History RealLife / TropesNToS

* ObfuscatedInterface: Many RealLife computers (other than Windows) [[UnreadablyFastText display a couple of screens full of text too fast to be actually read when booted]].
** Linux installations typically show much more. In the old days, starting was so slow that the text could be read and technically oriented users often actually understood it. Watching someone use VI or Emacs can also be quite confusing, and using the text console can often lead to a screen full of confusing text.
** Mac OSX does that too, if asked politely. The point is that in case the machine hangs, the last few lines can give some clue about the problem.
** Also, the user base for these computers tends to consist of people who specifically ''dislike'' having information hidden from them, and who at least like the idea that they can customize things. Since the text is being generated anyway (for log files), echoing it to the screen is the most direct and modifiable form of display.
** It's also helpful when the computer stops for no apparent reason. By showing the last thing the computer did, and the more knowledgeable will know the next thing it was going to do, one can determine the area where the problem occurred.

* OfficialPresidentialTransport: One of the perks for players who reach the National Leader class. Most servers have one for their top player.
* OldMediaPlayingCatchUp:
* UsefulNotes/{{Bitcoin}}: Its assimilation as truly legal, Government-regulated currency is a slowly-going process because of the lack of proper technology and channels. The users' anonymity is particularly hard to track and even harder to enact accountability over.
* Creator/{{NBC}}: Olympic broadcasts are a textbook example. They are often Live but Delayed by many, many hours (around 16 hours for the Beijing opening ceremonies) until the American prime time when the most advertising dollars are. NBC recently persuaded the International Olympic Committee to schedule more popular events live at times more acceptable to Americans to avoid spoilers, but even then the east-west time zone delay means that half the country is spoiled thanks to the news. Finding other methods to watch the Olympics is becoming increasingly common among fans, such as watching the Olympics from other countries or from sponsored websites.
* ''WebVideo/TrashTaste'': Usually brought up when {{convers|ed}}ing the evolution of the Japanese popular culture industry. Episode 13's discussion on anime/manga media piracy suggests this is what is really at play; that traditional business metrics of a show/series' success (i.e., [[MerchandiseDriven DVD sales and merchandising]]) are slowly becoming less accurate. Hence, pirate streaming might indeed cause the spread and awareness of a show, but it may not automatically translate to sales (which is what matters). However, such a divide causes a massive wedge between anime production companies, legal streamers (like paywalled {{Creator/Netflix}} and {{Website/Crunchyroll}}), and international anime communities. In turn, it is precisely companies who try to provide accessible yet legal alternatives online (such as Kadokawa through Bookwalker--for manga at least) who are managing to bridge this gap.

* OnlyUsefulAsToiletPaper:
** The transience of news is recognised in the proverb: "Today's headline is tomorrow's fish&chip wrapper."
** Subverted by Creator/MarvelComics, who actually printed a short ''ComicBook/SpiderMan''/''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk'' story on novelty toilet paper in 1979. Many years later, for AprilFoolsDay 2023, they republished it as a {{webcomic}}.
** Rudolph Louis (music critic for the ''Muchner Neuste Nachrichten'') wrote an uncomplimentary review of one of composer Max Reger's works. Reger wrote to Louis:
--->I am sitting in the smallest room of my house. I have your review before me. In a moment it will be behind me.
** Count [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dmitry_Khvostov Dmitry Khvostov]] self-published his poetry because publishing houses refused to. There's a Russian story claiming [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Krylov Ivan Krylov]] was once in dire need of ''something'' for wiping purposes while outside, and was "saved" when the count drove past with some copies of his latest book.
** During WWI in Tanzania, the isolated German colonial army used obsolete documents (maps, letters, etc.) as toilet paper. An eccentric British intelligence officer dug up their latrines to retrieve a wide variety of useful, if outdated, information.
** Supposedly, Creator/JRRTolkien was once given a gift by a fan of a cup with the writing on the One Ring inscribed on it. He didn't understand why anyone would [[MisaimedFandom give him something based on such an evil artifact]], so he decided to just use it as an ashtray.
** Following the infamous "Pine Tar" incident involving George Brett using too much of the stuff on a bat, and Major League Baseball saying the "spirit" of the rule was not broken, then New York Yankees manager Billy Martin quipped "The Major League Baseball rulebook is only useful if you go out deer hunting and run out of toilet paper!"

