Here's a common example: jewelry. Things like necklaces, etc. were modeled as you would a real physical necklace, no "cheating". So every chain link in the neck

Here's a common example: jewelry. Things like necklaces, etc. were modeled as you would a real physical necklace, no "cheating". So every chain link in the necklace would be a distinct polygonal object (prim)...that would then have physics enabled. And that's neat, but they'd then be shrunken down to the point where you couldn't see them anyway. But it's what "sold" them, so in many ways it mirrors the bloated web dev we see today.