History ComplacentGamingSyndrome / VideoGames

*** For that matter, ''all'' healing classes[hottip:*: Priests, Paladins, Shamans]] in "vanilla" were [[{{Railroading}} rail-roaded]] into that role for PvE content, as every item in their higher Sets were developed for those roles. One of the few instances where this trope was blatantly enforced by the developer.

** The competitive tiers, as well. As of ''Black and White'', the Standard or "OU" ([=OverUsed=]) tier, has just around 50 Pokémon in it, out of a total of 649. And up to the top 5 Pokémon in a tier are on more than 20% of teams, which means you'll be seeing the same Pokémon ''a lot''. Pokemon is probably the only game on this page that regularly has tournaments only for mid-tier or low-tier Pokemon, due to the fact that the creators didn't even try to balance it. Generally, underused (one step below OU) also has the same few Pokemon being used over and over though.

** Players also tend to have a fear of items (lampooned when the official site sneaked in the message that "Real men use items!"), leading to the MemeticMutation "NO ITEMS! [[VideoGame/StarFox FOX ONLY!]] [[AbridgedArenaArray FINAL DESTINATION!]]" If you're lucky, you'll have a friend who occasionally likes to mix things up (99 stock super sudden death with high items). Mostly its complacency in the above pattern, rarely it's someone who refuses to not play by personal rules.

* ''Left4Dead'':

** And for playing VS mode itself, there's the rushing tactic, where all survivor players blaze through the level, only stopping if there's supplies in the path or if they can revive a fallen player. This makes it difficult for the zombie players to keep up since they first have to find a place to spawn where they cannot be seen, and the move in for the attack while the survivors keep running ahead. Most players rush since hordes generally spawn behind the player and rarely in the front and there is a limit to how many zombies the game can have in the field. The ports of the Left 4 Dead 1 maps have been adding rushing events, which magnifies this tactic.
** The sequel has several game modes to choose from (Campaign, VS, Realism VS, Scavenge, and Mutation). Despite the several modes to choose from, people generally stick with either Campaign or VS modes, making it very difficult to find and form games in the other modes. Originally, Realism VS was a Mutation mode but had gotten enough popularity to warrant it as permament game mode. After it was added, player activity for that mode declined in favor of Campaign or VS.

* ''[[DarkForcesSaga Star Wars: Jedi Knight]]: [[ColonCancer Jedi Outcast/Jedi Academy]]'':

** Killhouse, Broadcast, Crash... there's bound to be at least one 24/7 one-map-only server for every map in the game, but those three are the most popular. Weapon variety, on the other hand, is pretty much exclusively either the final-unlocked weapons of a class (Desert Eagle, P90, etc.) or [[RunningGag the bolt-action snipers]].

* ''Call of Duty: World at War'' has two cooperative modes: co-op campaign, or VideoGame/NaziZombies. Absolutely ''nobody'' plays the former - even if a lobby is hosted in co-op campaign, it will inevitably switch to Nazi Zombies before the game starts.

* In ''[[VideoGame/{{Quake}} Quakeworld]]'' duels, you would be hard-pressed to see anything less than the grenade launcher used as anything other than a last resort. Even the grenade launcher has a niche role (to flush people out or lock them in) - for 90% of the game, you will have the rocket launcher in one hand and lightning gun in the other. Possibly with a set of aliases to facilitate switching to the LG in a pinch, and switch back just as quickly.

** It gets worse: that map and game mode are literally the only ones any populated server will run.

** For that matter, there's Assault mode in Mos Eisley, which pits every hero in the game against one another, Republic/Rebel versus Separatist/Imperial. It's nearly impossible to find a server above 25% its maximum player count that isn't in this setting. The Xbox version of the game doesn't help, considering its DownloadableContent almost solely consisted of adding the mode to even more maps.
* A big problem in the ''GearsOfWar'' series.

** In the games lots of people keep their starter throughout the game, even though there is the option to not use it.

** In [=FO3=] you could max out every skill with mediocre Intelligence because of the sheer quantity of skill books. Even with max Intelligence, this is not possible in FNV.

** Perception is now regarded as the most useless stat, and many people will drop it to 1 unless they want Better Criticals, in which case they leave it at 5 and get the implant. Charisma is still generally regarded as useless because most people use Boone, meaning everything still dies before you can even see it.
** Those who do use Boone also tend to partner him up with ED-E - who, incidentally, may also be the reason people regard Perception as useless, since he's the first companion made available to the player and his Enhanced Sensors companion perk gives you the benefit of a full 10 Perception either way.
** Melee and Unarmed are now very overpowered, so don't be surprised if practically everyone you talk to about the game is running around with Oh Baby! or a Ballistic Fist and [[ItsEasySoItSucks complaining about how they can 2-shot Lanius]].
** Melee and Unarmed are quite well balanced for the higher difficulties - they're cheap, easy and reliable, but you're never going to be a badder mofo in close combat than an alpha deathclaw, much less Lanius or the Legendary Deathclaw.

** One of the biggest problems is that sometimes the most outlandish and interesting things you can make are just outclassed by [[BoringButPractical simpler solutions]]. Constructing an insane, gigantic winged flaming bazooka may be awesome, but it usually won't get the job any more than a simple "GUN". This is especially true in Challenge Levels, where the need to conserve your adjectives for possible use in later levels is apparent.

** The competitive tiers, as well. As of ''Black and White'', the Standard or "OU" ([=OverUsed=]) tier, has just around 50 Pokémon in it, out of a total of 646. And up to the top 5 Pokémon in a tier are on more than 20% of teams, which means you'll be seeing the same Pokémon ''a lot''. Pokemon is probably the only game on this page that regularly has tournaments only for mid-tier or low-tier Pokemon, due to the fact that the creators didn't even try to balance it. Generally, underused (one step below OU) also has the same few Pokemon being used over and over though.

** This carried over into the sequel where most gamers are much more comfortable with Claire, ''even though Leon is the far superior character to play as''.

* ''VideoGame/InitialDArcadeStage Ver. 2'': Honda Integra [=DC2=] on Irohazaka was basically the only combination anybody ever played in multiplayer.

* In the old days, when playing ''VideoGame/AgeOfEmpires'' online, any game that ''didn't'' start off in "Post-Imperial Age" (highest level of technology, every inch of the map known to every player, etc.) was doomed to languish in solitude until the game leader caved -- god help you if you ''liked'' building a civilization.

** It has a metagame based around a certain lane composition: duo bot (support and an Attack Damage carry), solo mid (Ability Power carry), solo top (most variable role), and one jungler to farm neutral creeps. In addition, certain champions are considered "acceptable" to play in each lane, with deviations often being regarded with negative reactions ranging from the verbal equivalent of a dirty look to UnstoppableRage.

