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1* One of the biggest challenges in ''VideoGame/BomberCrew'' is having only 7 crewmen to man your 9 stations on the Lancaster bomber. While this may seem contrived, it is in fact accurate. The real life Lancaster really did only have a standard crew of 7 men for its 9 stations.
2* The Blood Elf male models in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' are perhaps the most realistically proportioned models in the entire game. Almost everyone's thoughts on the model for the Blood Elf Males? That they look very scrawny. (Females are obviously intended to be this way, they look like [[Series/{{Survivor}} Courtney Yates during China]].) Well of course humans are gonna look ultra-thin when you put them next to the bulky Orcs and Draenei and the chunky Tauren...
3* A very common gripe among some ''VideoGame/EVEOnline'' players is that the game's colourful background nebulae are massively over the top because the sky should just be black with twinkly bits, right? In reality, space is full of all sorts of spectacular features, it's just that these are too dimly lit for the human eye to see unaided, especially if you live in an urbanized area with lots of light pollution.
4* Many players in ''VideoGame/EliteDangerous'' complain that black holes are not realistic, as they don't look like the spectacular cosmic devouring objects depicted in old media. While certain features could be improved, for the most part they are quite right, as illustrated by [[https://www.reddit.com/r/EliteDangerous/comments/nzpkl7/common_black_hole_misconceptions_elite_did_black/ this topic]].
5* On most hand grenades, pulling the pin is not what makes them go boom; the pin is just a final safety catch for the lever, which when released sets off the time-delayed detonator. Also, trying to [[PinPullingTeeth pull the pin with your teeth]] is usually a good way to break a tooth. You cannot put the pin back in a grenade (or put in a replacement) if the lever (the part the pin was holding in the first place) has already been released. Even if you try to replace the handle, the fuse has started. If the fuse hasn't started, if the lever hasn’t moved, you might be able to make the grenade 'safe' again by putting the pin back. But don't risk your life on it. Regarding modern grenades, American and other NATO military instructors have drilled recruits to hold the grenade with the thumb of the throwing hand over the "spoon" (detonator lever), preventing the lever from releasing until the grenade is thrown and allowing pin reinsertion if the combat situation changes. In photo or video footage, this makes the action of the lever non-obvious, leading to the misconception that pulling the pin by itself is what makes the grenade go boom. "Cooking" grenades has also been discouraged, promoting instead alternative practices of throwing in a higher arc or "banking" off of a hard object for a longer delay.
6** Notable in First Person Shooters where holding a grenade too long will result in the player blowing themselves up or the grenade exploding as soon as it leaves the player's hand. Apparently, FPS heroes don't know how to handle grenades properly. May be justified in that in FPS games, the hero uses an unsafe (but sometimes effective) practice of "cooking" the grenade. This is explicitly how grenades work in ''VideoGame/{{Killzone}} 2''. There's even a series of lights that tells you how long before you overcook, so to speak.
7** This is because, in addition to the tense nature of combat fouling up a person's perception of the passage of time, grenade fuses are not precise timing mechanisms, and the delay between releasing the detonator lever and the actual explosion can vary by as much as 2-3 seconds from one grenade to the next, even if both grenades are the exact same model.
8*** A related matter in most games that actively encourage cooking grenades, such as ''VideoGame/ReturnToCastleWolfenstein'', is that they will invariably give the grenades a three-second fuse. Ignoring the variance issue above, the standard time on a modern grenade's fuse is 5 seconds, but that doesn't fit very well with the love affair the video game industry has with the RuleOfThree.
9** One game that averts this is ''VideoGame/FarCry3''. When your character pulls the pin, he allows the spoon to fly off at the same time if he holds onto it. Of course, you still need to gain the ability to cook the grenade before the game fully catches up with what's going on there, but it's a nice touch.
10** ''VideoGame/AmericasArmy 3'' requires you to push a separate button to release the spoon and start cooking the grenade. Unless you do that, you can hold the grenade with the pin out as long as you want.
11** The above also applies to ''VideoGame/RedOrchestra 2'' and its expansion Rising Storm.
12** ''VideoGame/BallisticWeapons'' has your character put the pin back into a grenade when switching from it to another weapon, and like the above, you have to press a different key to cook the grenade.
