I don't know how to use POTTED PLANT with LAMP!
Readers aren't always cooperative. Suggestions are more often than not completely outlandish and unhelpful, and not in line with what the author has planned. A common solution is to cherry pick the best suggestions, but sometimes authors prefer to accept a terrible suggestion only to tell the reader how stupid it is. A denial of a command is often accompanied with a panel of the character looking confused or irritated. This is sometimes taken further to the point where there are consequences beyond a deflated ego. Andrew Hussie was fond of doing this in Jailbreak due to the adventure's policy of using the first suggestion submitted for each page.
Examples[]
The readers suggest to lick the darkness; Lance replies with a facepalm. Then someone suggests licking the darkness orb, but he had used it a few panels back to learn Summon Grue.
Many times.
Most of the commands directed at the mushroom. Untill someone sent the command "Become a mushroom youkai."
It's a wall! You can't establish superiority with any part of it!
Those ideas are so stupid, you almost want to punch yourself in the face. Oh, wait, the BURLY MOOK was kind enough to do it for you! What now, Genius Khan?
- Homelysong
- Overtime
Trope namer and well-known for a particularly sardonic parser.
- MacGopher
Subverted when, after a character complains about an unintelligent command, they discover that "You Actually Can Do That".
After Kyle and Henry cross through a hallway to join Saul, a pit of lava opens behind them and a locked trapdoor is discovered. A suggestion was made that Kyle just use the mirrors to move the lava, thus melting through the trapdoor, but the author countered by making the trapdoor flame-resistant (later a reader pointed out that this shouldn't really have stopped Kyle from melting through it anyway). Also, there have been a number of attempts to captchalogueSPIT ridiculously large items, such as Myra's bed, but these failed because the SPAT can only store so much data at once.
Almost always subverted, as Nopor Puss enthusiastically attempts anything he thinks will be impossible.
Often conveyed by the colorful error message "MISTAKE OF MASS ERRORISM".
Neil's attempt at rolling to see if he could suddenly sprout wings. This resulted in his own intellect being damaged.
Often presented in the form of a picture of Marie Curie berating the players for their ridiculous suggestion.
This adventure is practically built on this trope.