Have a question about how the TVTropes wiki works? No one knows this community better than the people in it, so ask away! Ask the Tropers is the page you come to when you have a question burning in your brain and the support pages didn't help.
It's not for everything, though. For a list of all the resources for your questions, click here. You can also go to this Directory thread
for ongoing cleanup projects.
Ask the Tropers is for:
- General questions about the wiki, how it works, and how to do things.
- Reports of problems with wiki articles, or requests for help with wiki articles.
- Reports of misbehavior or abuse by other tropers.
Ask the Tropers is not for:
- Help identifying a trope. See TropeFinder.
- Help identifying a work. See MediaFinder.
- Asking if a trope example is valid. See the Trope Talk forum.
- Proposing new tropes. See TropeLaunchPad.
- Making bug reports. See QueryBugs.
- Asking for new wiki features. See QueryWishlist.
- Chatting with other tropers. See our forums.
- Reporting problems with advertisements. See this forum topic.
- Reporting issues on the forums. Send a Holler instead.
Ask the Tropers:
openFive Nights at Freddy's and Inconsistencies Videogame
The pages for the first six games are not consistent with eachother in terms of in-game information. Most have entries that've either been disproven within themselves- both from late-game or hidden information- or the other games. They are also riddled with fandom-based assuptions that have no basis within the given information, often conflicting with what was actually given in-game. I would like to start an effort to clean these pages up, but do I have to pitch a short-term project to do so- and how would I go about that, if yes- because of the scale, or, can I work on it myself in my spare time? I am asking primarily because I am not active frequently.
EDIT: Clean up effort is now live, here: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=16550680110A22093300&page=1#1
resolved Old Removal from Lode Runner Videogame
Hi, I was looking through the YMMV section of Lode Runner and noticed that one of the older edits was the removal of a rather large section of content for Surrealism and Nothing is Scarier, with the only reason being that it was "Not YMMV," but it was never relocated anywhere else.
I read through the removed sections and determined it still seemed like an appropriate use of those tropes, however I would like input on whether or not it should go back to YMMV, or if those tropes belong in the main page of tropes? I'm still relatively new to this so any input on this would be a big help.
Edit: I made the changes myself after some light research on page editing. This can be disregarded.
Edited by MidnightRun99resolved "Acceptable" H-games Videogame
Seeing that some H-games do get a page and some don't, I got a bit confused about how content rules actually work regarding those; just how H-games actually do get their pages and it gets decided "okay, those may stay"? Is there a pre-moderation for those? Or it's "take the risk now, get executed by a firing squad later if we don't like it"? And what are the signs that there's a point to even bother, that it may pass?
I have one in mind (it's Overgrown: Genesis), as I genuinely like it (for its story and characters; was genuinely surprised myself at first, I originally only looked for something short which I can translate for practice), but want to make sure before even bothering with drafting, as it's better to throw out an idea than hours or days of writing. I wouldn't put it in sandbox until later anyway, but want to know in advance.
It's set After the End (Zombie Apocalypse, similar to one in Last of Us; albeit backstory is closer to the series rather than the games, despite predating it), and has rather bleak atmosphere; it starts as a story of survivor who was backstabbed and left for dead on the first field operation, but gradually becomes a battle for survival of humanity. Gameplay-wise, it's Survival Horror. It seems that almost entire H-content is avoidable; few scenes happens regardless of the player's actions, but it should be entirely possible to just write without mentioning them.
openUndertale tropes minor edits Videogame
Hello! I've found a few minor mistakes in some of the trope pages for Undertale but idk how to fix them myself so (spoiler warning for anyone who hasn't finished Undertale)
-In "Tropes B/Undertale", under "Bizarre taste in food", Napstablook is accidentally referred to using 'he' pronouns -In "Tropes C To F/Undertale", under "Cue the sun", It's added at the end that Asriel's fight took the whole night due to the Asgore fight being during sunset and the sun rising in the True Pacifist Ending. However, in Asgore's battle text, it is described as being twilight, which could be either right before sunrise or right before sunset —Under "Flower Motifs", it says that in the dump, Golden Flowers are 'what Flowey uses to save the player from falling to their death after remembering the first meeting with the Fallen Human in similar circumstances'. However, this isn't ever hinted at in the game (unless I'm forgetting something). We know Flowey can summon vines, but he hasn't canonically been able to grow entirely separate flowers as Flowey. Also, here are plenty of other instances of flashbacks relating to the First Fallen
Is it alright if someone can fix these?
