Sanctuary, the nephalem city of Corvus in ''VideoGame/Diablo3'' clearly fits this trope. It's one thing to have floors searing trespassers with holy energy, doorways that slow them down and totems that release spirits to ravage them, but these devices work on the demonically infused scarabs and spirits and Adria's blood golems... and ''only'' those creatures. The player character ([[spoiler:being nephalem themselves]]), their follower and Lorath Nahr can walk past the hazards just fine. There are also weapon caches that rise up out of the ground whenever the player character approaches them.
77	-->'''Lorath''': It appears even the stones acknowledge that a nephalem has returned.
78	* ''VideoGame/{{Dishonored}}'': Corvo owes a big thank you to whoever installed those lampshades than can support a full grown man carrying another man. That and the big air vents.
79	* ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry2DiddysKongQuest'': In many of the boss battles, weapons you need in order to hurt the boss conveniently fall near you after a certain amount of time has passed.
80	* ''VideoGame/DoubleSwitch''. Eddie tells you at the beginning that he designed the entire security system with traps around the apartment, because the neighborhood sucks. Later, Lyle the Handyman will set up some traps of his own.
81	* ''VideoGame/DukeNukem3D'' is awash with shortcuts, especially once you find a jetpack. At least one level can be almost entirely circumvented. The two ''Duke'' games for the N64 are a combo of MalevolentArchitecture and this. Much of it is ultra-realistic stuff humanoids understand. The twists and turns of typical video game levels arise from damage done to the environment by previous battles.
82	* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'' isn't too bad about this but a nigh universal example is the barred door. Most of the longer dungeons have a quick exit method leading from the end of the dungeon straight to the beginning (but barring travel in the other direction). Usually is a barred door or a retractable bridge or an unreachable ledge.
83	* ''VideoGame/Fallout3'' puts its security terminals right outside the areas that are supposed to be protected, rather than behind the actual security, leaving the Raiders and Super Mutants right under turrets that someone ''else'' has control over. [[TooDumbToLive No wonder Washington D.C. got itself nuked.]]
84	* Justified in the ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' video game with Stewie's sky hooks. He quickly makes a comment about he paid city workers to install them everywhere for his convenience. Doesn't explain how they got ''inside'' Peter's body, though.
85	* ''VideoGame/FarCry4'': Enemy outposts and fortresses are nearly always overlooked by good sniping positions.
86	* ''[[VideoGame/FirstEncounterAssaultRecon FEAR]]'' and its sequel. If it weren't for this trope (such as a convenient hole in the wall, among others), it would have been impossible for the protagonists to proceed through the games. The environments tend to be such that they are fun to play in, but would be extremely inconvenient for their ostensible purpose. [[NoOSHACompliance Such as the janitor's closet with the unlocked door to an elevator shaft]]. Or the warehouse complexes with many large crates and absolutely no way to move them to their location; not a forklift or even a trolley in sight, and they're often in places that can only be accessed by stairs.
87	* The benevolent architects of ''VideoGame/{{Glider}}'' houses deserve praise for putting so many air vents in the floors. Without those vents, players would find it extremely difficult to overcome the forces of gravity, an extremely vital task since, though [[NotTheFallThatKillsYou falling wouldn't kill you]] (even in ''Glider PRO'', where you could fall ''from outer space''), landing on the floor was ''always'' deadly.
88	* ''VideoGame/GoldenSun1'' has many instances, to the point that most of the time the easy straight path is blocked one way or another and you have to look for a way around, fortunately there are always wooden stumps, water ponds, psynergy-sensitive plants, the characters are smart enough to realize that they need an adept of each element and as many flavors of psynergy as possible, then again, the main goal of the game is to prevent/enforce the lighthouses from being lit, and those where designed specifically so that only an adept of the matching element would be able to get in. ''VideoGame/GoldenSunDarkDawn'' provides a Psynergy power ''just'' to identify ''which items are affected by which powers'', because that stuff is ''everywhere''. And the characters in this one are not only smart enough to recruit every kind of Adept they can, but also to [[LampshadeHanging comment repeatedly on the commonality of Psynergy-affected obstacles]].
89	* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'':
90	** The series not only has ramps everywhere, leaping some gave you money. Early in the game(s), this actually mattered. This is continued in ''Vice City'', with ramps going from building to building to get you to the rooftop spotlight mission objective. Never mind that at this point you ''own'' a helicopter.