13** This is invoked in one of the self-kill messages in ''VideoGame/{{Quake}}'': If you blow yourself up with a grenade launcher, it will say "Player tried to put the pin back in".
14** Grenades were invented in China while Europe was in the Dark Ages and saw action in Europe before the American Revolution, making them OlderThanPrint. It is rare that a game set in those times which even acknowledges the existence of these weapons, ''VideoGame/TotalWarShogun2'' and ''VideoGame/MountAndBlade'' being exceptions.
15* A character designer for ''VideoGame/GodOfWar'' details his encounters with this trope in some making-of bonus material, as the rest of the dev team would say authentic Ancient Greek costumes and armor were "not Greek enough," and were only satisfied with [[TheThemeParkVersion the pop-culture versions]] of Ancient Greek garb. The devs realized that the general public was unlikely to have researched ancient Greek fashion, thus becoming a minor case of PanderingToTheBase.
16* 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 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 synthesized first in the XX century!
17** It should also be noted that the Byzantines never referred to themselves as such; the empire was known simply as the Roman Empire or the Empire of the Romans for the entirety of its existence, and its inhabitants called themselves Romaioi. It first became known as Byzantium over a hundred years after its collapse thanks to a German historian called Hieronymus Wolf, and even then, the name wasn't widely used in the Western world until the mid-19th century. In the Islamic and Slavic world, the line between "Byzantine" and "Roman" was even blurrier. However, because having a Western Roman Empire and an Eastern Roman Empire in the same game would get confusing, they're almost always referred to as Rome and Byzantium, respectively.
18** Occasionally, people assume that the empire's combination of Latin and Greek is a byproduct of the writers mixing up ancient Greece and ancient Rome a la AncientGrome, but that's not the case; Greek was the predominant language in the area even before the decline of western Rome, but various emperors (most notably Diocletian and Justinian) attempted to revive Latin, so there really was a mixture. Constantinople was also a major trade center in the Mediterranean, so one could realistically expect to hear almost any language of the Middle Ages being spoken there at some point.
19* On the forums of the ''America's Army'' game, a game created by the U.S. Army, people often complain that certain aspects about the game are less realistic than other games. The actual case is inevitably that ''America's Army'' is the first game to get that particular aspect right and the people aren't used to that.
20** Common examples of what uninformed posters complain about are what weapons the Army uses (specifically the lack of [[GoodGunsBadGuns expected weapon]]), 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]].
21** On the subject of the M16, most people would express absolute disbelief at any report or video that the M4/M16 can indeed take quite a bit of abuse like sand and dust due to the ingrained belief that the tiniest bit of debris will jam it. It ''was'' less reliable compared to the AK-47/Type 56 -- but what isn't? The infamy is inherited from the early versions used in UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar: due to machinations with the [[ObviousBeta hasty release]] and logistics they failed soldiers who weren't taught or equipped to properly maintain them. The manufacturer worked out kinks, but the reputation remains soiled. Hence the "GoodGunsBadGuns" ProductPlacement campaign.
22* Later ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'' games are hit with a form of this as well. The most notable example relates to the weapons the games classify as light machine guns: reloading the belt-fed ones takes the pattern of first pulling back the gun's charging handle, then replacing the ammo box as normal. Since this is the exact opposite pattern from every other type of gun in the game, and [[OneBulletClips does not change to account for whether the previous belt still had bullets in it]] like the others usually do, a lot of people seem to get the idea that the machine guns in these games are reloaded "incorrectly", and other developers go out of their way to meet those expectations - even the guys replacing the original developers for ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare 3''. In reality, every belt-fed gun in ''Call of Duty'' [[BottomlessMagazines that actually requires reloading]] is an open-bolt design - for most of the ones featured in the series, it would be physically ''impossible'' to insert the first round of a new belt if the bolt remained closed after going through an ammo belt.[[note]]That said, it varies depending on the gun - the M240 in ''Modern Warfare 2'', for instance, can be cocked either before or after inserting a new belt. For the RPD from ''[=MW1=]'' and ''2'', it actually ''does'' need to be cocked after inserting the belt like the above types insist; notably, in the Remastered version of ''Call of Duty 4'', the M249 and RPD had their reload animations reversed because they respectively can and need to be cocked after inserting the belt, but the M60 - which needs the action clear before cocking it - had its animation untouched.[[/note]] It's a sad truth that ''Call of Duty'' legitimately gets so many things wrong that, on the occasions like this where they actually get it right, [[CassandraTruth everyone believes it's a mistake anyway]][[note]]For the record, the remaster to ''Modern Warfare'' would reverse the bolt-pulling animation for most of the Light Machine Guns, and later games in the series flip-flop between the two possible options[[/note]].
