History Main / EnoughToGoAround

SubTrope of AcceptableBreaksFromReality (some liberties can be taken with consistency, as long as the story as a whole benefits from the change) and RuleOfFun (breaking the WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief for the sake of more entertainment). This is part of an [=MMORPG's=] PerpetuallyStatic world and a necessity of EquipmentBasedProgression (the player in a game becomes more powerful by finding or being given items rather than earning XP) and SwordOfPlotAdvancement (you need that item/weapon to advance the game's plot).

SubTrope of AcceptableBreaksFromReality (some liberties can be taken with consistency, as long as the story as a whole benefits from the change) and RuleOfFun (breaking the WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief for the sake of more entertainment). This is part of an [=MMORPG's=] PerpetuallyStatic world.

In multi-player video games, particularly [[MassivelyMultiplayerOnlineRolePlayingGame MMO[=RPGs=]]], it's common for there to be as many copies of a "[[MacGuffin quest item]]" as there are people taking the quest. This trope describes when these [[MacGuffin quest items]] should logically be unique within the world. The most extreme case is probably when this is a specific named individual's ''head'' (heart, liver, pancreas, left testicle; whatever); it's also common with bits of a unique magical beast or just items that should be impossible to reproduce, such as a specific lost piece of jewelry or an ArtifactOfDoom that canonically can't be made anymore.

However, as logically absurd as this is, it's definitely an [[AcceptableBreaksFromReality Acceptable Break From Reality]]. If you have hundreds of thousands or even millions of players, allowing only one person in the entire game world to complete a quest vital for advancement would be seen grossly unfair. Just check out this trope's opposite, LootDrama, for proof that Administrivia/TropesAreNotBad.

* ''VideoGame/{{Rift}}'': It's the player character whi suffers from this. The tutorial for the Defiant faction has the player in the far future at [[ApocalypseHow the end of the world]]. As the last survivor, they are gifted great power and sent back in time... where they immediately encounter hundreds of other "last survivors". To make matters worse, the first couple of [=NPCs=] you talk to actually comment on what an amazingly unique character you are, but after that no one ever comments on how almost the entire faction consists of people all in exactly the same unique and unreproducible situation.

* ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'': when you pick up a single firearm lying around, you suddenly have enough copies for all current and future squadmates who are proficient with a given weapon class. This is somewhat {{Justified}} by the Normandy SR-2 having an extensive tech lab and fabrication equipment that can assemble new guns as needed once you have the schematics or a sample gun to reverse engineer, though it still doesn't explain why you can use the new guns ''immediately'' other than [[AcceptableBreaksFromReality to avoid the frustration of having to wait until you get back to the ship.]]

SubTrope of AcceptableBreaksFromReality (some liberties can be taken with consistency, as long as the story as a whole benefits from the change) and RuleOfFun. This is part of an [=MMORPG's=] PerpetuallyStatic world.

SubTrope of AcceptableBreaksFromReality and RuleOfFun. This is part of an [=MMORPG's=] PerpetuallyStatic world.

SubTrope of AcceptableBreaksFromReality and RuleOfFun.

* ''VideoGame/RuneScape'': Y you can see multiple people walking around with one-of-a-kind weapons that are the rewards from different quests. Plus, any item you need in a quest that is given to you can be destroyed and reobtained, usually at no cost. For instance, if you're given the only existing copy of an important diary, you can destroy it somewhere in the middle of nowhere or on an entirely separate plane of reality. When you go back to the person who gave you the item, they claim to have either had another copy all along, or even more improbably, claim that somebody else saw you drop it (In a deserted alternate universe?) and returned it to them. Perhaps this is just because they are {{Clingy MacGuffin}}s.

* ''Literature/{{Noob}}'': In the first novel, this happens with a QuestGiver. A quest consists in part of following a NonPlayerCharacter to a certain location, but everyone is doing it a the same time. As a consequence, each PlayerParty quite visibly has its own copy of the same guy. In addition, if someone who has been so far working alone joins a group, the two copies fuse into one; a character observing this immediately thinks of the "boss has enough heads for everyone in the group to get one" phenomenon.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXI'':Fortunately, a lot of the 'unique' objects are key items and thus invisible to other players. However, the quest to unlock the Dragoon job can be very jarring seeing that every single player is treated as though they are the first to revive the dead tradition of the Dragoon. Even several years after the job's addition to the game, with hundreds of level 75 Dragoons on each server. ''Huh?!''

