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* [[New Rules as the Plot Demands]]: Usually averted since no one can figure out what the plot is. Though [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|some events]] make you wonder...
== O ==
* [[Obvious Beta]]: The Moon. Developed from the Earth's Alpha Build source code, and still lacking flora, fauna or even a basic atmosphere when the Beta Testers arrived to try it out. [[Gravity Screw|The weak gravity]], however, proved popular and was retained as a [[Good Bad Bug]]. Despite its popularity the only way to reach this zone is down to having a very specific skill set and armour list and by grinding rep with the appropriate space guilds. Even then you have to hope that the quest itself will pop up in your play time, it
** For quite a while now, a few players have been considering Mars to be this. Recent discovery of leftover code that showed it had successfully run the water module advances this theory.
** Any modeling of the Earth's surface from billions of years ago when it was still [[Lethal Lava Land]] will look like this.
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* [[Overly Long Gag]]: This page.
** End of the world predictions.
== P ==
* [[Pacifist Run]]: This is the default option, see [[
* [[Path of Most Resistance]]: Claimed to be the best way to succeed. Played straight if you needed to get into a highly technical position or rely heavily on ability, but subverted by those who manage to bluff or use other means to gain status.
* [[People Sit on Chairs]]: One of the few places that this trope makes sense to list because everyone literally does in some form or fashion, or the closest thing to it where chairs do not exist in the form most associate with the definition of "chair".
* [[People's Republic of Tyranny]]: The more a country's name sounds like the personification of an ideal, the more likely it is to be the opposite.
** The Democratic People's Republic of Korea, The People's Republic of China, and The Democratic Republic Of The Congo are all good examples.
* [[Perpetual Beta]]: While functionally complete, this is a game that is constantly being updated and shows no sign of stopping at any point.
* [[Perpetually Static]]: Subverted.
* [[Pilot Episode]]: Matter of ''much'' debate. It's generally considered to have taken place in Africa, but nobody is exactly sure when
* [[Pinball Scoring]]: Some currencies' values are so low that one USD is equal to thousands of that currency. And then there's hyperinflation; post-[[World War I]] Germany, for instance, had bank notes with values as high as 100,000,000,000,000 marks. Zimbabwe is an example, with everyday bank notes hitting the trillions and maybe beyond. This was recently patched and as a result, the currency in question no
* [[Player Versus Player]]: Between the "Law/Crime", "Wimps/Bullies<ref>Who have earned the universal [[Fan Nickname]] of "Douchebag"</ref>", and opposing "Military" class tree players. Technically any player can engage, but it's not a very good idea.
** Special rules for [[Player Versus Player]] contests exist in minigames known as Boxing, Wrestling, and Ultimate Fighting. The advantage of these is that there's no penalty for engaging in them, and they do not cause death (most of the time)
** The entire world is one big [[Player Versus Environment]] zone unless you are either doing one of the above or in a designated [[
** The 'Lawsuit' minigame is a good choice for players who want nonviolent [[
** And of course, there
* [[Planet of Hats]]: Averted
* [[Platform Hell]]: If you want to see other people experience it, ''[[Ninja Warrior]]''. If you want to experience it yourself, go for a tough hike or try to climb a mountain. Be careful, though; this minigame gives you only one life, and no continues unless you're lucky enough for a Mountain Rescue player to be in the area.
** However, if you have a distress beacon item, you get a generally high chance (depending on local conditions) of getting an additional continue, but you have to restart the entire minigame.
* [[Plot Armor]]: Averted. The plot follows character development, rather than the other way around.
* [[Polluted Wasteland]]: Many industrial areas and several cities count, particularly during the Industrial Revolution.
** While still common in less developed game areas, the nicer places over time have had house rules to prevent it or reduce it implemented to some greater or lesser degree.
*** Except that the rules patches just move the level somewhere else, rather than actually fixing the underlying problem.
* [[Poor Communication Kills]]: Played straight loads of times.
* [[Posthumous Character]]: Influential characters from early seasons [[Vindicated by History|can have a surprising influence on later plotlines even after they die]]. The [[Doomed Moral Victor]] from the Rise of Rome storyline is now (arguably) the ''posthumous main character''. [[The Chessmaster]] from the Arabia arc and the [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold]] from the Bo Tree arc have been almost as influential, and even the [[Crazy Awesome]] [[Mad Scientist]] from the Restoration Arc (and his later counterparts in the World War I and World War II storylines) is still considered important.