openUndertale tropes minor edits Videogame
Hello! I've found a few minor mistakes in some of the trope pages for Undertale but idk how to fix them myself so (spoiler warning for anyone who hasn't finished Undertale)
-In "Tropes B/Undertale", under "Bizarre taste in food", Napstablook is accidentally referred to using 'he' pronouns -In "Tropes C To F/Undertale", under "Cue the sun", It's added at the end that Asriel's fight took the whole night due to the Asgore fight being during sunset and the sun rising in the True Pacifist Ending. However, in Asgore's battle text, it is described as being twilight, which could be either right before sunrise or right before sunset —Under "Flower Motifs", it says that in the dump, Golden Flowers are 'what Flowey uses to save the player from falling to their death after remembering the first meeting with the Fallen Human in similar circumstances'. However, this isn't ever hinted at in the game (unless I'm forgetting something). We know Flowey can summon vines, but he hasn't canonically been able to grow entirely separate flowers as Flowey. Also, here are plenty of other instances of flashbacks relating to the First Fallen
Is it alright if someone can fix these?
openX-Men Mutant Academy 2? Videogame
So, X-Men Mutant Academy 2 has no page, and it looks like it was cut. But also, the Mutant Academy 1 page has no info on 2 (and itself only has 2 tropes). The big differences between 1 and 2 are an expanded roster, including a secret guest character in Spider-Man and expanded game mechanics, but that's still worth troping it, at least I think. What would be better, re-making the Mutant Academy 2 page, or consolodating the existing page for 1 to cover both of them?
Next Dimension (which is basically MA 3) has its own page, but that makes sense as it's a vastly different game than the other 2.
openConflicting Examples Videogame
Hellboy: The Science of Evil has examples for both No Problem With Licensed Games and The Problem with Licensed Games and I wouldn't think they can both be true.
- No Problem with Licensed Games: While it isn't a great example, it is definitely better than the other Hellboy licensed games, with Ron Perlman, Selma Blair and Doug Jones voicing the characters as they did in the films.
- The Problem with Licensed Games: While it was made from the makers and cast of the film duology, it wasn't programmed very well.
I've no played the game myself but I'd would seem better to combine them into something like:
- The Problem with Licensed Games: While it is definitely better than previous Hellboy games and it benefits from being made by the makers and cast of the film duology, with Ron Perlman, Selma Blair and Doug Jones reprising their role, it still wasn't programmed very well.
Or vice versa, since that example seems to come across slanted towards it being good. As I say I haven't play the game so I don't know what the issues with it were.
openVideoGame/{{Diablo}} MagnificentBastard entry Videogame
Baal from the franchise was approved by the thread
. I thought I had forgotten to add him to the YMMV page so I just put him up but later noticed he was deleted here
with the edit reason citing some of the tropes should be going on individual game pages. Noticing my mistake, I've commented out the example but I don't see him being put on any particular game page. To avoid an edit war, does anyone mind pointing me to the proper YMMV page he should be on as I don't know the games myself?
Edit: Changed from a comment out to a deletion of my own addition until this gets resolved just to be on the safe side.
Edited by 43110resolved Bad Sequelitis Entry on YMMV Total War Warhammer III Videogame
A while back, there was an Edit War ATT concerning the Sequelitis entry on Total War: Warhammer III. See here
. I don't disagree that it was Edit Warring, but what got lost in that discussion is that the offending entry is genuinely bad, violates a number of rules and is very outdated compared to the current state of the game. For context here is the current entry as it stands on that page.
- Sequelitis: It was very clear that the team developing this game and the team maintaining the previous game either disagreed heavily or just weren't coordinating as much of the fixes, patches, updates, and design evolutions that made the previous game so popular were not present at the launch of this one. The game shifted back in favor of things that were either patched out of or specifically avoided in the previous game resulting in a launch that many fans agree was a major step backwards.
- "Poorly Optimized" is an understatement when you see the litany of programming errors that caused a lot of vitriol among the players
. It's widely theorized that the core of the game was forked off an older build of the previous game before the big Potion of Speed update and thus never received most of the multitude of fixes, patches, and updates present in that patch and subsequent ones.
- The skill and tech trees for many factions are poorly-executed, with many technologies or skills that range from underwhelming (+1% chance for a plague to spread for Nurgle) to completely useless (Leadership bonuses for an Unbreakable unit). Several skills and technologies also don't do what the description says they do, making it hard to know what bonus you're actually getting. On top of this, some factions have their unique bonuses and unit abilities gated behind technologies (such as Tzeentch's Teleport stance, Kislev's Ice Court mechanic, and the spellcasting abilities of every Greater Daemon, with each spell having its own technology), something that was specifically hated about the Greenskins in the first game and removed from them with a series of reworks in the second. Patch 1.2 focused heavily on beefing up factions' tech trees, mitigating this.
