< Real Life

Real Life/Tropes F-N

F

  • Face Heel Turn: Unfortunately common.
  • Failed a Spot Check: Happens all the time, most frequently with small oft-used items such as keys, eyeglasses, and marbles. Many animals have camouflage coloring whose purpose is to invoke the trope deliberately, for catching prey or avoiding predators.
  • Fake Difficulty: You get only 1 life, no save points, and quest items/paths can easily be lost forever. Though, according to some religions, you get multiple lives, taking the form of a different character with each respawn, and in others, you can respawn in another server, depending on the achievements you get, the guilds you join, or even by believing in the server's programmer. In addition, there are countless quest paths/items/what have you, to the point that no one will ever be able to write a full strategy guide (though many partial ones are in the works). Unless you mess up some early story arcs, you can usually have a decent score by the end.
  • Fake Longevity: Considering how Real Life boasts years of play, it's no surprise that almost a quarter of your time is spent either being in school/work or doing work that you've been given to take home from school/work. Also, you spend quite a bit of time doing things such as eating, sleeping (which takes an average of a third of your time), and bathing. And exactly what you're doing at this moment.
  • Fanfic: Fiction based off of real life is a multi-billion dollar industry. Real Life Fan Fiction often has very little to do with the source material, and is popular enough that there exists a wiki dedicated to categorizing common tropes.
  • Fan Service: Porn and strip clubs. Also movie stunts. And summer, which drastically reduces the need for clothes in many regions.
    • Not to mention human reproduction, possibly the best kind of fanservice there is.
  • Fan Disservice: Sexual harassment and assault. Also, attractive family members and relatives.
  • Faster-Than-Light Travel: Averted. Big Name Fan says it may never show up, although fans keep hoping.
  • Fatal Flaw: Everyone has at least one, although some have more than others.
  • Fat Camp: This is a special event where some players go to drop weight and increase their base HP stat.
  • Faustian Rebellion: America (the whole continent), Al-Qaeda, Nazi Germany, to name a few. Practically everywhere there has been a revolution.
  • Filler: Be honest. You're reading this at work, aren't you?
    • Or school.
    • Waiting in a doctor's office or airport is definitely filler.
  • Final Boss: Many strategy guides go to great lengths to describe the final boss battle prior to unlocking God Mode and Infinite Bliss Run. Satan is a popular choice for this role, although by most account he'll be an Anticlimax Boss in spite of incredible build-up, defeated by a One-Hit Kill from the Big Good. Others hold that there won't be a Final Boss at all, though there might be an Earthshattering Kaboom instead. Some claim the Final Boss is Satan's Nemesis and Satan is the Big Good, while others maintain that neither Satan or God is the Final Boss, but rather an Ancient Conspiracy behind most of the bad events and assassinations in history that is controlling everything.
  • Final Death: You die, that's it for your character. What happens afterward is unknown, but there are three basic camps[1]:
    • If you were good, you go to Fluffy Cloud Heaven, but if you were bad you go to Fire and Brimstone Hell. Where the dividing line is believed to be varies--some believe that only really evil people go to hell, others believe that only characters with Incorruptible Pure Pureness get heaven. Many ancient religions also had a third level in-between the other two.
    • You start over with a new character. Details vary, but generally depend on your Karma Meter in the life you just finished. Some believe that, eventually, you play a different game entirely.
    • Nothing. You're just dead.
  • First Town: Every town could qualify as this, as there are billions of protagonists throughout the world.
    • But most of the designated spawn points are in larger cities, so some small communities might not be.
  • First-Person Shooter: The "Terrorist", "Soldier", "Shooter" "Hunter", "Militia" "Gang Member", "Mercenary", "Policeman", and "Gunny" classes.
    • Note that certain servers make "Armed Policeman" a prestige class, requiring the player take several levels in "Policeman" first.
    • Just about any character class with thumbs can wield firearms, although Firearm Proficiency is a highly recommended skill to have when dealing with guns.
    • Almost all characters are capable of wielding firearms. The above classes have this as a core requirement. It is very easy to cross class with firearms training, especially in Eagle Land severs.
  • Five Races:
  • Flame War: Both figurative and literal applications.
  • Follow the Leader: So many copycats, it's hard to find a place to start.
  • Forced Level Grinding: School.
    • The entire skill and level system is based upon this. Gaining a level in anything will require large amounts of study and repetitive "practice".
  • Forced to Watch: A lot of the more disturbing parts of the game.
  • Forced Tutorial: School, in places where compulsory education is the law. Some servers have enforced tutorials lasting 12 years or longer. Also, people who have completed their schooling in other countries may have to go through it again when they immigrate if their credentials aren't recognized in the new country. If you are playing in the Great Britain server this is until you are 18!
  • Foreshadowing: If you watch real closely. Alternatively, you may consult a self-styled expert in Divination, but many players believe this is not a real skill. Nostradamus' strategy guide is believed by some to be canon but it can be interpreted in so many ways that proving it requires Epileptic Trees in its own, so others argue otherwise. Global Warming, running out of Fossil Fuels and Overpopulation arcs have been pretty much this for the last few decades. Commonly believed that those will cumulate in a big event to herald the arrival of the Interstellar Space arc where the human race can finally explore the Universe in person.
  • Four Lines, All Waiting: Averted, despite the Loads And Loads And Loads And Loads Of Characters. Due to the bizarre nature in which Real Life is aired, all 7 billion Plot Threads are carried out at the exact same time. There's a reason there are entire in-universe teams devoted to studying the plot.
  • Fourth Wall: Arguably the sturdiest Fourth Wall in existence. But see also dreams or psychoactives for the most reliable challenges to it.
  • Freemium: Most servers will give the player enough in-game currency to prevent them from dying. But if you want to acquire any good items or join any prestige classes, you're going to have to do a lot of level grinding.
  • Friendly Local Chinatown: Many exist throughout the world. There is a famous one in San Francisco.
  • Full Name Ultimatum: One of the first tropes many players encounter.
  • Functional Magic: Rule Magic (the laws of physics) is slowly and laboriously decoded and verified by science and arcane mathematics, and implemented into Device Magic (technology) which anyone can use provided they can afford to buy it. Most players take this for granted. Also, Vancian Magic is the case for some of the particularly restrictive aspects of Real Life's Rule Magic, like thermodynamics and the conservation laws.
  • Fun with Acronyms: Many, many examples, some invoked on purpose. Stars are formed in Evaporating Gaseous Globules.