* [[POV Cam]]: Standard for all players. Due to hardware limitations, an alternate setup is not accessible at this time. (See, however, [[Psychic Powers]] and [[Near-Death Clairvoyance]])
** Some items, such as Skype or the Security Camera, do allow a limited form of third-person view.
* [[Power Gives You Wings]]: Inverted -- wings give you power! Just ask any member of the "Air Force" class tree. Inverted differently by the dinosaurs, who got wings at the expense of a substantial decrease in power.
** And Red Bull.
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* [[Press X to Not Die]]: No on-screen indicators, and it doesn't always show up. All you got is your instincts.
* [[Prestige Class]]: "Doctor", "Lawyer", "President".
** [[
** YMMV on "Movie Star", depending on what you want out of a class.
* [[Prequel]]: "Real Life Prehistoric".
* [[The Promised Land]]: Users on third-world country servers view first-world servers as such, and try to do anything to switch over. For some, switching over brings them better gameplay, but for others, life doesn't improve that much. In the late 19th century edition of Real Life, many players tried to switch over to the United States server. How well it worked out for them varied from player to player.
* [[Punk Punk]]: Constantly averted. Every time it looks like a Punk genre is going to [[Genre Shift|take over]], fate pulls a fast one and stops work on that tech tree. [[Steampunk]] / [[Clock Punk]] never got going, though they're good fun for hobbying. The only part of the world that took [[Ocean Punk]] seriously was the
* [[Purely Aesthetic Gender]]: Averted in the extreme. For instance, male characters have a [[Groin Attack|weak point]] while female characters suffer a nasty debuff once a month. Female characters also tend to have lower starting STR scores (generally due to what some consider a design bias in skeletal structural composition),
** Perhaps also subverted in the form of transgender people in that they lack most of the above characteristics
== R ==
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* [[Redemption Equals Sex]]: Reportedly played straight in many ancient religions, averted in most cases today. Still played straight in Tantric yoga and a few [[New Age]] cults.
** Also frequently played straight in everyday life. Make-up sex is often an example.
** Reportedly both played straight and subverted by those rock stars and heavy metal artists who don't opt for [[Redemption Equals Death]].
* [[Reference Overdosed]]: ''Any'' work you can think of is somehow encountered here.
* [[Refuge in Audacity]]: Oh, so many, many examples...
* [[Regenerating Health]]: Played with. Characters do, in fact, have a [[Healing Factor]], but it can take days to ''years'' to restore them to full health, and they may permanently lose several abilities. However, certain items can drastically increase the rate of regeneration, and in addition, many players devote their time in-game to healing others. Despite this, taking major damage is a very, ''very'' bad thing in [[Real Life]].
** While humans have a very limited form of this, certain animals like starfish have a very robust version of this, almost to the point of full physical regeneration so long as a single aspect of them survives.
* [[Retcon]]:
** Amnesia and the blocking out of memories (usually of traumatic experiences), though it's handled quite differently here than in most other series.
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** "The jury will disregard that and the statement will be stricken from the record."
** "History is [[Written by the Winners]]."
** Sometimes rumoured to be used on a much wider level, leading almost all characters to miss or forget [[Obvious Rule Patch]]ing. Retroactive [[Morphic Resonance]] and the [[w:Mandela effect|Mandela effect]] are two of the more popular hypotheses, but those who believe them tend to be seen as [[Cloudcuckooland]]ers.
* [[Retro Gaming]]: There are tribes that live as their ancient ancestors did. Others occasionally indulge in [[Retro Gaming]] to temporarily escape their otherwise contemporary lifestyles by attending Renaissance Fairs or partaking in Civil War re-enactments.
** A few players take it to extremes by spending days on side-quests without any equipment other than a camera and whatever they can craft in a wilderness location.
* [[The Reveal]]: The Earth is round! Hitler was building death camps!
**
* [[Right Behind Me]]: The downfall of any player who makes a habit of badmouthing others behind their backs.
* [[Rodents of Unusual Size]]: Capybaras.
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*** Actually, [[Science Marches On|rabbits aren't rodents.]] They're lagomorphs.
* [[Rule of Cool]]: Partially subverted by the obsessive emphasis on consistent physics, chemistry, biology, etc.--much of which turns out to be incredibly cool in itself. Of course, this serves to make the true [[Badass|badasses]] look even better.
