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Thriving Ghost Town (view source)

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[[File:ff2_town_7063.png|link=Final Fantasy IV|frame|<small>Neighborhood just hasn't been the same since they opened that [[Predatory Business|Weapon-Mart]]</small>.]]
 
{{quote|''There may be only five of us, but this is STILL a thriving kingdom!''|'''The King of the Dwarves''', ''[[Final Fantasy V (Video Game)|Final Fantasy V]]''}}
 
Due to [[The Law of Conservation of Detail]], towns and cities in RPGs rarely have an observable population measuring more than a single digit (or, at most, the 'teens); this is far smaller than any [http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/blueroom/demog.htm realistic level of basic economic sustainability].
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A typical town the heroes find themselves in usually consists of the following; a [[Trauma Inn]], a weapons/armor shop (the true metropolis may have a separate shop for each), an "item" shop, a specialty shop relating to the game's [[Functional Magic|magic system]], and no more than three houses. With the exception of those [[NPC|NPCs]] living in those houses, the entire remainder of the population is apparently homeless; some [[NPC|NPCs]] seem to exist for the sole purpose of standing in a specific location and [[Welcome to Corneria|talking to passers-by.]]
 
In the earliest computer and console [[RPG|RPGs]], this was a matter of economy; every kilobyte was precious and couldn't be wasted on extraneous houses or people. The tradition has continued into the modern day for several reasons, with [[The Law of Conservation of Detail]] being paramount among them. It does make it more feasible to [[Talk to Everyone]]. Especially with [[Random Encounter]]s, one aversion to this is that there's often [[More Criminals Than Targets]]… Who love to [[Gang Up Onon the Human]]. It's often an [[Acceptable Break From Reality]] because, really, as large as towns would be in real life, think of ''how long'' it'd take to render it, and how much space it'd take on your drive. Ouch.
 
Some games [[Hand Wave]] this by implying the town is much larger via expansive background images; our heroes, for whatever reason, are [[Gateless Ghetto|only visiting a small portion of it.]] Modern games tend to slightly avert this by adding numbers of non-interactable pedestrians into city scenes, giving the ''illusion'' of a larger populace.
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== Action Adventure ==
 
* ''[[Zelda II: theThe Adventure of Link (Video Game)|Zelda II the Adventure of Link]]'' arguably tries to avert this by depicting towns with houses that serve no plot or game purpose and where NPCs are constantly walking past you and off screen. Of course, there are still a small number of character models and most of the extra NPCs just repeat the same generic dialogue.
* ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Video Game)|The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess]]'' has several [[Thriving Ghost Town]] locations as well as several not-so-thriving towns which are nearly deserted. Castle Town, however, includes many random passersby who will ignore you. You ''can'' interact with them ... if watching them scream, cower, and brandish weapons at Link's wolf form counts as interaction.
* To be fair though, in Twilight Princess, places such as Kakariko village had most of its residents turn into monsters or flee, so it's probably very narrowly averted in this case.
** Also, while Clock Town in ''[[The Legend of Zelda: MajorasMajora's Mask (Video Game)|Majora's Mask]]'' was relatively small, every character had a place to go at night, and you could in fact watch them walk home. This was largely done because of the [[Groundhog Day Loop]] mechanic. Justified in that aside from some stubborn business owners and government officials, most of the townsfolk have fled because ''the moon is falling.''
* Continued in ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (Video Game)|The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword]]'' with Skyloft. Despite being the sole town in the game and the only remnant of Hylian civilization, it has fewer than three dozen residents and half as many buildings all together. And even without performing any sidequests, the player will meet nearly every single character during the course of the game.
* Mimiga Village in ''[[Cave Story (Video Game)|Cave Story]]''. The small population is justified in that the [[Big Bad]] had already kidnapped most of the Mimigas before the start of the game, but there's also a noticeably small number of houses, meaning either most of the Mimigas were homeless or their houses were perfectly destroyed.
 
