Or, everybody does?: Nobody Poops

First: according to the descriptions, the difference between Nobody Poops and Bottomless Bladder is that the latter is a Video Game trope. The main distinction is that the former can usually be handwaved more easily, because characters usually are almost never on camera constantly for long periods, while video game characters sometimes are.

Second: being a form of Conservation of Detail doesn't make it not a trope. Consider the Automaton Horses. Or the Infinite Flashlight. Or Law of Cartographical Elegance. I would in fact argue that those last two are averted more rarely than this, mostly because it's more rare for an aversion to form a plot point.

edited 12th Feb '12 9:33:04 PM by EnragedFilia

My problem is that the examples read much the same on both pages. The description is slightly different, but the examples... Less so. Many examples are on both pages.

Nobody Poops is more about not showing the actual bathroom, implied or explicit being used or not, while Bottomless Bladder is more about other things as well, like eating and sleeping. Or maybe the difference is "isn't shown" vs "don't have to".

I really can't tell. This trope is crap.

^ No pun intended. (I hope?)

Bottomless Bladder is crap too. If it really is Video Game exclusive, it can't have a name that sounds like a non-exclusive concept.

More like an unavoidable pun.

I just can't wrap my head around how to make it seem like a decent trope.

Some games make it a point to make a bathroom available... hell Persona 3 and Persona 4 Reward you with a chance to find items and random events (Like improving your condition or self narration about things / gameplay advice) if you do go to the bathroom.

As for the Aversion name.... I think this is pretty disused, I wouldn't mind renaming.

The reason it's best to convey this trope through aversions is because pointing out straight examples is guesswork and nitpicking. Entering an straight example of Nobody Poops is talking about what didn't happen on the show. It's a low-level case of the audience asking "why didn't the writers make the characters do X in scene Y?" That has no place as an example, because it's not talking about the show itself.

I do agree that listing aversions is a good thing, however people see the name and think it is the opposite of what the examples cover.

Personally I would like an

• Exampless omnipresent trope
• Aversions on a separate page with a different name,

1. Shouldn't lampshades and parodies be on the omnipresent tropes page? 2. What would the second page be? Sometimes People Poop On TV and then a list? Why?

I suggest no straight examples or aversions for Nobody Poops. Only lampshades, exaggerations. We have some of those. Someone just shitting is not a trope, (though it could use Toilet Humor, Bathroom Stall of Overheard Insults, Bathroom Breakout, or some other specific trope).

Bottomless Bladder, however, must be cleaned up to its actual definition. Give it a name as clear as Heroes Never Do Mundane Essential Activities, (but snappier). Remove most non-video game examples, just leaving a few others in (I think 24 would work.) With this, I think it's fair to list aversions, like RP Gs that track your food and sleep - unless we have those as separate tropes, in which case we can just direct readers there.

"Only lampshades, exaggerations... Someone just shitting is not a trope"

I could get behind that.

edited 13th Feb '12 6:32:29 AM by Catbert

Do I have permission to scrap the Real Life section right now? Surely this isn't a trope that can have any real life applications.

What.

Chainsaw it. I hadn't even realised it existed.

I hadn't noticed it either... definitely no place for that.

I could support "only lampshades and parodies, and no aversions" as a page criteria.

Bottomless Bladder isn't in any way specific to video games. Fictional characters in general don't perform "mundane essential activities" on-screen unless it's plot-relevant.

The paragraph about how in video games "...you control the same character for days or months on end, experiencing every moment of their lives..." is a gross exaggeration. Most video games can be completed in hours. Most video games also have scene breaks and time skips just like any other fiction.

Except MMOs.

edited 13th Feb '12 2:31:37 PM by EnragedFilia

I put back a couple of the Real Life examples.

That information is relevant. The fact that astronauts and soldiers really wouldn't need to poop in some circumstances is important to the trope, since it means that some fictional examples are more accurate that you might assume.

If we really don't want a Real Life section, I guess we can just put that info as a little blurb in the description, but I don't want it totally deleted.

edited 13th Feb '12 3:32:02 PM by abk0100

But this is strictly a trope about Conservation of Detail and not seeing someone in the bathroom on-screen. It doesn't mean "He has no need to go to the bathroom", but "it's icky and unnecessary to have a scene show it". So, Real Life examples don't make sense.

edited 13th Feb '12 3:34:06 PM by lu127

That MRE example is bullshit - no pun intended - unless someone can prove it to me using official word or something. I've eaten a ton of those things, and you still poop, more or less daily. The stuff binds you up like nobody's business, and MRE shits are never fun, but that's more to do with the huge amount of preservatives. Also, it's unlike any normal food, so when you first start on a long MRE diet you tend to be constipated for a day or so while your body gets used to it. Whoever wrote that originally obviously was never on anything longer than a weekend field exercise. Probably a National Guardsman or something.

So yes, I cut that example again.

edited 13th Feb '12 3:58:41 PM by Martello

... too bad we can't call it Elephant In The Bath Room.

edited 13th Feb '12 3:55:22 PM by Stratadrake

"...you control the same character for days or months on end..."

Or years. Seriously.

"Has no need for it," isn't that what Bottomless Bladder is about, if I (finally) got this right?

That's out of context. The line combines long-term play with 100% screentime, but these almost never occur together in the same game.

No human can play World of Warcraft (or whatever) 24/7. Who's to say what your character does when you log off.

Yes, although it extends to more than just bathroom needs. It's about most basic needs, really.

I still think it makes no sense to have a real life section, for reasons pointed above.

Oh, I was agreeing with that. Just forgot to spell it out.