* [[Rule of Fun]]: Subverted. [[Guitar Hero|Learning to play guitar]] takes months of lessons and practice, [[First-Person Shooter|shooting up friends]] [[Killed Off for Real|kills them for real]] and is a criminal offense<ref>(paintball, however, is perfectly legal)</ref>, [[Shoot'Em Up|fighter jets]] have far more controls than an 8-way stick and "fire" and "bomb" buttons and can only move forward, [[Tetris|making whole lines of blocks doesn't make them vanish]], and [[Sports Game|sports]] take lots of practice, require you to be in great athletic shape, and can cause more serious injuries than worn-out thumbs.
** "Practice" can only be done by grinding - gems cannot be used to up-skill, and the few effective potions have detrimental effects on other stats.
** On the other hand this is the only reason we engage in leisure activities that don't benefit us in any concrete way.
* [[Rule of Funny]]: As demonstrated by the Comedian and Cartoonist classes, among others.
* [[Rules Lawyer]]: The "lawyer" prestige class is half of the [[Trope Namer]] for this. They, along with legislators and various other characters, have this as their class specialty. Some other characters just take up this ability as a hobby. This ability invokes YMMV among quite a few players; the player consensus seems to suggest that it's an annoying but necessary part of the game.
* [[Rule 34]]: To the point where Real Life porn is a major industry. It's
** Several groups exist to oppose it, often citing examples from the darker side of the industry.
== S ==
* [[Sanity Ball]]: It's mine, all mine, and you can't have it!
* [[Satan]]: Many characters believe real life plays this trope straight, but many others believe it averts it.
* [[Save Scumming]]: Averted, there appears to be no way to save the game at all. Unless [[wikipedia:Quantum immortality|this]] theory is correct and we all have unlimited save games. [[Nightmare Fuel]] alert. It also
* [[Scars Are Forever]]: Played straight for humans, at least. Many kinds of cells cannot be ''regenerated'' in vivo without becoming malignant neoplasias. Even if the cells could regenerate, there's a good chance the cells can't self-organize after a wound in order to regenerate correctly. The body resorts to ''healing'', where it lays down fibrous tissues to hold itself together as best it can. Barring surgery, that's permanent.
* [[Scenery Gorn]]: Any [[Ghost Town]], abandoned theme park, or abandoned building.
* [[Scenery Porn]]: Sets the standard for all other scenery, and most media can't hope to measure up. 126 million light receptors per eye
** The Scottish Highlands.
** [[Captain Obvious|It's all over the place. It's called nature.]] Also, some cities are like this.
* [[Schematized Prop]]: Many, most notably the digestive system. The reproductive system also deserves mention.
* [[Schizo-Tech]]: Because of a lack of [[Product Placement]], the new equipment has to be ''bought'', resulting in people with the latest game console, a 5-year
** Thanks to [[Difficulty by Region]], certain maps may have much much more advanced [[Technology Levels]] than others, even ones that are right next to each other (see the Korean server).
* [[Science Is Bad]]: It becomes responsible for most of the more horrific weapons used throughout the series. This is somewhat of a derailment, for the majority of the main continuity science has been largely beneficial, it is only really in the last couple of seasons that this becomes an issue. Subverted somewhat when the most destructive weapons wind up encouraging ''peace'' via mutually assured destruction. There are also hints that lesser weapons sometimes have a similar effect, but this seems to be far less consistent. That, and it's been proven many times before in the series that science overall is a great thing when it's used for good, meaning that this trope is [[Averted Trope|averted]].
** Many Religious people are also convinced that Science is Bad, for example, wrongly blaming the Theory of Evolution for various problems in society, or just being bad in general when its discoveries oppose their religion.
** Another belief that does not specifically require Religion is a belief Science leads to an over-dependence on it or that it in some way is to the long-term detriment of themselves. Many in the Survivalist class are believers in this and a few prominent members of the Philosopher class have advocated this.
* [[Schmuck Bait]]: Oh, so much.
* [[Scoring Points]]: Many classes in schools and colleges use points to determine your grades. Also, credit scores.
* [[Screw the Money, I Have Rules]]: Non-profit organizations.
* [[Screw the Rules, I Have Money]]: Some major corporations exhibit this trope. Players of the Politician and Celebrity classes often attempt this, and just as often fail.
