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{{trope}}
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[[Two Gamers on a Couch]] are playing a video game, or the gang get together to play a [[RPG Episode|roleplaying game]]. Instead of showing what goes on by showing us the screen or the characters themselves, the scene cuts "into" the game, where the gamers themselves have taken the roles of the characters they are playing.
Any discussion the players have will be seen taking place between the characters. The characters will nearly always facially resemble the players, although they will often be altered to take on aspects of the player characters. This can be done with the [[Rule of Funny|intention of looking silly]], such as the 7-foot-tall barbarian wearing his geeky player's signature [[Nerd Glasses]] or a male player shown [[Cross Player|crossdressing as]] [[GIRL|his female character]]. A different [[Art Shift|art style]] may be used to show the gameworld; video game worlds may have something of a pixellated or [[Cel Shading|cel-shaded]] appearance.
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* Konata from ''[[Lucky Star]]'' claims to be [[I Know Mortal Kombat|good at athletics by visualizing herself playing]] ''[[Track and Field]]''. Cut to actual NES ''Track & Field'' graphics starring Konata's sprite, and a closeup of Konata's hand on the controller performing the famous coin and ruler tricks to win the game.
** In the OVA, a whole gang of people engaged in that in a MMORPG.
** Another episode of the anime features Konata and Nanako having an argument that soon cuts to a ''[[Full Metal Panic!]]''-in-''[[Super Robot Wars]]'' battle, with them piloting the Arbalest and Codarl respectively and arguing in the dialog boxes.
* The [[RPG Episode]] in ''[[Welcome to The NHK]]'' has Satou deeply immersed in an MMORPG. He also meets a [[Catgirl]] healer, who he falls in love with, who {{spoiler|turns out to be [[GIRL|his friend and next door neighbour]], out to teach him a lesson}}.
* ''[[To
* ''[[Chobits]]'' has an episode with the heroes trying to play a fantasy MMORPG with Chi. We never exactly see how the game works for the characters, but the viewers see it from a deep immersion point of view, with the regular characters all transformed into their fantasy counterparts.
* ''[[Serial Experiments Lain]]'' at first seems to function on this level, as characters who immerse themselves in the Wired seem to do so via high-speed web browsing rather than virtual reality, leaving their actual bodies gazing at a screen and pointing and clicking links while they're mentally exploring the Wired's virtual world. But then the deep immersion starts to get deeper... [[Mind Screw|much deeper]].
* While the game itself is a tactical wargame, ''[[Suzumiya Haruhi|The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya]]'' gave us (really awesome) scenes of the SOS Brigade as star fleet commanders when they played the computer club. Haruhi gets really <s> serious</s> ''megalomaniacal'' here. There was also the nice touch of having their command ships' crews reflect their commanders (Haruhi's crew had varied aliens, Mikuru's wore cute animal masks, Itsuki's had [[Henohenomoheji]], Yuki's were copies of her; Kyon's crew is not shown except for a brief glimpse at the back of the heads of a few at a distance). The anime makes clear contrasts to highlight the [[What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?]] by cutting smoothly between [[World of Ham|ridiculously epic orchestral scores and dramatic speeches]] within the game and the tinny, 8-bit MIDI version in the 'real world'.
** Even funnier is the end, where the enemy flagship goes down to both [[Beam Spam]] and a [[Wave Motion Gun]], the orchestra is in full trumpets-and-drums, the enemy commander [[Disappears Into Light]]... and cut to the computer screen proclaiming [[A Winner Is You|You Win!]]
* Two Drama CDs of ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia]]'', called Hetalia Fantasia, has an MMORPG made by America and Japan that several characters join in.
* The [[Title Sequence|OPs]] of ''[[The Tower of Druaga (anime)|The Tower of Druaga]]'' seem to imply the series is somewhere between this Trope, [[Imagine Spot]] and [[All Just a Dream]].
* ''Mythic Quest'', like ''[[.hack]]'', revolves around players of a fictitious MMORPG. Few characters are seen both on- and offline, but the dichotomy in personality and appearance with Tragic/John and Aramusha/Anaya are recurring themes.
