4. You Are The Chosen One
I did consider adding "saving the world" to this list, but I thought it was simply too broad a plot device to trifle with; after all, there are still plenty of imaginative ways for players to do that. However, I am rather fed up with protagonists clearly outed to the player as the "chosen one", the only single person on the planet who could possibly perform this task. I can just about let the Solid Snakes of this world get away with it, because the ends justify the means, but if I play another RPG in which the player is mysteriously thrust into a magical war that only they can resolve, I'm going to tear my hair out. I'm all about the everyman; give me Ethan from Heavy Rain and Gordon Freeman from Half-Life. These guys were believable human beings who could easily live in the "real world", and we all respond with more empathy to characters that we can in some fashion relate to. Seeing a badass be a badass isn't nearly as satisfying as seeing an average Joe thrown into an impossible scenario and coming out a badass the other side.