This can get downright ridiculous when everyone in your party needs a MacGuffin to complete the quest, so in one instance, there turn out to be enough copies for each and every one of you. If Sir Bob and his [[FiveManBand four]] cohorts are on a mission to retrieve the head of [[BigBad Baron Evilpants]], well, you're in luck! Turns out that while he looks like a normal human being during battle, Evilpants has ''five'' heads! There's EnoughToGoAround! (Actually, most of the time looting someone's head won't actually change their model. One can only assume that Evilpants had five severed heads in his pockets, each of them identical to his own. So, six in total.)

And of course there are also enough Barons Evilpants to go around so all the following groups can also each kill one.

See also: AcceptableBreaksFromReality, RuleOfFun.

* ''VideoGame/{{Realmz}}'': An old Platform/{{Macintosh}} {{shareware}} RPG, had an especially evil version of this. While the game was single-player, it still had some exceptionally powerful items tagged as "Unique." Multiple copies of these items were present across [[MissionPackSequel various scenarios]], but if you tried to pick another up when you were already carrying one, the game would note that you already have it, causing the item to retroactively vanish.

* ''VideoGame/{{Uru}}: Ages Beyond Myst'': Each age has a different instance for each player due to the difficulty of turning a ''VideoGame/{{Myst}}''-type puzzle game into an MMORPG. An attempt was made to [[JustifiedTrope justify]] this with the [[AWizardDidIt Bahro]]. You can, however, invite other players into your own instance of the age, if you need some help or just to have some company while wandering around.

* In ''VideoGame/CarteBlanche'' protagonist Edgar needs to slap Luigi Strozzi with a herring to wake him up every time he wants to talk to him. Thankfully, there are infinite herrings in the Strozzi household kitchen.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Uru}}: Ages Beyond Myst'' each age has a different instance for each player due to the difficulty of turning a ''VideoGame/{{Myst}}''-type puzzle game into an MMORPG. An attempt was made to [[JustifiedTrope justify]] this with the [[AWizardDidIt Bahro]]. You can, however, invite other players into your own instance of the age, if you need some help or just to have some company while wandering around.

* In online ''VideoGame/{{Diablo}}'' play, quests will yield as many {{MacGuffin}}s as there are players completing them, even when said {{MacGuffin}}s are one-of-a-kind items. As an exception, the scroll with the solution to the Cairn Stones, the Horadric Malus and the Hellforge Hammer only drop once.
* ''VideoGame/PirateHunter'' have the player's titular character being accompanied in each level by a few AI-controlled redcoats. If the player managed to obtain power-ups (like the [[FlamingSword burning cutlass]] or [[KIllItWithIce freeze blade]]) within vicinity of any redcoats, the redcoat allies will gain the exact same power-ups as the player.

* Very common in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', where one can imagine some unique enemies are not only "really" thousands of people, but that each of those people has ''lots'' of heads.
** Possibly subverted in the same. For the Gates of Ahn'Qiraj event, only one player could actually complete the quest to open the gates. This player was thusly awarded a unique mount, the only one on the server. The mount was actually available for anyone turning in the quest during the duration of the World Event which occurred once the quest was first handed in (about 12 hours), but due to the low number of top end raiding guilds at the time (which were the players who made the scepter to open the gates) there was generally only 1 per server. The quest could still be completed up until the Cataclysm revamp, but did not reward the mount - only a choice of weapon.
** Yet some raid bosses whose bodyparts can be turned in at the correct NPC only ever have one such bodypart. Kael'thas can carry up to 25 vial remnants (which are unique, story-wise), yet the player can only loot 1 [[AntiGravityClothing verdant sphere]] (of which he has 3 visible in-game).
** This extends beyond quest items, which are at least unique -- you can possess multiple copies of the same weapon. For a few days after patch 3.3, players could ''dual-wield'' two copies of the supposedly unique sword Quel'Delar before it was made "unique-equipped" in a hotfix.
** This also goes for the loot system in the ''Looking for Raid'' and ''Flexible'' formats. Instead of having the players argue who gets one of the few items that dropped, every player automatically gets something - usually a bag of gold.

* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXI'', this is par for the course except for the "multiple heads" variation; fortunately, a lot of the "unique" objects are key items and thus invisible to other players. However, the quest to unlock the Dragoon job is an JustForFun/{{egregious}} example, as every single player is treated as though they are the first to revive the dead tradition of the Dragoon. Even several years after the job's addition to the game, with hundreds of level 75 Dragoons on each server. ''Huh?!''
* In the Pirate Outfit quest in ''VideoGame/{{Tibia}}'', every player is set the task of assassinating a rival pirate captain [[spoiler:and frame the results by retrieving his favourite pillow and presenting it as evidence]]. You'd think the contractor of the assassination would catch on around the time he'd knee deep in pillows.
* Used and averted in ''VideoGame/KingdomOfLoathing''. While everyone gets supposedly one-of-a-kind items (and in fact, due to [[NewGamePlus ascension,]] you can have ''multiple'' unique items, like a belt made from the skull of the Bonerdagon and the skin of the Boss Bat), there are a few items, like the Rainbow Pearl and Strange Tiki Idol, of which only a few were implemented and which were obtained first-come first-serve. And there are now a few things which just become harder to acquire the more people have them (or possibly the more which have been ''found'', which isn't the same thing), so that nobody's really sure if there's a hard cap or not.
* Happens with a few quests in ''[[Website/GaiaOnline zOMG!]]'', such as rescuing Farmer Bill's prize cow. Personal experience includes seeing a half-dozen cows labeled "Stoocie" gathered around Bill after a crew had just turned in the quest. Other supposedly unique items exist only in text, such as Mark's ring and Klaus's "clocken".
* Averted in ''VideoGame/{{Mabinogi}}''. When new storylines are added that result in whole new regions (towns, dungeons etc...) they are initially covered by Seal stones that have specific requirements to break. They can only be broken once ever giving the breaker a unique title. And a little signpost appears announcing who broke the stone. Additionally, when a party completes a quest that requires running a specific dungeon to get one specific item, the item will only drop once. Due to some glitches, it behooves the players to know who needs to pick up the item and if it can be traded or not.
* In a variant, each player in ''VideoGame/BillyVsSNAKEMAN'' has a separate instance of most [=NPCs=], and most of ''those'' are a fresh instance each [[NewGamePlus Season]].
* In ''VideoGame/MapleStory'', quest items only ''exist'' for those who need them. Those players can see and obtain the items but for everyone else the items are nowhere in the gameworld.
* In ''VideoGame/RuneScape'', you can see multiple people walking around with one-of-a-kind weapons that are the rewards from different quest. Plus, any item you need in a quest that is given to you can be destroyed and reobtained, usually at no cost. For instance if you're given the only existing copy of an important diary, you can destroy it somewhere in the middle of nowhere or on an entirely separate plane of reality. When you go back to the person who gave you the item, they claim to have either had another copy all along, or even more improbably, claim that somebody else saw you drop it (In a deserted alternate universe?) and returned it to them. Perhaps this is just because they are {{Clingy MacGuffin}}s.
* ''VideoGame/StarTrekOnline'' averts this in quest pickups by using {{Event Flag}}s instead of inventory items for most things mission-critical. It then plays it entirely straight with certain items tagged as "Unique" -- meaning every player gets to own exactly one of each.
* ''VideoGame/SpiralKnights'': crowns, heat, and tokens are duplicated for every party member when picked up. Recovery hearts are instanced for each player, so your teammates can't steal your health. After the introduction of missions, everybody plays a vital part in "discovering" the nature of the Clockworks and learning the fate of Alpha Squad. Crafting materials are given to a random party member when picked up.
* Particularly odd in ''VideoGame/{{Rift}}'', in which the player character suffered from this. The introduction/tutorial for the Defiant faction has the player in the far future at [[ApocalypseHow the end of the world]]. As the last survivor, they are gifted great power and sent back in time... where they immediately encounter hundreds of other "last survivors". To make matters worse, the first couple of [=NPCs=] you talk to actually comment on what an amazingly unique character you are, but after that no-one ever comments on how almost the entire faction consists of people all in exactly the same unique and unreproducible situation.