* ''VideoGame/GuiltyGear'' gives us Sol Badguy and Chipp Zanuff.

* ''VideoGame/SuperStreetFighterIV'':

** Apparently this effect can even be ''preemptive'': a good number of ''Super Street Fighter IV'' players say that Evil Ryu and Oni [[spoiler:Akuma]] will be heavily overused in online battles should the ''Arcade Edition'' of the game ever come to consoles and thus should not for the sake of keeping the online playable.

** And when AE came to consoles... it didn't happen. If anything, the online community has ''diversified''.

* As illustrated above, around 50% of all ''VideoGame/StreetFighterIV'' players use [[{{Shotoclone}} Ken]] and 40% use Sagat. This has earned the game the nickname "Ken Fighter IV". This has been mocked [[http://www.halolz.com/2009/03/10/street-fighter-iv-online-fighting-edition/ numerous]] [[http://i40.tinypic.com/ih1j4z.jpg times]].

** As for actual in-game combat, in ''Jedi Outcast'' everyone just does the Strong style jumping slash, an attack which is AwesomeButImpractical at best due to heavy, unblockable damage, but also being so slow that it's useless except as an ambush tactic - most one-on-one duels in that game consist entirely of both players alternatively using or dodging that one attack until one of them gets the timing right to hit the other before they can roll out of the way. ''Jedi Academy'' has ''slightly'' more variety - everyone still spams just one attack, but for players using double-bladed or dual sabers it's either the rolling stab or their mouse1+mouse2 combo.

** Super-Shotgun. Possibly the most horribly conceived weapon in FPS history, as its common availability, high damage and comparably fast rate of fire have seemingly led to it being all anyone ever uses in competitive play. Aggravated by ''DOOM'' not having an option to pick weapons at the start of deathmatch games, so the only option was to use custom maps that leave out the GameBreaker weapons.

** Assault: Pre-patch assault players used the F2000, AEK-971, or the FAMAS due to their high rates of fire. Post-patch the FAMAS's handling and ammo capacity changes nerfed it into oblivion and the F2000 is useless beyond 20 meters. The [=M16A3=] with Heavy Barrel reigns supreme.

** Damn near every Recon use the [=M98B=] since it's the most powerful sniper rifle in the game, though after Back to Karkand the L96 is seeing some action since it shoots like a laser and it doesn't require as much grinding as the [=M98B=].

* ''Battlefield 2142'':
** For it's Camp Gibraltar.

* For King of the Hill, 8 times out of 10 it's going to be Nucleus. The remainder will be 1/10 Kong King and 1/10 everything else, which is probably your best bet if you want a non-Nucleus map since standard servers will just vote overwhelmingly for Nucleus anyway at every opportunity.

** ''Call of Duty: World at War'' has two cooperative modes: co-op campaign, or VideoGame/NaziZombies. Absolutely ''nobody'' plays the former - even if a lobby is hosted in co-op campaign, it will inevitably switch to Nazi Zombies before the game starts.

** In multiplayer, pretty much every Gold difficulty match is Geth/Firebase White. For a well-coordinated team, White is easy to bunker down in and resist assault. Geth are often seen as the easiest enemy to fight, lacking any form of instakill attacks (not even grenades) and only having one 'tank' enemy, the Geth Prime, which is usually easier to deal with than the Cerberus combination of Nemeses, Atlases, and Phantoms. Reaper is barely chosen, mostly because of the Banshees.
** The game takes several steps to avert this. For one fighting in an unknown location or against an unknown enemy nets you more XP. For another each region of space has a score that goes down over time, to get the score back up (and thus get a better ending in single player) you have to do well maps belonging to that region: playing Firebase White for the hundredth time might secure Earth but what about the Terminus Systems (you still get a slight increase to the overal score but it takes a long time)? Third, as you level up all the characters in that class level with you, so you can take a WeakButSkilled Engineer and think, "Would I have been better giving it multiple Overloads than a flamethrower?" And lastly, the game has ArtificialBrilliance that learns the more you play, a bunkered Adept spamming Shockwave will be rushed, enemies will pick up on how to deal with a Vanguard's Biotic Charge and so on. Changing to a soldier and spamming Concussive Shot will throw it off it's game.
** Bioware is actually pretty active to prevent this trope, patching the game on a weekly basis to nerf the overpowered weapons and buff underpowered ones, promoting variety. Of course the nerfing of fan favorite guns is cause [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks for obligatory flame wars in the Bioware forums]].
** There are also events every two or so weeks that sometimes encourage playing in a specific style to achieve a global goal. For example, one such event involved killing a certain number of Banshees. And if the players fail to achieve a goal, Bioware might even impose a penalty for the next event (case in point: when the Banshee event failed, the next event featured additional Banshee spawns, even when playing against other enemies).

** Also, as a way of PlayerPreferredPattern of MassivelyMultiplayerOnlineRolePlayingGame players, every team ''allegedly'' needs a healer.

** Not to mention the insane overuse of the Wolver armour set. This is because out of all weapon types swords deal the most raw damage numbers and as a result are the [[PlayerPreferredPattern most popular choice]]. Guns deal pathetic damage per hit. However, swordies have to dodge or block enemy attacks once in a while while gunslingers can just keep pumping lead into the enemy, resulting in higher average damage over time in some cases. Bombs are good for support or inflicting StandardStatusEffects... a playstyle unlikely to be a PlayerPreferredPattern in SpiralKnights.

* By default, every single sports game aspiring to be realistic and featuring a large number of playable teams/athletes will suffer from this. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]], too, since it reflects RealLife. Unless the player has an attachment to a team of lesser-than-God tier, or is CherryTapping, or the selection is made at random, inevitably only a select number of elites you can count on one hand will be played most of the times.
** Can be fixed through the use of tiers (like many other games). Sports games, unlike many other games which strive for balance, will usually have a fairly easy way of tiering via in-game ratings of teams (either out of 100 or out of 5 stars or whatever). Only problem of course is there still is no TRUE balance, since usually one team will still be slightly better.

