History Main / AnEconomyIsYou

* Justified in ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiStrangeJourney'': You ''literally are'' the economy... well, you and the other soldiers on the Schwartzwald mission. The items you "buy" are being supplied to you via a replicator powered by Macca (the EnergyEconomy of the game), using Forma (items retrieved from defeated demons) as the base matter. Likewise, items you "sell" are broken down into their base materials. As such, the reason you only find items relevant to gameplay in the "shop" is because that's what they're equipped to supply you with, and as you acquire new materials, the selection expands to accommodate this.

Say you're in a city of thousands. Its inhabitants obviously have all sorts of material needs. Scattered all over the place are vending machines, supermarkets, drugstores, street bazaars, {{Matter Replicator}}s or what have you. You'd think there would be all sorts of goods available to purchase, from household tools to silverware, from groceries to clothing, from newspapers to flowers, [[WeSellEverything et cetera.]]

Instead, all that's in stock are items weapons, ammo, armor and [[HealThyself medkits]]. In other words, all the stuff that a [[RPGsEqualCombat hard-fightin' RPG hero]] needs, but not what an ordinary person does. You might be able to grab a snack, but only if it [[HyperactiveMetabolism regenerates your health]].

No wonder there's MoreCriminalsThanTargets when all you can buy with your paycheque is a shotgun.

Alternatively, say you're in a [[ThrivingGhostTown teeny tiny town with a handful of people]]. There's half-a-dozen houses, and a couple of shops. But still, their entire commercial economy is based around stuff for the protagonist like weapons, {{Healing Potion}}s, and [[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} Poké Balls]]. You'd think that the town would starve to death.

If the game bothers with a HandWave, it might be stated that there are all sorts of things in the shop, but the only things the game ''bothers to show you'' is what's relevant to your quest. An AcceptableBreakFromReality, as few people would enjoy searching through a menu full of ShopFodder or BetterOffSold stuff just to find the few products they actually want.

* Seen in most ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' games. The trope is taken to the extreme when items that Link will only need to purchase once (eg. Deku shield at the start of Ocarina of Time) become 'sold out'. Not only is the stock limited to things that help Link, it seems they will sell them to no-one ''but'' Link, and as such don't replenish their stock once he's bought them.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' averts this in large part due to the setting. Not only Link can buy, sell and use items that would be considered mundane such as food and household labor tools, the people traveling outside of the settlements have plenty of reason to be buying the things that only Link seemed to use in other games now that [[AWorldHalfFull Hyrule is a ruined kingdom swarming with ruthless monsters]] (and some travelers do get attacked on the road and can sometimes be seen fighting back).

* ''VideoGame/SystemShock2'': all replicators inside the ''Von Braun'' and ''Rickenbacker'' sell only tools of death, gameplay-related hardware, medical supplies, and (health-boosting) food--the only exceptions are video game cartridges. Justified because the replicators simply turn currency from {{Nanomachines}} into products according to the user's profile, and that the machines were already reprogrammed to dispense these unconventional items due to the tumultuous situation on-board the ''Von Braun'' and ''Rickenbacker''. Also worth noting is that the player can also hack into the vending machines in order to force them to dispense a wider range of items for less, so it's possible that the MegaCorp that sponsored the ''Von Braun'' may well be money-hungry enough to sell soldiers bullets from vending machines,

* Nearly every town in any ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'' game has an item shop, weapon shop, and armor shop, yet it seems the [[AnAdventurerIsYou hero]], and/or his/her [[AllInARow party]], are the only ones who would ever need such things. Although it's played with in ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIV'', where you get to play as Taloon, one of the guys who works in these stores, and you see a whole bunch of NPC adventurers come through to buy and sell.
* Averted throughout most of ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' series, where in addition to the normal adventuring fare (weapons, armor, potions, spells, etc.), you can find shops selling items that the average citizenry would want or need (food, drinks, books, ShopFodder, useless decorative clutter, etc.) as well.

** In Lonsesome Road, the automated commissary system in Hopeville is able to accept common bottle caps because of an oversight by the designer making the normal commissary chips such a similar size and shape that the machines can be easily scammed.

* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' has [[ThrivingGhostTown tiny villages]] with just a couple of houses and shop that sells nothing but Pokemon catching and healing items. The only place you can buy anything not Pokemon-related is the massive department store in the big city (Celadon, Goldenrod, etc.), and that one shop that sells bicycles so expensive that they cost more than your body weight in gold - in fact, they cost more than the maximum capacity of your wallet (yet will eventually give one away for free if you ask nicely).

* You can buy your own home in ''VideoGame/{{Terranigma}}''. Furniture is sold separately.

* If a {{tabletop RPG}} features explicit price lists for items and services, expect a heavy (quite possibly outright exclusive) focus on things the average player character adventurer is expected to need as par for the course. Other things and businesses handling them will obviously presumably ''exist'' in the game world, but if the details ever become important it'll be up to the {{game master}} to make something up on their own.