* [[Screw the Rules, I Make Them]]: Common enough to be represented by an entire job class -- they're called Dictators. Politicians
{{quote|"Well, when the President does it that means that it is not illegal." - [[Richard Nixon]]}}
* [[Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right]]: Used occasionally, but frequently subverted when the character who attempts this is punished for their actions.
** Non-violent protesters believe this
* [[Sea Monster]]: Many different examples.
** Whales, despite their [[Gentle Giant]] status.
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** [https://web.archive.org/web/20100525163405/http://www.canada.com/technology/Predator+fossil+makes+look+feeble+Scientists/1395499/story.html Predator X]. Its teeth are each a foot long.
** The Oarfish: an eel-like fish that can exceed fifty feet long. Harmless, but quite impressive.
** The African country of Burundi is home to Gustave, a well-known man
** Saltwater crocodiles can be even larger than Gustave. Large adult male saltwater crocodiles can be more than six meters long and weigh more than 2,600 lbs.
** [[wikipedia:Bloop|The Bloop]], or rather, whatever made the Bloop, an ultra-low frequency underwater sound that matched the profile of a living creature, but not any specific living creature we know. If it did come from a living creature, scientists agree that it would have to be several times larger than the Blue Whale, the largest known animal on earth.
*** Ironically enough, the signal originated from a point in the South Pacific roughly 950 nautical miles from [[Cthulhu Mythos|the sunken home of another large monster.]]
** ''Tullimonstrum'', a bizarre fossil invertebrate, bears a striking external resemblance to the Loch Ness Monster, except it's barely a foot long and found in North America.
** The Coelacanth. Now, fair enough -- as fish go, they're small and rather harmless. But the fact the
** The whole point of fishing shows like ''[[River Monsters]]'', ''[[Hooked]]'', and ''Monster Fish''. Their catches range from the modest (Taimen), to the bizarre (catfishes of the Amazon), to the truly gargantuan in scale (marlins, giant catfishes, and the Mekong Giant Stingray).
* [[Sequel]]: The Afterlife (maybe).
* [[Serial Killer]]: A few characters seem to be this. It's the job of the Police class (an in-game moderator of sorts) to track down and imprison (perma-ban) them.
* [[Series Fauxnale]]: The fans seem intent to believe the finale is nigh every few seasons:
** The Great War arc (later known as World War I) was advertised as "the war to end all wars". Ninety seasons later,
** Some of the "Crazy Street Person"
** The Y2K
** The date 6/6/06. There were people who actually bet on [[The End of the World as We Know It|whether we would survive]]. Does anyone else wonder how the believers [[Fridge Logic|were supposed to collect their money]]?
** The upcoming 2012 season seems destined to fit into here.
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* [[Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness]]: This is practically required in order to get a university degree (a prestige-class Knowledge achievement that can only be unlocked through several years of level grinding). Also, some people with Asperger's syndrome may speak like this all the time, as well as in [[Spock Speak]].
* [[Sex Montage]]: It's happening ''right now,'' though probably not for you if you're reading this. Unless you can multitask.
* [[Shifting Sand Land]]: North Africa, Arabia, Central Asia, Western USA, most of Australia, and a part of South America.
* [[Ship Sinking]]: Allllll the time. Occasionally cause for a [[Heroic BSOD]].
* [[Ship Tease]]: Spreading rumors about characters dating each other.
* [[Short-Lived, Big Impact]]: Something many people doing speed runs aspire to.
* [[Shout-Out]]: [[Commie Land]] was referenced as an "Evil Empire" after [[Star Wars]].
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** AIDS is undetectable, except with a blood test. [[The Thing (film)|Hmmm...]]
** Several animals are named after cartoon-character versions of themselves.
* [[Show Within a Show]]: With a large cast of characters, it's not surprising that every major group
* [[Single Biome Planet]]: Averted on Earth, but most planets we know of play it straight. Even Earth played this trope straight at some points, being a [[Lethal Lava Land]] in the early prequel episodes and a [[Slippy-Slidey Ice World]] during the Ice Age.
* [[The Singularity]]: Rumors suggest the next major expansion pack will be this, but many of the players are worried that it'll crash the server and ruin everyone's game instead, turning the solar system into cheese.
* [[Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism]]: Tends to slide back and forth between arcs and also on a day-to-day basis. All characters have their own opinions on it and frequently argue, and some watchers make fanfics or mods that usually tip in one side of the scale.
