If there’s a picture on someone’s desk, chances are there’s a piece of paper with their password taped to the back or just under the back of the frame. Under the keyboard is the other favorite place for this. Throw ePHI data into the mix, and the security-minded IT crowd walks around like someone going through meth withdrawals.
And developers are the worst: “Why can’t we give everyone full permissions to these directories to make my life easier and open it all to the internet??” Me:
What about when you’ve collected all but one of the pages and accidentally off the dude you were supposed to give them to? I hate walking around with things in my inventory I can’t get rid of because I accidentally turned the recipient into a cheese danish and ate him for breakfast…
I remember a journal I found in a game once, it detailed a woman whose husband had fallen into a jealous rage. She wrote about how scared she was, hiding in the bedroom, and somehow found the time to write AAAAAAHHH when he presumably broke down the door.
Damn, “presumably”? She wrote out her scream, but not whether her husband broke in? Man, journalers these days have no respect for posterity, smh my head. Now we’ll never know.
I also like the idea that the husband broke down the door, saw that his wife was frantically writing something, killed her (I’m assuming), and was then completely uninterested in the journal which incriminated him, leaving it for you to find.
You know how in the Lord of the Rings the fellowship finds that journal written by a dwarf in Moria where he talks about how everything went awry for them, and it ended with something like, “They are coming” or “There’s no way out.” So you’re left to imagine the grisly fate that must’ve befallen him?
Imagine if it instead it went like, “The goblins are battering at the door right this second, the rest of my fellows are pestering me to put down the book and help fight, the door is broken down now, the goblins are charging inside. One of them is aiming a bow at me. Ouch! I’m dying now.”
There’s also this thing where apparently one of the most common passwords in use is “123456” which kind of makes the scene below hit even harder . Even most game password combos are harder than that.
Dishonored 2: during the Duke chapter, there is a flat with a safe. Around there are letters and notes of snapped relatives and friend because the owner is an idiot who keeps forgetting even the most simple combinations The combination is in a picture where there are the owner and the safe: the combination is 123!
A random pet peeve of mine which I may or may not have mentioned earlier - I can’t remember - (and yes, I do know it would be more work for authors/devs/whatever, depending on the medium, doesn’t mean I can’t dislike it) that just reoccurred to me (it’s actually two-fold, and the first half has mostly been my issue on forum RPGs so I’m not 100% sure how wide-spread it is in IFs): not being able to have the same name (partial or full) with another character, without being related to them (primarily in case of family names, but given names can also apply in case of inherited ones I suppose? Like naming your kid after your aunt or something, which of course usually requires an age difference) or, (and this part is the version I’ve seen in IFs) if you are having a same name, no one ever seems to even notice it, even in a situation where it would be important for everyone to know who is talked about (“Anthony, you disable the engines. At the same time, Anthony, you take Bethany and Cecilia and take over the bridge.”) even if you two are in the same room.
That little song and dance around who’s addressed in what way, or just not implying there’s some universal name catalogue with no duplicates allowed in-world (unless there is, of course, but then it better be mentioned!) just is a little piece of realism I miss having (and no, I don’t mind having breaks of realism in games - that’s part of why I’m playing them - doesn’t mean I can’t want some).
Some games do give you a warning about having same name with an NPC, which is something I adore, as well as when it is addressed.
My own personal preference is to just not allow someone to have a name that is in line with a major character since usually it just ends up being more confusing than anything. But if you get warned about it being the same then I think it’s fair for an author not to go out of their way to write several dozen instances where different characters have the same name as the MC and get briefly confused before they figure out a work around for it.
I’m imagining basically if they did do something like the characters getting confused, then the characters would have a nickname predefined that would become their normal form of address.
Vermillion: “Hello! It is a pleasure to meet you. I’m Vermillion Chatelain, you are?”
MC: “How funny-- I’m also Vermillion, though my last name is Reeves.”
Verse: “Ahh–… Maybe you should just call me Verse instead? It’s a nickname I use, anyway. Better than us trying to pick who gets to be ‘Vermillion 1.’”
I think it would be fun for a throw away line, but the idea of having to go through the work of writing like, 20 different sets of alternate reactions makes me squeamish.
This is why a list of characters at the beginning is always a good idea. Not necessarily descriptions cause they may contain spoilers, but the names at least.
That way, you can go, “okayyy there’s someone called Andrew, I’m going to name myself Andrew to give myself a confusing experience!”
. Even most game password combos are harder than that.
