History Main / DefaultSettingSyndrome

* ''RockBand'' (the original) has Say It Ain't So by Weezer as its first song when ordered by band difficulty. When the developers were testing the game before implementing the song select screen, this was the default song that played every time, reportedly driving many Harmonix developers into madness.

* Competitive ''VideoGame/WanganMidnight Maximum Tune'' players--believe it or not--often play versus matchines with [[ComebackMechanic handicap]] left '''on'''. The rationale is that in a no-handicap round, the unpredictable traffic behavior combined with the massive loss in speed that comes with a single crash at 340 km/h means that a single mistake will completely screw over the victim unless the other player makes a mistake, resulting in [[LuckBasedMission luck-based outcomes]], while slower-paced racing games like ''VideoGame/InitialDArcadeStage'' offer room for recovery if one screws up.

* Starting with Office 97, Microsoft included the now-infamous "Office Assistants". There were numerous assistants (including a robot and a caricature of Creator/WilliamShakespeare), but the default was a paperclip. However, most people, annoyed by the [[StopHelpingMe feature]], never bothered to change it and it's still remembered by most people as "the paperclip"

* ''TetrisTheGrandMaster 3'' defaults to [[http://harddrop.com/wiki/SRS World Rule]], the game's implementation of the the rotation system used in newer licensed ''Tetris'' games. As a result, those who don't already play TGM may start off with World Rule and then get very thrown off when they try [[http://harddrop.com/wiki/TGM_Rotation Classic Rule]] (a version of TGM rotation altered to accommodate [=TGM3=]'s higher speeds), not only because of the more limited wall kicks but also due to its version of [[http://harddrop.com/wiki/Drop#Hard_drop fast drop]] (drop the piece to the ground, but not lock it right away).
* In Fallen Empire: Legions people new to the game and Guests almost always use the Sentinel because they haven't figured out that you can change characters. It makes it even worse that it takes time and practice to actually master the Sentinel. Poor buggers.
* In Star Trek: Star Fleet Command, everyone plays as either Federation or Klingon. Sometimes Romulans, maybe Gorn. Hardly anyone as Hydran, Lyran, or ISC. Probably because the latter three aren't canonical to Star Trek. And does anyone really care about the Orion Pirate cartels? As for the Mirak, how many Trekkies remember missile salvos being used in Star Trek.

* According to statistics collected by BioWare, the vast majority of people who played ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' picked Soldier, the first class on the list. More stats released after ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' also revealed that 82% of players used a Male Shepard, and it's probably likely a big chunk of these players simply went with the default setting (which was a Male Soldier modeled after Mark Vanderloo's face).

* ''PopNMusic'' has [[EasierThanEasy Enjoy mode]], or Easy mode in ''pop'n music 20 fantasia'' And within Enjoy mode, there's 5-button mode, which makes use of only 5 out of the machine's 9 buttons. As of ''pop'n music Sunny Park'', the trope is averted, as Easy mode is removed and replaced with an Easy difficulty in Normal mode.

* In a peculiar example, the NeedForSpeed Underground games actually gave benefit to players who stayed default... well, sort of. The second game in particular encouraged you to find and buy new cars often, because the new cars' ''base'' stats were higher than the base stats of the starter cars. The newer unlocked cars also looked a lot nicer than the mundane, boxy starter cars. Players smart enough to experiment, however, would realize to NOT switch cars as the game wanted you to-- [[MagikarpPower the two best cars in the game (when fully upgraded) were both starter cars]], and the BEST car in the game was also the ugliest and had the worst starter stats. In this way, if you did the default (that is to say, change cars) of what the GAME wanted you to do, you'd end up with a worse car than if you stuck with the default you started with.

* In a peculiar example, the NeedForSpeed Underground games actually gave benefit to players who stayed default... well, sort of. The second game in particular encouraged you to find and buy new cars often, because the new cars' ''base'' stats were higher than the base stats of the starter cars. The newer unlocked cars also looked a lot nicer than the mundane, boxy starter cars. Players smart enough to experiment, however, would realize to NOT switch cars as the game wanted you to- [[MagikarpPower the two best cars in the game (when fully upgraded) were both starter cars]], of which, the BEST car in the game was also the ugliest and had the worst starter stats. In this way, if you did the default (that is to say, change cars) of what the GAME wanted you to do, you'd end up with a worse car than if you stuck with the default you started with.