23** Speaking of ''Call of Duty'', there is one mission in ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOpsII'' wherein you get to pilot a fighter aircraft which has the ability to land and take off vertically, right in the middle of a street intersection, with no runways needed. This part of the campaign was heavily featured in the game's trailers, and some of the viewers were surprisingly extremely vocal about it, saying it was "unrealistic", or that Activision just made it up because the game is set in the future and/or just to make the game look cool. They probably haven't seen or heard yet of the [[https://www.f35.com/about/variants/f35b/ F-35B Lightning II]], which was a result of the "Joint Strike Fighter" program. Put simply, the F-35 is a fighter plane that was designed to have [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VTOL/ the ability to take off]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STOVL/ and land vertically]] as its main feature. Said aircraft was designed & has existed for years now and has passed various extensive testing, but was only just declared 'combat ready' a few years after the game released. It's also a no-brainer that the VTOL fighter aircraft in ''Black Ops II'' was heavily inspired by the F-35.
24** Likewise for the following ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyGhosts'', at least one reviewer stated that being able to do 40+ mph in a tank was "[[http://www.godisageek.com/2013/11/call-duty-ghosts-review/ probably currently impossible]]". In reality, modern main battle tanks have been able to reach speeds as fast as this for some time now (the Abrams in particular having entered service in 1980, a full 33 years before ''Ghosts'' came out); tanks go slowly as we're used to mostly to ensure the safety of the crew and that the tank itself can actually get to where it's going without breaking down.
25** Perhaps the biggest example of this in the franchise is ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyWWII''. The biggest complaint of being able to play as a black woman for the Nazis is [[AccidentallyCorrectWriting actually only half-wrong]]; a lack of black people in Germany at the time meant the Nazis, while obviously still discriminating against them, passed no racial policies specifically against them joining the Wehrmacht, so they'd accept the men (and only the men) if they signed on. This likewise applies to some of the weapons they added in later on in the game's life; bar the likely-a-hoax SDK, no weapon is inherently fictional, though they are prototypes or failed projects or just weapons of '''extreme''' obscurity[[note]]perhaps the most obscure being the [[http://www.imfdb.org/wiki/Call_of_Duty:_WWII#Wimmersperg_Spz Wimmersperg]], a STG/Sten hybrid that never even made it past the design phase[[/note]].
26* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' pulls an interesting version of this - only [[SuperSoldier Spartans]] can go GunsAkimbo[[note]]Well, they're probably the only ones able to do so ''practically''...[[/note]]. Lampshaded by a [[SpaceMarine UNSC marine]]:
27-->"I've seen a Spartan use two [=SMGs=] at once, tearing the crap out of the little ones; sending the big ones down in bloody heaps. But I guess that's what ya gotta be to pull it off: an action-movie hero or a seven-foot-tall walking tank..."
28** This can be seen in the original version of ''VideoGame/Halo2'', 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 Arbiter's shield NoSell the few rounds that do hit.
29* People have complained that Vanille's Australian accent in the dub of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'' is fake sounding and doesn't sound Australian. Her voice actress, Georgia Van Cuylenburg, is actually ''from Australia''. To Australians, though, she sounds like a surfer chick.
30* Similarly, Leliana from ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' gets flak because her Orlesian accent sounds fake (Orlais transparently being Dragon Age's version of France). Her voice actress is, of course, French. Marjolanne, another character with an Orlesian accent, actually is voiced by Creator/KathSoucie, who is ''not'' French.
31* To make the skin textures for the [[OurZombiesAreDifferent Infected]] in ''VideoGame/Left4Dead'', the Creator/{{Valve|Software}} team compiled a book of gruesome skin disorders. Then they decided it was just so disgusting and over-the-top that they never looked at it again, and used things like fibreglass and cardboard instead.