- While they raised the level cap for Heroes and Lords to level 50 they didn't necessarily give them any more skills, meaning some heroes can get more skill points than they can spend; Iridescent Horrors with the Lore of Tzeentch, for example, can only spend 47 due to having mutually-exclusive skills, and even if they didn't would only have 49. This was previously only a problem with mods and those modders had solved the problem early in the first game's lifecycle.
- Many players and reviewers alike agree the game's UI is both less appealing and harder to read due to the overemphasis on the color red compared to the previous game's more vibrant interface. A common source of frustration is that the colors for many different functions are effectively the same, making it impossible to quickly distinguish if a settlement is, for example, building a structure or demolishing it.
- The campaign that launched with the game, Realm of Chaos, doubled down on the elements players hated about the second game's Vortex campaign (particularly the time pressure and the random invasions) without making many improvements, ignoring well-received diversification of faction objectives and stories from the previous game's DLC packs. See Scrappy Mechanic for more details on why the Reign of Chaos campaign mechanics are especially loathed. The reception of this campaign was so bad Creative Assembly had to delay their first planned update and rush out Patch 1.1 specifically to address it.
- The series has long had a reputation for amazing mods that expand and improve on the game in a myriad of ways. This game did not launch with Steam Workshop support and went without for two months until the 1.1 update.
- "Poorly Optimized" is an understatement when you see the litany of programming errors that caused a lot of vitriol among the players
And here is my critique of this entry and its sub-bullets, breaking it down by the elements.
1. For starters this entry really shouldn't be broken down into multiple sub-bullets. They give the appearance of a Wall of Text. A single bullet that's Clear, Concise, Witty is preferable.
2. ""Poorly Optimized" is an understatement" etc.: The video link can stay but the words inside it should be rewritten and the rest of the paragraph should be cut. One half is hyperbolic Word Cruft with unnecessary italics, the other is pure speculation.
3. "The skill and tech trees for many factions" etc.: The points can stand but the bracketed text should be moved into Notes to make the paragraph more concise. Also, the text may need to be put into past tense as the subbullet itself admits CA have been working on this, though I think it should go as I would rather keep that element for last.
4. "While they raised the level cap for Heroes and Lords" etc.: The point is valid, but IMO we can reduce this to a single sentence or even a fragment of one. e.g. CA raised the level cap for Lords and Heroes to 50, but some characters don't have enough room for that many skill points.
5. "Many players and reviewers alike agree the game's UI" etc.: Can delete. The point is valid but they directly addressed it in a later patch which means it should go under Author's Saving Throw. At most a fragment of a sentence like "issues with the game's interface due to poor colour balance and excessive use of bright red".
6. "The campaign that launched with the game" etc.: Valid but needs compression and to remove the reference to Scrappy Mechanic which is considered bad form. A single sentence should do it.
7. "The series has long had a reputation" etc.: Delete. Yes it was frustrating but it's been addessed.
So with all these in mind, a revised version of the entry as I see it would go something like this:
- Sequelitis: At launch, the game was very divisively and even negatively received for feeling like a step backwards after the much-lauded final state of Total War: Warhammer II. Reasons for this include a large host of glitches, bugs and programming errors
that made it feel unpolished, complaints about poor choices for skillnote Ranging from underwhelming (+1% chance for a plague to spread for Nurgle) to completely useless (Leadership bonuses for an Unbreakable unit). and technology treesnote Some factions had their unique bonuses and unit abilities gated behind technologies, such as Tzeentch's Teleport stance, Kislev's Ice Court mechanic, and the spellcasting abilities of every Greater Daemon, with each spell having its own technology. for certain races, CA raising the level cap for Lords and Heroes to 50 but not accounting for characters who didn't have enough skills to accommodate 49 skill points, issues with the game's interface due to poor colour balance and excessive use of bright red, not launching with built-in support for Game Mods like its predecessors did, which might have mitigated some people's complaints about it, and worst of all, a base game campaign that was almost universally derided for loathsome mechanics, an irritating amount of time pressure and homogenising the storylines and campaign goals of the factions featured, making people who hated the how the Vortex campaign in the second game started out before DLC packs brought diversification of faction objectives and stories cry, "Oh, No... Not Again!" Fortunately, CA have since worked hard to address all these issues throught game patches and their first DLC pack, which has led to the game getting a much more positive reception.
Note this is not the final form I would put it in, I just needed to make something for this, but I also wanted to achieve consensus before I posted it. Thoughts?
Edited by MinisterOfSinisteropenMisuses of the POV Cam trope Videogame
So, one thing I have noticed while cleaning up the Video Game pages is that P.O.V. Cam trope is sometimes just stuck onto any game that's played from a first-person perspective. Here's the latest example: Your Toy.