So you're in a city. Its inhabitants number in the thousands, and they obviously have (or had, if no longer alive) all sorts of material needs. Scattered all over the place are dozens of vending machines, replicators, general stores, street bazaars, drugstores or what have you. You'd think there would be all sorts of items available from them, ranging from household tools to silverware, from snacks to common equipment, from plain clothes to flowers, [[WeSellEverything et cetera.]]

Instead, due to the LawOfConservationOfDetail, all they seem to be able to provide are items the player needs: weapons, ammo, armor and [[HealThyself medkits]]. The occasional snack might be included, but only if it [[HyperactiveMetabolism regenerates health]].

No wonder there's trouble and strife when shotguns, machine guns, and [[StuffBlowingUp RPGs]] are all the inhabitants can buy.

Alternatively, you're in a [[ThrivingGhostTown teeny tiny town with a handful of civilians]]. There's half-a-dozen houses, and a couple of shops. But the only thing they will sell is the things you need for your quests, like weapons, {{Healing Potion}}s, and [[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} Poké Balls]]. You'd think that everybody in the town would starve to death.

If the game bothers with a HandWave, it might be stated that there are all sorts of things in the shop, but the only things the game ''lets you buy'' are things relevant to the game. An AcceptableBreakFromReality, as few people would like searching through a shop full of ShopFodder or BetterOffSold items to find something that actually has use in the game.

* In ''VideoGame/MassEffect1'' Noveria has only a weapon/armor shop. On the Citadel, the marketplace has multiple shopkeepers but you're only allowed to talk to the ones that sell weapons. In the sequel, you can actually buy all kinds of touristy things, including light reading, model ships, tropical fish for your aquarium and [[BreadEggsMilkSquick alien porn]]!

** The justified aspect is that the merchants come to the PlayerCharacter rather than the other way around, so people who don't think their wares will interest a King don't bother coming to the throne room in the first place.

* Played with by ''{{VideoGame/Recettear}}''. The town involved is actually a haven for adventurers, so you ''have'' to sell them the stuff they need. However, Recettear clearly isn't the OnlyShopInTown. Recette can visit the market to buy miscellaneous items to sell at a profit ([[{{Catchphrase}} Capitalism, ho!]]) and if you drive too hard a bargain, a customer will walk out.

* Most ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' and similar games follow this trope to a T; however, in an interesting addition, ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' let you spend the insane amount of cash you get while grinding to beat the [[BonusBoss Weapon bonus bosses]] by buying a ''villa''. It's totally useless except for [[BraggingRightsReward Bragging Rights]] (and a place to store a particular useless item you can collect several times).

* In ''VideoGame/DeadSpace2'', all the stores aboard Titan Station, even those in the civilian sectors, only provide guns, ammo, health packs, stasis charges, etc. Justified, as the store welcomes the protagonist, Isaac Clark, by name, implying that the store is only displaying items he told it to display.
* In ''VideoGame/DeadSpace'', it's implied that the automated stores were hacked by the crew of the ''Ishimura'' to provide equipment to fight the necromorphs, though it didn't work out too well for them.

* ''VideoGame/BioShock1'': SpiritualSuccessor to the ''VideoGame/SystemShock'' series, shares this trope, minus the video game cartridges, though in this case there is a machine that is explicitly for selling ammo. You'd think that firearms wouldn't be allowed to begin with inside an underwater city with big glass windows all over the place . . . of course [[InsurmountableWaistHeightFence you can only break the windows you are supposed to]], so people in Rapture probably don't have to worry too much about property damage.

* Taken UpToEleven in VideoGame/HarvestMoonANewBeginning, when you first arrive the place is a GhostTown with only two inhabitants. Once the stores open up, they mostly sell farming seeds, recipes and blueprints, Most of which is useless to the villagers that later arrive.
* Averted in VideoGame/StoryOfSeasons2014, where some other villagers are farmers, too, so they likely need the same stuff.

If the game bothers with a HandWave, it might be stated that there are all sorts of things in the shop, but the only things the game ''lets you buy'' are things relevant to the game. An AcceptableBreakFromReality, as few people would like searching through a shop full of VendorTrash items to find something that actually has use in the game.

* Averted throughout most of ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' series, where in addition to the normal adventuring fare (weapons, armor, potions, spells, etc.), you can find shops selling items that the average citizenry would want or need (food, drinks, books, VendorTrash, useless decorative clutter, etc.) as well.

* ''VideoGame/TalesSeries'': While shops in this series inexplicably stock weapons for {{Improbable Weapon User}}s, ''VideoGame/TalesOfZestiria'' takes this trope further. It has a mechanic where shops can sell non-unique equipment they don't already have if the player sells it to them first, meaning the player can influence every shop's potential stock.