91	** Donut Advertisers in China Town Wars saw fit to arrange their signboards such that it was always in the facing a ramp to allow unique stunt jumps. Signboard makers must love the repeat business.
92	* ''VideoGame/{{Grounded}}'': Practically every spot where there's anything useful or interesting can be reached by some combination of climbing, jumping, swimming, ziplining, and gliding. Want to reach the top of the wheelbarrow? Just climb the ivy (and hope you don't miss a jump, because it's a long way down...) Outside areas also have the option to just build stairs and platforms to reach spots, although it can take a bit longer depending on access to materials.
93	* Almost any video game vehicle sequence that isn't actually set on a track has these, but the example that springs to mind are the ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'' vehicles.
94	* ''VideoGame/HypeTheTimeQuest'':
95	** In the town of Torras (all four of it) there are some conveniently placed boxes that lead over a wall that nobody else would ever need to go to, especially for the hidden button that leads to an extra magic... as well as an unexplained ladder that takes you to a well out of reach platform into three people's yards.
96	** And near the canal, a ladder leads to an (apparently superglued) platform that leads to a weird attic with no door to the house beneath it and two DOORS (big windows) that conveniently take you to the other side, ultimately leading to a hole in the castle wall that appears to have been built there, since it comes with a built-in woodern plank floor with another ladder.
97	** There's also a button that takes some sort of elevator (I thought this was medieval) that takes you down into the well, which has more conveniently placed platforms that lead either to a treasure chest, a magic button (that runs ANOTHER elevator), and the other elevator that ultimately leads to the castle well, where somebody nicely left a ladder. These carpenters sure saw Hype coming, didn't they?
98	* In ''VideoGame/IAmFish'' the titular fishes quest to reunite with each other in the ocean is aided by an obscene number of conveniently placed movable water containers, fountains, pipes, and mattresses to break their falls.
99	* In the ''VideoGame/JakAndDaxter'' games, there always seems to be a source of eco ''just'' when Jak really needs it.
100	* ''VideoGame/{{Jumper}}'' games. Yes, [[MalevolentArchitecture it's trying to kill you too]], but all levels can be passed with mere jumping, flipping switches and [[BlockPuzzle pushing crates around]]. This gets weirder in ''Jumper Three'', which takes place on a very distant planet.
101	* The ''Series/KnightRider'' video games were embodiments of this trope. No matter how high-tech the enemy base was, there was always some way for the car to get in, do what it had to do and get out. Granted, it had all the usual gadgets, such as two-wheel driving to fit in tight spaces, but still.
102	* In the ''VideoGame/LegacyOfKain'' series, the combination of BenevolentArchitecture and MalevolentArchitecture is at times completely baffling. The most JustForFun/{{egregious}} general example: Why are there always craggy walls when Raziel needs to climb to a ledge (Benevolent Architecture), but on the other hand, why can't he just climb any wall (MalevolentArchitecture with a flimsy excuse)? And when he shifts between material and spectral realms, why do things always change to enable his routes? Defiance creates even weirder situations. On the one hand, many elements of Benevolent Decay are justified, as Kain and Raziel travel through the same places at different times, causing the decay that later benefits the other. However, often these environments will have water when Raziel is there, and it will be gone when Kain is there (he can't touch water), with neither an explanation nor a logical assumption to explain it.
103	* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'':
104	** Obstacles scattered around the dungeons (and to an extent, around the overworld) are invariably designed so that they can be bypassed only by using specific items from Link's inventory. Particularly the item of that particular dungeon, but items from previous dungeons are allowed. Never items from later dungeons. This becomes particularly obvious when the items get more outlandish; it's not too difficult to imagine obstacles where a [[GrapplingHookPistol Hookshot]] might come in handy, but when Link acquires the Magnetic Gloves and dungeons happen to include vast abysses punctuated only by rotating columns labelled with North and South polarities.
105	** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'': The Spinner. The dungeon it's found in is covered with slots in the walls for the Spinner to slot into. There are also a lot of places where Midna can jump you around. When you lack that ability [[spoiler:due to her being mortally wounded]], there are ropes spread across the areas you'd normally need her to cross.