G

  • Gambit Pileup: When you've got over 200 states and polities competing for every possible advantage, as well as countless factions within each one, it's more or less inevitable.
  • Game Favored Gender: For most of history it's been men, thanks to a widespread belief that Men Are Better Than Women. This is rapidly changing though, as more and more servers are realizing that men and women have somewhat different stats but are overall fairly balanced, and have changed the rules to accommodate this. This is averted in many situations as well, such as when Men Are the Expendable Gender (usually in warfare).
    • This is closely related to Difficulty by Region as well, and women are favoured for certain classes (Education, Nursing and Childcare, for example). This slowly changing though as men come into (or back into, in some cases) these classes.
  • Game Within a Game - Too many to count, of literally every genre. Most have no effect on gameplay as a whole, however, unless you're really good at one. That fact doesn't stop many players to ignore the main game and focus on these minigames though.
  • Gay Option: Until recently, those who were found to have taken this option were ostracized at best. Nowadays you're allowed to take this option with little or no repercussions provided you live in the right area.
  • Genius Cripple: Professor Stephen Hawking.
  • Genre Busting: Pretty much everything before the human race came along.
  • Genre Savvy: So-called common sense, though of course it's not nearly widespread enough to vitiate the drama.
  • Genre Shift: Depending on the season, server, and player, you can get everything from action, drama, romance, comedy, tragedy, post-modernism, in the space of a few seasons.
  • Gentle Giant: Blue Whale, which happen to be the largest confirmed race in Real Life. Whale Sharks and Basking Sharks also qualify.
  • Geo Effects
  • Get On With It Already: Characters in Real Life can spend up to twelve years learning the background and physics of the world. Some additional skill trees take even more time to learn, depending on person to person.
  • Getting Crap Past the Radar: The people have a right to know - but only what (and how) the Mainstream Media considers 'newsworthy', and in the process...
    • What people have been doing for thousands of years with censorship. Depending on the channel and region, may also come to the viewer.
    • That really depends on where the characters initially reside, and if their Parent Characters move about. And also if they choose a higher-level education in which, well, there's a lot more learning to be done.
    • Somehow the Author has been allowed to include some of the raunchiest sex acts, incalculable amounts of violence and other family-unfriendly activities for hundreds of millions of years.
  • Ghibli Hills: Some regions, but they are few and far between. And diminishing.
  • The Ghost: "She". Your character never meets her, but a lot of other characters know her, and she sure is talkative, and has an odd habit of Foreshadowing other characters' lines. She also says a lot of suggestive things, and apparently, many youth in the United States, especially young males, have had some sort of run in with her, being that most people will remember what she said at any given moment. If you ask who "she" is, you will be informed that she is, in fact, Your Mom. See also: "Them" or "They".
  • Give Me Your Inventory Item: Muggers.
  • Glass Cannon: Humans are far from the toughest creatures on the face of the planet, but have invented powerful weapons to compensate for their poor defense. Thus, a human with a shotgun has a decent chance of slaying a bear in a fight, but if that bear manages to take the damage and keep going, despite heavy penalties to movement and HP, then it can quickly wipe out the human who attacked it.
  • Global Currency: Massively averted. Almost every server has its own currency, although these can usually be exchanged.
    • The euro, one recent step toward a multi-server currency, is now (as of 2011) suffering a serious crisis because all the servers treated it differently.
    • Making things worse, there are a bewildering variety of minigames, each of which has its own currency. These minigame currencies can in some cases be exchanged for Real Life money, but doing so is against the House Rules on most servers.
      • There are proposals for a global reserve currency though, so this may become true sooner than expected.
  • Glory Days: There is a fan theory going around that this is what the Obama Arc was going to lead to in the United States' server. To most people, it was their childhood.
  • A Good Way to Die: Subverted. Dying pretty much sucks no matter how you go out. Even dying of natural causes is a downer.
    • Although, most players agree that dying in one's sleep is the most preferable. And anyone who commits a Heroic Sacrifice is usually hailed by the rest of the PCs.
  • GMPC: According to one Player's Handbook, one who was able to Fudge creation stat randomization (rolling a massive CHARISMA and HOLY /FAITH score), auto-critical Item Crafting and Swim checks, and ignore perma-death, more or less in that order.
  • God: The "author" mentioned elsewhere on this page, though whether or not he (or "He" according to believers) exists is a matter of dispute among the characters. Likewise some claim that the "author" is really a She or an It.
  • Goldfish Poop Gang: The Westborough Baptist Church.
  • The Good Guys Always Win: Sadly, occasionally subverted. The Rule of Cautious Editing Judgment prohibits us from wisely listing examples.
  • Government Conspiracy: There are some unconfirmed theories and several confirmed ones throughout the ages. Most are extensively disproven.
  • Grand Finale: There is fan speculation on whether the series will end with one, but in the meantime many of the most memorable arcs ended with this. Probably the most recent would be the very popular World War II arc which ended with the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki according to some but with D-Day and Hitler's suicide to others.
  • G-Rated Sex: Averted, oh so very hard.
  • Green Hill Zone: Yards, prairies, and public parks.
    • The first level was most likely eastern Africa, which looks like it should qualify, but this may be a subversion since it's somewhat of a Death World as well.
  • Griefer: From school bullies and petty vandals, through murderers and rapists, all the way up to international terrorists and rogue states, there are plenty of players who like to make things miserable for others.
  • Grim Up North: Very few characters live in the Arctic Circle at all, and among the creatures that live there are fierce white-furred bears. Also inverted, as the South Pole is much worse.
  • Groin Attack: A favorite of the female characters vs the males. It's actually just as effective on females, but it's not used so much the other way around, because of the "No Hitting Girls" thing. Oh, and males can do this to another males, mind you (and females versus females)
  • Groupie Brigade: Members of the Artist class and/or Musician subclass will be pursued for sex or relationships by members of the Groupie Class.
  • Growing Up Sucks: But most agree it's worth it.
  • Guide Dang It: And to make it worse, there are lots of different guides with different advice!
    • It's gotten to the point that to work out anything new about The Verse, you're actually expected to spend several years studying the fan community's extensive archive of guidebooks.


