History Main / EvilPaysBetter

** OverlordII gives you the option of [[LawfulEvil Domination]] or [[ChaoticEvil Destruction]]. The former involves subjugating peasants to make your slaves, generating resources over time. The latter is basically the KillEmAll option, getting all of the resources at once with no opportunities to get any later.

* The ''BaldursGate'' is rather strange. It has a Reputation meter that goes up when you do good things, and down when you do bad things - but not ALWAYS. It's programmed to give you serious reputation loss for killing the innocent and particuarly dastardly endings to quests, but doesn't allow for the player's inventive douchebaggery.

* The Demon Path in ''SoulNomadAndTheWorldEaters'' gives much better experience and "Gig Points." Since there's a NewGamePlus option, this is the best way to build your character up if you want to fight the Bonus Bosses in the main storyline.

** ZigZagged with the Rakghoul serum. Sure you can give it to the bad guy (and he'll pay you). Or you can give it to the doctor, who gives the cure to the people who need it, but can only pay you by [[DiscountCoupon discounting his medical supplies.]] The crime lord may be able to give you a one-time cash bonus, but discounted medpacks when your character is weak, has little money, and can't self-heal can be just as useful.

* In just one of many examples in ''KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'', you can give the Rakghoul serum to the bad guy (and he'll pay you), or else you can give it to the doctor, who gives you a trivial reward, but gives the cure to the people who need it. Also, many Light Side acts involve you giving piles of your hard-earned money away.

* ''VideoGame/FallenLondon'' takes place in a world of BlackAndGrayMorality where Ruthless/Heartless choices usually give you better monetary rewards than Magnanimous ones. This is sometimes offset by the Magnanimous choices giving you better [[AllianceMeter connections]], but not always.

* Averted in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3'': while you may choose to pave your way with piles of corpses, every single soldier you kill, as opposed to tranq or avoid entirely will attack you during your brief stint on the Other Side, where you face The Sorrow. If you've killed a lot, this sequence can take an agonizingly long time.. Also, defeating bosses by non-lethal means nets you their camouflage, while killing them gives you a fat lot of nothing.

** The Mages Guild is also the only way (without [[GameMod mods]] or [[DownloadableContent DLC]]) that you can get access to Enchanting and Spellmaking (which are both '''massive''' [[GameBreaker game breakers]]), just for completing it halfway. By contrast, the Fighter's Guild only gives standard high-leveled loot, which you can also get by raiding a dungeon or two.

** And that the Mages Guild if you a complete Game Breaker just for completing it halfway. And the Fighter's Guild only gives standard high-leveled loot, which you can also get by raiding a Fort or two.

** As for ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', it's generally averted. Paragons tend to make allies and friends with the people who they meet, while Renegades have a tendency to anger or kill them. Guess which one is more beneficial in a GondorCallsForAid scenario? That said, Renegade persuade options usually can gain you the same as their Paragon counterpart, and there is one notable scenario on Tuchanka where clever Renegade planning nets more overall War Assets.

* ''GalacticCivilizations II'' gives you bonuses to your planets' development or finances should you make the "evil" choice during random events. If you choose the "evil" alignment once you've obtained researched Ethics, you'll have access to powerful ship weapons and planetary upgrades that increase loyalty to your empire, but at the cost of alienating "good" races (who will likely declare war on you shortly).

* ''[[DawnOfWar Warhammer 40000: Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising]]'' adds a KarmaMeter (Corruption) to each of the player's squads to measure how far they've fallen to Chaos. There's only one level on the good ("Pure") side, and several more on the corrupted one. The best gear almost always adds to the squad's Corruption, the evil optional objectives tend to make the missions easier, and you get more (and better) perks by going full-on evil. On the flip side, removing Corruption requires you to either field squads with incredibly poor equipment or finish counter-intuitive bonus objectives, thus making playing the game full-on good almost meaningless. [[spoiler: And then the squad with the most Corruption betrays you, costing you all that hard-earned gear and perks. Oh, and you also get the bad ending, which they were merciful enough to make the canon one.]]