[[AC:ShootEmUps]]

* According to statistics collected by BioWare, the vast majority of people who played ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' picked Soldier, the first class on the list.

{{Rhythm Game}}s are a pretty special case. This trope can make the default song into a [[HypeBacklash scorned]] EarWorm, with some people [[FanHater developing the urge to brutally murder any more players who play that song]].

* The taskbar on all Windows products is at the bottom of the screen by default, and almost everyone keeps it there. One Microsoft Blog post spoke of the advantages of having the taskbar on the side in ''Windows 7'', but since the vast majority of users kept theirs at the bottom in prior versions, changing the default would cause major DamnYouMuscleMemory issues, to the point that even in ''8'', which has such issues with nearly everything else, the taskbar is still at the bottom by default.

''TabletopGame/{{Space 1889}}'' the vast majority of adventures are set on Mars so most gamemasters will make stories and players will create characters for this environment despite the fact that there are other really cool and interesting places.

* Competitive ''Manga/WanganMidnight Maximum Tune'' players--believe it or not--often play versus matchines with [[ComebackMechanic handicap]] left '''on'''. The rationale is that in a no-handicap round, the unpredictable traffic behavior combined with the massive loss in speed that comes with a single crash at 340 km/h means that a single mistake will completely screw over the victim unless the other player makes a mistake, resulting in [[LuckBasedMission luck-based outcomes]], while slower-paced racing games like ''VideoGame/InitialDArcadeStage'' offer room for recovery if one screws up.

* Competitive ''Manga/WanganMidnight Maximum Tune'' players--believe it or not--often play versus matchines with [[ComebackMechanic handicap]] left '''on'''. The rationale is that in a no-handicap round, the unpredictable traffic behavior combined with the massive loss in speed that comes with a single crash at 340 km/h means that a single mistake will completely screw over the victim unless the other player makes a mistake, while slower-paced racing games like ''VideoGame/InitialDArcadeStage'' offer room for recovery if one screws up.

* ''RockBand'' (the original) has Say It Ain't So by Weezer as it's first song when ordered by band difficulty. When the developers were testing the game before implementing the song select screen, this was the default song that played every time, reportedly driving many Harmonix developers into madness.

* According to statistics collected by BioWare, the vast majority of people who played VideoGame/MassEffect2 picked Soldier, the first class on the list.
** Only arguably an example of this trope. MEII changed how powers work in a way that dramatically altered the balance towards using firearms instead. Basically, any enemy dangerous enough to bother using a power on is immune to most biotic or tech powers until they're already at least half dead from gunfire; on higher difficulty levels it's more like 3/4s for the meaningful ones and even the chaff take 1/2. This obviously favors Soldiers, since they're the class built from the ground up to shoot things. It also helps that Soldiers are the only playable class who have access to assault rifles from the very beginning and that assault rifles are often the best tactical choice for their balance in terms of ammo capacity, rate of fire, and accuracy.
** ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' was similarly slanted in favor of Human Nobles.

** Playing entry-level songs in ''{{beatmania IIDX}}'' or ''PopNMusic'' without Hi-Speed modifiers is fine, but good luck passing anything harder on default speed.

* ''PopNMusic'' has [[EasierThanEasy Enjoy mode]]. And within Enjoy mode, there's 5-button mode, which makes use of only 5 out of the machine's 9 buttons.

* Para Para mode in ''VideoGame/ParaParaParadise''.

May apply to non-arcade games too, but it's less of an issue because WhoWouldBeStupidEnough to break into someone's house to watch them play?

** DragonAgeOrigins was similarly slanted in favor of Human Nobles.

** Only arguably an example of this trope. MEII changed how powers work in a way that dramatically altered the balance towards using firearms instead. Basically, any enemy dangerous enough to bother using a power on is immune to most biotic or tech powers until they're already at least half dead from gunfire; on higher difficulty levels it's more like 3/4s for the meaningful ones and even the chaff take 1/2. This obviously favors Soldiers, since they're the class built from the ground up to shoot things.
*** It also helps that Soldiers are the only playable class who have access to assault rifles from the very beginning and that assault rifles are often the best tactical choice for their balance in terms of ammo capacity, rate of fire, and accuracy.

* This is probably why many of the now-rare ''VirtualOn'' arcade cabinets reported the most scores and plays with Temjin; it's the first Virtuaroid on the screen, though it doesn't hurt that it's also a well-balanced JackOfAllStats.

* Para Para mode in ''Para Para Paradise''.