H

  • Hailfire Peaks: The Iceland level is like this.
  • Happily Married: Played straight with many couples. Unfortunately averted with others.
  • Happiness in Slavery: Dogs, the poor bastards. Inverted with cats, the smug bastards.
  • Harder Than Hard: The International Baccalaureate high school program, said to exceed the difficulty of Honors and Advanced Placement classes. And of course, difficulty also depends on region - the school systems in some countries, like Japan or India are harder than anything you could find in say, the U.S.
    • This Difficulty by Region results in Easy Mode Mockery by forcing you to do it again if you switch locales to one where the school system is harder. No, really.
      • Not to mention that many players don't even get the chance to enter the School career path, instead being forced into the Work or War levels with inadequate preparation.
  • Have a Nice Death: A thoughtful obituary is almost a given. Some lucky souls even receive two or three post-death debriefings, with dramatic displays costing large amounts of currency. But unless beliefs about reincarnation are true, you only get to die once.
  • Heart Trauma: Subverted. If your heart suffers physical damage, you'll get weaker or die, but your personality is unlikely to change. Replacing parts of the heart (or even taking out the whole thing and putting in a pump) does not alter people in any way that would be noticeable without a medical exam. However, damage to the brain(!) may cause many of the effects normally associated with this trope.
  • Heaven: Different characters disagree on whether real life averts this trope or plays it straight. Those who believe it's played straight may disagree on whether or not it's a Fluffy Cloud Heaven.
  • Hell: Different characters disagree on whether real life averts this trope or plays it straight. Those who believe it's played straight may disagree on whether or not it's a Fire and Brimstone Hell.
  • The Hero: Look in the mirror.
  • Hide Your Pregnancy: Unfortunately, for some women, pregnancy isn't always a happy or desired time. Hiding a pregnancy from parents or anyone else comes with unfortunate consequences (e.g. death of baby, health risks of baby and/or mother).
  • High School Rocks: But only for those who manage to be popular because of good looks (usually), funniness and/or some respected talent. For others, high school is four consecutive Scrappy Levels.
  • Hikikomori: Some characters with low CHA stats and levels in the Social skill set will take this class.
  • His and Hers: While often parodied in television and film, numerous products of this type can be found in the world.
  • Hit Points: Averted. Life forms are too complex to sum up their vitals in a number, but many hospitals manage to condense a few properties to numbers; though it's not a true damage tracker, they do help to provide a useful status shot.
  • Hitler's Time Travel Exemption Act: Either we can't manage time travel, or this rule is in effect.
    • Two other options: the timeline is unalterable, or if Hitler wasn't there something WORSE would happen.
    • One further option: The timeline is only altered from the point of view of the time traveler.
    • Another possibility: Time Travel is possible but so difficult and rarely managed that the only person or few people who secretly can do it are Nazi sympathizers.
    • Yet another version. When ever a person goes back in time, a parallel universe is made, and there's no way to get back. So if you go back in time and kill Hitler, there will be no Third Reich->Rocketry Programs->Electronics->Time Travel paradox because it's a totally separate universe.
  • Honest Rolls Character: Every single one. You get what you get. The character generator can absolutely screw you. A significant number of characters, perhaps as many as 40%, are killed by spontaneous abortions before finishing generation. If the character generator decides you should be born tall, good looking, brilliant, with a wealthy, loving family, an amicable personality, prodigious talent, and no diseases, so be it. If it decides to saddle you with a chromosomal abnormality, your mother's HIV infection, and a spinal cord that sticks out a hole in your spine, you get no reroll.
  • Hope Spot: While there's life, there's hope.
  • Hopeless with Tech: Unfortunately, there are many players who fall under this trope.
  • House Rules: Many groups of fans have come up with their own sets of rules for playing, some considerably more restrictive than others. The game may well be more fun without them, but they are convinced that following these extra rules is worth more points. Disagreements about these different play styles have led to many nasty Flame Wars.
  • Humanity Is Superior: We've already conquered one planet, and there are plans on the table to add several more. Eventually.
  • Humans Are Warriors: We have several millennia of experience with warfare, and while it's not a trait we're always proud of, we are very, very good at war.
    • Wait, how would we know? We've only been fighting other humans. Maybe we're just about top of the E league, except of course for the ones who aren't. Go, us.
      • Well, at least on earth we've driven several species to extinction without even trying.
      • Also, see any other hominids around? There used to be several species of both Australopithecus and Homo. Now there's just one.
    • "Not proud of it"? You don't play a military prestige class, do you?
      • Whether or not a member of the military prestige class is proud of their status has a lot to do with whether or not they've had a chance to use their class features in a combat situation.
      • Also, whether or not the Military class even is a prestige class depends on the server. In many servers, soldiers are forced into service.
  • Hyperactive Metabolism: Mostly averted, though a few lucky characters subvert it by being Big Eaters that don't gain much weight.