32* Wolfire Games did a [[http://blog.wolfire.com/2009/06/inspiration-from-nature-in-sierra-city/ blog post]] about research they did for a sequel to ''VideoGame/{{Lugaru}}''. Many of the picture subtitles fit this trope.
33* The developer commentary to ''VideoGame/{{Portal 2}}'' reveals that an important detail of the FinalBoss fight very nearly fell victim to this. [[spoiler:Playtesters expected portals fired by the Handheld Portal Device to appear instantly and were confused when an obvious ChekhovsGun failed to go off as expected due to [[ShownTheirWork speed-of-light lag]]. After toying with ignoring the speed of light, Valve's final solution was to constrain the player's view so they cannot easily look away from the intended target, and once the final shot is fired, to lock the game into cutscene mode. It works perfectly.]]
34* 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, for a long time whether a wolf hikes its leg or not was believed to be dependent on the wolf's position in the pack hierarchy, until the notion of the pack hierarchy was debunked. Most wolves, regardless of sex, hike their leg when urinating to scent mark — it allows them to get their scent higher up. Some female dogs perform the same behaviour.
35* 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. Squamates (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.
36* In ''VideoGame/DeadIsland'', the Australian character Purna is voiced by an Australian actress, Peta Johnson. Despite this, one of the most frequent criticisms of Johnson's performance is that her accent sounds fake.
37* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'':
38** Most gamers playing ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'' don't know that the design of the goofy-looking [[http://www.zeldawiki.org/Loftwing Loftwings]] the citizens of Skyloft ride on are based on real (though smaller in reality, but still quite large) birds called [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoebill Shoebill storks]], native to Sudan.
39** Many fans believe that Sheik's body type in the original ''Ocarina of Time'' (not the remake, which changed it a bit) is too masculine looking for her to only be a SweetPollyOliver. However, one fan-site did an analysis on this issue and came to the conclusion that Sheik's physique ''is'' plausible. Many athletic women have that shape.
40* Some younger ''VideoGame/GuitarHero'' fans thought [[Music/GunsNRoses Slash]] was a [[http://web.archive.org/web/20120225025636/http://i.joystiq.com/2012/02/22/slash-looks-back-at-working-with-activision-on-guitar-hero fictional person created just for the game.]]
41* Racing games with licensed cars very often feature stereotypical handling and performance. Whenever a Porsche shows up in a racing game you can bet it will oversteer and be hard to control, even though you are driving a modern Porsche with four wheel drive and 45-55 weight balance, and not a '76 Turbo. The Boxster and Cayman will be very light and have a low top speed because they kind of look like something Lotus would make, even though the only reason the real life Cayman does not outperform the equivalent 911 is because its [[ExecutiveMeddling drivetrain was intentionally downgraded]]; a tuned Cayman should blow the doors off a comparable 911. Lotus itself always ends up providing the slowest car with the best acceleration and handling, even if said car is the Esprit V8 which is pretty much a mid engined muscle car in real life. The perennial Aston Martin in ''VideoGame/NeedForSpeed'' always handles like a boat, even the [=DBR9=] version which is a race spec build and should handle like any other [=GT1=] formula sportscar. Same goes for the BMW [=M3R=] and for the same reason. The Nissan GTR is often represented as a drift car with a low top speed, probably because it looks like an upgraded Skyline. And whenever you see a modern four door car in the lineup, usually the Audi [=RS4=] or a Maserati, it will have the handling and ramming power of a semi.
42* ''VideoGame/LANoire''
43** Some felt that Cole Phelps being charged for adultery as a crime was over the top, when in reality, adultery was indeed a crime in 1940's America.
44** People felt that police characters constantly making references to sending people to "the gas chamber" felt over the top, especially when Cole, a WWII veteran, threatens [[UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust a Jewish suspect]] with it. In reality, the gas chamber was the sole method of execution used in California at the time, meaning those references were "just" allusions to the death penalty.
45** The DLC Case "Nicholson Electroplating" opens with a massive explosion that levels six blocks and produces a mushroom cloud that Herchel mistakes for a ''nuclear blast''. Several players thought this was cartoonishly exaggerated. The case is based on a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O%27Connor_Plating_Works_disaster real-life disaster]] that happened that same year in Los Angeles.