* The ''BaldursGate'' inverts the trope, and bigtime - sure, you get an extra hundred gold here and there, but good quest resolutions nets more XP, more unique magical artifacts, and KarmaMeter bumps that ''decrease store prices'' and ultimately render your money-grubbing ways moot. The evil {{NPC}}s are individually better than their good equivalents, but since each game only has about four evil ones and good {{NPC}}s hate your guts if you do evil, your party options get severely limited. Oh yes, and you basically have to act ChaoticStupid and embody EvilIsPetty to be evil anyhow, which makes the whole thing damn unsatisfying.
** However, in ''BaldursGate 1'', you're tasked with freeing a Nymph from a mage called Ragefast. You can kill him for 2000xp and loot his tower full of valuable magical artefacts and take the Nymph or let her go. Or you can say the right things to him and he'll let the Nymph go without a fight, netting you 2000xp and a lock of her hair (which you can turn into a powerful magical cloak). But if you feel like being an asshole, you can also do ''both.'' First persuade Ragefast to let her go and get the hair. Then talk to him again and he will get upset and attack, so you can kill him without the slightest repercussions. Then you can loot his tower. Since he's a wizard, he inevitably has cool stuff. That's 4000xp, and the hair, AND the loot from the tower, without loss of reputation.

*** Since you don't lose any reputation, it's the game deciding you're not evil - or perhaps more appropriately, the game's programming - but you know you're an omnicidal JerkAss, don't you? The Nymph's quest certainly has a rep-lowering possible outcome, but it's still not as profitable as being a smart-thinking asshole.
** On the flip-side, the BG:EE adds Dorn Il Khan, a ''very'' strong NeutralEvil Half-Orc with a vendetta and a tendency to solve his problems by stabbing them to death. He's ironically the ''least'' bigoted character in any Baldur's Gate game yet - he seems to hate everybody equally.

**** Since you don't lose any reputation, it's the game deciding you're not evil - or perhaps more appropriately, the game's programming - but you know you're an omnicidal JerkAss, don't you? The Nymph's quest certainly has a rep-lowering possible outcome, but it's still not as profitable as being a smart-thinking asshole.

* The first version of the D20 StarWars roleplaying game took the concept of the Dark Side as being a shortcut to power and ran with it literally. Using force points lets you add Xd6 to your hit rolls, allowing you to succeed at normally impossible tasks. The Light Side goes up steadily adding a single d6 per tier, but the dark side quickly jumps up to 3 and then 5, but then stops while the Light Side continues on to 6.

* Played surprisingly straight for an MMORPG, {{Pardus}}' TSS (The Shadow Syndicate, AKA The Bad Guys) has jobs that pay incredibly well, and the owners of drug stations get some free resources AND better prices on the black market. The good guys, EPS (Esteemed Pilots Syndicate) gets a few bonus jobs that are otherwise perfectly normal and average, and can only buy and sell fuel on the black market.

** Inverted in one instance in the second game: There's two merchants, one good, one evil. The evil one has pretty good stuff, but won't sell anything until you kill the good one. The good one will buy anything, and sell immediately, but her selection is absolute crap. However, if you decide not to kill her, getting the bad guy angry, she'll sell some of the best items near the end of the game, including some unique ones. To top it all off, when given the choice, she flat out tells you "you have two options, one that is quick and offers known rewards, the other may not pay off now, but may in the long run. Which one will you choose...Jedi?"

* ''[[DawnOfWar Warhammer 40000: Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising]]'' adds a KarmaMeter (Corruption) to each of the player's squads to measure how far they've fallen to Chaos. There's only one level on the good ("Pure") side, and several more on the corrupted one. The best gear almost always adds to the squad's Corruption, the evil optional objectives tend to make the missions easier, and you get more (and better) perks by going full-on evil. On the flip side, removing Corruption requires you to either field squads with incredibly poor equipment or finish counter-intuitive bonus objectives, thus making playing the game full-on good almost meaningless. [[spoiler: And then the squad with the most Corruption betrays you, costing you all that hard-earned gear and perks. Oh, and you also get the bad ending.]]

* In the early phases of TotalWar series, it is almost needed to play an genocidal bastard if you want florins. Although further down the line it will have the off chance of generating negative vices that reduces tax income in exchange for immediate plunder. Opting for more benevolent route will give more population to rule over and thus more units and fresh bodies.
** However, in ''Medieval II: Total War'', sacking a settlement grants more money to the player than exterminating the populace outright.

Justified as TheHero is expected to say ThinkNothingOfIt and be satsified with [[GoodFeelsGood a warm fuzzy feeling that accompanies good deeds]] while the villain is more likely to be OnlyInItForTheMoney.

