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Empty Room Psych: Difference between revisions
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[[File:00000 2384.jpg|frame|{{color|white|Move along, nothing to see here. No, really, we mean it. Move along!}}]]
{{quote|'''''Never''''' provide a dungeon without treasure. The longer they search and find nothing, the more your players will be ''convinced'' that the treasure is bountiful and exceptionally well-hidden. If left unchecked, they will eventually dismantle and excavate the entire site in their search for loot.|'''[[DM of the Rings]] XIX''', "[http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p{{=}}713 A Pinata of Stone]", [[The Rant]].}}▼
▲{{quote|'''''Never''''' provide a dungeon without treasure. The longer they search and find nothing, the more your players will be ''convinced'' that the treasure is bountiful and exceptionally well-hidden. If left unchecked, they will eventually dismantle and excavate the entire site in their search for loot.|'''[[DM of the Rings]] XIX''', "[http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=713 A Pinata of Stone]", [[The Rant]].}}
Over decades of play, gamers have been conditioned with the notion that there is no such thing as an "empty" room -- [[The Law of Conservation of Detail]] demands that if a room is placed in a game, it must do ''something'' of value, be it a scripted plot event or NPC, [[Dungeon Shop]], [[Level Grinding|monsters to slay]], [[Inexplicable Treasure Chests]] containing [[Healing Potion|healing items]] or weapons/ammo, [[Plot Coupon]]s to pick up, etc etc. After all, programmers and writers have limited time and money to do this, so they won't needlessly create a majestic cathedral and fill it with ... empty white space to distract the player from [[Notice This|more important stuff]]. Plus, why torture those players out for a [[100% Completion]] by adding loads of [[Copy and Paste Environments|copy-pasted rooms]] with [[Missing Secret|nothing in them]]?
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{{examples}}
== Action-Adventure ==
* Perhaps the oldest example of this is the Atari 2600 game ''[[Adventure (1979 video game)|Adventure]]''. There is a dead-end section of three rooms where no items appear.
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