* In ''VideoGame/StarWarsBattlefront II'', you can select Assault mode (normally only used for space battles) on the Mos Eisley map, which allows you to play as any of the game's hero characters. Expect to only see Aayla Secura for the Heroes' side and Darth Maul on the Villains' side, who are two of the only hero characters who use two lightsabers. And don't even dream about seeing a hero character who doesn't use a lightsaber.
** Probably because most of the heroes that don't have a lightsaber (save for Boba Fett) tend to get cut down ''really'' fast by those who do.
** It gets worse: that map and game mode are literally the only ones any populated server will run.
* [[AIBreaker For some reason]], the computer in ''[[VideoGame/SoulSeries Soulcalibur III]]'' doesn't seem to be able to block a retreating vertical from an Iron Sword Create-A-Soul character. It's too easy to just use that one class and attack throughout the game. This then bites you in the rear when human opponents easily dodge and clobber you while you're using what's a fairly slow and very telegraphed attack.
** Even more ridiculous is that the computers are completely unable to block the double swing a+b attack (also of the iron sword custom character). The first swing they block just fine. The second, not so much.
** If you think the Iron Sword has ridiculous anti-AI potential, try the Katana discipline. Forward B+K will baffle them 90% of the time, and it sets them up for your mid-air attack throw perfectly (just avoid the katana that gives you added knockback, as it throws off the timing). As long as they don't get a cheap shot on you, you are guaranteed to win against all but the most extreme AI.

** Even ''worse'' in ''VideoGame/StreetFighterIII'' which only carried over Ryu and Ken from the previous games. 75% of all ''Street Fighter III'' players used Ken (Shinryuken super), 20% used Ryu, and 5% used someone else. It got a little better in ''Second Impact'' and ''Third Strike'' once players realized the new characters had a lot of potential.
*** Even so, high-level TournamentPlay almost always consists of the top-tier fighters (Chun-Li, Ken, and Yun) with the occasional Akuma in the mix. There's a reason ''3rd Strike'' has its ''own'' nickname (''Chun Fighter III: Ken Strike - '').
** Found a tally of ''Super Street Fighter IV'' character usage of over 4,000 matches, [[http://www.eventhubs.com/news/2010/sep/26/ssf4-character-usage-numbers-over-4000-matches/ which you can see here.]] Ryu and Ken make up over 1,000 of them. Apparently, the stranglehold of these two is weakening...

*** And when AE came to consoles... it didn't happen. If anything, the online community has ''diversified''.

* In the ''[[SoulSeries Soulcalibur IV]]'', a lot of people use either Maxi, Kilik or Cervantes.
** Don't forget the use of Nightmares, Kilik and Siegfried style custom characters. Kilik's style being the most common.
** Playing online, nearly every one of the high ranked players plays as Sophitia. She looks like a pushover... but frequently annihilates you before you have the chance to get a move in.
** This becomes so commonplace, a "counter-intuitive" strategy is forming: pick someone else. Even if you're absolutely horrible with them, there's at least a 1-in-3 chance that the person you're fighting is ONLY used to "top-tier" characters and suddenly gets waylaid by Astaroth.

* From ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}} 3'' onwards, Eddy/Christie has been this trope due to their easy combos,[[SkillGateCharacter Skill Gate status]] aside. Earlier in the series it was usually Jack or Kazuya and in recent years it has increasingly been Mokujin due to the fact people want to show they can beat you with any character. Most people plying ''Tekken 3'' for the first time either went for Jin (he's on the box) or Yoshimitsu (he has a sword).
*** The Eddy/Christie thing was mostly applicable at ''Tekken 3'''s release, but they do have their flaws. Eddy telegraphs his attacks, follows the same pattern for 80% of his moveset and has some massively glaring weaknesses in his combos that are sometimes overlooked if you're aren't careful.

*** Survival and Team modes are also much under used, but not to the extent of Time Attack.

*** Dr Bosconovitch ever since players learnt that the ''slide across the floor on his ass'' move could take out most players of average skill who couldn't work out how to counter it.

* Go to [[http://www.supercade.net/ Supercade]] and watch some of the replays. You will see players spend literal ''hours'' using the same character (or in the case of ''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters KOF]]'' the same ''team'').
* ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom2''. Every team will include Cable and take advantage of his BFG.

* ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom3''. Every team has Dante, Deadpool, and/or Wolverine in it. ''EVERY''. ''Freaking''. ''Team''. Dante and Deadpool are particularly used by new players because they share similar mechanics, as is X-23 due to button bashing as she's so quick. Wolverine is more likely to be used by more advanced players who can pull out ridiculous combos with him.

* In the ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros.'' games, the community analyses the hell out of every character, game mode, stage and glitch, developing the fabled 'tier lists' for each game to show which character is considered the 'best'. Thus with each new tier list, expect at least 50% of your opponents to play one of the top 3 in the tier list ([[VideoGame/{{Kirby}} Meta Knight]] in ''Brawl'', anyone)?

* This has fast become the case with [[VideoGame/GodOfWar Kratos]] in ''VideoGame/PlaystationAllStarsBattleRoyale'' not long after it's release. Partially due to his immense popularity and heavily to do with his versatility, AP-Gain and general ease-of-use, it's not uncommon online to see at least several of them in a standard free-for-all match. It hasn't taken long for him to be labeled a TierInducedScrappy by a large part of the community, with many calling for several {{nerf}}s to him.

* ''VideoGame/InjusticeGodsAmongUs'' might as well be called "Injustice: Bat-Family Characters Among Us". ''Everyone'' uses either Batman or Nightwing.
** As of this writing, the most overused character online is Deathstroke, since it's pretty easy to run away and spam people with his guns.

* ''PAYDAYTheHeist'' has nearly everyone using the [[RevolversAreJustBetter Bronco .44]], the [[ShotgunsAreJustBetter Reinbeck]], and the [[MoreDakka Mac-11]] since all 3 weapons are very powerful and cover both short and long distances. If a player has the Wolf Pack DLC, then expect to see a lot of appearances from the AK and the [[GrenadeLauncher GL40]].