* [[Slippy-Slidey Ice World]]:
* [[The Slow Path]]: Generally played straight due to the "entropy" attribute in the game code that enforces this by default for all living things and even most inanimate objects. There have been attempts to change this via reverse engineering the source code, though results have been very limited.
* [[The Smart Guy]]: Loads. Archimedes (Classical); DaVinci (Renaissance); Galileo, Kepler, Newton, and Leibniz (1600's); Nikola Tesla, Albert Einstein, Werner Von Braun ('20s, '30s, '40s and '50s); Bill Gates ('80s, early '90s); Stephen Hawking (1970s-early 2000s).
* [[Somewhere a Herpetologist Is Crying]]: There is an [[Urban Legends|Urban Legend]] wherein a woman keeps waking up to discover her husband's pet python is stretching itself out alongside her in bed. She calls a herpetologist to ask about the behavior, and he tells her "[[Don't Ask, Just Run|Get out of the house now!]]" (is that a [[Stock Phrase]]?): The python, he tells her, was measuring her up in preparation to eat her.
** Sadly, most wildlife-rehabilitation facilities have had to treat turtles with cracked shells, whom some idiot tried to remove from their "little house" in ignorance of the fact that the shell is part of the animal's skeleton. A case of [[Television Is Trying to Kill Us|Television Is Trying To Kill Turtles]] in action.
** Horned lizards are often called "horned toad," "horny toad", "horned frog" etc etc etc due to their similarity to the given amphibians but they are actually lizards. To make things more confusing, their scientific name, Phrynosoma, evidently means "toad-bodied" so...
** One ''[[(The Customer is) Not Always Right]]'' tidbit had a man in a petshop try to have a [http://notalwaysright.com/hiss-terical-contest/6199 staring contest] with one of the pythons for ten minutes before the owner had to remind him that snakes can't blink.
** The idea that snakes somehow possess a hypnotic gaze probably stems from a few things. The first is that snakes lack eyelids, so their unblinking stares can be kind of creepy to humans. The second comes from stories of people who witness small animals sitting very still when snakes are nearby. This is standard prey behavior with just about any possible threat, freezing up so that predators who aren't already aware of them might not notice (if that doesn't work, ''run''). This sort of behavior may be partly responsible for the myth of [[Taken for Granite|the Gorgon Medusa]]. And while we're on the subject, snake charmers don't really charm snakes with music (since snakes don't hear things the same way we do), the snake is just following the motion of the charmer's flute and hands.
* [[Somewhere a Palaeontologist Is Crying]]: Pretty much every paleontologist makes at least one other paleontologist cry. Debates still rage about results, methods and data used, the validity of the science, pet theories... and honestly, that helps keep the research going. So, in a way, [[Tropes Are Not Bad|this trope isn't all bad]].
** Dinosaur Adventure Land in Florida had several exhibits illustrating how, as the Earth is only 6,100+ /- years old "according to the Bible," not only did humans and dinosaurs coexist; but humans (set up by God as having dominion over other animals) must have domesticated them - [[Crazy Awesome|AND rode them like horses!]] The US government seized control of the museum and closed it permanently when [http://io9.com/5330257/dinosaur-creationism-theme-park-seized-by-the-government its managers were convicted of not paying half a million in back taxes.]
*** The AiG Creation Museum is a ''lot'' more careful with this issue. They merely state that man and
**** Stating that man and
**** That's not a lack of research so much as turning a blind eye to research in
**** Even more worthy of note: AiG is ''a LOT more careful'' about how it manages its finances (and a lot smarter when dealing with zoning law issues).
*** One such "museum" features ''Christ'' riding a tyrannosaur with a saddle, and is presented as a historical "fact". Even if it isn't, it still should be. Because that is an ''[[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot|awesome]]'' image.
** The [https://web.archive.org/web/20100208100808/http://www.thepaleodiet.com/nutritional_tools/recipes.shtml "Paleolithic" Diet], which claims to be the healthiest diet due to supposedly being based on what our ancestors evolved to eat before agriculture was invented. Since humans and their diets (not to mention life on Earth) have changed a bit in the last 8,000 years, this claim has its critics.