106	** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'': The base game has a subversion. The first dungeon has a bomb-able wall despite the fact that the bombs are not acquired until the second dungeon. The second dungeon (also the only one accessible as an Adult) has a spot where playing the Scarecrow's Song and using the hookshot is required. Both have minor rewards not required to complete the game.
107	* UsefulNotes/WiiWare game ''VideoGame/Lit2009'', ostensibly set in a darkened school, has windows that once shattered spill outside light into the room, providing a path to safely walk to the exit (or next light source). These windows are on almost every wall of each room, even the ones facing [[{{Bizarrchitecture}} further into the school]], where there should be no light from outside.
108	* ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiPartnersInTime'': In the present and the past, throughout the whole Mushroom Kingdom, regardless of who lives there, you will find hundreds of combinations of blocks, gates, buttons, and passageways intricately designed for two spinning men and two toddlers with hammers to get past. It's not even probable by Mario universe standards.
109	* ''Franchise/MassEffect'':
110	** The series has a few walls and corners that are useful as cover but they are essentially optional, and the game can be easily completed without bothering with them, even on Insanity, but ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' {{exaggerate\|dTrope}}s this, with far, far, FAR more of them, although this is required by the gameplay change -- on any difficulty above Casual, trying to fight even basic enemies without cover will get you killed. Special mention should be made of the sequence in which the administrator of a facility walks you through a series of long tube-shaped corridors where you'd have no way to seek cover if attacked... and then pulls a FaceHeelTurn and has his henchmen ambush you after [[TooDumbToLive leading you into the cafeteria]], where the [[ConcealmentEqualsCover conveniently bulletproof]] tables form, you guessed it, chest high walls perfect for taking cover behind.
111	** After a few missions, you're confronted with a location where you keep finding inexplicable waist-height walls...and no combat to go with it until the trap is sprung. It's very effective at building tension, since by this point you're basically programmed to interpret "waist-high wall" as "imminent firefight".
112	** The game also confronts you with questions like "why are there inexplicable canisters of high explosives dotted around this area" and "[[TooDumbToLive why do our enemies insist on]] [[ArtificialStupidity diving into cover right next to them]]".
113	* Throughout the ''VideoGame/MaxPayne'' series, Max encounters a remarkably high number of unlocked two-way doors which he can dive through.
114	* The ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'' series.
115	** One has to wonder why so many planets throughout the galaxy have areas that can only be accessed by beings who can morph into balls. Or be opened only by Samus's beams. Somewhat believably {{hand wave}}d for the most part by explaining that much of the games' environments were either directly built by the Chozo or, as was the case with ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime2Echoes'', built by people with whom the Chozo shared their technology; so it is reasonable to believe that Samus and her Chozo-created suit can navigate them. As for why the Space Pirates and other places do this...
116	** ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime3Corruption'' does this offscreen, as the Space Pirates seems to use them to transport Crawltanks, and most civilizations have either insects that burrow or maintenance drones. The doors are hand waved by having "force shields" over them which are vulnerable to various types of weapon fire. Samus needs a specific type of energy to [[PercussiveMaintenance shoot the forcefields off]] - the actual creators, presumably, use a key. The scannable lore in planet Bryyo justifies the benevolent architecture there by explaining that a prophetess foresaw Samus' arrival and worked to prepare the area for her.
117	** The games (at least the ''VideoGame/MetroidPrimeTrilogy'', typically via scans) usually try to provide explanations for why certain obstacles are present (some are natural, serve certain functions, and some are a result of environmental or structural damage). Samus can just be seen as improvising. It's strange, though, that many of the tunnels she goes through seem just big enough to fit through with the Morph Ball and why there are a bunch of places that require a spherical object that just so happens to be the same size as the Morph Ball to receive kinetic energy or fire said object.
118	** The doors in ''VideoGame/MetroidDread'' have the same sort of lockouts as previous games, mostly explained as being literal physical obstacles on the doors to prevent intruders from moving forward. Samus isn't so much unlocking the doors, instead she's blowing off the security measures with increasingly stronger weaponry. Once she destroys the barriers, they work as regular doors and don't need their locks broken again.
119	* Even though you can dig and build ladders, you don't really need them to climb the mountains of ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}''. They're rather short and at least one of the sides will always be a slope climbable by mere jumping.