* ''VideoGame/{{Battlefield 3}}'' also has some extremely common loadouts, which can be split from before the March 2012 patch and after it:
** Assault: Pre-patch assault players used the F2000, AEK-971, or the FAMAS due to their high rates of fire. Post-patch the FAMAS's handling and ammo capacity changes nerfed it into oblivion and the F2000 is useless beyond 20 meters. The [=M16A3=] with Heavy Barrel reigns supreme.
** Engineers gravitate to the A-91 or the [=M4A1=], again, due to the high rate of fire, while some go for the SCAR-H + ACOG + Heavy Barrel for long range damage. Post-patch, players that prefer a good medium-range weapon with minimal recoil will likely use the [=SG553=] with the [=AKS-74U=] being configurable as a very good short-ranged hip fire weapon.
** The Support class, with its variety of well-balanced guns but no superior weapon, inverts the trope. The class only contains {{Scrappy Weapon}}s that ''aren't'' used like the QBB, [=MG36=] and Type 88, which heavily suck compared to the rest.
** Damn near every Recon use the [=M98B=] since it's the most powerful sniper rifle in the game, though after Back to Karkand the L96 is seeing some action since it shoots like a laser and it doesn't require as much grinding as the [=M98B=].
*** Pre-patch the only semi-auto sniper rifle of any use was the M39 EMR: Very accurate, quick to fire and could be used in medium range as a 'designated marksman' style of play. Post-patch, the SKS has been buffed to the stars to the point it can compete with assault rifles.
** Gun attachments: Pre-patch nearly everyone used the Foregrip/Suppressor combination to significantly reduce recoil to the point hardly anyone used bipods or heavy barrels. Post-patch, the Heavy Barrel is the new hotness for its very large spread reduction while aiming down sights with only a minimal vertical recoil increase. Foregrip and suppressor usage depends on the situation rather than being no-brainer attachments and they generally only get used for very close quarter combat.
** Gun sights are a matter of preference but out of the various versions, the main ones used are the Kobra, US Red Dot Sight, ACOG 4x, US Holographic, and the 8x or 12x for sniper rifles.
** Post-patch pistol changes mean the best players will use one of three sidearms: The G18 Suppressed fully-automatic pistol with a high rate of fire that is equivalent to the [=MP7=] at very close range and is used for players who want a true 'backup' weapon, the 93R burst fire pistol which received a major buff in the patch for those who feel they need a more controllable gun than the G18, and finally the .44 Magnum which is a two shot kill due to a buff giving it a 1.25 damage multiplier to the chest, used by players who are extremely accurate and will pick and choose either their primary weapon or the Magnum based on the situation.
** [=MP7=] with Laser + Extended Mags is ''the'' hip fire weapon. Its hip fire is often ''more'' accurate than many guns when aimed down sight and it is quicker to get bullets on target because of its hip fire. Its only drawback is that the extended mags mean you only have less than a handful of reloads, so playing a support kit or having the Ammo perk is mandatory.
** [[TierInducedScrappy The USAS-12 with Frag rounds]]. It's basically a [[GameBreaker handheld IFV cannon]]. It's super accurate, has no "bullet" drop, kills in 2-3 direct hits, creates splash damage if it misses, and (since the USAS-12 is an automatic shotgun) is extremely spammable. Anyone using it will be met with much gnashing of teeth, and it's so bad that it was severely {{nerf}}ed. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7rFGMatKLM This video]] is a good demonstration.
** Camouflage-wise, Spec Ops Black as it hides your heat signature from infra-red optics. It's also useful for hiding in buildings since the interior is usually dark.

*** The AN-94 is very popular, due to the fact that it does the highest damage out of all the assault rifles and fires an accurate 2-shot burst. Made even deadlier when paired with the 4x scope and magnum ammo.

*** With [=SMGs=], the [=PP2000=] since it has hardly any recoil, or the SCAR-L carbine. Both with Magnum ammo of course, like everyone else in the entire world.

* For ''VideoGame/UnrealTournament''[='s=] weapons, the Shock Rifle and Sniper Rifle tend to be used more often because of their capabilities. Fortunately though, most weapons ''do'' see some use since each is meant for a particular situation, and Siege finally gives players a good reason to use the otherwise-pathetic Bio Rifle (can splash-damage buildings and basecores from a distance, unlike the Minigun which is only effective at close-range).

* In ''Left4Dead'', especially Versus mode, people seem only use Uzis and Auto Shotguns while the Assault Rifle falls down the middle. Using a Pump Shotgun or Hunting Rifle will get you [[StopHavingFunGuys scolded by many people who only care about winning.]]
** Until you start [[BoomHeadshot sniping smokers and hunters waiting on buildings in the face.]] And trying to jump on you. And boomers trying to fall on you. Then they complain about how much it sucks to get killed before they can get anywhere near you. However, with the relase of The Sacrifice DLC, the Hunting Rifle in the first game now matches the accuracy of the same gun in the sequel. Time will tell if people will use this gun more often in VS.
*** Similarly in the sequel, the most used weapons are either Auto Shotguns or AK-47s with a laser slight (if one can find a laser sight), simply because of how powerful they are.

** Survival, despite how difficult it is when zombies and specials swarm you much faster than in a regular game, has this in the form of finding the most optimal corner or similar spot to camp in, spread all the gas cans and explosive cans to keep the infected at bay, and only moving to get health packs and/or ammo or if a Tank shows up. Despite patching to nerf the exploits, players will still find a spot where zombies suddenly can't reach you or stop trying to find you because you're considered off the map.

*** Once Valve made all mutations playable from the get go, the TAAANK!!! mutation gets the most attention just because it's VS mode where all the infected players are Tanks. Alternatively, Versus Survival (which is self-explanatory) and Gib Fest (which gives the players [[BottomlessMagazines infinite-ammo]] [[MoreDakka M60's]]), both of which had the highest number of encore appearances when the mutations were weekly.

*** As for weapon mods, expect 90% of them to be new models and/or animations lifted directly from ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare 2''. The last 10% are mostly Music/{{Vocaloid}}-, ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''-, and ''VideoGame/{{Neptunia}}''-themed reskins for melee weapons.
* ''MedalOfHonor: Allied Assault'' players get very tetchy when you try to use something other than an SMG or sniper. Rocket, rifle grenade, or portable turret? Overpowered. Shotgun or machinegun? Causes lag.

* ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' eventually buckled to the competitive audience and added server options to disable absolutely ''every'' random factor in the game, including ones that are factored in to balancing weapons against their alternatives. Most servers with a large enough community will have these turned on.

* For ''[[DarkForcesSaga Star Wars: Jedi Knight]]: [[ColonCancer Jedi Outcast/Jedi Academy]]'', there's the no-Force, saber-only game setting. There's ranged weapons and Force powers in the game? Apparently not, judging by the multiplayer community.[[note]]Jump, and more rarely Speed, are occasionally allowed to make navigating a bit easier, but even then they'll be limited to the lowest level to prevent them from being useful in a fight.[[/note]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Doom}} II'': Super-Shotgun. Possibly the most horribly conceived weapon in FPS history, as its common availability, high damage and comparably fast rate of fire have seemingly led to it being all anyone ever uses in competitive play. Aggravated by ''DOOM'' not having an option to pick weapons at the start of deathmatch games, so the only option was to use custom maps that leave out the GameBreaker weapons.

* Go into the server list for ''VideoGame/{{Battlefield}} 2'' and find a section without any "Strike at Karkand 24/7 Infantry Only" servers. Good luck!