** ''ViceoGame/MonsterHunter3Tri'': If you kill a smaller monster, its corpse disappears like normal when you carve an item(s) from it, but it remains on your partners' screens until they carve from it also. It's justified with carving items from larger monsters, as their corpse doesn't disappear after you've carved all items from it... except that it raises the question of how your partners can carve more items while you can't when the corpse is still there.

** ''[[VideoGame/MonsterHunterFreedom2 Monster Hunter Freedom Unite]]'': It's possible to carve ''two'' tongues out of a popo (read: [[CallARabbitASmeerp Wooly Mammoth]]).
** ''ViceoGame/MonsterHunter3Tri'' takes it to absurd lengths. If you kill a smaller monster, its corpse disappears like normal when you carve an item(s) from it, but it remains on your partners' screens until they carve from it also. It's justified with carving items from larger monsters, as their corpse doesn't disappear after you've carved all items from it... except that it raises the question of how your partners can carve more items while you can't when the corpse is still there.

** In ''VideoGame/PokemonGO'', a large number of players can all work together to fight a single Pokemon in a Raid Battle. If they all win together, each individual is given a chance to catch it, with everyone getting their own copy to catch.
* There were exactly five of the ring thingies that protected one from the radiation of the big bad in ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarIV''. Thus conveniently explaining why only one of your previous party members could rejoin the main group for the final battle.
* ''VideoGame/{{Realmz}}'', an old Platform/{{Macintosh}} {{shareware}} RPG, had an especially evil version of this. While the game was single-player, it still had some exceptionally powerful items tagged as "Unique." Multiple copies of these items were present across [[MissionPackSequel various scenarios]], but if you tried to pick another up when you were already carrying one, the game would note that you already have it, causing the item to retroactively vanish.
* The first ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' avoided this, mostly. Unless you exploited a few of the GoodBadBugs, items like the Cassus Fett armor or the Circlet of Saresh were one of a kind. In the sequel, Obsidian took over and randomized the loot, which could lead to some accidental funny moments as you'd end up with a few dozen copies of something like Jolee's robes.
* In ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', when you pick up a single firearm lying around, you suddenly have enough copies for all current and future squadmates who are proficient with a given weapon class. This is somewhat {{Justified}} by the Normandy SR-2 having an extensive tech lab and fabrication equipment that can assemble new guns as needed once you have the schematics or a sample gun to reverse engineer, though it still doesn't explain why you can use the new guns ''immediately'' other than [[AcceptableBreaksFromReality to avoid the frustration of having to wait until you get back to the ship.]]

[[folder:Adventure Games]]
* In ''VideoGame/CarteBlanche'' protagonist Edgar needs to slap Luigi Strozzi with a herring to wake him up every time he wants to talk to him. Thankfully, there are infinite herrings in the Strozzi household kitchen.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Uru}}: Ages Beyond Myst'' each age has a different instance for each player due to the difficulty of turning a ''VideoGame/{{Myst}}''-type puzzle game into an MMORPG. An attempt was made to [[JustifiedTrope justify]] this with the [[AWizardDidIt Bahro]]. You can, however, invite other players into your own instance of the age, if you need some help or just to have some company while wandering around.

[[folder:Hack and Slash]]

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[[folder:[=MMORPGs=]]]

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[[folder:Role-Playing Games]]

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[[folder:Fiction]]
* The first ''Literature/{{Noob}}'' novel has this happen with a QuestGiver. A quest consists in part of following a NonPlayerCharacter to a certain location, but everyone is doing it a the same time. As a consequence, each PlayerParty quite visibly has its own copy of the same guy. In addition, if someone who has been so far working alone joins a group, the two copies fuse into one; a character observing this immediately thinks of the "boss has enough heads for everyone in the group to get one" phenomenon.
[[/folder]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Realmz}}'', an old UsefulNotes/{{Macintosh}} {{shareware}} RPG, had an especially evil version of this. While the game was single-player, it still had some exceptionally powerful items tagged as "Unique." Multiple copies of these items were present across [[MissionPackSequel various scenarios]], but if you tried to pick another up when you were already carrying one, the game would note that you already have it, causing the item to retroactively vanish.