I mean, that's textbook Trope Decay, right? Given its relative prominence (this is like the fifth time I see this, and I am sure doing a wick search will reveal a few more), should we outright amend the trope page itself to clarify that's 'not what it's meant to be about?
openSpecific image won't upload Videogame
I've been adding images to Characters.Temtem, and today I wanted to add images of Hidody and Taifu. Problem is, the Hidody image
I downloaded from the Wikia wouldn't upload; when I clicked "submit", it cancelled itself before it could load the popup with the URL and formatting in it. I chalked this up to the uploader not working... but a few hours later, I tried again, and it still didn't work, but an image of Taifu
that I downloaded from the same site uploaded just fine. Is the file corrupted?
openEtiquette of Taking Charge in a Small Article Videogame
Hello,
I've been a trafficker on the site for a bit before finding small ways I could add to articles, whether it be fixing small mistakes I can find, or adding a few new tropes to not very well-known series.
The page for the video game Walking On A Star Unknown is sparse and had a bit of weird grammar (I did a little bit of editing myself for some wording, as well as adding a few tropes, an image, and a quote- both very general ones from the translator's site). I am interested in taking more liberty and adding a character page, as well as moving tropes that fit characters from the main page to simplify and improve the article.
Since it is quite a small, not yet too-popular game, I assume it would be alright for me to take charge with this? I am not too sure on the etiquette of making large improvements without prior consulting to a larger audience myself, and if I have already stepped over the line by adding a photo and quote, I admit fault (and am more than willing to change it myself if there are any issues.)
In addition, is it preferred that I edit in chunks, or in one or two larger edits? My flow is currently to add bits and pieces at a time, though I could always change this to be one large edit if it is more convenient.
Apologies that this is so long and in depth, I didn't think more background info would hinder anything, I hope. Thank you! Papurika
openWhat kind of page do mods and fanmade songs for Friday Night Funkin go into? Videogame
So, I'm the main guy who launched and frequently checks the Friday Night Funkin' page, and as I've been looking around the edit histories, it's become evident that a few tropers would like to add examples of mods/fan created songs to pages like Awesome Music and Nightmare Fuel. I for one think that FNF has a healthy modding community ripe with lots of examples and I was hoping that these would breath new life into the page during the lulls of waiting for the game itself to be updated, so I tried making a fan works page, since you can't add examples of mods to main pages. Unfortunately, I used the page incorrectly (Accidentally. My bad.) and it got cut. I can only assume that we should use the Fanfic Recs option? I'm a little confused on the matter since I wouldn't really consider game mods fanfics.
Edited by GraysonBaueropenHelp me find tropes for a Psychopath! Videogame
So there is a character who is really weird, even comical if he wasn't so dangerous. He is not The Sociopath, although he appears to be trying.
The description describes him as follows:
"Alonso Graves is a man disturbed. A former soldier of the Empire, war transformed his soul forever. The disdain and misanthropy within him can only momentarily be silenced by the blood of his former masters. Believing himself now to be a god, he is intent on "freeing" all he can from the shackles of human existence."
In game, Alsonso is the weakest of the "Expert" AI in his game, Anno 1800. He is utterly unpredictable and may declare war if he feels like it, but he is not someone with a Chronic Backstabbing Disorder.
This makes it hard to find proper tropes for him.
Edited by LyefyreopenExpanding tropes on Insomniac's Spider-Man Videogame
Hey, guys, I realise that this message is more appropriate in a videogame forum or the like, which is where I did originally send it, but I have decided to post it here as well since I have not been garnering any responses from the videogame's forum.
So I recently added some tropes which I think apply to Insomniac's Spider-Man, Manchild, Motor Mouth, Pop-Cultured Badass and Thou Shall Not Kill, onto his folder, but can't expand upon them (as I'm a relatively inexperienced editor and have yet to write up my first official example), so if someone could please maybe write up something on my behalf, I'd very much appreciate it.
To get anyone going, here's some info you can consider and use when writing up some descriptions for these tropes.
- For Manchild, maybe someone could mention his endearingly narrating his own adventurers as Spider-Cop, constant wisecracking, etc, throughout Spider-Man PS4. And Silver Sable lampshading "You are a child." when he enthusiastically helps her calibrate her hovercraft towards the end of the Silver Lining DLC could also be noted.
- For Motor Mouth, this particular exchange between Spidey and Shocker when the former apprehends the latter's bank robbery attempt during the mission "Financial Shock" can be considered. Here's a 41 second clip of the exchange if you wanna watch it.