* For ''Battlefield 2142'' it's Camp Gibraltar.

* ''VideoGame/UnrealTournament'' has Facing Worlds (CTF-Face) and Deck16. ''VideoGame/UnrealTournament2004'' has Rankin and Torlan. ''VideoGame/UnrealTournamentIII'' has Sentinel.
** And again, Facing Worlds is generally considered one of the worst-designed of all the maps, primarily for how easy it is to spawn-kill people from pretty much anywhere on the map.
* ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' has 2Fort.
** And Dustbowl. [[StopHavingFunGuys Certain players]] will complain that 2fort is only populated by {{Noob}}s, while they themselves can only be found on Dustbowl.
*** Worse yet are the servers that only play ''one part'' of Dustbowl.

* ''VideoGame/{{Counter-Strike}}'' has de_dust and de_dust2.
** It also has the Magnum Sniper Rifle, disaffectionately known as the AWP to every poor victim who's been [[BoomHeadshot instantly killed by it]]. It's the most overpowered sniper rifle in the game, capable of [[OneHitKill one-hit killing]] a character on almost any area of his body, including ''[[CriticalExistenceFailure his toes.]]'' The 'increased accuracy' of the zoom is merely down to it becoming easier to see your opponent.
** In ''VideoGame/{{Counter-Strike}}'', the "automatically re-buy previous equipment" option is ideal for a player who has figured out what he's comfortable with and wants to stick with it.

* ''[[VideoGame/ModernWarfare Call of Duty 4]]'' has Killhouse, Broadcast, Crash... there's bound to be at least one 24/7 one-map-only server for every map in the game, but those three are the most popular. Weapon variety, on the other hand, is pretty much exclusively either the final-unlocked weapons of a class (Desert Eagle, P90, etc.) or [[RunningGag the bolt-action snipers]].

** ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOps'' has Nuketown and Array, to the point that there's an actual ''game mode'' based around playing solely on the former.
** ''Modern Warfare 2'' in spades. The only two guns used online are the UMP and the ACR, both because [[GameBreaker they shoot straighter than an arrow and make better snipers than the sniper rifles]]. As for Perks, expect to see the tele-knifing Commando on almost every class, often combined with Marathon and Lightweight for faster, infinite sprinting to boot.
*** While the UMP is a GameBreaker, the ACR is simply not. It may have zero recoil, but it deals less damage and fires slower than most other assault rifles.
*** Now the goto setup is the "God Kit": an underbarrel grenade launcher for an assault rifle, which is so predictably accurate that the fan nickname of "Noobtube" is more recognizable to the fanbase than "grenade launcher", Claymores for a cheap lazy kill, One Man Army so the Noobtube keeps firing and you can double up claymores to guarantee a kill regardless of player health or protection, and Danger Close, just to double the radius of the insta-gib explosives being spammed all over the map. This isn't even the worst part as this kit is intended to get lots of kills so the player can spam Apache helicopters or AC-130 gunships, which get even more kills... The game is nearly unplayable if you don't have this gear equipped, or some kind of pathetic game breaking hack simply due to the large number of players using it.
** ''Modern Warfare 3'', a ton of people (especially those who are new or have recently prestiged) use the [=G36C=] with [=M320=] and Red Dot Sight, since it's a late-unlocked weapon [[ATasteOfPower available from the beginning through a default class]]. Barring that, the [=PP90M1=] and the Type 95 are the most popular primary weapons, with [[GunsAkimbo dual FMG's]] as everybody's secondary, since despite multiple attempts at nerfing them all three [[GameBreaker still kill people in half a second]]. As for maps, ones that pit Delta Force vs. Spetsnaz (Dome in particular) seem to be the most popular.
*** Infected mode does a lot like ''Left 4 Dead'' - since the only win conditions for the survivors are to, well, survive until time runs out, survivors will often pick one specific hard-to-reach area to hold out from and stay there until the infected manage to swarm it and kill everyone. The downside is that most survivor-preferred areas are ''very'' cramped - one good Semtex or Bouncing Betty from the initial infected could potentially kill half the team, and later infected that manage to get in can easily stab multiple people in a row before anybody really notices. Once the mode became official, though, some of this went away - unofficial servers running the mode had everyone get to [[GoodBadBugs glitchy areas that were really hard for infected to get at]], but when playing the mode through IWNET, attempting to go to such areas as a survivor [[NoFairCheating has you drop dead and switch sides without warning]].
** Maps from the ''VideoGame/{{Quake}}'' series are remade in almost any other FPS, the most notorious example is [=Q2DM1=]: The Edge.

** ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' for the PC has lots of "Blood Gulch 24/7" servers; most of them either only Capture the Flag or (Team) Slayer, often with rules against using any of the vehicles.
*** Note that this is mainly because the trial version of Halo allows online play for the Blood Gulch map only, so it may have been done by/for players who only have the trial.
** Hell, ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' - specifically while [=ZDaemon=] was still popular - had [=MAP01 and MAP07=] (both the classic and [=DWANGO5=] versions) on the vast majority of 24/7 servers, with very little deviation from this rule. Nowadays, you see mods like All Out War 2, [=WhoDunIt=], Megaman 8-Bit Deathmatch, and other mods dominating the Zandronum server listings.
** ''VideoGame/{{Halo 3}}''. If you don't use BR you are considered a 'noob'. Quite possibly the most overpowered default gun ever in a game, and then a bunch of MLG guys cried because it wasn't in the sequel (a variation called DMR was but was much less overpowered). You were laughed at for using Assault Rifle and apparently, because of lag it was literally impossible to get 5 straight headshots if you didn't live in America with sub-400ms ping, and as a result the game become NintendoHard. Notice a lot of the players that are bad? Grenade jumping is also huge, if you so much as de-scope someone and can continually body-neck shot them whilst they panic that they don't have zoom they WILL run backwards grenade jumping.
*** The Pistol in ''Halo: CE'' is more powerful than the Halo 2/3 Battle Rifle. The Battle Rifle is a 4 shot kill, the CE pistol is a 3 shot kill. Also: You are a "Noob" if you do not use the Battle Rifle instead of the Assault Rifle, the Assault Rifle was inferior in every way possible to the Battle Rifle.
*** Not really. A quarter of a AR clip is enough to drain half of someone's sheilds. A melee is enough to deplete it. If you time it right you can insta-kill someone with one melee hit if the timing's right. It was mostly seen as a bug.
*** ''VideoGame/HaloReach'' fixes this meaning a melee hit, no matter how much shield is left, it only drains it (unless it's already drained), but there the AR can at least kick someone's ass. A good example is a video on Youtube by Bungie Favorites which displays a player taking out a warthog from afar with an AR.
**** And the Noob Combo (Plasma Pistol charged shot to remove shields, quickly switch to your other weapon and make the kill). Granted, it's almost required to complete the second game on [[HarderThanHard Legendary difficulty]].
*** 343 saw sense with ''VideoGame/{{Halo 4}}'' and nerfed the hell out of the Battle Rifle, to the point where the DMR is the more popular gun.
** ''VideoGame/BlacklightRetribution'': Pure [=HeloDeck TDM=] servers are amongst the most popular servers, but most 'Pure' servers randomly shuffle the map or gamemode to keep things from getting too complacent. There are also official 'Pure' servers for other popular or new maps and modes. Netwar can only be played on Offshore, and Siege can only be played on Nuken, which makes for artificial complacency since they can only appear in Pure Netwar/Siege or Pure Random servers. There's a pretty decent spread though so not ''everyone'' is doing the same thing.
* Multiplayer-only game ''VideoGame/ShatteredHorizon'' originally ''enforced'' this by including only one weapon to focus the game more around player skill. Shortly after release a patch increased it to five due to complaints.
* ''VideoGame/Left4Dead2'' introduced Realism mode (campaign with tweaked settings for a better challenge) and Scavenge mode (a different flavor of VS mode), but most people ignore them in favor of campaign and VS. Realism VS mode was one of the first mutations introduced in The Passing DLC and was made a permanent game mode due to popular demand, but now no one ever plays it, going back to normal VS and campaign.
** Same for the campaigns, in both the first and second game. While the Coop-Players play pretty much anything, trying to find anything else than No Mercy, Blood Harvest or The Sacrifice in ''Left 4 Dead'' is not that easy. In the sequel, Dead Center is added to the mix and at least the other originally released campaigns are played more commonly, but still not as bad.
** When ''Left 4 Dead'' got released, you even got kicked out of the game for not picking the Auto-Shotgun in Versus. That has thankfully changed since and the other weapons are also more commonly taken now. In the sequel, it was similar with secondaries - you were called a Noob for using dual pistols.
** And on the off chance you ''do'' find a Scavenge game, 90% of the time it will be the No Mercy Rooftop.
** When it comes to modding the game, most modders dedicate their time to making different skins for Zoey (mostly nude ones) more than they do for other survivors, due to the trope MostGamersAreMale. There's also at least a dozen mods that replace Rochelle with Zoey.
*** As for weapon mods, expect 90% of them to be new models and/or animations lifted directly from ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare 2''. The last 10% are mostly Music/{{Vocaloid}}-, ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''-, and ''VideoGame/{{Neptunia}}''-themed reskins for melee weapons.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' competitive play, the super shotgun will be the weapon in your hands 70% of the time. 10% will be with the pistol as you respawn, and the other 20% will be equally split between the plasma rifle and [=BFG9000=] - both highly-regarded weapons in a deathmatch, and hotly contested.
* ''{{GunZ}}'' has the shotgun type of weapons. Everyone uses these along with a sword and do fancy-schmancy things like "K-Styling" (short for Korean style). Because of a bug the shotguns will actually pump a new bullet into the chamber while they are actually not in your hands (they are not automatic), which is the reason everyone carries TWO shotguns for the sake of switching between the two to rapid-fire. Everyone using any other weapon (except the ones where you have to actually aim, which is impossible in this game since there is absolutely no lag compensation, all bullets will hit when THEIR PC receives the packets, not earlier) is regarded as a noob, sprayer, etc. People are very elitist about this, and you always have to bow before someone before fighting them (feigning stuff like "honorable battles").
* ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands 2}}'' prior to a patch that reduced the effectiveness of doing so - most online matches would include at least one player using The Bee shield and a multi-pellet weapon like the Conference Call shotgun. The reason for this being that amplify shields, of which The Bee is, add damage to your first shot if your shield is full at the cost of some of the shield energy. The Bee's amplify effect cost 0 shield energy, resulting in an extra 40-52k damage on every projectile you fire, which was added to each pellet or projectile. Did we mention The Bee would recharge in the blink of an eye? Sure, it has a quarter the capacity of most other shields it's own level, but who needs shields when you turn everything into a fine pink mist in a single shot?

* Despite the huge number of options in the character creator that most players in ''CityOfHeroes'' take advantage of, you will still see some players who have dozens of characters with each different superpowers but who all look identical and have the same name with a number after it.

*** They only remain so for about a week, after Marvel's lawsuit.

* While ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' battlegrounds provide more variety than usual, there is only one tactic used for each. Even if it sucks. Case in point: Warsong Gulch. Both sides run to the opposing flag (usually completely ignoring each other), take it, run back and either clash in the middle (often with both flags getting returned) or both flags end up in the opposing fortress, heavily defended for most of the battle. There is a good reason a 25 minute time limit was added to this battleground.

*** (Fortunately for the rest of the players, the latter doesn't actually work.)

* This trope goes skipping hand-in-hand with elitism in ''GuildWars''. Don't have the skillsets or professions to match the popular cookie-cutter team builds everyone else is running? You do, but want to play your own way? Good luck finding a pick-up team for [[BonusDungeon FoW]], [[BonusDungeon UW]], [[BonusDungeon Slavers]], or [[BonusDungeon DoA]]. Your Lightbringer and Sunspear titles aren't maxxed out? Forget [=DoA=] altogether unless you run your own guild. Lacking levels in other alliance titles will also get you viewed as a liability, depending on the attached skills, the mission, and the group build in question.

* SpiralKnights players can be expected to have some or all of the following items if they have the money for them; Vog Cub, Divine Avenger, Gran Faust, Polaris/Biohazard, Grey Owlite Shield, and whatever krogmo trinkets boost your prefered weapon types.
** Not to mention the insane overuse of the Wolver armour set...
*** This is because out of all weapon types swords deal the most raw damage numbers and as a result are the [[PlayerPreferredPattern most popular choice]]. Guns deal pathetic damage per hit. However, swordies have to dodge or block enemy attacks once in a while while gunslingers can just keep pumping lead into the enemy, resulting in higher average damage over time in some cases. Bombs are good for support or inflicting StandardStatusEffects... a playstyle unlikely to be a PlayerPreferredPattern in SpiralKnights.
* Two months after it rotated out, the Avatar of Boris Challenge Path in ''KingdomOfLoathing'' is still the most-played path by far. The sad part is that many players took one look at the Bugbear Invasion path that replaced it and decided on the spot to ignore it in favor of constantly doing Boris runs. Chat and the forums were filled with comments along the lines of, "If this doesn't hook me immediately, I'm dropping this run and going back to Boris".