** Sometimes paleontologists make other paleontologists cry. One of the biggest debates between paleontologists recently was Jack Horner versus practically the rest of paleontology over whether or not ''[[Tyrannosaurus Rex]]'' (and all other large theropods) were predators or scavengers. Horner was on the scavenger side, and uses arguments such as: The size of the animals is more conducive to scavenging (scare smaller animals from kills); their legs were designed for walking instead of running, and being so large any form of moving fast would endanger them by off-balancing their bodies; they can only use their mouths for attacking, which is dangerous; For ''T. rex'' specifically, the large olfactory lobe of the brain (meaning excellent smell) and the small size of the forelimbs (which prevented ''T. rex'' from holding prey with them), and the thick armor-piercing teeth and bone-crushing jaws (for breaking apart bones to get the marrow inside). The rest of paleontology<ref> Especially Robert T. Bakker, which led to what was actually [[wikipedia:Robert T. Bakker#Fictional portrayal|quite a funny exchange.]]</ref> counters with:
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*** There's also the fact that their claims about non-avian dinosaurs are occasionally [[Science Marches On|somewhat at odds with our current knowledge about them]]. As Brian Switek, commenting on Alan Feduccia’s book ''The Origin and Evolution of Birds'', [http://laelaps.wordpress.com/2007/08/09/thursday-night-notes/ put it]: ''anything relating to dinosaurs being smart, active, or dynamic is discounted, Feduccia’s model of dinosaurs more resembling the swamp-dwelling lizards thought up by early 20th century scientists (i.e. hadrosaurs are referred to as being primarily aquatic)''.
*** At least [http://pterosaurnet.blogspot.com/2011/02/symplesiomorphy.html one BANDit] has suggested that birds descended from ''pterosaurs''. A forgivable mistake if you know nothing about dinosaurs, but anyone with even a lick of paleo-sense [[Critical Research Failure|knows how wrong this is]].
* [[Somewhere an Entomologist Is Crying]]: Insects, arachnids, crustaceans, and myriapods all do not have jaws that open and close like
** A mosquito's proboscis is not syringe-shaped and certainly not its nose.
** An arachnid's limbs are attached to the first of their two body segments (the prosoma) and the insect's the second of their three (the thorax). They are not proportioned or configured like anything remotely resembling a human or a dog.
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* [[Somewhere an Ornithologist Is Crying]]: Most people think hollow bones like those of birds are fragile. In reality, thanks to a complex honeycomb structure, bird bones are no more fragile than those of mammals. In the case of the now extinct dinosaurs and pterosaurs, both having pneumatic skeletons, fragility would mean death, and they obviously had quite strong yet light bones.
* [[Sorting Algorithm of Weapon Effectiveness]]: Over the past 10 000 years, we've gone from rocks and obsidian blades to ... laser-guided cluster bombs? Remotely-piloted [[Attack Drone|AttackDrones]]? The [[Nuclear Option]]? Luckily very, ''very'' few players ever get to unlock these.
* [[Speed Run]]: Very rare, but certain [[Prestige Class|Prestige Classes]] such as rock stars express an intention early in their careers to "live fast and die young". Some manage it (protip: intensive research into [[Hookers and Blow]] occasionally lets you skip around two
* [[Spikes of Doom]]: Averted in everyday life, though they have been used as booby traps in wars, and there are a number of plants that have thick thorns on them. There's also a creature called the Porcupine which took this and ran with it - rather literally.
* [[Spin-Off]]: ''[[Second Life]]''. Widely considered to suffer from severe [[Adaptation Decay]], although its fans will argue that it's merely [[Pragmatic Adaptation|pragmatic]].
* [[Spock Speak]]: A required skill for the Scientist, Engineer, and Economist classes.
* [[Spotlight-Stealing Squad]]: What other reason could there be for the number of tropes here pertaining specifically to humans?
* [[Standard Status Effects]]: Humans are rather vulnerable to poison, paralysis, stun, sloth, sleep, blindness, freeze, burn, berserk, confusion, lust, charm, fear, deafness, and instant death status effects. Some would say cursing can happen as well. Petrification is rare but known; see Pompeii. [[A Worldwide Punomenon|The silence status is almost unheard of]] (though speech impediments are common). Fatigue sets in after exercise and saps strength, agility, and motivation, and this status can advance to Exhaustion, which almost completely destroys the stats. Tiredness occurs after going without sleep and advances. Tiredness 1 occurs normally after going on past evening and reduces concentration and motivation. (Note: It's possible to be stuck with Tiredness 1 if a character is [[Must Have Caffeine|addicted to caffeine.]]) Tiredness 2 occurs upon completely missing a
* [[Status Buff]]: these do occur as well though. Hyper leads to increased energy and drive, though this comes at an increasing cost of concentration, and can be bestowed through energy drinks, caffeine, and other stimuli, or it can occur naturally. Some characters also get it temporarily when nearing the end of the day. Euphoria increases the morale, concentration, and motivation stats and the condition occurs after a big success. "Afterglow" increases relationships and skilled PCs will use this to chain together big chains of successes and level up quickly.