* OurVampiresAreDifferent: Parasitic insects (mosquitoes, blackflies, etc) and worms ([[InstantLeechJustFallInWater leeches]]), mostly. And certain bats, eels, and birds.

* PocketRocketLauncher:
** The Gyrojet invented jointly by Robert Mainhardt and Art Biehl (thus the name of the company being MBA: it stands for "Mainhardt, Biehl, Associates") in 1965 is a rocket-firing pistol. It got to a carbine-sized long arm before the company folded. It was too inaccurate for combat, since a manufacturing defect only caught years later caused its spin-stabilization rockets to actually ''decrease'' the accuracy (remember what we said about rockets being finnicky?). Until this defect was found, the projectile's weight was blamed; the thought was that they didn't have the weight to resist being blown about by the wind. They also had a [[ArbitraryWeaponRange minimum range]], where the rocket-bullet was going too slow to reliably kill (better propellant would have fixed that, however, the most potent safely-burning, non-toxic rocket fuel they could find was used), and a [[ArbitraryWeaponRange maximum range]] where the rocket tore itself appart through centrifugal force. There is an Urban Legend that it was originally intended for use in space stations, where recoil would be a big problem and weather a complete non-issue. However, it seems that their inventors just really liked the idea of a rocket-propelled bullet, and the accepted story is that it was noticed that rockets are more powerful the further away from the gun they get, as they pick up speed as they travel, whereas conventional guns have most penetrating power up-close ("[[NoRangeLikePointBlankRange point blank]]"). In any case, the US military was barely interested, and the gun-buying public didn't want to buy "bullets" that were not only expensive (a whole dollar for one round, and this is back in the 60s where a dollar went a lot further), but also of consistently low quality (lots of duds and the aforementioned manufacturing defects).
** A SpiritualSuccessor to the gyrojet, called the "pogojet" was invented in 2015. The rocket first forcibly extends a telescoping piston (the "pogo") that cold-launches the rocket, and creates enough drag to keep it from killing anyone-it's a deterrent, rather than a legitemate weapon.
** The USA's National Firearms Act declares a rocket over four ounces, or carrying explosives of any size (including incendiary or chemical warheads), to be a Destructive Device with "no sporting purpose," and it's illegal for a private citizen to own one.
** For those with more balls than brains, firework fights. Yes, some people shoot fireworks at each other for fun, and a lot of them are hurt or killed.
** The ancient Chinese utilized a small, musket-sized launcher that fired a quiver's worth of rocket-propelled arrows in a [[ShotgunsAreJustBetter shotgun-like spread]].
** The Danes, as early as 1848, issued some soldiers with small rocket-propelled incendiary grenades that fit into their guns, called Voss rockets, instead of traditional rifle grenades. They were used in a couple of conflicts (namely, the two Danish-Prussian wars), but didn't see much use. While effective due to the use of the standard load of black powder used as a kick-charge, they became illegal by 1869 due to the signing of an international treaty banning explosive weaponry weighing in at under 400 grams.
** ThoseWackyNazis tested with a 9mm rocket-propelled bullet of varying lengths that they called the "S-Munition" as part of an experiment. The idea was to create a constant pressure wave behind the projectile to increase its velocity (and thereby its range and damage profile). While their records state that they would be fired from a smoothbore gun similar to the MP-4 Sturmgerwer, no such device was ever found. Lots of rounds though. They also tried creating an AntiAir rocket launcher that rivalled a regular shoulder-carry one, but had several (the working protoype had 4 and the improved iteration had 9) 20mm barrels strapped together. They called it the "Fleigerfaust," which means "plane-fist."
** One that was just a hoax: In 1934, one Clyde Farrell claimed to have invented a rocket-launching, belt-fed SMG that weighed about three pounds. He never submitted the plans for patent, nor did he demonstrate it to the military (despite his claims to the magazine "Modern Mechanix").
** One of the closest examples in Real Life thus far is the Raytheon Pike, a small guided missile that can be fired from a 40mm grenade launcher (currently the M320 or the FN EGLM).
** A similar weapon, the [=AeroVironment=] Switchblade, is a guided missile (a "loitering munition," which does exactly what it says it does) that can be launched from a soldier's backpack, just like a certain bounty hunter from a certain Space Opera.