* This tends to happen with the harder Task Forces and Trials in ''CityOfHeroes''. The community will tend to settle on a strategy which can work for most random groups and repeatedly follow it even if it's not the best option.

* ''VideoGame/InitialDArcadeStage Ver. 2'': Everybody and their brother used the Honda Integra Type R ([=DC2=]) and selected Irohazaka for every single multiplayer match, mostly because the [=DC2=] was a GameBreaker that wouldn't slow down nearly as much as other cars from hitting walls and guardrails, and Irohazaka was a zig-zagging series of hairpins, which gave a huge advantage to the [=DC2=].

* Expect to see a lot of Mitsubishi Lancer Evolutions in ''WanganMidnightMaximumTune'', especially the eighth and ninth iteration. Mazda RX-8 is also quite common.

*** ''Mario Kart DS'' also had a similar case where snakers would use nothing but the Dry Bomber since its mini turbos lasted the longest out of all karts and it made snaking easier.

** Try and play ''VideoGame/AgeOfEmpiresII'' without every enemy [[ZergRush rushing your base with hundreds of paladins and trebuchets]].
* ''CommandAndConquerRedAlert 2: Yuri's Revenge''. Almost all 3v3 games were played on Tour of Egypt.

* ''VideoGame/{{StarCraft II}}'' has a few, the most blatant is any 1v1 game between two Terran players. Expect only Marines, Siege tanks, Vikings and Medievacs. That is unless one of them knows how to use [=IEchoic's 2Fac2Port=] build which is specifically tailored to take the standard [=TvT=] build by the balls and make it that player's bitch. Protoss vs Terran has similar issues, as the Protoss player will always go Robotics Facility for Colossi and lots of Stalkers to deal with Terran bio-balls comprised of Marines and Marauders with escorting Vikings to counter the Colossi and allow the Marines to wipe out the Immortals. Zerg vs Zerg matches are usually decided by who can get a fast spawning pool and still maintain enough of an economy to outproduce the other in terms of zerglings. Innovative players have created builds that have broken the monotony of these scenarios but trying to use them outside of a tournament or higher league play will result in being harassed for cheating, or even being formally reported to Blizzard simply because most middle-to-bottom tier players, once happy with a build for any kind of match up, will tell you that not even God himself can play the game any other way.

* If you just like to play the ''GuitarHero'' or ''RockBand'' games for fun, stay the hell away from the public Xbox Live matchups. 50% of the time you'll be forced into playing the hardest song on that particular disc, and if so help you god you pick any other song when it's your turn to choose, prepare to hear a lot of groans and insults from the other players. Ditto if everyone else has a particular DLC song (usually balls-hard as well) and you don't. And ditto if you play on anything but Expert, and ditto if you play Expert but suck at it, and so on...
** For ''Rock Band'', expect every session to include Coheed & Cambria's "Welcome Home".

** Of course, ShinMegamiTensei games tend to be crazy hard to begin with, and the bonus bosses are even worse. Beating them with anything but the preferred method can result in an effective SelfImposedChallenge.

* The ''VideoGame/PaperMario'' games let you level up in either heart points (health), flower points (mana/magic), or badge points (equipped skills and bonuses), but nearly everyone prefers to beef up their BP over the rest.
** To clarify, there is an NPC who can raise one of your three stats but will lower another stat in exchange. Some people chose to lower Mario's HP down to 5 and the game considers Mario to be in the Danger status since he is at 5 HP. Several badges powers up Mario's attack and defense when he is in such a state or if he is in the Peril status, where his HP is at 1. Since badges stack, it's possible to have a crippled Mario be a walking powerhouse where he can do over 10 to 20 damage per hit (most enemies have HP below 10 and only a few near the game's end will go above it and bosses will always have over 10 HP) and take very little due to the said badges. This is known as the Danger Mario strategy.
** This is only made worse by the existence of badges that increase your HP or FP by the amount you'd get from a level up, which cost the exact amount of BP you'd get from a level up.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'', because you can teach any character any spell. So even though you have 14 different characters, each with differing stat growths and unique special abilities, you'll almost always see people who assume that the only real way to play the game is to teach everyone [[InfinityPlusOneSword Ultima]] and win the game with nothing but that.

** This shows up in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII''. Because it's so damn ''easy'' to teach every character every spell and skill in the game thanks to the License Grid, many players have a party with identical skill-sets and equipment.
*** This can pretty much happen in any ''FinalFantasy'' game where anyone can learn anything.
*** "[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyV Doublecast Bahamut Summon.]] [[StopHavingFunGuys Or you fail.]]"
**** Bitch Please. Doublecast Bahamutt, [[GameBreaker Quick]], then [[CompletelyMissingThePoint quadruplecast Bahamutt.]] There you freaking go.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'' had the BonusBoss Vercingetorix vulnerable to poison. Due to his sky high stats, the target time for him was 20min for an endgame party. Cue everyone facing him with Vanille/Fang/Snow, poisoning him and spamming Mediguard until it needs repoisoning or it dies.

** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'', the gamer once again has a large array of weapon types and armor types to choose from and status effects are incredibly important. Contrary to ''VagrantStory'' though, you probably ''will'' spend most of the endgame simply hitting things with large swords.
*** Holds true for most [=RPGs=]. Once your party reaches a high enough level, it is generally faster to smack everything with swords than to waste time casting spells or using abilities to watch the animations kick in and do nearly the same amount of damage.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII2'' suffers from this with regards to the monster allies. For Commandos, most people pick up a [[DiscOneNuke Dragoon]] in Augusta Tower 200AF, then swap over to [[KillerRabbit Chichu]] or [[MagikarpPower Twilight Odin]] once Noel and Serah start surpassing the Dragoon.
** According to WordOfGod, the most commonly used monster ally is the BoringButPractical medic Flanitor.
* One problem with many [=RPGs=]is that you are given a huge array of attacks but most are either [[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway flat-out useless]], [[CripplingOverspecialization only work on specific enemies]], or have a [[UselessUsefulSpell high failure rate]]. Attacking with weapons might ''not'' always cause the most damage, but this approach almost always ''does'' cause damage, and usually in the most time- and resource-efficient manner.
** Or alternatively, other attacks just get OvershadowedByAwesome at later levels. Why bother using a level one offense magic when it deals laughable damage late-game? Or simply put...why bother use anything else once you get the DiscOneNuke?
* In the ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' games lots of people keep their starter throughout the game, even though there is the option to not use it.
** Semi-justified, as many of the starters have a solid movepool and set of stats. The idea is to assemble a strong team and most players have no reason to just ditch what is probably their strongest to begin with.
*** Not to mention that some players [[VideoGameCaringPotential may form an emotional attachment to their first Pokemon.]]