** Though those with the "ADD" and/or "ADHD" character trait garner severe penalties to Concentration checks, there is a chance to cause the opposite effect, "[[wikipedia:Hyperfocus|Hyperfocus]]", on themselves, allowing them to shut out all other influences in favor of one goal. ADD, by its very scatter-brained nature, also grants the ability of "Brainstorming", allowing the caster to come up with as many ideas as a small group of people, though many of them may be just as scatter-brained.
** Also there is the infamous Strength Buff. It is considered illegal in many countries and has some really bad side
* ''[[Star Trek]]'': While there is no Starfleet, there is NASA, which is a civilian agency
** There's also the famous series of [[Cutscene Power to the Max|cutscenes]] which is named the trope.
* [[Stat Meters]]: While not accessible by players directly, certain medical equipment allows access to monitoring these.
* [[Stop Helping Me!]]: Parents. Sometimes this persists well into the adult arc and even the married-with-children arc for some characters.
* [[Story Within a Story]]: Too many to list. [[Works|Not that we didn't try.]] The list is made potentially infinite by the fact that literally, any character can create such a story.
* [[Stereotypes of Chinese People]]: Unfortunately all too common.
* [[Stripperiffic]]: Also known as varying degrees of "indecent exposure." The line for how little clothing can be worn without being considered "indecent" has been shifting in some countries, allowing for this trope to increase in prominence. In fact, some countries have legalized public nudity.
* [[Stuff Blowing Up]]: Even things such as [[Made of Explodium|whales]] are able to blow up. Although
* [[Super Weight]]:
** Type -1: Babies, small children, fairly old people, people with serious physical or mental handicaps, animals, plants, fungus
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== T ==
* [[Tactical Rock-Paper-Scissors]]: An extremely complex web, constantly changing with technology. Factors for any military unit include firepower, mobility, survivability and dozens of niche roles. Most units are able to counter their counters as well
* [[Teaser Equipment]]: Expensive cars, houses, jewelry, and the like will not be within your price range when you first start out. Particularly [[Egregious]] examples require that you take several levels in certain [[Prestige Class|Prestige Classes]] to be able to afford them. Thankfully,
* [[Tech Tree]]: Gigantic, intricate, messy, and the structure of it isn't fully understood. It's [[Perpetual Beta|constantly being revised and updated]] too.
* [[Termites]]: Eusocial insects are known especially for their [[Termite Trouble|wood chewing]] and their huge termite mounds.
* [[Theory of Narrative Causality]]: [[Averted Trope|Usually averted]]. But occasionally played straight.
* [[They Would Cut You Up]]: They ''used'' to, but now vivisection (autopsy on a living body, as opposed to ''di''ssection, where they kill you first) is usually punished quite severely.
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** Averted, oh so strongly, with the 'Call Centre Worker' character class.
* [[This Means War]]: Played straight quite often. Occasionally averted.
* [[Timed Mission]]: Each human has, on average, 66.12 years to live. This time limit can be extended if you're healthy enough. Unfortunately, it's also [[Luck-Based Mission|luck based]], as your time limit can be drastically reduced depending on where your character lives; for example, a character based in Africa is likely to have a lower time limit than one in Europe. Sometimes your
* [[Time for Plan B]]: Because Plan A doesn't always go off without a hitch, having a decent backup plan in reserve is a good idea.
* [[Tokyo Is the Center of the Universe|Tokyo is Japan]]: Very common when anyone discusses the Japan server. Even residents of the Japan server tend to do this, simply because Tokyo is one of the largest areas of contiguous political and geographical influence on said server.
* [[Toilet Humour]]: One of the first styles of humor many players encounter as well as being the [http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKUA14785120080731 oldest known type of comedy.]
* [[Too Awesome to Use]]: Money, especially amongst the upper classes.
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** [[Technology Marches On|We're working on that.]]
