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"Don't argue with the logic of this, just play it!"
Games must be fun to play. Sure, we like pretty graphics and a good plot, but the fun's the main thing. If they're fun, a lot of incongruities can be forgiven. Go ahead, try to explain why the yellow circle loves dots and why the ghosts are out to get him, or why the frog needs to get across the road. You can't. Doesn't matter.
This was most evident of the very early days of video games, when technological constraints put a limit on the amount of depth or detail a game could have. Back then, designers made sure a game was fun first, then devised a reason later. Besides, all games are basically just a bunch of colliding rectangles anyway — why get too worked up about what the designers decided to cover up the rectangles with?
Of course, this also applies to non-video games. It's possible to create a Tabletop RPG that emulates a medieval swordfight down to the smallest detail — but not many people would find that fun ('real' swordfights were typically very brutal and incredibly brief, which is the antithesis of 'fun' in an RPG); thus, we have Hit Points.
A nonsensical premise, a bizarre story, weird gameplay mechanics — all of these things have no choice but to bow their head if the game is fun. This is the Rule Of Fun. See also the MST3K Mantra, the Rule Of Cool, and the Rule Of Funny.
The Rule Of Fun extends to game design, as well as game play: while being a blacksmith, or a tailor, or an engineer, may be fun, the details of the professions (such as the technical aspects of smithing, or the time investment reqired for tailoring) are decidedly not — therefore, the professions are usually loaded down with lots of neat 'fun' stuff, while conveniently skipping over the fact that there is signifigant effort involved in the actual production process.
However, the traditional enemy of "fun" - that being so-called "realism" - is really a macguffin, as it isn't realism that is the enemy of fun but dullness. A realistic but fast and flowing game will be fun, while a realistic but wooden and jarring game will be unfun - so the dichotomy isn't fun or realistic; it's simply fun or unfun.
Tropes that exist partially or totally due to the Rule Of Fun:
Examples:
Tabletop Games
- Some editions of the post-apocalyptic RPG Gamma World explicitly cite this rule as the major determining factor whether any given artifact survived the holocaust to be found and used by the player-characters.
- Warhammer 40000 mainly runs off of Rule Of Cool and Refuge In Audacity, but the overall effect follows the example of Rule Of Fun quite a bit, too. How can a Tyranid that big pop up behind enemy lines without warning? How can those Imperial Fists scouts move unseen through sparse foliage wearing neon yellow power armour? Why are there (optional) rules for using a Baneblade in smaller-than-Apocalypse games? Because it's cool and fun, that's why.
- The primary reason the most common dice roll in Dungeons And Dragons is an attack, rather than "DC 17 Profession (farmer) check."
- Tabletop wargames are often significant aversions of this rule, because they strive for "realism" (though there are endless arguments about what counts as "realism").
- One of the most dramatically complex wargames ever is The Campaign for North Africa
 . The map is 10 feet long. The game is supposed to take 1,200 hours with 10 players. Most of the time playing the game is spent doing paperwork about food, fuel, uniforms, ammo, water, truck convoys, prisoners of war (you gotta feed them!), and so on. The game rules specify that Italian forces use more water than the other nationalities because they eat a lot of pasta. The water for the Brits evaporates faster than the normal rule at the beginning of the game because of the design of the cans they used. Yes, you're supposed to track all of this by hand.
- An actual rule of Paranoia, mixed with the Rule Of Funny. (A lot of the time, the dice are really just suggestions).
Video Games
- The Mario series is essentially based off this trope. The original concept was that of a carpenter named Jumpman saving a beautiful lady from
King Kong Monkey Kong Donkey Kong by jumping over barrels. This was evidently decided to be too unrealistic, so the designers decided the carpenter would actually be a plumber called Mario, the beautiful lady would be a princess kidnapped by a giant fire-breathing turtle, and the plumber would become larger by eating mushrooms, shoot fireballs by collecting flowers, and harness the power of those famed aeronauts, tanuki, to fly. The later games in the series (particularly the Paper Mario subseries) have mercilessly lampshaded the series's bizarre origins.