*** Unless you have at least 3 of the DLC (Any of them but ''Gun Runner's Arsenal''). Each of them increases your level cap by 5, up to a staggering 50, where you will ''eventually'' get enough skill points to max everything out.

*** The "most people use Boone" argument is still an example of the trope. People are building a character around the assumption you are going to use the most effective combat companion. Boone cannot be used for a very large chunk of the game because he attacks one faction on sight and is outright banned from being used in numerous areas, and many quests are easier with or require you use a different companion.
*** Those who do use Boone also tend to partner him up with ED-E - who, incidentally, may also be the reason people regard Perception as useless, since he's the first companion made available to the player and his Enhanced Sensors companion perk gives you the benefit of a full 10 Perception either way.

*** Melee and Unarmed are quite well balanced for the higher difficulties - they're cheap, easy and reliable, but you're never going to be a badder mofo in close combat than an alpha deathclaw, much less Lanius or the Legendary Deathclaw.

* ''VideoGame/DwarfFortress'' suffers somewhat from this, as it's fairly easy to surround your entrance with a ridiculous number of traps and reduce invading enemies to LudicrousGibs before they ever get near the front doors, and it's rare to find a player who'll start a fortress anywhere that doesn't have magma. On the other hand, these are just basic tactics, and beyond that, it's expected that any player will try random things that [[strike: might]] ''will'' get their fortress killed ForScience!

* In ''GunZ'', there's K-Styling, essentially a glitch exploit that involves using swords and jumping around the maps at obscene speeds. Players attempting to legitimately use guns are sometimes chastised as "sprayers" and kicked from games.

* Did you know that ''StarWarsBattlefront II'' has a CaptureTheFlag mode? Probably not, because it almost never appears on most servers and the few ones that feature it usually have a rule of "no CTF", meaning that players don't capture flags and just kill each other the whole match until the time limit runs out or the server admin feels like changing the map. They do this because CTF has two advantages: no total kill limit and you cannot capture command posts (which are used as spawn points, and are not very fun to have captured by the other team.) Some other servers don't use CTF but instead have a "no CP" (CP = command posts) rule for the normal game mode.

* A big problem in the ''GearsOfWar'' series. In the first game, most players would tend to use the shotgun exclusively. When it was nerfed for the second game, a lot of these people got mad and refused to play the game, saying it sucked and took less skill than its predecessor just because they didn't know how to use any other weapon. Hell, in the first game, the shotgun had a chance to instantly kill within a certain close range, which led some battles between shotgunners just ending with the other one being luckier with their shot.

*** Thankfully, both of these issues are averted in ''Gears Of War 3''. All of the weapons are well balanced enough to make using one of them exclusively a bad idea, which encourages variety. The Sawed-Off Shotgun is as powerful as the first game's shotgun, but has enough restrictions (i.e., one shot clip, long reload, only works in very close range) to prevent abuse. Special explosive weapons are spawned fewer times, the attachable grenades come with a slight delay to avoid cheap kills, and the additional Team Deathmatch mode (with its lives based respawn) doesn't make these deaths as aggravating like it would in Warzone or Execution. Epic really went out of their way to prevent this trope from happening again, and it shows.
**** Lots of people still use the shotgun exclusively because it has great power and more range than a videogame shotgun should. In a medium range fight between a lancer and a shotgun, the shotgun can still win.
* In ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' multiplayer, pretty much every Gold difficulty match is Geth/Firebase White. For a well-coordinated team, White is easy to bunker down in and resist assault. Geth are often seen as the easiest enemy to fight, lacking any form of instakill attacks (not even grenades) and only having one 'tank' enemy, the Geth Prime, which is usually easier to deal with than the Cerberus combination of Nemeses, Atlases, and Phantoms. Reaper is barely chosen, mostly because of the Banshees.

*** There are also events every two or so weeks that sometimes encourage playing in a specific style to achieve a global goal. For example, one such event involved killing a certain number of Banshees. And if the players fail to achieve a goal, Bioware might even impose a penalty for the next event (case in point: when the Banshee event failed, the next event featured additional Banshee spawns, even when playing against other enemies).
**** the latest multiplayer DLC did a lot to fix the Geth/Firebase White issue above. Geth now have a Bomber drone to flush campers, while Firebase White has been expanded, mostly eliminating camping locations.
* The Plasma Cutter is the first weapon you receive in both ''Franchise/DeadSpace'' games, and it's all you'll ever need. There's even the "One Gun" achievement for playing through the whole first game using only it (you can still buy, equip, and upgrade other guns, just not fire them).

* The randomised TechTree of ''SwordOfTheStars'' was implemented for the purpose of preventing this. You may have a winning design and loadout in mind, but if the RandomNumberGod doesn't like you, you'll just have to throw your best-laid plans out and work with what's available.

* The ''FinalFantasyTactics'' series has people that will focus on items and job classes that give a big boost in speed because higher speed usually means your turn comes up sooner than the enemy's.

* Multiplayer ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}}'' games tend to ignore all other modes of winning other than conquering everyone else because the others take too long and aren't as exciting. Expect people to be picky about who gets the combat-buffed leaders.

* In the ''{{Carmageddon}}'' games, the player can complete a regular race in three methods: take down all pedestrians, cross all checkpoints in order for some laps, or waste all opponents. Very rarely will players want to race or kill pedestrians, as fun as it is. This is also true regardless of the current vehicle's weak strength.

* ''{{Minecraft}}'' is game where you can literally do anything you want in the world and build anything you want. However, most players, when they start to build a home, they tend to make a basic square house with one or two floors since it's simple and suits the basic needs such as having a place to sleep, store items, smelt stuff, and craft new items. Other players will make more elaborate homes with more complex mechanisms, such as using pistons to make hidden doors or using certain blocks and items to make a makeshift chair, though these methods are more for show than for practicality. And others will just hollow out the hill closest to spawn and put in a door.

*** Similarly, the Player with the biggest pack of friendly Wolves [[TooDumbToLive (and isn't accidentally killed by them first)]] usually wins; players have been known to spend whole episodes and wasting numerous hearts worth of health trying to harvest enough bones to recruit them, sometimes when they'd be better off conserving their limited resources and investing the energy into more practical advantages.
* ''VideoGame/DwarfFortress'' sometimes falls prey to this with "optimal" fortress builds abounding for everything from production to defense, although the frequent updates sometimes nerf an existing concept.

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