Not about idiots: Only Idiots May Pass

Based on the name, this trope is obviously the inversion of Only Smart People May Pass. You're given a riddle or something and have to get it wrong to continue...

Except it isn't. The trope is about a video game forcing you to Follow the Plotted Line even when you've played the game before or read a guide and know the shortcuts. To stay in-character, rather than using outside knowledge for Sequence Breaking. It has nothing to do with idiots or the trope it's snowcloning.

Not only does it need a rename, the description needs to drop the overly extended Example As Thesis and find a more concise way of expressing the features of the trope.

Wait. This seems to be just Follow the Plotted Line In Hindsight. Should we merge them?

There's also Stupidity Is the Only Option, which appears to be related.

And Violation of Common Sense. They just seem to be too similar to me.

They're all fairly different.

• Stupidity Is the Only Option is more of a story trope, where the character must make a dumb choice in order to continue, and the game prevents you from continuing until you, as the character, make that choice.
• Only Idiots May Pass is where the player - not "in character" but just through gameplay or level design - must make a dumb choice.
• Violation of Common Sense is where the player is rewarded for doing something stupid or ridiculous; it is not necessarily the only way forward, and often is just a side action or fun thing to do.
• Follow the Plotted Line has nothing to do with stupidity; it's simply the phenomenon where you are expected to go forward because it's just where you need to go, rather than that there's any overarching reason to do so.

The only two tropes that have significant overlap are Violation of Common Sense and Only Idiots May Pass, and we can fix that by limiting Violation of Common Sense to aspects which are not required to continue. Alternatively, we can broaden it to include examples from Only Idiots May Pass and cut the latter.

The names need more distinction then.

It strikes me that the first two are the same thing, and are a subtrope of the third. I agree the fourth one is different. There is a technical difference between the first two, but it's not big enough for a hard split, imho, especially as in many games the character is simply a player surrogate anyway.

Yes.

They aren't the same thing. One is mainly a story trope, one is a gameplay trope. Only Idiots May Pass can take place in a game with no story at all, while Stupidity Is the Only Option can't.

I will say that Violation of Common Sense needs some major cleanup, since the title lends itself to pretty much any case where a player says "No, wait, that doesn't make sense".

And yes, the names are all way too similar.

EDIT: Okay, I re-read Only Idiots May Pass more closely and the OP is indeed correct - it has nothing to do with idiots. This is a form of Broken Bridge where the event flag is something nonsensical or unnecessary. The description at the top of the trope is a bit misleading and is contradicted by most of the rest of it. Definitely needs a rename.

edited 5th Jan '12 10:04:11 AM by Cidolfas

Agree, needs a rename IMO. (Though we should probably check misuse first.) Name suggestions: Arbitrary Event Flag, Needs The Hint To Do It

I like Arbitrary Event Flag.

Parts of the definition seem to be awfully close to You Shouldn't Know This Already. So Arbitrary Event Flag would help clarify the distinction between the tropes better than my other name suggestion.

It may overlap with You Shouldn't Know This Already. The name says yes, but in the description the Stalking Mission paragraph, which would be the overlapping part, seems rather tacked-on and not at all supported by the examples. But if that really is supposed to be part of the trope, it would make sense to move the relevant examples from Only Idiots May Pass to there.

But if we cut the forbidden out-of-character info aspect and leave the Event Flag stuff, how would we define Arbitrary Event Flag so it doesn't devolve into Complaining About Event Flags You Don't Like? Most of the purely Event Flag-aspect examples are basically "how annoying it is I have to do this to continue the game."

Bump.

Clocking due to lack of activity.

What about a name like Enforced Ignorance? If the trope is intended to be about the player being unable to take an action that the character shouldn't know about yet (regardless of actual player knowledge), that seems like a good title to me.

edited 17th Apr '12 9:15:19 AM by Escher

Enforced Ignorance would be You Shouldn't Know This Already?

edited 17th Apr '12 5:47:44 PM by abk0100

Too Smart To Pass? Where trying to outsmart the game won't work.

> Enforced Ignorance would be You Shouldn't Know This Already?

I don't think so. That trope is (aside from the "Stalking Mission" bit that this trope will probably steal) about controls that don't work until the game unlocks them — you can't swing your sword even if you press X until the fight tutor tells you that pressing X swings your sword; playing the Song of Storms on your ocarina doesn't do anything until you learn the Song of Storms.

Enforced Ignorance means your character isn't allowed to take an action that the character wouldn't know he should take, even if you know it should work.

And I don't think "Too Smart To Pass" really works, since the trope is not about being required to take a foolish action — the character isn't a dope for refusing to climb down a well until he learns that there's a plot coupon down there. He's entirely correct, in character, that it would be foolish to climb down a well. (It's true that in some cases you're required to take a stupid action before you can go down the correct path, but that isn't required for the trope.)

Actually, if we do go ahead with this change, we probably also should rename You Shouldn't Know This Already to something that's more clear, like "Disabled Move".

edited 18th Apr '12 12:54:11 PM by Escher

That would be the only way it would work. The 2 names sound like the same trope.

From the name I thought this had something to do with Guide Dang It! where the solution to a puzzle/obstacle has no logic whatsoever (not even Moon Logic). In other words, the solution is something only an idiot should think would work.

edited 25th Apr '12 2:12:23 PM by Fnu

Inactive for a month. Locking.