- Shigeru Miyamoto has been known to attribute a fair bit of his success to this trope. People can willfully overlook anything if it's enough fun.
- Regarding Link's Crossbow Training, Miyamoto said that firing a crossbow rapid-fire like a machine gun is very unrealistic, but he quickly decided he didn't care as long as it was fun.
- Don't forget the Wario series (or the Donkey Kong series, or the Yoshi's Island series...) Pretty much all of them based on the same 'how fun but completely and utterly crazy can the designers make these games' formula.
- The Donkey Kong series is by far the more "realistic" one of all the Mario-verse game series, though, at least as far as Donkey Kong Country is concerned. The settings are very naturalistic and the baddies look like your average fantasy / sci-fi evil reptilian race, even if the series as a whole does angle toward the cartoony side of things, especially in DKC 3.
- It's important to keep in mind that the DKC games were made by Rareware under a license by Nintendo. Thus, Miyamoto probably didn't have a lot of input on the game design.
- The biggest modern example is the Katamari Damacy series. It's best not to think too hard about that premise, really. Just roll the ball already.
- Pokemon deserves further explanation, a la the Team Fortress 2 example. Why do these creatures exist? Because it's fun. Why is it possible to befriend the shit out of them, stuff them in a small ball, and get them to fight for you? Because it's fun. Why do they upload to a computer? Because it's fun. How does medication cure a Pokemon of having a horn shoved up its a- Because it's fun. Why do they gain levels? Because it's fun. Why do they turn into other, usually bigger, monsters that may or may not have any resemblance to their original form (Trapinch, for example)? Because it's fun. Why do they have a giant seventeen-sided game of Elemental Rock Paper Scissors? Because it's fun. Why do the various Olympus Mons that have created the world cheerfully do whatever you tell them after you've stuffed them into said ball? Because it's fun. Why does Luvdisc exist? (No, really, why?)
- The Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney series is based off a complete bastardization of any fair and just legal system, wherein a single line of false testimony from a barely credible witness can completely screw your client, but that's okay — more fun that way! Objection!
- In Space Channel 5, you play a TV reporter who's fighting off an alien invasion. The aliens haven't come to talk, though. They've come... to dance! Only by shaking your booty can you thwart the hordes of colorful rubbery aliens.
- In the popular flash game Insaniquarium you have to feed your fish. Because they poop money. Oh, and you'll need that money to upgrade a laser cannon to defeat some evil aliens. Naturally the aliens want to eat your money-pooping fish. Goes without saying, really.
- In the Nintendo DS game Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan, Japanese cheerleaders help people complete all kinds of tasks, from getting into a good college to fighting giant monsters to saving the world, by rooting them on to a selection of J-pop and J-rock hits.
- The Sonic The Hedgehog series is about a hedgehog with superpowers who saved small woodland animals from being turned into killer robots/the world from being taken over by an evil fat man with a robot fetish. Said hedgehog, with the help of some Green Rocks, can also apparently go Super Saiyan. At its peak, this series matched the popularity of Mario and Zelda.
- Super Smash Bros. is probably the distilled personification of this trope. Why are an electrically charged rodent, an Italian plumber, a speedy blue hedgehog and an elvish tunic-wearing hero duking it out with lightsabers on top of a spaceship? Because it's awesome!
- The intro to the original game contains an implication (that the game is basically a kid making his toys "fight") that you can either accept or ignore — whichever is more fun.
- The Melee opening refers to that too, except with small trophies.
- 1998's Grand Prix Legends was a classic example of a spectacularly non-fun game. On paper the idea of a driving game set in the 'sixties, with the promise of classic F1 cars and tracks, was tantalizing as it had never been done before. Unfortunately, the game was such a rigorous simulation that it was staggeringly difficult (even if you had a real driver's license) and virtually impossible to play competitively without hours and hours of practice. It was so tough that the paltry driver aids that were provided actually made it worse, since the only way to control the car was to shift manually and double de-clutch like a pro. It was even argued that before force feedback controllers came along the game was actually harder (if not as scary and dangerous) than the real thing.