I-J

  • Idiot Ball: Alcohol is often used to this end, as are the frequent appearances of Love Makes You Dumb. You don't want to combine the two.
  • Imaginary Friend: Many players will create another fictional character as a feature. This is most common during the first dozen or so years of gameplay.
  • Immortal Procreation Clause: Played straight with all species if infant mortality is factored in (a few long-lived species, such as trees, can reproduce in great numbers, but most of their offspring die young). If birth control is available, human birthrates actually drop as the environment gets more conducive to good health, maintaining the inverse ratio of procreation to life expectancy.
  • Incendiary Exponent: Played straight in war scenes. Hilarity Ensues in chemistry lab backfires. Averted most of the rest of the time.
  • Incest Is Relative: More common than most people want to admit.
  • Infant Immortality: Brutally averted: According to UNICEF about 25,000 children under the age of five are Killed Off for Real every day. In fact, the vast majority of animals die as larva or infants.
    • But if any PC does anything seriously bad to a child and gets caught it's going to be a very bad life for that PC.
  • Infinity+1 Sword: Again, the nuclear bomb. Restricted to people who hit the maximum Job Level for Politics, and with a lot of restrictions on it even then. That said, there are persistent rumours of bugs in the code that might allow unlevelled characters to gain access to assorted Infinity Plus One Swords. None have yet been demonstrated, but the rumours alone have made many in the fan base quite upset, especially a few seasons ago.
  • In Medias Res: At the start, there is a wide cast of pre-established characters and multiple fully developed conflicts and sub-plots with little initial explanation as to how they came about.
  • Insurmountable Waist-Height Fence: Played straight for your first level or so. All non-twinks have the choice to avert this trope for a long time, but as your level reaches the max cap it becomes enforced again. Many players are so acquainted to this trope that they never attempt to break it. Some players on the other hand...
    • Also a non-literal example for players with the Shyness attribute, where comparatively simple social interaction becomes an Insurmountable Fence.
  • Interface Screw: Can happen with the alcohol item.
    • LSD and other hallucinogen items can also lead to some nasty cases of Interface Screw. Alcohol's easier to obtain, though.
    • The straightest example: optical illusions. Alcohol and various other consumable substances may also cause these at suitably high concentrations - certain groups even deliberately classify and seek out hallucinogens so as to experience these effects more often.
    • Mental illness does this to the player. Normally, it's obvious to everyone but them.
    • A much more subtle form, one that is not even noticed by most player characters, comes in the form of cognitive biases.
    • Getting a short period of sleep at night can also have effects on the player.
  • International Showdown by Proxy: See the World Cup, the Olympics, and every game of professional sports ever played.
  • In the Hood: Averted. In most environments, wearing a hood tends to draw curiosity, if not outright suspicion. If the local culture or weather makes hoods commonplace, a hood won't cause a character to stand out, but it won't make her any less noticeable, either.
    • In the Seattle server, there's a joke that locals can be distinguished from tourists by their reaction to the rain: tourists tend to grab an umbrella, locals tend to simply wear a hood.
  • Inventory Management Puzzle: Averted by a small number of people who take vows of poverty, but this is unusual and often considered deviant.
    • Played straight with shopping bags, holiday packing, and road trips.
      • Not to mention school bags, long-term camping and canoeing trips (especially with regards to food) and moving in to a smaller apartment.
    • Don't forget about women's purses. This may also border on Hyperspace Arsenal or Bag of Holding.
  • It Gets Worse: The wave of celebrity deaths in the 2009 season.
  • It Came From the Fridge: Kefir can do this.
    • Any foodstuffs that aren't consumed all at once is liable to produce this, especially if it's stored in an translucent or opaque container.
    • Trope Namer (see the note under Fridge Brilliance above)
  • Izchaks Wrath: Try to rob a gun store and see what happens.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Much more than you think.