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* For a non-videogame example, ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' plays with this; in general, they show holograms of cards. However, shadow games show the monsters themselves. Also, there are several more straight examples when characters get caught in the game. ''[[Duel Monsters]]'' does the same thing, but with no holograms.
* The Lord En/Online Gaming Arc of ''[[Beelzebub]]'' has the Ishiyama gang playing ''[[Shout-Out|End of]] [[Call of Duty|War 4]]'' online and assuming avatar identities through several chapters of game play.
* [[Sket Dance]] has Bossun becoming addicted to the rpg Monster Fantasy and through roping him in to playing co-op, also gets Tsubaki addicted. The manga then switches between reality and their adventures within the game.
* In episode 8 [[Love Hina]], Motoko ends up in a dream where she and the main characters are in an old school game Keitaro has. The characters are constantly [[Breaking the Fourth Wall]] and realize they're characters in a game, and constantly switch from their normal size and [[Super-Deformed]] sizes when in the "game".
* Whenever more than one person is involved with a game in [[Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai]], this trope is invoked, including one [[Dating Sim]].
** Played with in one episode. Maria, the healer, had left to take a nap. Thus, her character stood idle during the climatic boss battle. After almost every character is killed off, Maria's character starts moving again. {{spoiler|It was Kobato playing in her stead, though.}}
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== Film ==
* This may very well have been started by ''[[Tron]]'', where Programs were played by the same actor as their users.
* ''[[Spy Kids]] 3D: Game Over'' featured this, though it was justified as the game in question was a virtual reality game. {{spoiler|However, each character's in game avatar was an idealized version of their real world equivalent. The strong character is weak, the cool character is a nerd, and the wheelchair bound grandfather could walk.}}
* ''[[eXistenZ]]''. Are we still in the game?!
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** ''The Last Journey Home'' might be an example of this as well.
* Red Hot Chili Peppers' video for Californication makes great use of this.
* The video for Architecture in Helsinki's song 'Do The Whirlwind' turns the band into 16 bit style sprite characters and ends with them in a version of Pac-
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* Happened in a few ''[[Megatokyo]]'' strips, some ''[[Real Life Comics|Real Life]]'' strips too.
* Happens a lot in ''[[PvP]]''.
** Which sets us up nicely for a subversion in [
* The IM program in ''[[El Goonish Shive]]''. The author actually [[Lampshaded]] this trope the second time it was used.
** Also the semi-canonical game of [[Black and White]] in the NP strips.
* Happened in one panel in ''[[The Wotch]]'', and it used magic.
** Used more frequently in a later chapter, about a role-playing session.
* In ''[[Something
* ''[[Chainmail Bikini]]'' neatly fits this description, as the scene shifts back and forth between chararacters-in-gameworld and players-at-table views. Recently, a newcomer took over one of the characters in the RPG, and that character's face changed to represent the new player.
* ''[[DM of the Rings]]'' and ''[[Darths and Droids]]'' are based entirely around this concept with the images taken from ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' and ''[[Star Wars]]'' respectively, but with all the speech being comments made by the players of a tabletop RPG following that story.
* The Fantasy and Space themes of ''[[Irregular Webcomic]]'' are this. Space tends to go a lot deeper, to the point where it's a major surprise when Paris drops out of character after being so disgusted by [[A Wizard Did It]]. {{spoiler|And it's even more of a surprise when she gets no response, possibly because Me had been killed some strips earlier. There's been no follow-up in the Space theme about this. (Though it had once been declared that DMM from the Me theme isn't the same as DMM as the GM, the fact remains that neither GM has been seen since.)}}
* Several strips of ''[[Loserz]]'', starting with [https://web.archive.org/web/20101213220440/http://bukucomics.com/loserz/go/339 this one].
* ''[[Weregeek]]'' uses this throughout.
** It has fun with it in an early
* ''[[Dork Tower]]'' does this with RPGs
* This happens in the "Years of Yarncraft" story of ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]''. Everyone's characters look almost exactly like them, with adjustments by fantasy race played, and act like people capable of a full set of normal actions, and some non-player characters also act as if sapient.