- A lot of Assassins Creed is like this, especially the short distance between the major cities of the Holy Land. At some point having to ride across the vast landscapes would just get dull. The historical accuracy also tends to stop right around the point where the fun begins, such as Altair's signature spring-loaded hidden blade.
- In terms of real world logic the Animus, which recovers crystal-clear genetic memories of ancestors to the point where Desmond-as-Altair can act in ways that Altair never did makes absolutely no sense at all, but it works for plot purposes, making the Animus an example of Phlebotinum as well.
- The business with the hundreds of collectible flags being hidden in random places for no reason is also historically inaccurate.
- Tetris. Make the rectangles combine until they disappear. Then keep doing it until you lose. The reason? There are no reasons but that of attaining level 9.
- Level 19 in the 'hood
- Level 999 then Invisible Tetris in Tetris: The Grand Master 2 and 3.
- And now I must play it. Peace out.
- Dance Dance Revolution, in which the whole point of the game is to press the arrows at exactly the right time by dancing.
- Really, any Rhythm Game. I'm looking at you, Guitar Hero and Rock Band.
- Beatmania and Beatmania IIDX, despite their descriptions, are nothing like real DJ'ing. But who gives a crap? And then there's Pop'n Music, which doesn't even simulate an instrument at all.
- Freelancer. Just ignore the grossly warped scale (entire planets only a few times bigger than a little starfighter!), enjoy the exquisite artwork, and play some good Old School Dogfighting.
- Command And Conquer: Red Alert 2 had such a nonsensical premise, a bizarre story, weird gameplay mechanics, strange history, and implausable science that trying to think about it too hard will make your head hurt. So, don't think about it, and have (a lot of) fun.
- Red Alert 3 Continues along these lines as well
- Blast Corps. A damaged nuclear missile needs to take the most direct route to a safe demolitions site, but there are a bunch of cities blocking its path, so the player needs to destroy them all. Why do you get to choose which order to play the cities in? Why do you get a medal for destroying all the other buildings that weren't in the way? Why can't you fly the impervious mecha all over the place instead of having to use what amounts to a big pick-up truck for half the levels? And why can you spend all the time you feel like fiddling around with bonus levels, when the missile is always a few seconds away from crashing whenever you enter a mission critical city? And why isn't there anyone else to help you? Who cares, It's fun!
- Word Of God stated that the driver had a glass of fruit juice balanced on his dashboard and turning would knock it off and ruin his upholstery, which is why he couldn't turn. It was the director who said this, but he was obviously having a laugh at the fact that fans demanded an explanation.
- The Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune series allows you not only drive a car with horsepower in excess of 700 without it breaking down at all, but a 700 HP, full-tuned car has balanced handling. And this is without discussing the super-drifty, yet spinout-proof physics that make the game more accessible to beginners than, say, the Tokyo Xtreme Racer series.
- Team Fortress 2 may very well be the FPS example. Why is a minigun that weighs 150kg possible to carry, let alone fire? Because it's fun. Why is the rocket launcher semiautomatic? Because it's fun. Why does whacking a machine with a wrench cause it to grow gatling turrets? Because it's fun. Why does a paper mask make one identical to the face on the mask? Because it's fun. Why is an energy drink able to make someone invulnerable? Because it's fun. How does a sandwich heal bullet wounds? Because it's fun. Why is leaping over a sticky bomb, then detonating it, a valuable combat tactic? Because it's fun. In fact, the reason the game stopped being a realistic military shooter is Valve realized how preposterous most of the above was, retooled the game, and then got away with the rest.
- Backyard Sports. A baseball/soccer/football/whatever game with zany powerups, not to mention that you can play as a kid in a wheelchair, kids who wear glasses while playing, and a robot. How fun is that?
Western Animation
- Transformers is possibly the most Merchandise Driven franchise in the world, that exists and always existed pretty much solely to sell toys. But they're really good toys, so we have no problem with it!
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