* PosthumousCharacter: Influential characters from early seasons [[VindicatedByHistory can have a surprising influence on later plotlines even after they die]]. The DoomedMoralVictor from the Rise of Rome storyline is now (arguably) the ''posthumous main character''. TheChessmaster from the Arabia arc and the JerkWithAHeartOfGold from the Bo Tree arc has been almost as influential, and even the CrazyIsCool MadScientist from the Restoration Arc (and his later counterparts in the World War I and World War II storylines) is still considered important.
** Some players believe they have an unlimited number of lives, and thus after dying they start over again with a new life, though all stat points are reset to zero and the game begins again under a new set of dice-roll conditions. Occasionally, however, some players claim to experience bleed-through from a previous life/game attempt.

* PovertyPorn:
** The critic Diana George says many organizations have such a hard time convincing people living in first-world Western civilizations (particularly in America) that real poverty is actually out there that they resort to this in order to gain favor.
** Joãosinho Trinta noted this as a reason for why he chose to create lavish costumes and floats for Carnival, [[FollowTheLeader creating a trend]]: "Only intellectuals like poverty, the poor people like luxury."
* PowderGag: As anyone who has gotten careless while baking can testify, this trope is very much possible, even if the results are usually milder and the ensuing cloud smaller. In fact, this applies to more powders than just flour --dust from spring cleaning or construction sites and finely-coarse ash also produce similar effects.
* PowerGivesYouWings: Inverted -- wings give you power! Just ask any member of the "Air Force" class tree. Inverted differently by the dinosaurs, who got wings at the expense of a substantial decrease in power.
** And Red Bull.

* ThePowerOfRock: Played straight. Usually used by the "[[EmoTeen Angsty Teen]]" class to get back at their parents. Rock music was also played to get Manuel Noriega to surrender during Operation Just Cause.
** Sometimes happens when players think the game is too hard and try to Game Over, but the lyrics helped them get back on their feet.
* PowerPerversionPotential: My, my, my. Where do we ''begin?'' This trope was the founder of one of Real Life's first job classes.
** At some point, humans must have realized they didn't need a partner to orgasm and could literally take matters into their own hands. Things have never been the same since.

* PressStartToGameOver: Tragically it's entirely possible to get a GameOver before completing the first level of the tutorial, sometimes without any visible reason if the RandomNumberGod decides to screw you over. In extreme cases, you can get a GameOver before you even start the game.