-->-- Attributed to '''Margaret Mead'''

* In online ''VideoGame/{{Diablo}}'' play, quests will yield as many {{MacGuffin}}s as there are players completing them, even when said {{MacGuffin}}s are one-of-a-kind items.
** Exceptions: The scroll with the solution to the Cairn Stones, the Horadric Malus and the Hellforge Hammer only drop once.

*** While the limited number of body parts might be {{HandWave}}d because turning in said body part usually results in a BraggingRightsReward where the local BenevolentBoss praises you so loud that the whole city can hear, nothing prevents people from saving said body parts from previous kills or from different instance groups and turning them in after yours, resulting in multiple announcements.

* In ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes'', a [[PlayerCharacter character]] can go through a whole story arc based around retrieving a {{MacGuffin}}, bring it to the mystic Azuria at the end, and be ''immediately'' followed by another [[PlayerCharacter character]] bringing the ''exact'' same unique {{MacGuffin}}.
** This, coupled with some of the storylines concerning Azura and stolen PlotCoupons, has led the community to the only logical conclusion/{{fanwank}}: Azuria is an idiot [[TooDumbToLive who shouldn't be trusted with combing her hair]].
*** Another popular theory is that ''she's'' the DiabolicalMastermind behind the Hellions gang, keeping them supplied with low-level magic artifacts that "went missing" from the [=MAGI=] vault. (Of course, all of these people fail to notice the fact that ''[[MisBlamed she isn't in charge of the vault]]''.)
*** Hard to get people to understand that since the game always send you to her and never the guy who actually runs it.

** Actually, they do have a "multiple heads" example in the form of Ultima and Omega who each can drop multiple heads... much to the chagrin of participants since the head pieces are the least awe-inspiring (for Omega at least).

* Used and averted in ''VideoGame/KingdomOfLoathing''. While everyone gets supposedly one-of-a-kind items (and in fact, due to [[NewGamePlus ascension,]] you can have ''multiple'' unique items, like a belt made from the skull of the Bonerdagon and the skin of the Boss Bat), there are a few items, like the Rainbow Pearl and Strange Tiki Idol, of which only a few were implemented and which were obtained first-come first-serve.
** And there are now a few things which just become harder to acquire the more people have them (or possibly the more which have been ''found'', which isn't the same thing), so that nobody's really sure if there's a hard cap or not.
* It's possible to carve ''two'' tongues out of a popo (read: [[CallARabbitASmeerp Wooly Mammoth]]) in ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter Freedom Unite''.
** ''Monster Hunter Tri'' takes it to absurd lengths. If you kill a smaller monster, its corpse disappears like normal when you carve an item(s) from it, but it remains on your partners' screens until they carve from it also. Somewhat justified with carving items from larger monsters, as their corpse doesn't disappear after you've carved all items from it... except that it raises the question of how your partners can carve more items while you can't when the corpse is still there.

* Averted in ''VideoGame/{{Mabinogi}}''. When new storylines are added that result in whole new regions (towns, dungeons etc...) they are initially covered by Seal stones that have specific requirements to break. They can only be broken once ever giving the breaker a unique title. And a little signpost appears announcing who broke the stone.
** Additionally, when a party completes a quest that requires running a specific dungeon to get one specific item, the item will only drop once. Due to some glitches, it behooves the players to know who needs to pick up the item and if it can be traded or not.

* In multiplayer ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' play, while a given Pokémon may be unique within the game world, it's easy for two players to stage a battle using the "same" unique Pokémon. Through trading, one player can even acquire multiple members of the one-per-game species.

** This was rendered somewhat moot because even though there were only five Rings of the Stars, none of the party members could equip the fifth one! Your fifth party member had to go without regardless.
*** This may have been a GameplayAndStorySegregation thing, where it's just sorta implied that the fifth person is "wearing" the ring even if it's not equipped. This may be to prevent accidentally equipping the ring to one of the fifth party members, and then switching to another one, which would mess up the story a bit.

** In PokemonGO, a large number of players can all work together to fight a single Pokemon in a Raid Battle. If they all win together, each individual is given a chance to catch it, with everyone getting their own copy to catch.