K

  • Killed Off for Real: Not just common, it's universal. Occasionally averted with last-minute desperation tactics, such as defibrillation and CPR, but no character can stave off Character Death longer than about 100 years.
  • Kill'Em All - Every single member of the cast has eventually been killed off, and there doesn't seem to be any change in the script anytime soon. A few characters have been rumored to have been Put on a Bus, including Elijah, Enoch, Jesus, his mother, and Apollonius of Tyana.
    • Don't forget Elvis. He's Just Hiding.
    • Don't forget Michael Jackson and Viktor Tsoi, either.
    • And persistant rumors that Jesus will make a comeback to the show soon, if you believe that sort of thing. If it's true then he hasn't been able to negotiate a contract as of yet.
      • He out-and-out said that he wouldn't try to re-negotiate, just come back when the studio CEO says he wants him back in.
  • Killer Rabbit - All animals (and people) fall under two categories: those that don't look dangerous but can kill or injure you horribly, and those that do look dangerous and can kill or injure you horribly.
    • Except rabbits, they can escape you, they can bite you, but they can't kill you... Unless you are a carrot or a moth... So it's averted.
  • Kill It with Fire: Trope Namer; a form of Applied Phlebotinum called "fire" has been adapted into various forms of Depleted Phlebotinum Shells(flaming arrows, black powder bombs, flamethrowers, napalm, fuel-air bombs and laser-guided thermobaric missiles, to name just a few) in order to Kill'Em All. See also Hellfire.
  • Kill It with Water: Trope Namer. According to some, the Game Master decided after the first few seasons that the characters and plot were going completely Off the Rails. The GM felt that the best course of action was to drop a flood on everyone except for a few of the characters; just enough for a Reboot.
    • Ironically, water is a key component for every lifeform in the entire series and will remain so for the foreseeable future.
  • Kinetic Weapons Are Just Better: So far, this has held true in Real Life, from slings and stones, to bows and arrows, crossbows and bolts, cannons and shells (and guns and bullets), and more recently, guided missiles. And in the future, mass drivers like railguns and Gauss cannons provide a logical path for even further advancement of kinetic weapons. Energy Weapons have also existed for quite a while, in the form of fire, and recently a couple of experimental lasers as well, but have never been so prominent.
    • Missiles are not kinetic weapons, they are explosive weapons. So are most tank-rounds.
    • The top-tier move "Rod From God" has been found in the code, but no one has unlocked it yet.
  • Kudzu Plot: So complicated, even the characters don't know what the hell's going on most of the time. Whether the author(s) do(es) themselves is hotly debated among the fans (apart from the issue of whether the author/s even exist). Entire academic disciplines are dedicated to making just a little sense of the storyline.


L

  • Laborious Laziness: Who hasn't torn their room apart looking for a missing TV remote control when they could just walk over to the TV and change the channel that way?
    • This is void, of course, for some "too modern" TVs that require the remote to operate on them.
  • Lampshade Hanging: Art, especially comedy. And this wiki, of course.
  • Late for School:
    • Most players are late for school at least once in their play-through.
    • Averted with (most) players who choose the homeschooling path.
  • Leave the Camera Running: Most of the time.
  • Lemony Narrator: Sadly, many forms of mental illness take on this trope.
  • Lensman Arms Race: Humanity's entire story arc has seen us go from crude rafts and sticks with sharp stones attached to nuclear weapons and space flight.
  • Lethal Joke Character: A hairless biped with no fangs, claws, poison, or other natural weapons to speak of, incredibly long and dangerous physical development, poor muscle tone, a lethargic movement speed, no tough skin or thick fur, and no special defenses has achieved this status with nothing more than the ability for its thumbs to have oppositional movement and a large brain. Technology and a potentially limitless Tech Tree have given this race the chance to either unmake its world or survive its end. Ever notice every player reading this page has this character type?
    • Speed? Slow. Endurance, however, is not so lethargic. Apparently this character type has one of the highest endurances of all land animal character types. Few choose to cultivate this skill, though.
  • Lethal Lava Land: Many places, most notably Hawaii, Japan and Sicily.
  • Let's Play: There are over millions of videos depicting these, as well as other mediums.
  • Level Grinding: It can take decades of grinding to achieve levels in most Prestige Classes.
    • Most skills require some Level Grinding to raise to the point where they are at all useful, though there are exceptions.
  • Lighter and Softer: The "Western Civilisation" subplot seems to have gone this way in recent seasons, though it's actually a very cunning and cruel subversion.
  • Light Is Not Good: Sunlight can give the sunburn and skin cancer conditions, and people with light skin/hair/clothes are no more inclined to good than the rest. The activation of Infinity+1 Sword above also has blinding light special effect.
    • And in the Distant Finale, the Earth is rendered completely uninhabitable because of the Daystar.
  • Like Reality Unless Noted: The Trope Namer. Played straight to the most part, except for the 'unrealistic' bits...
  • Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards: The Nerd class has a really hard time going through the early levels, especially High School and the PVP, while "jocks" can mostly go around doing what they like unhindered, but eventually the jocks tend to end up working for the nerds.
  • Literary Agent Hypothesis: The Trope Maker.
  • Literal Junk Food: The "Freegan" movement, which believes in not wasting food, no matter what. Dumpster diving is a big part of this.
  • Loads and Loads of Loading: Played straight with gestation, but otherwise averted. All textures and cutscenes load instantaneously. Even the splines reticulate so fast you'd barely notice them at all.
    • Played straight during the "School" and "Employment" arcs if your character has the "Heavy Sleeper" trait.
  • Loads And Loads and loads and loads and loads and loads and loads of Characters-- Just passed 7 billion as of Oct. 31, 2011 CE. Not counting the other species. Not counting the chance of other life-possessing planets in the galaxy. Not counting the chance of other life-possessing galaxies...
    • Not counting the mind-numbing number of Posthumous Characters
    • On top of that, each character has a name, backstory, and full set of continually developing (from birth to death) character traits. Every. Last. Character. Fortunately, you don't have to interact with, or even see, all of them.
  • Lolicon: The origin of the trope; it's worth noting that the definition of it in Real Life depends on the time and place.
  • Long Runners: 12,000 years of human civilization measured from the start of the Neolithic, with many Missing Episodes along the way. 15 billion years back to the presently held beginning though, the Big Bang, which itself could be questionable. Several other series set in the Real Life-verse were also Long Runners, such as some fan-favorites, including the dinosaurs and mammoths, who were Killed Off for Real, but some scientists speculate that they could be resurrected through inserting their genes into other animals. Whether this will work is questionable. Dinosaurs weren't exactly Killed Off for Real. They've been having smaller, feathery appearances since before the Mammalian Order became prominent. And mammoth's smaller, bald cousin shows up from time to time. Others, like the arachnids and sharks, have been around far, far longer, and show no signs of stopping.
    • And of course, bacteria, some of the very first characters to appear, still make up more than half of the cast list.
  • Lost Forever: Too many to count, and there generally isn't a warning. The good news is that it's still possible to progress even without a Lost Forever item.
  • Love Dodecahedron: But usually not Played for Laughs.
  • Love Hurts, but also Love Redeems, and sometimes frequently Love Makes You Crazy. All of these may be experienced by the same character at various points, in some cases multiple times.
  • Luck-Based Mission: If you pick the Gambler or Entrepreneur class, there are a lot of these that affect how much money you have. But at least they tend to keep you alive, unlike the Soldier class during wartime. However, if you have money, it's well-known that you can more easily turn luck toward your favor. To be honest, though, the entire game is like this--everything from finding a job to attaining fame to surviving the Plague.