120	* ''VideoGame/MirrorsEdge'': Particularly odd in that the city was designed by a totalitarian government that wants all parkour destroyed. The timeline suggests cause and effect. The government, architecture and security forces came first and at once. Thus it developed that dissenters did better running from the police rather than fighting, and that the best chance for doing so in that city was on foot rather than on the road or in the air. Parkour then became unusually relevant by real-world standards, and so eventually the government made cracking down on practitioners a priority -- encouraging them to support the resistance.
121	* ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare'''s buildings are all conveniently half-smashed and reduced to just enough rubble to function as a realistic-looking paintball course.
122	* In the ''VideoGame/NavalOps'' games, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin naval warfare]] and sea-based superweapons dominate the world, with only negligible (onscreen) contributions from ground forces and air power.
123	* Both ''VideoGame/NeedForSpeed: [[VideoGame/NeedForSpeedMostWanted Most Wanted]]'' (2005) and ''Carbon'' (and ''World'', which combined both their environments) have city roads that make absolutely no sense in the context of a functioning city, and are very, very obviously designed to encourage street racing. The 2012 ''[[VideoGame/NeedForSpeedMostWanted2012 Most Wanted]]'' reboot doesn't even really ''pretend'' to be realistic. It was made by Creator/CriterionGames, developers of the aforementioned ''Burnout Paradise'', and is effectively an updated and improved version of it. It's never explained why so many billboards are at low heights with ramps leading up to them. Sometimes on both sides.
124	* Buildings in ''VideoGame/NexusClash'' can accommodate an unlimited number of characters and their summoned minions, whether the building is a huge stadium or a tiny, cramped hut. This is justified by just how inconvenient it would be for players if space considerations were more realistic, but does lead to some pretty comical situations whenever an event leads to (for instance) hundreds of characters and summons holed up in a single bar.
125	* ''VideoGame/NightTrap'' has this as an essential part of the gameplay. Who the hell puts false walls and smoke traps with bottomless pits in their house?
126	* ''VideoGame/NoMansSky:'' Even the most barren, agoraphobic wasteland worlds are guaranteed to have at least a little bit of Sodium (for powering your hazard-proof shields), Carbon (for powering your mining beam), Ferrite (for powering your excavation beam), Hydrogen (for taking off) and Oxygen (for breathing). In outer space, you're guaranteed to find an asteroid field with Tritium for powering your high speed Pulse Engine.
127	* In ''VideoGame/Portal2'', there are ruins that are conveniently just ruined enough to give you a path out. Granted, [[GuideDangIt you have to really search for some]], but they're still there. And one has to wonder about the convenient placement of the paints.
128	* Somehow everything in the ''Franchise/PrinceOfPersia'' series that causes damage to a building will turn the MalevolentArchitecture that would be impossible to traverse into Benevolent. Ages of disuse have created the perfect path for the Prince to climb and jump across. And every time the Prince turns into his SuperpoweredEvilSide in ''Two Thrones/Rival Blades'', the path forward usually has attachment points for the Daggertail to [[InstantKnots Instantly Knot]] itself to. You never see any of those (fairly distinctive) architectural features otherwise.
129	* It's amazing how much stuff in the ''Franchise/RatchetAndClank'' series uses absurdly oversized bolt cranks to operate, considering that until the fourth game, Ratchet was the only character to be seen with the absurdly oversized ''wrench'' to utilize them. The second game ''did'' have such a wrench inside a "Break in case of emergency"-like case, so other beings may use them. Why they use cranks that can be so easily activated to block access to sensitive areas, however...
130	* ''VideoGame/SanFranciscoRush'': Happens all over the place in this series of racing games. Sure, the streets are cordoned off for the race, but someone still overlooked those ramps, subway tunnels, spacious sewer pipes, and hills that are just ''perfect'' for shortcuts. There are also corkscrews and loop-de-loops built in some of these cities. And there's one track that has [[MalevolentArchitecture a mini obstacle course.]]
131	* Somewhat explained in ''VideoGame/ScarfaceTheWorldIsYours''. Half completed arching bridges making de-facto ramps and great short cuts. But doesn't explain the ramp happy ships in the harbor that just happened to be lined up well.
