Shamus (of DM of the Rings fame) talks about “doors” (metaphorical and literal) in computer RPGs and how ludicrous they sometimes are.
Most videogames in the RPG genre have plot-driven doors. You know, a locked door which may be made of wood and 100 years old, but which is indestructable, un-pickable, and un-openable until some plotpoint takes place. […] Some games are better about this than others, but it’s a necessity of the medium.
Players tolerate plot-doors to different degrees, mostly depending on the strength of the writing. Some games are really eager to abuse this, and use plot-doors in lieu of strong writing. Let me bring up the most foul example of a plot-driven door.
This is true in table-top games, too, at least with some GMs — no matter how well the players can argue that something makes absolutely no sense, plot-wise, the GM will railroad the characters through the pre-planned plot. It’s a challenge that every GM faces, as well — no matter how smart you are in coming up with barriers, having 3-6 highly intelligent and motivated people across the table from you (they must be, otherwise why would you invite them?) will soon demonstrate why you are not, in fact, smarter
than they are.
The good answer is to either (a) rely on a gaming system that’s character-driven, that doesn’t require the dungeon be stepped through in a particular sequence, but that gives the players the intrinsic power to affect the course of events and the GM the ability to keep up with them, or (b) provide really good distractions so that they’re willing to go on the quest to open the door rather than simply pick the lock.
From a CoH perspective (why we’re here, of course), this isn’t too much of a problem — or to the extent that it’s a problem, it’s just an accepted part of the Contact system. The players rely on the Contacts to feed and interpret the info gathered from either mysterious sources or each individual mission to direct them to the next spot. Rarely have I ever said, “Hey, I can figure out from this Clue what to do next — I’m on my way to the next mish without checking in with my Contact.” Instead,
we are kept in the dark and just sent from place to place. Rarely is there enough obvious information to provoke the sort of counter-reaction that Shamus describes.
(And, for that matter, if you choose, you can completely bypass Contacts and just street hunt. What you can’t do is actually figure out and track down the big Crey plot or Rikti invasion or Council headquarters by yourself.)
The only not-quite-metaphorical aspect of this which plagues the “suspension of disbelief” factor in CoX is that we’re talking about character who can blast through vault doors, trash cars, and go toe-to-toe with giant monsters and archvillains/superheroes, right? Why, then, are we stymied by simple warehouse doors that require a key? Why do we spend so much time wandering through warehouses via the front door, rather than ripping our way in from the side? Or (to use a genre-specific meme)
crashing through a skylight onto the villain, so bypassing the hordes of mooks? Heck, why do we get pushed around by civilians (though they are, of course, strong enough to keep super-villains from stealing their purses)?