M

  • Macross Missile Massacre: Favorite tactic of militaries across the world, heavily used in air and naval combat. Combined with nukes to make a superweapon called the ICBM, and the Cluster Bomb to make the awesome MIRV warhead. It's becoming less popular as newer doctrines become popular. Especially in light of recent developments in the manner of war.
  • Magic A Is Magic A: Those dang laws of science.
  • Magical Computer: Most notable aversion... even if some seem not to realize this.
  • Magical Realism: May or may not be explainable by the psychiatry profession.
    • Or the paranormal investigator class.
  • Magikarp Power: See that kid mutilating classic rock songs on his new guitar? Remember his name.
    • See that Troper over there? Remember his name too.
    • You know that nerd you always pick on in class? Someday he will be your boss.
      • Unless, of course, the one picking on that nerd realizes grinding mental, physical, and social stats are all possible in this setting and prevent crippling overspecialization.
    • A single group of players, thanks to the talent trees unlocked by thumbs with oppositional movement and large brains, could wipe dozens of servers out forever, maybe even eliminate every player in existence.
  • Make the Bear Angry Again: Recent seasons, especially the high-point in the Southern Ossetia arc in the middle of season 2008.
  • Malignant Plot Tumor: Quite a few. By no means a complete list:
    • A band of refugees, theives, debtors, runaway slaves and whoever get it into their heads to build a small town around seven hills in Italy. Then an Etruscan prince insulted one of their women, with results that were less then pleasant for the Etruscans. As a result the most famous empire in history is formed, and most of the most powerful nations in the world call themselves a Res-pub-lic-a
    • The execution of a certain minor Jewish leader in first-century Judea, eventually sparked off one of the great world religions.
    • A Wacky Wayside Tribe of Arab nomads in-between Persia and Rome during the Ancient World arc go on to dominate half the known world (and invent another major religion) during the Medieval arc.
    • Dividing up the Middle East seemed almost like an afterthought at the close of World War I, but it has led to no end of headaches in recent seasons.
    • A handful of rebellious British North American colonies ended up establishing the Modern World arc's superpower.
    • The Japan server for the most part was concerned only with its minigame until around 150 seasons ago, then featured prominently in the World War Two story arc and remains one of the more influential forces in the game today. Players on it insist it be kept to players who started out with it only, and causes friction for the other Asian servers.
  • The Many Deaths of You: Averted, in that death is usually one-time and permanent. However, there are a lot of different ways to do it.
  • Meaningful Funeral: Every character sees at least one.
  • Meat Moss: Biofilm. There's also a cave formation known as "Snottites", which are long strings of Meat Moss feeding on toxic cave water. They filter out all the nutrients and water, and leave a drop of pure sulphuric acid to drip down.
  • Medium Awareness: Well... we do have this page.
  • Megalodon: This whale-eater was here as recently as two million years ago.
  • Mega Neko: Lots! Lions, tigers, cougars, jaguars, leopards ... but they rarely make good pets.
  • Meganekko: Also well-represented. Glasses are popular enough that people wear them when they don't even need them.
  • Metaplot: An enormous number of independent stories exist in the Real Life universe, but metaplots about world affairs happen sometimes (such as the two world wars and the Cold War).
  • Mini Game: There's all sorts of these scattered around, but they require a fair chunk of in-game currency to play. Some of these even contain minigames within themselves! It's even possible for the player to take a path which allows them to design new mingames. You can learn about the tropes of these minigames here.
  • Min-Maxing: Largely averted, as the most successful people are usually those who have bothered to build up their Charisma alongside whatever technical knowledge needed, and a great many people who have focused on building knowledge at the expense of social networking haven't done as well.
    • For the most common objectives, this is true. However, there are plenty of alternate objective and victory conditions allowing for many different min maxing options.
  • Mind Rape: Human mental disorders, but most notable is "Post-traumatic Stress Disorder", or PTSD. Simply put, PTSD happens when the mind becomes too accustomed to the task at hand that the person thinks he's still in that situation even after leaving (some would call this "I'm still fighting in the war when it was over years ago!") It's shocking to think what would happen when the Soldier class who participated in major wars return to their I Just Want to Be Normal lives (collective term for these are "shell-shocked veterans").
  • Mind Screw: This very article to anyone who takes this seriously that reality is a TV show or an MMORPG. (Which we all know isn't true)
    • Philosophy. Quantum physics. Relativity.
    • Many things about economics make no sense either.
    • Psychology, especially depth psychology (ie Freud and Jung).
    • Religion is this in the eyes of several players, leading to some joining the atheism or agnosticism character class.
  • Mishmash Museum: Under the terms of Henry Clay Frick's will, his New York mansion was made a museum (the Frick Collection on East 70th Street), but none of the paintings were moved or removed (nor were labels added); thus the works are arranged according to the robber baron's aesthetic sense.
    • The Museum of Jurassic Technology in Los Angeles, California.
    • The Science Museum of Minnesota has an entire exhibit designed this way on purpose. It contains a traditional Hmong house, an Egyptian mummy, a phrenology machine, a giant dead polar bear, and many prehistoric tools, among other things.