132	* The eponymous colossi of ''VideoGame/ShadowOfTheColossus'' occasionally have things built right ''onto'' them, allowing the main character handholds, ledges, and even platforms to park himself on. There's the fact that for nearly every Colossus, the surrounding architecture is just perfectly designed to reach the Colossi and kill them, except those that aren't anywhere near architecture.
133	* It's amazing how convenient the architecture can be for VideoGame/SlyCooper and his various abilities. Apparently criminals are fond of putting hooks randomly around to swing from, or peaks to land on. The only time hooks, peaks, and so on became dangerous was ... [[VideoGame/Sly3HonorAmongThieves the Cooper vault]] itself, built by the guys who actually use the manoeuvres. They probably wanted to make it downright ''impossible'' for anyone who's ''not'' a Cooper.
134	** Sly learns the "Spire Jump" in [[VideoGame/SlyCooperAndTheThieviusRaccoonus the first game]], a move that specifically lets him land on small points. The fact that there are random lines going across gaps that just happen to have said points is remarkable, but all the others he can simply run across.
135	* ''VideoGame/SniperElite'', ''VideoGame/SniperEliteV2'', ''VideoGame/SniperEliteIII'': Even for war zones, have a lot of barriers and perfect places to snipe from.
136	* ''VideoGame/SniperGhostWarrior3:'' Georgia seems to be rather hilly, and most enemy bases have cliffs nearby with good sniping spots. If you're feeling bold, larger bases will often contain climbable towers.
137	* ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'':
138	** Many stages in the series. Most obvious are loop-de-loops as natural formations or as urban structures that no one but Sonic can reasonably take.
139	** No matter where Sonic goes, from high-facilities, to ancient, long-abandoned ruins, there's never a shortage of conspicuous red springs, launchers, anti-gravity rails, etc
140	** One have to wonder why Dr. Eggman decides to fill his bases with rings, springs and item monitors...
141	** ''VideoGame/SonicUnleashed'':
142	*** One particularly glaring example occurs during an early Werehog stage. The Werehog can hang from ledges and edge along them. There's a ledge that's blocked by a wooden balcony, so the player has to drop down so he can hand-over-hand. On the other side is a ledge with a staircase going up to a locked door. Below is a hundred-foot doubtlessly fatal drop to the sea. The balcony mentioned earlier is coming out of ''the side of the staircase'', which is a ''blank wall''. Earlier in that stage is a ledge the Werehog can grab onto in the form of a rooftop. When he climbs onto the rooftop, it gradually turns into a small local park with no change in elevation.
143	*** The highways in Skyscraper Scamper stage can be this. Some of them lead directly into the sides of buildings. One of them, in particular, shows traffic traveling on it. If you watch the cars and trucks when they reach the buildingside, they travel right through the building. Some of the skyscrapers themselves are also so unusually shaped as to make no sense. One such building in a Werehog stage has so little area per floor that there's not enough space for stairs and barely enough for an elevator (without a counterweight). And then there's the area's counterpart to the Manhattan Bridge, which for no in-universe reason, leads to a flat island, then continues 90 degrees to the left.
144	** City Escape Act 2 in ''VideoGame/SonicGenerations'' has one section set in a public park. The only exit to this park leads to a wide halfpipe, then down the side of a building.
145	%% ** Speed Highway in ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' and Radical Highway in ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2''.
146	* Every ''VideoGame/SplinterCell'' level has a way to get in a room/past the guards/to the objective without using conventional doorways, making your job a lot easier if you just look around.
147	* ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' has structures that serve a purpose, but ''just so happen'' to have perfect spots for snipers, sentries, etc. The developers will occasionally discuss just how much thinking, planning, and testing has to go into making a solid, well-balanced map that doesn't give either side heavy advantages (when they aren't just mirroring the map down the middle, anyway), so that any point that looks like a perfect sniper or sentry spot has to have some key vulnerability or way around it to get things done. Making Benevolent (or Malevolent) Architecture that's also fun is ''hard''.
148	* The ''VideoGame/{{Thief}}'' games are built with this trope in mind, to make it possible for the player to sneak past guards and monsters without having to kill them.
149	** ''Thief 2: The Metal Age'', "First City Bank and Trust": The security camera / turret sets that provide much of the automated portion of the security were, as {{lampshade\|Hanging}}d by a letter of complaint in the Security Office, badly placed, and can be avoided if enough care is taken. {{Justified\|Trope}} in that the human security guards have no reason to help make themselves obsolete.