46* Anivia in ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'' and Articuno of ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' are in fact based off of the Simurgh, Persian bird of mythology. Yes, the cryophoenix 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).
47* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'' averts many common video game tropes and expectations.
48** [[SoftWater Falling in water won't damage you whatsoever]]: Averted. Falling into water from great heights is damaging.
49** Tires deflate after they are shot: Averted partially. Most video games have sparks fly out as the tire disappears after it's shot. In this game the tire will leave skid marks until ultimately falling off leaving just the rim. ''VideoGame/SaintsRowTheThird'' does this too.
50** Propane tanks [[MadeOfExplodium explode when shooting them]]: Averted partially. When shot the tank will start expelling flame and gas out the hole. Shoot it enough times and it will explode.
51* ''VideoGame/WorldOfTanks'' has had its fair share of complaints about certain aspects of gameplay.
52** One is from the people who play the higher tier Russian medium tanks from the T-44 to the T-62. Many of those complaints come from the easily destroyed ammo rack that these vehicles have, and many have called for changes or buffs. Many of these cries have gone unanswered for one reason alone: the ammunition is stored in ''exactly'' the same position on the real tanks.
53** Many of these players also complain about how "hard" it is to light a Sherman on fire or detonate its ammo, citing its grim nickname of "The Ronson" for "lightning up the first time, every time". This nickname was made by the British who haphazardly stuffed ammo into their lend-lease tanks wherever they could, then [[NeverMyFault blamed the tank when the haphazardly-stuffed ammo blew]]. When used properly, the M4 Sherman, especially the later versions, were a fast, powerful, well-armed tank with barely any flaws[[note]]The Sherman ''did'' have several flaws, most notably a lighter-than-typical main gun that struggled to penetrate the front armor of Panzer and Tiger tanks. However, they were absolutely devastating for another reason entirely: ''there were lots of them''. The Panzers and Tigers were ultimately defeated by relying on their superior weapons and ignoring the fact that those weapons could only fire so fast, so many times before they were overwhelmed by the Shermans[[/note]].
54** Unfortunately, the game typically averts this in other areas, such as how much of a monster the Tiger was to tanks such as the Sherman and T-34, while the matchmaking rarely puts either of these tanks in the same match as a Tiger, but instead drops their higher tier brethren (Sherman Jumbo, Easy-8, or T-34-85) in the fight instead. But in the rare cases that Tigers ''do'' face Shermans or T-34s, the results are... historically accurate.
55** 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 prototype weapons that were rarely if ever used instead of common and real weapons.
56** Speaking of the Tiger, one infamous problem is its tendency to light on fire. Because its "Engine" hitbox extends to the front, since the engine hitbox also includes the ''transmission'' for some reason.
57** Some players have apparently taken an issue to the concept of "angling" (turning a tank oblique to incoming fire so it has to go through more armor to penetrate) as just a game gimmick, mostly based on modern sensibilities of tank combat. [[http://forum.worldoftanks.com/index.php?/topic/656153-tank-angling-was-a-thing/ This thread]] on the [=WoT=] forums posts a rebuttal that features documentation from German [=WWII=] tank manuals recommending the practice, and a reminder that tank combat in those days was a lot slower because everything had to be done manually, so taking the time to turn 45 degrees wasn't so unreasonable. It might not have been a universal practice (the video notes that they couldn't find any references to angling in [=US=] manuals), and it isn't nearly as relevant now, but it is grounded in reality.
58* On the subject of tanks, many FPS players familiar with the M1 Abrams tank only through games like ''VideoGame/{{Battlefield}} 2'' are surprised to hear that game versions of the tank tend to be not quite as tough as the real thing for balance purposes. In a video game, the M1 will only be as durable as any other tank - that is, only enough to survive maybe two shots from an enemy tank, or instantly killed by a block of C4 placed by a sneaky or lucky enemy player. In the real world, the [[{{The Juggernaut}} Abrams]] is [[NighInvulnerability nearly indestructible]], to the point that one once survived both an ambush by four T-72's, and repeated shots from other Abrams tanks (since they weren't able to pull it out of the sand it was bogged down in) which succeeded only in setting off its ammo - which proceeded to get vented out of the tank through blowout panels. when a tractor eventually came around to pull it out, the tank was given a replacement turret and was back in action in no time.
