History Main / AcceptableBreaksFromReality

* ArbitraryMinimumRange: Some weapons may have a minimum range, and it is a lot less effective or unable to fire at targets at all before this distance. Having such a powerful weapon without a minimum range can be a GameBreaker, since it would have little weakness. TruthInTelevision for large, difficult-to-maneuver ranged weapons, those that fire explosives[[note]]which have a built-in ''[[UnfriendlyFire very good reason]]'' not to [[ExplosiveStupidity use them at]] [[TooDumbToLive point-blank range]][[/note]], or any melee weapon known for its size.

-->-- Creator/CSLewis, ''On Science Fiction''.

* CompetitiveBalance: Because having a character that can't win against any other character, unless you're CherryTapping, isn't really having much of a character at all. Balance encourages diversity in a game with LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters, and gives different types of playing styles to choose from without making all the characters clones of each other.

* InfiniteFlashlight: A flashlight that never runs out of batteries or needs to be recharged, except if the plot demands or if it's a gameplay mechanic. The occasional horror genre game will limit this, but even there being unable to see runs into the same problems as HollywoodDarkness above. A related effect is that flashlights always give perfect illumination for viewers unless the plot specifically calls for poorer lighting conditions.

* SpaceCompression: Where an environment is blatantly not to scale so you literally don't spend an entire day just walking to the next city.

* RiskStyleMap: A war or other contest involves struggles for regions which are wholly in the possession of one side or the other are treated as "spaces" for movement and can't be divided up in any way. This makes games about conquering easier, as if it were accurate to real life, dealing with [[LaResistance continuous rebel insurrections]] is something most people only want to do once when taking over a nation.

* InVehicleInvulnerability: Driver doesn't die or get injured when a car crashes without explosion. Having your character die if they suffer too much whiplash either force level designers to use simple, boring tracks or makes the game [[NintendoHard unfair.]]

* InfiniteFlashlight: A flashlight that never runs out of batteries or needs to be recharged, except if the plot demands or if it's a gameplay mechanic. The occasional horror genre game will limit this, but even there being unable to see runs into the same problems as HollywoodDarkness above.

* SurprisinglyFunctionalToys: When a character is shrunk and encounters a recognizable object scaled to their new size, said object will retain the function and properties scale of its original size. If it didn't, then being small would have little purpose other than taking a much longer time to get from one place to another (see SpaceCompression).

* FriendsRentControl: Having a home larger than a character should be able to afford because in a realistically small apartment, the actors would always be getting in each other's way.

* UnitsNotToScale: In RealTimeStrategy games, infantrymen are ridiculously large when compared to vehicles and buildings. If they were to scale it would either be difficult to see every unit clearly and click on them accurately, or you would have trouble telling the layout and location of your buildings because you can't fit many on your screen at a time.
* VendorTrash: Merchants are more than happy to purchase your useless junk in endless quantities, even if there's no chance of reselling it. Sometimes can be justified if it's a valuable commodity that has no use in combat or if it's said to be a disposal service, and being forced to keep random things that ''might'' be valuable in your inventory can make for a good deal of frustration when no one will buy it and you chose not to pick up other items that ''might'' have been valuable...

* GameplayGuidedAmnesia: Because the character of a game knows things the player doesn't, sometimes the character gets amnesia to excuse the explanation to the player. It can't be done often, but it's one of the few aversions to AsYouKnow.

* InfiniteFlashlight: A flashlight that never runs out of batteries or needs to be recharged, except if the plot demands or if it's a gameplay mechanic. Games increasingly avert this, especially if they're in the Horror genre, but being unable to see runs into the same problems as HollywoodDarkness above.

* PuzzleReset: In a game, if you exit and re-enter the room, any puzzle will reset itself. This is a basic AntiFrustrationFeature to keep puzzles from potentially becoming UnwinnableByMistake.

* StatisticallySpeaking: In VideoGames, no matter how high your strength, speed, etc. goes, you still won't be able to, for example, [[InsurmountableWaistHighFence lift that tree in your way]]. This may be {{Railroading}}, but it's meant to keep the story on track anyway.

* OlympicSwimmer: If (or once) you know [[SuperNotDrowningSkills how to swim]], you'll do it perfectly and for as long as you like, because oftentimes learning how to swim is not the point of the game, so there's little point in making it a comprehensive mechanic.

* ImprobablePowerDiscrepancy: Enemies in {{RPG}}s are given statistics based on how powerful you're expected to be at that point, not how strong that enemy would be based on common sense. But it would get boring if you had to wait 30 hours into the game to start fighting the enemies that looked cool, and besides, [[InstantAwesomeJustAddDragons cool fights with dragons wouldn't be likely otherwise.]]

Compare NecessaryWeasel. Overlaps with TheLawOfConservationOfDetail, for those tropes that could be [[JustifiedTrope justified]] but aren't worth the time. AntiFrustrationFeatures are a related trope in video games, but are more about when gameplay elements or rules are temporarily changed or suspended to make the game easier for a specific section.

* TheSimpleLifeIsSimple: The simple life is indeed simplified for games where farming is (one of) the objective(s); [[JustifiedTrope the complexities of real-life farming would take the fun out of it otherwise]].

* ArtMajorBiology: No, the work doesn't follow actual biology, but if it did, we wouldn't have a very good story.