** However, in ''BaldursGate 1'', you're tasked with freeing a Nymph from a mage called Ragefast. You can kill him for 2000xp and loot his tower full of valuable magical artefacts and take the Nymph or let her go. Or you can say the right things to him and he'll let the Nymph go without a fight, netting you 2000xp and a lock of her hair (which you can turn into a powerful magical cloak). But if you feel like being an asshole, you can also do ''both.'' First persuade Ragefast to let her go and get the hair. Then talk to him again and he will get upset and attack, so you can kill him without the slightest repercussions. That's 4000xp, and the hair, AND the loot from the tower, without loss of reputation. This is just one example of the quests where you can do the right thing AND the wrong thing, for double the payment and no repercussions.
*** And ''then'' you can go back to your boss (who was actually a jerk who tricked you) and pulls a YouHaveFailedMe on you. You can then kill him for ''another'' 2000xp, and loot his tower for his gold and magical artefacts. Bottom line: one Nymph goes free to do whatever it is Nymphs do all day, the world is rid of two JerkAss wizards, and you got paid ''thrice''. That whole storyline might as well be called "[[TheDogBitesBack Karmic Distribution For Fun And Profit".]]
*** Similarly, a Thief in Beregost will rob you every time you talk to him, while complaining about his stolen Boots of Stealth. You can easily find his boots and give him them for gold and 500xp. Or you can keep his boots for your own thief. Or you can give them to him for the reward and then, because he's a jerk, kill him without repercussions and take them back. Who says ChronicBackstabbingDisorder isn't profitable?
**** Since you don't lose any reputation, it's the game deciding you're not evil - or perhaps more appropriately, the game's programming - but you know you're an omnicidal JerkAss, don't you? The Nymph's quest has a rep-lowering possible outcome, but it's still not as profitable as being a smart-thinking asshole.

* In ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption'', with most of the Stranger missions that have a choice, the evil option is cheaper, easier, or both. Also, at very low [[KarmaMeter Honor]], you get the [[CoolHorse best horse in the game]]. It leaves if you try to get your honor back up.

** However, in ''BaldursGate 1'', you're tasked with freeing a Nymph from a mage called Ragefast. You can kill him for 2000xp and loot his tower full of valuable magical artifacts and take the Nymph or let her go. Or you can say the right things to him and he'll let the Nymph go without a fight, netting you 2000xp and a lock of her hair (which you can turn into a powerful magical cloak). But if you're an asshole, you can also do ''both.'' First persuade Ragefast to let her go and get the hair. Then talk to him again and he will attack, so you can kill him. That's 4000xp, and the hair, AND the loot, without loss of reputation. This is just one example of the quests where you can do the right thing AND the wrong thing, for double the payment and no repercussions.
*** And ''then'' you can go back to your boss, who tries a YouHaveFailedMe on you. You can then kill him for ''another'' 2000xp, and loot his place for his gold and magical artifacts. Bottom line: one Nymph goes free to do whatever it is Nymphs do all day, the world is rid of two JerkAss wizards, and you got paid ''thrice''. That whole storyline might as well be called "[[TheDogBitesBack Karmic Distribution For Fun And Profit".]]

**** It should be noted that neither of the above outcomes are treated as 'evil' by the game itself. The nymph quest does have an 'evil' outcome, which is selling the nymph to the wizard who hired you, but as we've already noted it's much less rewarding than the good or omnicidal option.

In a game with a KarmaMeter (and sometimes even those without), missions that lean towards the 'Evil' side will often pay better and have better rewards than those on the side of 'Good.' This was probably started by someone who wanted to ensure that gamers wouldn't just avoid anything that tipped Karma towards Evil.

->''"Of course she is. I've been at this Super Hero game long enough to know that [[EvilIsSexy the hot chicks always turn evil]]. Probably because [[TropeNamers evil pays better]]."''
-->--'''Spider-Man''', ''VideoGame/MarvelUltimateAlliance''.

** In ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIDaggerfall Daggerfall]]'', your best monetary rewards actually come from a noble of slightly questionable action, Lord K'avar of Sentinel; even if you become his enemy, he will still send expensive stuff your way. The worst payments are from the noble Knights guilds, who offer you armor at different levels, and a house when you get to the top, but pay you nothing otherwise.

** The trope alternative is true as well. The Dark Side powers tend to harm your enemies, while Light Side powers buff your existing abilities. It's a playstyle choice in a sense - Hurt your enemies or help your friends? Both yield the same results in the end.

*** Also in the Tenpenny Tower quest, helping Roy Philips and his ghouls massacre the tower earns you the Ghoul mask, which protects you from feral ghouls. Killing Philips for Chief Gustavo only gets you a couple hundred caps, and having the ghouls peacefully move in(only to turn on the residents later) does not grant any significant rewards.