59** A similar example is Lampshaded in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots''. When talking about Snake's fight against an M1 Abrams from ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid 1''; Otacon points out how unlikely that was to have worked, and that only someone as epic as Snake would even think of using grenades to fight a tank. Notably, Snake doesn't even ''try'' to fight it with conventional weapons: he instead throws grenades into the interior and kills the operators. And that doesn't even destroy the tank: when you pass through the area later, the tank is gone, with the implication that it just ''drove away''. Later games in the series completely avoid tank battles.
60* Some players of ''VideoGame/FlappyBird'' accused the game of having unfair physics, leading to its significant difficulty. Turns out the bird has a completely realistic fallspeed, and those players were used to games where gravity is altered for the convenience of the player. What actually makes the game difficult is that a single tap launches you upwards quite a bit, so it's not possible to make small adjustments and fine tune your movement - if you miss, there's essentially nothing you can do.
61* There were a few complaints that Lucrezia Borgia from ''Videogame/AssassinsCreedBrotherhood'' has obvious dark roots to her otherwise blond hair and dark eyebrows since the game is set in the 1500s. However the real Lucrezia actually did dye her hair using a combination of lye and lemon juice.
62** ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedII'' was also absolutely rife with complaints about the atrocious, exaggerated Italian accents. Many of the game's voice actors actually are Italian and the ones who weren't were coached by Italians to ensure authenticity (and unlike other North American games that may have only English, French, and Spanish voice options, there's an Italian voice language option). The accent coaches are even credited along with the voice actors.
63* The ease a player can find some passwords for terminals is criticized in the ''VideoGame/DeusEx'' series, but as people who work in IT can tell you, some people really are that careless with their passwords.
64* ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIX'' had the Zere Rocks subplot, in which a single sculptor built a stone replica of his hometown over several decades, with no help from anyone. If that sounds pretty much impossible, then you've clearly never heard of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coral_Castle the Coral Castle]] before.
65* This is lampshaded on several occasions in ''VideoGame/WhereInTimeIsCarmenSandiego1997'':
66** If you click on a viking helmet, Rock Solid will [[HornyVikings mention Vikings never actually wore those]], and a nearby Norseman will scoff at the idea of horned helmets.
67** A puzzle in 16th century Mexico requires you to use a bird whistle to call the correct bird over. Use the one that emulates the Bald Eagle, and rather than a screeching noise, it actually plays a realistic eagle chirp. Anne Tikwitee then says "WHOA! For a big bird, that is a very small call!"
68* In ''VideoGame/StarTrekOnline'', Romulan ships are outfitted with Artificial Singularity Cores (man-made black holes that give their ships power) and when the ships are destroyed, the black holes go critical, pull the ship in, then explode. Many fans think that the exploding part is just there because it looks cool, but there are actually scientific studies that suggest real black holes do do this.[[note]] Seriously; look up "Hawking Radiation"- under certain circumstances black holes are expected to radiate and (slowly) shrink, and if it is small enough, it goes up in one final burst of radiation.[[/note]]
69* People have complained that Tracer from ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'' has an obnoxiously fake Cockney accent that was clearly done by an American. Naturally, her voice actress Cara Theobold is actually from England.
70** Though this is misguided as Cara is from Yorkshire. Resolutely nothing to do with cockneys.
71** Widowmaker's voice actress has gained similar criticism for having such an obviously fake French accent, especially in the ''Alive'' short. Chloe Hollings is a native French speaker.
72** Similarly, Mei has garnered criticism for her stilted English, especially following the release of ''Rise and Shine''. Her voice actress, Zhang Yu, is a native Chinese speaker, and that's what her English sounds like.
73** Ana was hit with similar complaints. Someone from Blizzard pointed out that not only is her voice actress Egyptian, she recorded her lines IN Egypt.
