Needs Help: Protectorate Player

There seems to be multiple problems with this trope:

1. The description is extremely short. Two sentences does not make a viable description; it needs to be expanded a bit.

2. None of the works listed on the page list this trope at all.

3. It could also use a bit of organization; everything appears to be thrown in there.

Anything else that can be done to save this?

edited 4th Jun '15 3:49:19 PM by Berrenta

Wow, that really needs a better description. Some mention of narrative significance and related tropes wouldn't hurt. As for the other problems, I've added this to Pages Needing Example Sorting and Pages Needing Wicks. I'll try to sort the examples myself in the next day or so, if I have the time.

At least it's not unclear, or untropeworthy.

Added the obvious link in the description. What else would go there? Reasoning why the trope is used?

Why, when, and how the trope is used, I would think. Also, what it tends to look like when used. For example, it's sometimes used to showcase how Badass an NPC is. It could also be used to promote a feeling of helplessness and create tension (I think I've seen this in some horror games or games with horror elements, but the specifics have slipped my mind). It also serves to change up the gameplay in combat-heavy games.

Edit: I went ahead and sorted the examples. For the ones I'm unfamiliar with, I just went with whatever their work pages said.

edited 25th Jun '15 2:32:10 AM by phoenix

Sorting seems all right. Not familiar with most, though.

So, would adding a paragraph (I think the line already there works well enough as an intro to the trope) like this be better? Just a quick draft.

"There are a few reasons to use this trope. The most obvious is to highlight how Badass the NPC is, in particular if it's a single character, or a small group against an army of enemies. Conversely, it can also highlight how weak the player character is against enemies you can't fight off alone. Finally, having other characters escort you can give a break in the action, or change the gameplay up."

edited 25th Jun '15 4:28:21 AM by AnotherDuck

I understand the trope that it's going for, but really this just needs some description fleshing out. This is basically the Russian Reversal of an escort mission. In Soviet Russia, NPC escort you.

It should include clarification on how helpless the player has to be to count as being escorted, because in some of the examples the player character is perfectly capable of fighting for themselves and the NPC allies just assist.

Unless of course the trope is supposed to cover any time you have NPC allies helping you.

Allowing any instance of NPC assistance seems way too broad. Maybe it should be limited to instances where there's a large discrepancy in the offensive capabilities of the player and NPC. The player doesn't need to be completely unarmed, just significantly less capable of handling attackers.

I think the trope here is needing the NPC in order to help you complete the area. Not just having random NP Cs running along and killing things with you. The trope is that you need them in order to accomplish your goal.

Bringing this back up. Due to the healthy amount of examples, I may go ahead and add wicks to the works listed once I get the chance. As for description, I'll see how it can be fixed.

For now, I'll add in the paragraph suggested by AnotherDuck. Will also note the inversion of Escort Mission.

edited 11th Sep '15 10:03:40 AM by Berrenta

You might also add the line:

"Sometimes the reason you are being escorted is not one of weakness, but instead because the character could not find the destination without help. This is especially common in cases where a new path opens only if you have the proper escort with you."

There any reason why we don't change the name? At only Five wicks, it's not like it'd take much work.

Reverse Escort Mission is much more clear and could help a lot with the wicking issues. Personally, I thought Protectorate Player would be about players or classes in MMO's that get protection. Even knowing the definition, it's just kinda an awkward title.

Reverse Escort Mission is much clearer, I agree.

Me Too!.

Shima's addition is good, too. Might need a little rewriting to better list the potential reasons for the trope, since those add up to a bunch now.

edited 11th Sep '15 11:11:23 AM by AnotherDuck

Added Shima's paragraph.

As for a rename, I don't mind if we rename this, since a clearer name would be better than what we have. Reverse Escort Mission sounds good to me, too.

For something this small, we have enough consensus for a rename. Make it so.

Move is done. Now all we need to do is bolster its wicks and we're pretty much done, I'd say.

Crosswicking should help with that. Let's crosswick and see what we can't mange to pull out. Also check the Escort Mission page for inversions we can kidnap.

edited 11th Sep '15 11:35:22 AM by shimaspawn

Wick checking Escort Mission to see which pages denote inversions can be done too, if we're up to it.

Meanwhile, I am in the process of adding the trope to the lists for the works listed in the examples. It's now up to 11 wicks from a measly 4 (would have been 12, if one of the pages wasn't locked; sent an edit request for that one) First 4 folders are done.

Edit: Now all examples currently listed are wicked. That doesn't mean we're done; we still got examples from Escort Mission that will need to be "escorted" to this trope, and wick accordingly.

edited 11th Sep '15 7:40:59 PM by Berrenta

Okay, time to update:

Most of the inversions on Escort Mission has been "escorted", so to speak. Two are left there since one of them is more of a zigzagged trope, while the non-VG inversion I left so I can look into it more.

Looks good. It's got enough wicks now to be healthy. Nice work. I think we can call this one closed.