    • The Redpath museum in Montreal is home to several stuffed animals, fully articulated skeletons of Gorgosaurus and Dromaeosaurus, an Egyptian mummy, a seashell collection, a mineral collection, some trilobite fossils, a samurai suit of armour, a fossil of an aquatic lizard, Chinese shoes made for bound feet, charts showing the dinosaur family tree and the phylogenetic tree of all life on Earth, an anaconda skeleton, a Triceratops skull, a banner made out of human teeth, skeletons of two whales, a sea lion and a turtle and a giant origami pterosaur, all in about two and a half floors of space. In other words, it looks exactly, inside and out, like every natural history museum stereotype ever. It's Crazy Awesome.[2]
    • The Pitt Rivers Museum Oxford is a Victorian Anthropology museum with its exhibits grouped by function, so the cases of 'things used as currency' are next to the 'Things used as Armour', the Chinese pigeon whistles are near the Hawaiian feather cloaks, and the whole place is dominated by a totem pole. I'm pretty sure there is a secret 'Artifacts Of Doom' collection somewhere in here.
    • Ripley's Odditorium located on Hollywood Boulevard of Ripley's Believe It or Not! fame.
    • The Greybull Museum out in Wyoming fits this trope perfectly. it has taxidermied animals, historical artifacts, and fossils scattered all over the museums with no sense of organization whatsoever. A fossilized turtle shell is on the exact opposite side of the section with Coryphodon tusks and belimnite shells, both of which are opposite the corner with the sauropod femurs.
    • Hungarian Count Istvan Szechenyi once commented that the National Museum features his father's portrait between a snake and a crocodile.
    • Sir John Soane's Museum in London is another excellent example of the 1800s urge to collect all sorts of anything (medieval objects, large and small sculpture, books, stained glass, Egyptian scarabs, various gems et al.) and then just bequeath your whole house to the city of London to remain a museum in perpetuity. Sir John further distinguished himself by creating a catalogue of his holdings on three separate occasions (1830, 1832 & 1835). Thus, the building and its collection are amongst the best-documented in the world. And most importantly: the deal includes leaving all of the objects exactly where Soane placed them when he acquired them.
  • Misplaced Wildlife: Invasive species and zoos.
  • Missing Episode: The reason why the "Archaeologist" class is still available.
  • Mistaken for Pregnant: Every woman of childbearing age is apparently pregnant when there's a sign of a full belly. One should never mind such possible explanations of bloating, gas, obesity/being overweight, eating a big meal, or any medical situation that does not involve pregnancy.
  • Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: Bad Bosses who cross the line often have this happen to them.
  • Mohs Scale of Sci Fi Hardness: Maxes out the hard side, and accurately represents laws of physics that have not yet been discovered.
  • Money for Nothing: Averted hard. There's just so much stuff to be bought with the in-game currency that you will never have too much money. Oh sure, the other players may say you do, especially indulging in Conspicuous Consumption, there's always charities to give that money to.
  • Money Sink: Some of which are required to survive. Real estate is a popular one whose necessity for survival is somewhat debatable, as is haut couture fashion.
  • Morally-Ambiguous Doctorate: Widely subverted, as those with the discipline to pursue these achievements tend to be upright players.
  • Mordor: Many places within any Warfare Story Arc end up becoming this.
  • More Dakka: A popular tactic in recent past seasons. The machine gun was invented to capitalize on this, the inventor figured that if one man could fire as many bullets as an army, only two people would go to war. He never thought that They would make them standard issue, so we now have an army that, in previous arcs, could have taken over the world.
  • More Teeth Than the Osmond Family: Sharks
  • Mr. Imagination: Everyone is this to some degree, or 99% if you believe Rene Descartes.
  • Mugging the Monster: Happens to members of the criminal class who aren't careful in selecting their prey, especially if they're on the United States server where almost all players can (and in alot of cases do) legally own, carry, and use firearms. Other players often find stories of said criminals' well-deserved misfortunes highly entertaining.
  • Multiple Endings: Every character has a different way their story closes, except for the very, very end.
  • Munchkin: the "Scientist" and "Engineer" classes, whose class abilities consist of memorizing the complex equations and rules that govern Real Life so they can squeeze every last possible advantage out of them, including figuring out even more of the rules. Unlike other munchkins, though, their work carries with it the potential for respect and prestige.
    • The "Theologian" and "Philosopher" classes also work along these lines and were the Trope Codifiers for the first several thousand seasons. In fact, the Scientist and Engineer classes developed from these two older classes and there was significant overlap until roughly 250 seasons ago. Theologians and Philosophers are still very common today. For minigames and some PvP events, the "Attorney" class is very useful (and also related to the others, although somewhat more distantly).
    • Stephen Hawking is a particular instance of this. After getting hit with a particularly bad Debuff that dropped all physical stats to near 0, he compensated by grinding his INT through the roof.
      • I sense point buy manipulation...
  • Murder Arson and Jaywalking: You'd be surprised what you can be arrested for.
  • Must Have Caffeine: Coffee is second only to petroleum for gallons consumed per year.'
  • My Rule Fu Is Stronger Than Yours: A necessary skill if you ever have to fight your corner before a court or tribunal.
  • Myth Arc: Somewhat of a subversion, considering the plot has grown so convoluted that some are beginning to question if there even is one, though some religions would beg to differ.
  • Mythology Gag: Especially now that there's Photoshop.

