Basic Trope: A town (usually in an RPG video game) has far fewer people than it should, based on its size and productivity.
- Straight: Bob goes to a town, revealed to have a population of 1000, but he sees and interacts with only 10 people.
- Exaggerated: Bob goes to a town, revealed to have a population of 6 million, but he sees and interacts with only one or two people.
- Downplayed: In a town said to hold 100, Bob sees and interacts with 50 people.
- Justified:
- Only a few people are allowed outside the town buildings.
- The Player Character only needs to visit the parts of the town that are relevant to the plot, and the plot-important areas of the town happen to be the most remote.
- Thanks to everyone in the town being multiple, there are only 10 people visible at any time, but every body holds an average of 100 different consciousnesses.
- The town was recently built by a group of settlers.
- The town's main source of income is the export of goods, so most locals are busy delivering products to another towns.
- It's 1:00 p.m.., most are at work.
- It's midnight, most are in bed.
- Inverted: Bob goes to a town, revealed to have a population of 10, and somehow has 1000 people to interact with.
- Subverted: Bob goes to a town, revealed to have a population of 1000, and 40 people appear, but then it turns out the rest were playing an elaborate prank on him.
- Double Subverted: But then you find out many of them are visitors.
- Parodied: A town claims to have 1000 residents, but only has 10... who attempt to disguise this via Paper Thin Disguises and various hats, running around pretending to be different individuals.
- Zig-Zagged: Some towns have the appropriate number of people, some don't.
- Averted: A town has a appropriate number of visible, interactive people based on its size.
- Enforced:
- "We can't afford to put in all these characters in the game! Only put in some of them."
- "The system can't handle rendering so many characters at once, Only put in some of them."
- Lampshaded: "THERE ARE A THOUSAND PEOPLE IN THIS TOWN! WHERE IS EVERYBODY?!"
- Invoked: By town ordinance, only 40 people are allowed to greet visitors.
- Exploited: Emperor Evulz takes over the town, defeating only the 40 people who appear, and then brags about defeating a town of 1000.
- Defied: By town ordinance, everyone has to greet visitors.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: ???
- Deconstructed: Everyone else in the town is an evil monster. The 40 people visible are bait.
- Reconstructed: When the hero slains the monsters and liberates the town, the word spreads and more people begins to move to the town.
- Played for Drama: The town's economy has crashed, and everyone left. They lie about the number of people in their town to make themselves feel better.
- Played for Horror: The town was attacked not too long ago and the few people seen around are the survivors.
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