** We haven't quite finished with the undersea exploration expansion, either.
* [[Trope Maker]]: While it is under
* [[Truth in Television]]: Is this too meta for you?
* [[Try to Fit That on A Business Card]]: Monarchs [[Older Than Dirt|since the dawn of history]] and accomplished British citizens, among others.
* [[Turned Against Their Masters]]: Slave rebellions.
== U-V ==
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* [[Video Game Cruelty Potential]]: So many ways...
* [[Video Game Cruelty Punishment]]: In many locations you will get non-standard game over mentioned above if you start killing people in broad daylight. There are many notable subversions of it.
* [[Video Game Tutorial]]: Although most [[Player Character|PCs]] don't have conscious memory, these are the first few years of play. Depending on what your character's homeland is, the School levels will be this as well.
* [[Violation of Common Sense]]: Laws don't stop people from doing bad or completely stupid things. In fact, the Darwin Awards exist to reward blatant violations. Also most of Quantum Physics and Relativity -- evidently, the Universe doesn't bother about complying to the common sense of those insignificant little humans on their tiny pale blue bit of dust called Earth.
* [[The Virus]]: Way too many to count; some of them are also [[Nightmare Fuel]]. Some of these tend to be [[Game Breaking Bug|Game Breaking Bugs]] that lead to many a [[Downer Ending]].
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** It's surprising how many dictators had strange [[Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?|phobias]]. For example, [[Adolf Hitler]] was afraid of cats. This was never [[Exploited]], though.
* [[We ARE Struggling Together!]]: [[Subverted]] in the Libyan portion of the Arab Spring arc. The rebels started out unable to agree on the simplest things, but quickly worked out that they needed to pull together to get anything done, put their differences aside, and kicked Gadaffi out.
* [[We Cannot Go on Without You]]: If you own a business or have a partnership, you dying or becoming incapacitated can result in the end of the business. Also, a lot of bands have broken up because of the death, incapacitation, or retirement of a single member.
* [[Welcome to Corneria]]: Many people-oriented jobs, such as serving fast food or selling tickets at movies, involve several [[Stock Phrases]].
* [[Wham! Episode]]:
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** Korea and Vietnam have been getting more prominence since their war arcs ended (or put on hiatus in Korea's case). And India's becoming extremely popular these days.
*** Lima, Peru has a Chinatown of its own called the "barrio chino" or, in English, "Chinese neighbourhood".
== Y-Z ==
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* [[Yellow Brick Road]]: Depending on your beliefs, this may be played straight or subverted/averted as far as life is concerned. That being said, there ''are'' literal walkways in the world that are designed with yellow bricks, but those are just for decorative purposes as opposed to serving as roadways to special destinations.
* [[You Have Researched Breathing]]: Subverted; you don't need to know how something works to use it, but if you want to research your bodily functions, go ahead. Played straight in the Science Class, Metal Shop, and Small-Engine Repair Shop levels and Firearms/ Driver's Licence minigames, on the ground that you may [[I Just Shot Marvin in the Face|hurt yourself or others]] if you don't know what you're doing.
** Well, in the Infant stage, you have to research such skills as Walking or Using Tools. There
* [[You Killed My Father]]: Played straight with Genghis Khan, who decided to [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge|kill everyone in the Tatar clan to get his revenge]] after his father was killed by them. He didn't stop there. It actually became a very large story arc
* [[You Kill It, You Bought It]]: The implied purpose of every war in history. If those in charge claim they're fighting for something else, they're either lying or misinformed.
* [[You Require More Vespene Gas]]: While most structures do involve certain amounts of special materials, Oil is such an important source of both Energy and Raw Materials that players have gone to ridiculous extremes to access it or deny others access to it.
* [[You Suck]]: Inverted. [http://iamawesome.com You rock!]
* [[Zerg Rush]]: See [[Zerg Rush/Real Life|here]].
* [[Zeerust]]: Some game server areas are set aside to invoke this trope, often for role-play purposes or just as an aesthetic.
* [[Zombie Apocalypse]]: Averted so far, although there has been plenty of demand for an arc about one of these.
** [http://files.sharenator.com/capt_973bc9c198ad455496f74daf552fdfa5_correction_zombies_ahead_ny136_Danger_Zombies_Ahead-s399x328-11545-580.jpg Are you SURE it's been averted?]{{Dead link}}
* [[Zettai Ryouiki]]: Japan sure
{{reflist}}
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