* PressureSensitiveInterface:
* Notes played on the piano are louder when the keys are pressed hard, and quieter when they are pressed more lightly. This is a great improvement over earlier instruments such as the harpsichord. This sensitivity is also built into modern electric keyboards.
* It's a common way of expressing frustration. Say you're in a hurry and you're trying to cross the street, and you pushed the button to cross, but the crosswalk light isn't changing. It's not uncommon in this circumstance to futilely press the button over and over. Similarly, if you click/double-click something on a computer and nothing happens, you'll be sorely tempted to do it again, even though this may just slow the action down further. People playing fighting games start mashing the buttons harder as they get more desperate, even when it's just an ordinary digital button and they're only destroying the controller.
* Sometimes, buttons that have become worn or dirty ''do'' need a second attempt with a bit more force in order to close the contact, which is why elevator controls and the like usually light up and/or sound a tone to signal the fact that they've been activated.
* All British pedestrian crossings have an indicator that lights when the button is pressed (on older versions, it's an illuminated WAIT sign, and on newer versions a red light). People still press the button repeatedly.
** Irish crossings have the light too. But sometimes no light means "no signal" and light means "signal received"; sometimes it's dim light: no signal, bright light: signal received; and sometimes it's permanently a dim light. So people press it over anyway.
* Some crosswalks at intersections that have been converted back to pure timer operation have their buttons disconnected, and pressing does nothing. People are already used to waiting, so nobody notices any difference.
* On at least one computer system, pressing buttons repeatedly will make it realize that you're impatient, and it will speed up. The system was designed to give programs that interacted with the user a higher priority than background processes that didn't. Pressing random keys during a long calculation would make it treat the task as interactive, so the calculation finished sooner.
** A lot of PC GUI applications scroll this way. If you drag to select text or pixels, and your pointer leaves the scrollable part of the window, the will slowly start to scroll. Some apps scroll faster if the user moves the mouse because they scroll one unit per "event", and the mouse sends an event every time it has moved one or more pixels since the display was last updated.
** Some poorly written applications on old cooperative multi-tasked computers would do their processing only in response to OS messages. Meaning, the processing would go faster if you wiggled the mouse, slammed on the keyboard, or otherwise did something to make the OS send more messages than usual. This could happen in Mac Classic applications and 16-bit Windows applications.
* Some car remotes do react to multiple presses, for instance, 3 presses of "lock" will start the engine.
* "Close door" lift buttons are a special case.
** If the lift is not in operator mode, the button has no effect. The lift doors don't close any quicker, but you feel as if you're in control.
** If the lift is in operator mode (which requires a key), the buttons give you total control. The doors remain open until you select a floor or close them. You can even override the doors and leave them open as you travel.
* This is actually a function in many graphics programs (like Photoshop) when using a tablet: The stylus is pressure sensitive, and the mark you create is either bigger or more opaque --or both-- depending on how hard you press down (and the "brush" you're using). You can even adjust your pressure on the fly, so you can make a thick-to-thin line or a transparent-to-opaque brush stroke.
* Electro-Magnetic Resonance technology for touch screens:
** An electromagnetic field is used to communicate and get positional information from a specialized pen whose nib sensor is also pressure-sensitive for controlling brush width, opacity, tilt, and rotation. This is used by all sorts of tactile devices, including [[MediaNotes/GeneralGamingGamepads gamepads]] like the [[Platform/OtherSegaSystems Sega Pico]].
** The 6th through 7th generations of iPhones have 3D Touch, in which lightly holding or firmly pressing on the touchscreen can access alternate functions. Later iPhones would ditch this in favor of going back to simple binary touch.
* The [[https://kono.store/products/keystone-analog-mechanical-keyboard Keystone keyboard]] is an effort at this, featuring customizable analog keys. For example, one can configure the keyboard to send lower-case letters when tapping lightly and upper-case letters when pressing firmly.
* In firearms, "progressive" or "staged" triggers allow different rates of fire depending on how hard the trigger is pulled. A light pull fires a single shot, while a heavier pull fires [[MoreDakka full-auto]].
* PrestigeClass: "Doctor", "Lawyer", "President". [[ItAintRocketSurgery "Rocket Scientist" and "Brain Surgeon"]] are commonly considered this as well.

