Give 'Em Enough Trope

Posted by Nate Patrin at 12:48 PM Apr 07, 2008

Things happen for a reason. In most traditional narrative media, whether dramatic or comedic, certain constructs are in place that play on an audience's pre-conceived expectations, and are there to build tension and release, create empathy with or antipathy towards a character, and generally denote what sort of genre the work belongs to. These are known as "tropes," the basic building blocks of storytelling, and once video games started advancing past paddle-vs.-ball conflicts and into the realm of real characters with motivations (even if said motivation is "make a delicious hamburger"), they developed a whole set of their own.

The wiki TV Tropes -- misleadingly named, since it also covers film, comics, literature, music and just about every facet of genre fiction and pop culture you can think of -- has an entire section on video game tropes that is staggeringly in-depth and borderline scholarly in a sort of geeky way. Some of these tropes concern gameplay mechanics, while others tie in the story structure of games into the greater scheme of fictional narrative, but all of them are instantly recognizable to most gamers. It will take you hours if not days if not weeks to go through the whole site, but here's a few highlights to get you started down your eventual road to completely obsessive narrative deconstruction:

A Taste of Power: "When starting a game, often the player starts out with an extremely powerful party or character, which can easily slaughter anything it comes across, playing through a short battle or dungeon. The player is in no real danger of losing at this point, but this incredible power never lasts long. Once the introductory segment is complete, the player switches to the real party, usually at level 1 with basic starter gear. The primary purpose of this trope is to get a player into a game and teach them the rules without overwhelming them with dangerous enemies early on. This can also give them a preview of the powers and skills they'll be acquiring later in the game." (Notable examples: Need for Speed: Most Wanted; Castlevania: Symphony of the Night; Assassin's Creed)

Insurmountable Waist Height Fence: "The phenomenon, found in countless videogames, in which a seemingly trivial obstacle -- such as a Locked Door -- cannot be circumvented or removed with brute force, no matter how powerful the player character(s) is(are). This is more jarring when the obstacle in question does not mark the edge of the gameworld, but rather serves to force the player into taking a particular path." (Notable examples: almost every single first-person shooter ever, namely ones where you have a lightsaber/crowbar/explosive that should be able to destroy a standard, unreinforced obstacle but somehow can't.)

Shadow of the Colossus: trope adherent... and subverter. (Image taken from Penny Arcade.)

For Massive Damage: "Bosses are usually invulnerable all over their body, with the exception of one or a few weak points. Therefore, if you see a shiny or glowing target anywhere on the boss' body, chances are that's where you need to attack. Common targets are the head, eyes (particularly if it's a cyclops), hands, tail, or a soft underbelly. If the boss is particularly large it might require a difficult trip to get there. Sometimes, the weak point may not be exposed right away, meaning it may require a little ingenuity on your part to get it out in the open." (Notable examples: Shadow of the Colossus; House of the Dead; R-Type)

Malevolent Architecture: "Castles aren't large walled structures where people live and work, they're intricate mazes. Temples aren't places where people go to worship their various deities, they're where the ancients practiced their Booby Trap- and Death Course-making skills (and they were so good at it that they are still functional after hundreds of years without maintenance). Even places like warehouses and sewers, where the design should be fairly straightforward, are designed solely to deter intruders, even if there is no earthly reason why it should be so, and even if it utterly inconveniences non-intruders. One wonders what the regular people do." (Notable examples: Resident Evil; Prince of Persia; Half-Life)