== Adventure Game ==
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* Several of the later ''[[Ultima]]'' games, ''[[Ultima VII]]'' in particular, had towns larger than the norm, where every NPC had a home they returned to at night. Still, even the capital city of Britain has a population of fifty or so. ''The entire game'' clocks in at slightly over 100.
** In addition, Skara Brae was a literal Thriving Ghost Town in ''Ultima VII''.
* ''[[The Elder Scrolls II Daggerfall (Video Game)|The Elder Scrolls II Daggerfall]]'', averts this with major cities containing hundreds of houses and thousands of people. However, many of these houses can't be entered, even by the most skilled and determined lockpicks. "This house contains nothing of interest." Further, shops closed at night, at which time an enterprising burglar could break in to strip the shelves bare. Players who loitered in the shop until after closing could also clear the shelves free of charge, at no risk to their criminal record.
** The first game, ''[[The Elder Scrolls Arena (Video Game)|The Elder Scrolls Arena]]'', was actually the largest in terms of both square footage and population - you could explore the entire continent of Tamriel which was on a scale with an actual real-life continent. Mind, the people and scenery tended to get a bit repetitive...
* In ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'', Traverse Town and Twilight Town (both [[First Town|First Towns]]) had large numbers of random citizens irrelevant to the story; the other cities, however, are populated almost entirely by Disney licensed characters. But then again, the other cities are essentially [[Dungeon Town|town-shaped dungeons]].
** In Twilight Town, this makes sense, since {{spoiler|1=they're replicas of the people in the real Twilight Town; when the simulation is interrupted, the literal NPCs disappear.}}
** Although, by nature of them being large [[Dungeon Town|Dungeon Towns]], this trope is handled ''slightly'' more tastefully - Twilight Town, Radiant Garden/{{spoiler|Hollow Bastion}} and Traverse Town both have multiple districts, plenty of houses and (for Twilight Town only) modes of public transportation. There are enough homes (most of them unenterable) to qualify them as small settlements (with the population ranging in the hundreds or so), although the conspicuous lack of citizens is rather jarring. Perhaps they're all hiding from the Heartless and Nobodies?
* ''[[Earthbound]]'' has quite large towns (though some buildings have no door), ''except'' for the "largest" one, Fourside, which appeared quite small compared to what it's supposed to be. It can be assumed that [[Gateless Ghetto|only the south corner]] of the town is visible, however.
* While ''[[BaldursBaldur's Gate]]'' definitely has less citizens than you'd expect, there are still a lot of people hanging around, a lot of houses are inhabited, and there are always a lot of people at the local pub. I'd guess it's about 75% of what you'd expect, which isn't really that bad.
** It's about a fiftieth the size of the pen-and-paper game's map of the city, but it's about the same shape and the landmarks are roughly in the right places.
** Also, there are many houses and doors around Athkatla that you can see, but not go in; those are [[Hand Wave|handwaved]] by saying there's nothing of interest within.
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* The ''Dragonriders of [[Pern]]'' game for the Dreamcast has an example that can only be attributable to ''actual'' ghosts: at one town, you enter a vast chamber with thick stone walls, and few entrances or exits. There are perhaps a half dozen people or so milling around a space the size of a convention center, and to judge by the soundtrack, those people are able to completely fill the space with the sound of hustle and bustle and conversation. If you revisit the chamber later on, you'll discover it's still filled with the sounds of countless people shuffling about and chatting together, even though the room is now ''completely empty''.
* ''[[Jays Journey]]'' mostly has houses with locked doors, but the only actual house (as opposed to shop) in one town belongs to the [[Ms. Fanservice]] playable character... the [[Unfortunate Implications]] of which are ''not'' [[Lampshade Hanging|left unremarked.]]
* ''[[Assassin's Creed (Video Game)|Assassin's Creed]]'' averts this in a big way with teaming cities, not many different faces but lots of people.
* Averted in ''[[Bully (Videovideo Gamegame)|Bully]]'', which basically keeps all the action within one town.
* Zig-zagged in ''[[Dragon Age]]''. Denerim and Amaranthine are implied to be ''much'' larger than you acutally show. It also helps that Denerim is so big that it requires its own map screen, and you don't explore every inch of the city, only the parts that are relevant. Likewise, Orzrammar does not have a map screen like Denerim, but it's implied that the action is just that close together, plus it looks a bit like they might have been tiered. Justified with the Dalish "towns" because it's a nomadic camp. However played entirely straight with Redcliffe and Lothering.
 
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== Web Comics ==
* [[Deconstruction|Deconstructed]] in ''[[Erfworld (Webcomic)|Erfworld]]''. All non plot important buildings in the city are completely empty, and seemingly serve merely to “be the city”; though they get occupied and used based on what they resemble. For example the slaughterhouse somehow feeds the troops through its mere existence, as there are no workers, and no slaughtering going on. Of course, the world they're in is based on [[Turn -Based Strategy]] tropes, where abstractions of this sort are commonplace.
** Not to mention other odd things; Farms “pop” piglets/calves/chicks, which get progressively older and fatter over the course of a few turns, until eventually they disappear and are replaced by pork/beef/chicken food items teleported directly to the consumer. Seriously.
 
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