* ''[[Real Life Comics]]'' plays this trope straight in whatever game the cast happens to be interested in at the time.
* ''[[My Roommate Is An Elf]]'' has this when the character play 'Offices And Businessmen', a tabletop [[Dungeons
* The World of Warcraft comic ''Hammer of Grammar'' played with this when a character, represented by her in-game avatar, is seen seated in front of a computer at the character creation screen, rolling a new character, who then features in the next several strips.
* ''[[The Unspeakable Vault of Doom]]'' is weird about this. Almost all the time, the events of the strip are presented "as-is"
* ''Speak With Monsters'' initially focuses on the game world, but quite blatantly uses [[Negative Continuity]], and often has elements that don't quite fit together from a Watsonian perspective. Later strips sometimes show the people playing the game, and [[Killer Game Master|demonstrate]] [[The Roleplayer|their]] [[The Loonie|personalities]] and how said personalities affect the game world.
* So far [[Original Life]] has done it with [[Gears of War]], [[Mass Effect]], and [[Fallout: New Vegas]]. In the latter two cases it's somewhat justified.
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== Western Animation ==
* In ''[[The Simpsons]]'' episode ''Marge Gamer'', all characters in an [[Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game|MMORPG]] Bart and Marge played were clearly fantasy versions of other Springfield residents. Apparently, ''everyone in town'' plays on the same server, by some [[Contrived Coincidence]]. They all managed to create characters who look exactly like themselves, except for minor details (Marge's character is basically her with elf ears, for example.)
* The most ridiculous example by far would be ''Everlot'' in the ''[[Kim Possible]]'' episode "Virt-u-ron". Ron recognizes the villain in-game (it's an MMORPG, and the villain's been capturing all the other players) from his voice and mannerisms in the real world. The villain then reveals himself by removing the helmet of his in-game avatar. And the Tunnellord actually {{spoiler|has Rufus' face under his helmet.}}
* ''[[South Park]]'' did this with the actual game of ''[[World of Warcraft]]''. As they used machinima footage from the real game, they couldn't put the character's heads on the in-game characters, but the characters still looked similar: Stan and Kyle wore clothing the same color as their hats, Cartman was a short, fat Dwarf in red, and Kenny wore orange.
** In "Good Times With Weapons," the boys pretend to be ninjas, and the show flips back and forth between what is really going on and what is happening in their game. Their game is presented in an anime style, and each boy appears as a musclebound, adult ninja, with vague resemblances to his actual appearance and clothing.
* Happened in an episode of ''[[Danny Phantom]]''; played straight with Danny and Tucker, but [[Subverted Trope|subverted]] with Sam, whose online Avatar looked nothing like her real-world appearance.
** Until she disabled a holographic mask to reveal her real face. Her size and build was still completely different though. Plus, you could see her ponytail...thing...even before the big reveal.
* In ''[[
* ''[[Jimmy Neutron]]'' literally invents a machine to go inside any video game.
** ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]'' do almost the same thing in an episode.
* Played absolutely straight in the ''[[American Dad]]'' episode Dungeons and Wagons, where Haley, Steve, and their friends obsess over a computer game similar to [[Dungeons
* ''[[Adventure Time]]'' had fun with this, and old-style Atari graphics.
* The entire point of ''[[Captain N: The Game Master]]''.
* The ''[[Duck Dodgers]]'' episode "MMORPD (Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Duck)" does this too. [[Justified]] as being a [[Virtual Reality]] game in the future.
* This is the entire plot of ''[[Chaotic]]'', where the cast does this ''literally''.
== Other Media ==▼
▲== Other ==
* [[The Onion]] uses this in their report on [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rw8gE3lnpLQ World Of World Of Warcraft], a fictional game which itself is an aversion.
* "I was all in the role!" occasionally pops up in LARP circles. Usually it boils down to coy "[[Attention Whore|Look at me]], I'm su-uch a good roleplayer and I'm so-o cray-zee!" and as such irritates everyone else (except perhaps tabloid journalists).
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[[Category:Comedy Tropes]]
[[Category:Game Tropes]]
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