N

  • Nameless Narrative: Everything is nameless when introduced, but will receive a name if it sticks around humans for long.
  • Names to Run Away From Really Fast: Oh boy
    • Wolf-trap seadevil
    • Assassin spider
    • With prehistoric creatures, we have Tyrannosaurus rex (tyrant lizard king), Daspletosaurus (frightening lizard), Tarbosaurus (alarming lizard), Megalodon (big tooth), Carcharodontosaurus (shark-toothed lizard), Sarcosuchus (meat crocodile), Carnotaurus (meat bull), Deinosuchus (terrible crocodile), Deinonychus (terrible claw), and the winner: TERATOPHONEUS (MONSTROUS MURDERER)
  • Nerf: Guns, unless one belongs to the Soldier, Mercenary, or Armed Policeman class. There are some exceptions; the United States server allows any player to obtain almost any gun in the game provided they don't violate certain rules. Additionally, on many servers, it's possible to obtain a full-strength gun, but this is considered cheating and carries severe penalties if discovered.
  • Negative Space Wedgie: Black holes, most notably.
  • Network to the Rescue: Many, many times the show approached an end, but things worked out and it continued.
  • New Game+: According to religions that believe in reincarnation.
    • You don't get to keep your skills or items from a previous game and you have to start from 0.
    • Except characters who get the "Enlightenment" upgrade, though this takes an insane amount of Level Grinding.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The best intents of mice and men... have nasty unplanned consequences. Notably the environment, since humans have more power to alter it than any other species, and with great power... well, you know. Thus we get hunting to extinction, overly efficient forest firefighters, and invasive alien species (no, not that kind). In the non-environmental arenas, we have medical malpractice, authority figures taking sexual advantage, and many more.
  • Nintendo Hard: Many, many examples, from high-level school and college courses, to job-hunting during economic recessions, to (for some people) figuring out how the dating mechanics work, to simply trying to survive in war-torn countries. In short, life isn't fair.
    • Nevertheless, some players have been known to play for over 100 years on one continue.
  • Nobody Poops: Massively averted. Despite the fact that some players try to deny it, everyone poops, pees, burps, farts, sneezes, coughs, and so on. Played straight for characters that develop digestive complications like constipation.
  • No Continue Run: Mandatory. However, if you have friends with enough points in the CPR and resucitation skill tree, it's possible to get a single extra continue. (Some players, through a combination of very good and very bad luck, have managed to get more than one this way.) Continuing Is Painful however, as your lifespan gauge won't be refilled, and you'll likely suffer penalties to several stats plus a permanent decrease in max hitpoints.
    • If the Game Master (should one exist) takes a shine to you, and you have a lot of points in luck, it's possible to get a continue, or rarely two.
  • No Fame, No Wealth, No Service: In particularly snobby places.
  • No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: The universe to pretty much everyone. This also happened to American Indians and Australian Aborigines, to the extent that they have yet to fully recover.
  • No Indoor Voice: Many examples, including cicadas, howler monkeys, parrots, and humpback whales (yes, those "songs" are deafening up close, what did you expect from a creature bigger than a bus?)
  • No Periods, Period: Averted. This is one of the primary differences between the Female and Male character types.
  • Non-Indicative Name: Greenland.
  • Nonstandard Game Over:
    • The death penalty.
    • Getting a life sentence in prison. Well, you are still technically playing, but you're not going to be doing much for a long time. Unless you escape.
    • And when you get to do something the only option is "Die".
  • No OSHA Compliance: Trope Namer. While usually averted, it is played straight occasionally. A great example of this is the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory episode between the second half of the Industrial Revolution arc and the World War I arc.
  • Nothing Can Save Us Now and Nothing Can Stop Us Now: These tropes have gotten a workout in recent seasons.
  • Not So Different: A common accusation from members in the "Political Figure" class tree. A particularly illustrative example: a pair of mini-arcs in season 2009 involved Kosovo declaring independence from Serbia, and South Ossetia breaking away from Georgia. In the first instance, the United States declared its intention to help the heroic freedom fighters cast of oppression, while Russia promised to help maintain Serbia's territorial integrity. During the South Ossetia incident, almost exactly the same speeches were made, but from the opposite speaker.
  • Not So Harmless: Many characters, although prominent examples include Adolf Hitler, an out of work ex-soldier wannabe artist turned fascist dictator, and Osama Bin Laden, a quiet, religious boy from a moderate, prosperous family turned mass murdering terrorist mastermind. The recent revelation that Kim Jong Il's faction has obtained nuclear weapons was a major plot twist that, thankfully, so far has gone nowhere.
  • Novelization: Biographies, textbooks, and a whole bunch of other stuff.
  • NPC: Robots. Most of them won't even try to have a conversation with you... yet.
  • Nude Nature Dance: Special ability for those who have taken the "Gardnerian Wiccan" prestige class that allows them to perform many ceremonies "skyclad" (nude), complete with dancing.
  • Numbered Sequels: Numerous conflicts, such as World War II.
    • And the Second Battle of Bull Run/Second Manassas.
    • Oddly enough, some disenchanted fans were already calling the first world war "World War One". The Foreshadowing for that series wasn't particularly subtly written.
    • The Third Reich, although thankfully that map didn't last long until it was deleted and a new one was coded to replace it.
  1. ↑ These are not the only beliefs, just the three most well-known.
  2. ↑ Oh, and it's appeared in Dinosaurs Decoded.
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