* PushPolling:
** ''[=PiQ's=]'' (replacement for ''Newtype USA''): An article regarding fans' opinions on their new format. The fact that it was called the "Cheese and Whine Party" pretty much guaranteed that anyone who didn't like it wasn't exactly going to get much sympathy.
** Happens all the time on Website/{{Wikipedia}}. Many people seem to think they can change the (nebulous) rules and force all other editors to do what they say, simply by holding a small biased poll on the matter. One of the more famous ones was a policy proposal to ''outlaw sarcasm''.
** Google Docs offers a surprisingly long survey, and the bulk of the questions are asking whether the user is aware of such-and-such feature. It seems it's at least as much about making the surveyed users aware of those features than it's about gauging how many people are using them, which could presumably be accomplished without a survey since Google Docs runs on Google's own servers.
** Any Twitter poll that says "RT for yes, fave/like for no". Since only one of those options is a signal boost, and people generally follow people whose opinions they share to some extent, you can bet more potential "yes" voters are going to see this than "no" voters.
** There was a famous RealLife example to show how people will sign any petition if it's worded the right way. People were asked to sign a petition to ban the substance [[http://www.snopes.com/science/dhmo.asp dihydrogen monoxide]] -- used in industry with almost no regulations, used by various kinds of criminals, capable of killing humans and other animals, able to corrode iron... Of course, anyone with a basic knowledge of chemistry should know what molecule has two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. [[note]] Unfortunately, there really is a pressure group that actually does want to ban water -- and yes, they do call it water -- because they were so disgusted with the Dihydrogen Monoxide hoax that they wanted to "teach them a lesson". They are very militant and very ''very'' angry. [[/note]]
** One infamous push poll was created by Karl Rove while working to get UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush nominated for president over John [=McCain=]. "Would you be more likely or less likely to vote for John [=McCain=] for president if you knew he had fathered an illegitimate black child?"[[note]]This was also connected with pictures of [=McCain=] with his adopted daughter Bridget, who was born in Bangladesh and thus has dark South Asian skin.[[/note]] Other polls implied that he was homosexual and that he was mentally deranged because of his captivity in Vietnam. Theoretically this is a moot point, because he didn't -- but the poll put the idea in people's heads, without ''technically'' making a provably false accusation.
** Moral philosophers do this on purpose, and it is amazing how they can completely change someone's answer to the most fundamental questions of life by changing only the way exactly the same question is phrased. Which is why education is important in the first place.
** When Kay Hagan was running against Elizabeth Dole for a North Carolina U.S. Senate seat, potential voters received calls from a company that was taking a poll. One of the questions is, "Would it affect your vote to know that Kay Hagan is associating with and taking money from atheists?" This question and some others like it soon made it clear that the "polling company" was not legitimate, but was only asking questions to raise doubts about Hagan. Dole's campaign also ran a TV ad implying that Hagan, who was a former Sunday school teacher, was an atheist. By the way, Dole lost the election.
* Backfired for Republican Minnesota state representative Eric Lucero, who created an online poll in 2020 reading "It was recently reported Gov. Walz is considering a unilateral edict with a stroke of his pen to mandate masks upon everybody across Minnesota. Do you support Gov. Walz continuing to usurp the Legislative Branch, violate the Constitution, and create his own laws as an unchecked king?" Despite the incredibly biased wording, 69% of respondents on Facebook and 91.7% on Twitter voted "Yes, I do."
** A rumored RealLife example that led to the break-up of the Soviet Union. The politicians interested in splitting the Union polled the general public with the question "Do you want to be independent?" Obviously, nobody is going to answer "no".
** In the Netherlands, right-wing politician Geert Wilders was put on trial for using this trope to incite hate speech during one of his campaign rallies. During the rally, he asked his followers if they wanted "More or less Moroccans" in the Netherlands, to which most chanted "Less!". Wilders then stated "We'll take care of that, then.", which caused thousands of people to press charges against him for discriminatory statements. The public proscecutor decided to take the case and Wilders was eventually charged with "hate speech and inciting discrimination" at the court case. He, nevertheless, did not get punished by the court and later walked back on his words, stating he only meant the "criminal" fraction of Moroccans during his rally speech.

** CharacterCustomization is especially weird, because it requires two players, each from a distinct half of the player base, to generate a new one. Stats are based on the stats of several related characters, not just the two that instigated the generation of a new character. The random number generator used in character generation is mediocre at best, clearly favoring some values over others. Some other, smaller, completely random changes are also made to the base stats, giving unique new values for those stats, but these changes often have no effect on gameplay or hinder the new character's later progress.
*** According to some, "Gender" is listed twice, once under "Mental Stats" and once under "Physical Stats". This wouldn't be a problem if not for the existence of [[UsefulNotes/{{Transgender}} a system bug/feature that can cause a mismatch between the mental and physical development of the character]].

* RasputinianDeath: Although the TropeNamer's death was ''greatly'' exaggerated, there have been a few rare cases.

* RedBaron: The TropeNamer.

* RedemptionEqualsSex: Reportedly played straight in many ancient religions, averted in most cases today. Still played straight in Tantric yoga and a few NewAge cults.
** Also frequently played straight in everyday life. Make-up sex is often an example.

* RefugeInAudacity: Oh, so many, many examples...

