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FastEddie Since: Apr, 2004
#1: Jul 30th 2011 at 12:40:28 PM

This name is being used for too narrow a purpose. We need to free it up.

Goal: Clear, Concise and Witty
Xtifr World's Toughest Milkman Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: Having tea with Cthulhu
World's Toughest Milkman
#2: Jul 30th 2011 at 4:40:18 PM

It's supposed to be a video game trope?? I wholeheartedly agree! Far too narrow!

Speaking words of fandom: let it squee, let it squee.
shimaspawn from Here and Now Since: May, 2010 Relationship Status: In your bunk
#3: Jul 30th 2011 at 4:48:20 PM

I think this is a good place for a Trope Transplant. The current trope is a good trope, but this page could probably stand to be a disambig/supertrope for all backtracking tropes.

Reality is that, which when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. -Philip K. Dick
FastEddie Since: Apr, 2004
#4: Jul 30th 2011 at 4:50:18 PM

It would be simpler to give the videogame page its own distinct name.

Goal: Clear, Concise and Witty
shimaspawn from Here and Now Since: May, 2010 Relationship Status: In your bunk
#5: Jul 30th 2011 at 4:54:59 PM

I'm just worried about people not being able to find it since that's all it's ever called outside of the wiki. Unfortunately, it's not the only thing that word is used for.

Reality is that, which when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. -Philip K. Dick
GameGuruGG Vampire Hunter from Castlevania (Before Recorded History)
Vampire Hunter
#6: Jul 30th 2011 at 5:12:56 PM

I'm skeptical that it needs to be broadened on the fear that backtracking may be too chairsy for a trope in any other medium other than video games.

The trope is essentially visiting a place that the audience already has seen. This happens enough times and is expected to happen in most forms of media that using it for them would be akin to saying People Sit On Chairs.

What makes backtracking different in video games is because in video games, the player is not normally expected to revisit a place. The player had expected to be done with the area and moved on. In video games, backtracking serves as a gameplay element the developer can use to lengthen the time the player spends playing the game without having to design as many new areas. In that sense and only that sense does backtracking work as a trope.

edited 30th Jul '11 5:24:19 PM by GameGuruGG

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Xtifr World's Toughest Milkman Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: Having tea with Cthulhu
World's Toughest Milkman
#7: Jul 30th 2011 at 6:06:55 PM

Backtracking is not People Sit On Chairs. It's a very common and important element in many works of Mystery Fiction (for example).

Speaking words of fandom: let it squee, let it squee.
JackAlsworth Drop-Dead Cynical Since: Jul, 2009
Drop-Dead Cynical
#8: Jul 30th 2011 at 6:32:17 PM

I don't really see the point in separating video game examples into their own trope, but I do agree that expanding it past video games is a good idea.

DragonQuestZ The Other Troper from Somewhere in California Since: Jan, 2001
The Other Troper
#9: Jul 30th 2011 at 6:53:13 PM

When the function is different, then there should be a split. There is a difference between referring to past events in a story and returning to levels and areas.

I'm on the internet. My arguments are invalid.
Xtifr World's Toughest Milkman Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: Having tea with Cthulhu
World's Toughest Milkman
#10: Jul 30th 2011 at 6:58:26 PM

[up]that may be a valid split, but the "returning to levels and areas" is the type that occurs in mysteries (looking for the overlooked clue).

Speaking words of fandom: let it squee, let it squee.
DragonQuestZ The Other Troper from Somewhere in California Since: Jan, 2001
The Other Troper
#11: Jul 30th 2011 at 8:55:02 PM

That's not backtracking. That's just looking over the crime scene again. Backtracking is for when a path is largely linear.

I'm on the internet. My arguments are invalid.
Xtifr World's Toughest Milkman Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: Having tea with Cthulhu
World's Toughest Milkman
#12: Jul 30th 2011 at 9:06:37 PM

I agree that revisiting the crime scene is different, but backtracking is also used to look for more clues.

Also appears in action stories when the chase goes astray.

Speaking words of fandom: let it squee, let it squee.
GameGuruGG Vampire Hunter from Castlevania (Before Recorded History)
Vampire Hunter
#13: Jul 30th 2011 at 11:53:31 PM

I never said that it didn't exist in other media. I just said that it is expected for people to backtrack in them to the point that it isn't a trope. You expect the detective to, say, return to the crime scene if he hadn't pieced together the mystery yet. You expect the one being chase to swerve to avoid being followed.

This trope, as it exists, is unique to video games because of the audience reaction and the creator's reason for using it.

Wizard Needs Food Badly
Deboss I see the Awesomeness. from Awesomeville Texas Since: Aug, 2009
I see the Awesomeness.
#14: Jul 31st 2011 at 9:09:05 AM

My limited experience with backtracking video games is that it's done to recycle areas, they'll even stick newer enemies in the backtracked areas to make it harder.

Fight smart, not fair.
Spark9 Gentleman Troper! from Castle Wulfenbach Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Pining for the fjords
Gentleman Troper!
#15: Aug 11th 2011 at 6:41:58 PM

Rename to Video Game Backtracking?

The gameplay trope is clearly distinct from the similarly-named trope in mystery fiction.

Rhetorical, eh? ... Eight!
Firebert That One Guy from Somewhere in Illinois Since: Jan, 2001
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