150	** Also in ''Thief 2'', "Casing the Joint" and "Masks": The first two floors of Gervasius' mansion have extremely wide corridors with shadowy alcoves, providing hiding places from the guards (who won't get close to you thanks to the corridor width, unless you mess up) and from the security cameras. The security camera / turret pairs that cover each such CorridorCubbyholeRun also have blind spots thanks to how they are recessed into the walls.
151	* The dungeons in the ''Franchise/TombRaider'' games seem to have been designed so that, after thousands of years of decay, they would still be wholly accessible by an individual with the physical stamina needed to crawl along ledges, swing from poles, and grapple from conveniently-placed wall rings.
152	* ''[[VideoGame/TonyHawkProSkater Tony Hawk]]'' games: Everything is a skatepark! If it resembles a quarterpipe, it will be one. Anything can be grinded on ([[InsurmountableWaistHeightFence except when not]]). Of course, partially a case of TruthInTelevision, as skaters don't limit themselves to skateparks, and try to pull off tricks in increasingly odd places, but any realism goes out of the window when you do your first powerline grind. Same holds true with most skateboarding games, as well as BMX and Snowboarding games.
153	* ''VideoGame/{{Trackmania}}'' United and earlier versions, in contrast to the popular Nations, has environments that are either homages to other games (Outrun, for the Island environment) or attempt to look and feel very realistic. Coast in particular has a rural French setting that almost looks like something out of Gran Turismo. Then you get to the loops and corkscrew jumps. The Bay environment is a Japanese city and you get an SUV. It also has construction frameworks that very much resemble quarterpipes and loops, actual loops in the highway, giant jumps and highway roads that head at a sixty degree angle towards the sky. Justified in that this is a stunt racing game, but compared to the obviously artificial Stadium environment of Nations, some of those environments feel ''off''.
154	* Lampshaded in ''Film/Transformers2007''[='=]s tie-in DS game([[OneGameForThePriceOfTwo s]]). Every driving/skating/biking game apparently is a patron of [[http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Convenient_Ramps_Inc%2E Convenient Ramps Inc.]]
155	* ''VideoGame/{{Trine}}'' is built on this. Even the spiky walls that look nasty are capable of holding up a box for you to stand on.
156	* In the ''VideoGame/{{Uncharted}}'' series, no matter what part of the world you find yourself in, there are lots of bricks conveniently sticking out of walls in all the right places.
157	* Lampshaded in ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'', when the player is instructed to hide behind a "conveniently shaped lamp".
158	* In the various ''VideoGame/UnrealTournament'' games (especially the earlier ones), many of the CaptureTheFlag and [[VideoGame/UnrealTournament2004 Bombing Run]] maps had areas specifically designed to be reached with the translocator, mainly as a way of creating sniper spots. This could lead to very interesting ways (mostly involving dropping down from above) to sneak into an enemy base while bypassing most defenses.
159	[[/folder]]
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161	[[folder:Webcomics]]
162	* ''Webcomic/TheAdventuresOfDrMcNinja'': {{Lampshade\|Hanging}}d [[http://drmcninja.com/archives/comic/15p23/ here]], where a foreman yells about people leaving rampable wooden pallets around.
163	* ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'': {{Parodied\|Trope}} when two members of the Felt are shown setting up crates for a gunfight later. [[LampshadeHanging Spades Slick remarks that this is rather thoughtful of them.]]
164	* ''Webcomic/VirtualShackles'': Lampshaded in [[http://www.virtualshackles.com/137 this]] strip, which explains the strange interior designs in the ''Franchise/PrinceOfPersia'' series.
165	[[/folder]]
166
167	[[folder:Western Animation]]
168	* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' with an exchange regarding a parody of ''Series/KnightRider''... with a boat. It seems that every single time the criminals get on land, there's always a convenient canal for "Knight Boat" to continue the chase.
169	* Subtly lampshaded in ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManTheAnimatedSeries'' where a fight with the VillainOfTheWeek moves to a part of New York without any skyscrapers. Spidey realizes he can't quickly web-sling away like he could in every other episode that takes place in the downtown area.
170	[[/folder]]
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Context Main / BenevolentArchitecture