74* For years, many gamers resisted the idea of a FirstPersonShooter set in UsefulNotes/WorldWarI because it was thought that it would be nothing but trench fighting with slow-firing rifles. Naturally, when ''VideoGame/{{Battlefield 1}}'' was announced, displaying open ground and air combat with tanks, planes, zeppelins, bombs, fully-automatic weapons, and melee weapons, many were shocked. Additionally, there were many that were surprised to learn that there were both black people and women who fought in the war, as it was generally assumed that the war consisted entirely of white men.
75** On the other hand, assault rifles were really first used in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, and the majority of women who fought in World War I were medics or worked in factories to make material, ''not'' frontline soldiers. Black soldiers were also a bit rarer in World War I than in World War II, [[TruthInTelevision but Sikh soldiers did fight in World War I, and women from Russia did occasionally serve as snipers]]. Additionally, tanks of the era were highly experimental and somewhat unreliable (due to being a completely new concept) and again didn't really take off until WWII. Dogfighting as we know it also wasn't common in World War I. Planes entered into popular use towards the end of the war, and were mostly used for scouting. The game gets some things right but others wrong, which is [[AcceptableBreaksFromReality acceptable for the sake of gameplay]].
76** Gamers still resistant to the idea of female protagonists in WWII games [[OlderThanTheyThink should remember]] the 2000 shooter ''VideoGame/MedalOfHonorUnderground'' which had you playing as a female French [=OSS=][[note]](the forerunner for the modern [=CIA=])[[/note]] agent named Manon Batiste, a character based on a ''real'' French woman named Hélène Deschamps Adams who was a historical consultant for the game and did covert work for the [=OSS=] in WWII. Though female soldiers might be considered a bit of a historical stretch, female ''spies'' have been a celebrated part of human warfare since sharpened pieces of bronze were the height of military technology.
77** WWI also had a concept that is almost unheard of outside of history classes - large, sprawling underground bunkers, comparable to smaller cities, where thousands of people could spend time in. Indeed, entire movies could be made about life inside such bunkers when not fighting on the ground; sometimes they would even dig from one bunker to another one for the sake of invasion or (literally) undermining the opposition above-ground.
78* ''VideoGame/MassEffectAndromeda'': a common criticism of Dr. Suvi Anwar is her thick Scottish accent sounding "fake", even though her VA, Katy Townsend, was born and raised in Glasgow.
79* Many ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonAWonderfulLife'' fans have complained that Romana is still alive in the end [[spoiler:despite the fact you died young]]. Many people live until their 90s and a few live into their 100s.
80* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'':
81** The Pokémon Mudsdale in ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon'' is seen as being quite large (eight feet tall) and, since it was introduced before its pre-evolution, was seen as a bizarre choice. Actually, it is based off of a Clydesdale horse - which is around the same size.
82** From the same game, the game's Pokémon League is an ice-covered mountain. Being that it is based off of Hawai'i, a lot of people felt this was bizarre, except that it was actually based off of Mauna Kea - which has seasonal glaciation.
83** The trailers for ''VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield'' were met with much outcry from fans about the graphical quality. One common complaint was that Wingull doesn’t flap its wings during its flying animation. Many fans perceived this as a sign of laziness on the developers’ part, but this sort of gliding movement is not only described in Wingull’s previous Pokédex entries, but seen in real-life seagulls, who have been known to stay in the air for hours while barely moving their wings.
84* People sometimes complain that the screechy noises Donkey Kong makes in VideoGame/MarioKart64 and various other N64-era Mario games, are not realistic gorilla sounds. In reality, Gorillas make quite a variety of sounds, including quite high-pitched ones, in addition to the stereotypical heavy grunting "ooga-booga" type noises.
85* When any videogame features a shotgun that attempts to downplay, subvert, or avert ShortRangeShotgun, expect at least one person complaining about how powerful they are on a message board to profess [[SarcasmMode expert firearm knowledge]] and claim that "real" shotguns don't have that much range.
86* Many, many ''[[VideoGame/{{Payday2}} PAYDAY 2]]'' players have endlessly mocked the very, '''very''' selective perception of in-game guards. One of these things is the fact that security guards will immediately call the police, resulting in an InstantEmergencyResponse of a few hundred cops, if they spot a loot bag (that is to say, valuables loaded in a gym bag) anywhere in a level; see [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snk9CqiFvvo&t=75s here]] for a fan mocking that aspect of the game. But thanks to UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror, this behavior of calling the cops when spotting an unattended gym bag in a place it shouldn't be is actually the most realistic thing that happens in ''Payday 2'', believe it or not.