** Criminal records. Some legal systems act as if any crime a player committed as a minor never happened once they become an adult. Additionally, a crime on an adult's record of which they are later revealed to be innocent is retconned from their record; from a legal point of view, it never happened. Should the actual perpetrator's identity ever be known, their record is retconned accordingly.
*** In some regions, a crime that you're found guilty of will be wiped from your criminal record after a set time, depending on the severity of the crime. The less serious the crime is, the sooner it is wiped from the record.

* TheRevolutionWillNotBeVilified: A good number of countries, especially most of the ones in the Americas, owe their existence to a [[LaResistance resistance]] against the empire they had once belonged to (Britain for the United States, the United States for Cuba, France for Haiti, Portugal for Brazil, and Spain for most of the others). For such countries, their revolution was a glorious epic, and nobody dares to say that it was "wrong", or that it would have been better to stay being part of the Empire.
** One story arc of the current season is Britain's secession from the EU.

** Computers and laptops built with false-wooden frames, buttons, and similar accessories are fairly popular among various groups, particularly steampunk.
*** Along those lines is a remake of the Commodore 64. It has the same shell but with modern hardware and operating system. But it also includes a Commodore 64 emulator for the full experience.

** An electromagnetic field is used to communicate and get positional information from a specialized pen whose nib sensor is also pressure-sensitive for controlling brush width, opacity, tilt, and rotation. This is used by all sorts of tactile devices, including [[UsefulNotes/GeneralGamingGamepads gamepads]] like the [[Platform/OtherSegaSystems Sega Pico]].

** "[[CanadaEh Canada]]" means "Village." ''It's the second-largest country in the world'' (geographically-speaking).

* NavalBlockade: If there's been a war at sea, it probably had one of these at some point.
* {{Nerf}}: Guns, typically, unless one belongs to the Soldier, Mercenary, or Armed Policeman class. There are some exceptions; the United States server allows any player to obtain almost any gun in the game provided they don't violate a few basic rules but this means PlayerVersusPlayer is potentially much more deadly on this server. Additionally, on many servers, it's possible to obtain a full-strength gun, but this is considered cheating and carries severe penalties if discovered.
** Note that the effectiveness of the weapon does not change, but the wielder's effectiveness with the weapon is the only thing that differs.

* NewGamePlus: According to religions that believe in reincarnation, if your KarmaMeter is high at death, you're more likely to start with access to money at rebirth. If your KarmaMeter is low, you consequently more likely to start with a large handicap at rebirth. You don't get to keep your skills, items, or even the aforementioned KarmaMeter from a previous game and you have to start from 0. An exception is made for characters who get the "Enlightenment" upgrade, who are rumored to get access to a secret GoldenEnding, although this takes an insane amount of LevelGrinding.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: The best intents of mice and men... have nasty unplanned consequences. Notably, the environment, since humans have more power to alter it than any other species, and with great power... [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatResponsibility well, you know.]] Thus we get hunting to extinction, overly efficient forest firefighters, and invasive alien species (no, not that kind). In the non-environmental arenas, we have medical malpractice, authority figures taking sexual advantage, and many more.

* NoOffButton: Certain devices that rely on chemical reactions obviously can't be easily shut down once the reaction starts, unless you have control over the access to the reactants themselves.
** Solid fuel rocket motors are perhaps one of the more consequential devices not to have an off button. Compare with liquid fueled rockets which can be both throttled and shut down by controlling the propellant flow, a solid fuel motor will burn at a predetermined rate until all the fuel is used up. In the case of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Solid_Rocket_Booster Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster]] this severely limited the shuttle abort modes meaning the crew was basically stuck until the boosters had burnt out no matter what might start to go wrong.
*** Doubly a problem when nuclear warheads are attached to solid fueled rockets, although a SelfDestructMechanism can be employed.
** Likewise hand grenades. When the lever is released, the spring-loaded striker strikes the primer, igniting the fuse. When it burns through to the explosive charge, Boom!
*** This holds true for most other fuse-detonated explosives too, unless the fuse is sufficiently long that you can safely cut it or yank it out.
* NoPeriodsPeriod: Averted. Happens to most AFAB characters eventually.