Spider-Man: Remember our first fight? Me, so young and stupid. You, just stupid. Shocker: You talk too much! Spider-Man: Well, that's a matter of opinion. I mean, are there any standard metrics for how much talking one should do? And who determines the ideal ratio of talking versus not-talking? Also, how would you measure it? Words per minute? Syllables per second? Or is it more about how many words one uses to express a single thought? It's all so subjective. If you ask me, some people don't talk enough. Like about who their mysterious overlord is, the person they're working for, that kinda thing. Shocker: [goaded past endurance] SHUT UP!- Of course, there are other moments where he just prattles on (even if he doesn't talk particularly fast-paced) and Silver Sable has asked him to shut up a couple times during the Silver Lining DLC. However, it may need to be noted that he tends to do this during story campaign, as outside-story gameplay, he's obviously quiet (I'm not quite sure what the trope for this is or if there's even a trope for this, maybe Gameplay and Story Segregation?) but you guys can write it however way you like, doesn't matter to me.
- For Pop-Cultured Badass, much like his MCU counterpart, Spidey makes a number of references to pop culture, of which I've compiled a list.
- Spidey greets Vulture with a friendly "Yo, Adrian!" While the Vulture yells at him to quit babbling, Electro actually responds by telling Spidey that he must break him in a strong Russian accent, much to the web-head's delight.
- Upon being attacked by Sable's jetpack troops and learning from Yuri that the mercenaries have declared martial law on the city in light of the Sinister Six's actions, Spider-Man asks if anyone else besides him is getting a Nineteen Eighty-Four vibe from the whole situation.
- When Sable Agents respond to Spider-Man fighting criminals, Spider-Man reacts by referencing a line from Milkshake
, with "milkshake" exchanged for "web."
- During a Maggia car chase, Spider-Man references It's Raining Men
.
- While going through one of Hammerhead's bases, Spider-Man says the line "Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!" from The Wizard of Oz
.
- When talking about his "Spider-Cop" persona, Peter at one point says "Part man, part spider, all cop."
- During a side mission stopping the Demons' car while they have an armed bomb, Spidey may randomly say that it reminds him a lot of "that movie with the bomb on the bus," though he can't quite remember its name.
- A very subtle one occurs during the Midtown Research Mission "Chemical Leak". He follows the trail and in three separate spots he finds traces of mercury, nitric acid, and ethanol then wonders why that sounds familiar. It's familiar because that's the chemical combination used by none other than Heisenberg, the kingpin of Albuquerque drug crime himself, to blow a hole in a building during the first season of Breaking Bad.
- One type of random side mission has thugs pinning down cops with sniper rifles. After beating one, Spidey might quip that it feels like a new-age western, then say, "Yippee kiyay, mother-spider."
- When Spidey stops said heist, he quips, "I love it when a plan falls apart."
- When Spidey infiltrates an abandoned warehouse at the docks, he mentions this feels like a horror movie and asks if there are any fishermen with a grudge and a hook for a hand.
- In the Sable Lookout Crime, one of Spider-Man's quips is asking the soldiers if they should call him by say... flashing a Spider Symbol in the sky but stops himself "before he gets sued."
- And for Thou Shall Not Kill, since Spider-Man has a no-kill policy, thugs that are thrown off roofs during combat will automatically be pulled to the nearest wall and appear webbed-up. He also cites his no-killing rule when discussing how to take down Hammerhead with Silver Sable towards the end of Silver Lining.
So that's that. I hope you more experienced and talented editors can cook up something special with all this info. Write however way you want, I'm just the guy supplying some background info, which I hope will be useful. :)
Edited by gothamarkhamlordopenTrope Repair Shop? Videogame
Can someone tell me what constitutes trope misuse?
I noticed irregularities on the Stance System and took it to the repair shop. But unbeknowst to me, misuse is a very loaded term on this site and I didn't have a firm enough case.
When is it serious enough to warrant a new thread, and if it isn't that serious, should I just open a discussion tab on the trope itself, or is there some other forum thread?

Since this was from 2017, I figured this was a better route than trying to PM—but back then I added a Fanon entry under Final Fantasy VIII's YMMV page describing the phenomenon of ficcers having characters use "Hyne" as a standard bit of blasphemy (e.g. someone yelling "Hynedammit" instead of "goddammit") even though nobody speaks this way in the game itself—instead, they just use God the same way people in Real Life who are agitated, surprised, and/or upset would shout God. This was removed from the game's YMMV page a little while later with no edit reason, although it's still on the overal Final Fantasy page. I only noticed it now but since it would still technically constitute an Edit War, I wanted to bring it up before re-adding it.