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{{trope}}
[[File:pennyarcademeffect 8295.png|link=Penny Arcade|
{{quote|''I have a hard time with [[Grand Theft Auto|GTA]]. I find the total freedom paralyzing. When given the opportunity to do anything, I tend to do nothing.''|'''Tycho''', ''[[Penny Arcade]]''}}
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Efforts to avoid this in sequels may be seen as overly-pampering and produce an [[Unpleasable Fanbase]]. [[Tropes Are Not Bad|Openness is not bad]], some players prefer the risk of getting lost to be being railroaded. Compare [[Alt-Itis]], which largely focuses on differing character abilities and options, and [[Sidetracked by the Gold Saucer]], which may overlap. Contrast [[No Sidepaths, No Exploration, No Freedom]].
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== [[Action Adventure]] ==
* ''[[La-Mulana]]'' can be like this, even though the whole ruins aren't initially open to you. You do, however, have very little in the way of objectives when you first enter the ruins. Being that Lemeza is an archaeologist, exploration is one of the main themes of the game—puzzles and hints are everywhere. It's often not obvious what solving a particular puzzle does for you, and it's difficult at times to figure out just which puzzle will help you to conquer which obstacle. If you miss a certain early item, you might not even know when you've solved a puzzle, which could lead to a lot of frustrated wandering as you try to figure out what, if anything, you just accomplished.
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* ''[[Need for Speed]] Underground 2'', after you're stuck into searching for secret races or [[Event Flag|need to complete specially hard DVD/magazine covers]].
== [[Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game|MMORPG]]s ==
* ''[[Second Life]]''. When the question to "what can I do?" can more or less be answered by "anything", this is a big stumbling block for newbies. It also gets overwhelming when you look up tutorials on how to even build things from prims or how to make a script. And then there's the in world currency (mostly gotten with real money) where you can use it for almost "anything"... God help us if ''Second Life'' and ''[[Scribblenauts]]'' have a child.
* ''[[EVE Online]]'' has been described as a sand box with land mines. There are few over arching quest and most of the content is player generated. Leaving many newbies completely at a loss for what to do next. Expect everyone else to repeatedly kill you while you decided what to do for yourself.
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== [[Roguelike]] ==
* ''[[Dwarf Fortress]]'' is possibly the only game to encompass geology, weather patterns, geopolitics, genetics, city building, tactical combat, individual psychology, item crafting and the effects of a punctured liver all in the same game setting. This is made worse by the fact that the author is continually adding new features to the game, making it much more complicated every year. This causes most prospective players to quit in the first week. Once you can make it past the learning stage, the game is immensely fun. By now, the only hope for a newcomer to learn the game is to start out with a version from back when it was still 2D.
** It's possible to start on the newer versions, but you will need a [[Guide Dang It]], by way of [https://web.archive.org/web/20120207003323/http://df.magmawiki.com/index.php/Main_Page the wiki].
*** The wiki has ''become'' the the tutorial, with it even being mentioned in the game itself.
== [[Role
* ''[[Mount & Blade]]'' is this trope turned [[Up to Eleven]]. You just get dumped into the world and basically told to make your own fun.
** Its sequel, ''Warband'', gives players the option to do a starting quest that has a small, simple storyline and conclusion, introducing them to some of the mechanics and the setting...at which point they are again dumped into the world and left to their devices.
** While most user-made mods add only different weapons and textures, there are a precious few which add a storyline, or at least a long-term goal.
* In ''[[Arcanum]]: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura'' the book that tells you what subquests you currently have active doesn't tell you where you actually got the quests, so you can spend hours visiting every city in the game to find Raxinfraxin, the guy who wanted M'hurna's Emerald (or whatever), which you just found in some ruins. A similar problem exists in ''Baldur's Gate''
* Once the ''[[SaGa]]'' games went onto consoles, every single one suffered from this. ''[[
* Several games in the ''[[Ultima]]'' series are like this. Especially ''[[Ultima IV]]'' and ''[[Ultima V]]''.
* All three ''[[Fallout]]'' games give you an overarching goal and a suggestion of where to head first, then leave you to your own devices. It's possible to go the whole game without finding out about whole ''cities''.
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== [[Simulation Game]] ==
* The ''[[
** Though each game has a handful of scenarios with actual win/lose conditions.
** Not to mention ''[[The Sims]]'' series. It can be summed up as "You die, you lose. [[Video Game Cruelty Potential|Maybe.]] Start playing." TS3 did at least have a rolling tutorial that gave you the option of learning how to do things if you activate them with the tutorial section unread.
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== [[Real Life]] ==
* Capcom's famed Keiji Inafune suggested that the effect of this Trope, combined with the Japanese desire to be guided, explains the relative lack of success that [[Wide Open Sandbox]] titles have had in Japan. There was mention of Western attitudes towards free-roaming gameplay being similar to going deer hunting and bagging a bear instead.<ref>''GTA'' on the PC does have some popularity with Japanese [[Game Mod|modders]]</ref> Apparently the sandbox isn't so bad if you can make it look like the gamer's favorite anime. [[Video Game Cruelty Potential|Or least favorite.]] [https://web.archive.org/web/20140106051625/http://www.japanprobe.com/2007/09/24/gta-crazy-anime-mod/ Nothing like the scent of dead Pikachu in the morning].
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Just for Pun]]
[[Category:Videogame Culture]]
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