87* Bethesda, when designing ''VideoGame/Fallout3'' allegedly did research into what the states should look AfterTheEnd and data suggested that it should look closer to Pripyat with nature reclaiming the ruined cities than the [[RealIsBrown brown barren wasteland]] the game was set in. Especially in the timeframe the game is set in. Supposedly they decided to take some liberties just because people expect an AfterTheEnd (Especially after the first two games) setting to look like a desolate wasteland.
88* ''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.
89* 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 acceleration due to 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''.
90* One of the features that DICE introduced when making the Frostbite engine that powers their ''Battlefield'' series since ''[[VideoGame/BattlefieldBadCompany Battlefield Bad Company]]'' is making really loud sounds, like explosions, cut out relatively quieter sounds, like footsteps, a technique they called HDR Audio. People mistook this for a glitch in the audio mixing part of the engine being unable to keep up.
91* Some players of the VideoGame/SherlockHolmes video games made by Frogwares have complained about Holmes taking measurements in imperial rather than metric units, believing it to be an oversight by American developers. However, the UK didn't adopt the metric system until the 1960s, the best part of a century after the games are set, so Holmes absolutely would have used imperial measurements. (Also, Frogwares is a Ukrainian developer, so it's fair to say that if anything the devs probably understand metric much better than either Americans ''or'' Brits - the latter of whom still use imperial in certain circumstances, unlike most of mainland Europe.)
92* Various games in the ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil'' franchise have characters be cured of their infections of the T or G viruses by being given a vaccine, prompting a ''lot'' of people to call foul since "vaccines don't cure, but prevent". The thing is, vaccines that treat existing diseases actually exist and are called "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Therapeutic_vaccines Therapeutic Vaccines]]", which in a nutshell work by activating the immune system and triggering it to fight the disease. The ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil3Remake'' even includes a file explaining that this is how the T-Virus vaccine works, in that it contains an antigen that activates the immune system and an adjuvant that amplifies the immune system to the point that it can combat an existing infection ''and'' produce the antibodies necessary to render one immune to it later.
93* 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 near-decade 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 the wrong expectations on what a 23-year-old ''should'' look like.
94* When [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/UsefulNotes/GraphicsRendering real-time ray tracing]] was starting to become a reality, a lot of what was showcased was nearly mirror-like reflections off certain surfaces. This got so abused to the point where some people thought that ''anything'' with a mirror-like reflection that wasn't actually a mirror, such as looking at glass or surfaces of calm bodies of water, was this effect overblown. Though there are plenty of photographs that show that near mirror-like reflections are possible off something that isn't deliberately a mirror.
95* When ''VideoGame/TheSims4'' launched with Teens that were the same height as Young Adults, Adults, and Elders, [[TheyChangedItSoItSucks the fanbase was outraged]] because they were [[ShortTeensTallAdults 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 that consideration aside, in real life it's far from uncommon for a person to reach their full adult height by their mid-teens.
96* The recent controversies around the historical accuracy of [[ActionGirl female action heroines in World War II games]] like ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyWWII'' and ''VideoGame/BattlefieldV'' ignores that earlier video games featured female Nazi hunters like [[VideoGame/MedalOfHonor Manon Batiste]] and [[VideoGame/VelvetAssassin Violette Summer]], who ''were based on real people''. Manon's character is based on a French Resistance and OSS agent named [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%A9l%C3%A8ne_Deschamps_Adams Helene Deschamps Adamas]], while Violette is based on [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violette_Szabo Violette Szabo]], a British-French SOE agent who participated in missions in France but was sadly taken by the Nazis after a mission went wrong and she was executed in captivity.
97* In the recent update of early access ghost hunting game ''{{VideoGame/Phasmophobia}}'', the developers changed the spirit box to function more like how real-world spirit boxes function (scanning lots of radio frequencies and grabbing snippets of audio together) using the voices of streamers and content creators associated with the game to get the snippets. This caused a wave of forum posts on steam claiming the new spirit box was "immersion breaking".

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