History Main / FameGate

* ''VideoGame/GenshinImpact'' has the Adventure Rank system, in which you need to raise it by exploring the world, opening chests, and completing quests. It's necessary to explore the next regions and to advance the story. Trying to enter another region with a lower Adventure Rank early will result in a warning that the zone is "Highly Dangerous", until your character(s) is/are at the recommended level.
** The 1.1 update introduces a "Reputation" mechanic for each region. By completing World Quests related to the region and Requests and Bounties from the local organization, the "Reputation Level" will go up for more rewards, including food/forge recipes, discounts on local shops of each region, and wind glider skins.

* ''VideoGame/UnchartedWaters'':
** In the original game, the King of Portugal only hands out missions after you raise your Fame to certain levels by doing sidequests for merchants and guild halls (or by buying over ports, or by defeating pirates and Portugal's enemies, or by discovering new lands, or...). However, massive SequenceBreaking can ensue if your fame rises too fast, to the point where you can be sent to SaveThePrincess while still a lowly Squire (instead of the intended endgame Duke).
** In ''VideoGame/UnchartedWatersNewHorizons'', the various royals' missions are handed out the same way as in the original game, but so do some story missions (the ones that are not handed out immediately after beating the previous ones). Additionally, there are now three types of fame (explorer, merchant, combat), and each character has to raise one of them to advance their respective storyline. The kings, however, react dynamically to your fame and only hand out missions pertaining to your highest score (so if your combat fame eclipses your explorer fame, your king will stop asking you for discoveries and instead start sending you after pirates).
* This is a core mechanic of ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'': by doing sidequests and exploration, you get Power for the eponymous organization, which can be used to scout out new world areas and unlock main story missions.

* In ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY'', the Boutique in Lumiose City won't let you in if you aren't "stylish" enough. "Style" is gained by visiting various places around the city and making use of services. There are also a few places that won't serve you until you've proved you're stronger than the Pokemon League Champion.
* In the Genesis version of ''VideoGame/{{Shadowrun}}'', your Reputation stat influences whether you'll be able to get into certain clubs and meet with important people. In most cases, however, you can avoid the fee by paying a bribe or cover charge, or by advancing the plot to a certain point; there's only one mandatory event where you need a high Reputation to get in at all.
* The third installment of ''VideoGame/{{Gothic}}'' has this everywhere. The main character earns reputation with various factions in cities and other places around the world but is only allowed to enter some areas (usually inhabited by the city leader) after completing 75 % of the local sidequests.

* ''VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077'' has a mechanic called "Street Cred", which is effectively a secondary CharacterLevel that represents how respected you are in the Night City underworld. You gain Street Cred by completing story missions and side quests (just like regular XP and levels) and unlocks additional side missions, as well as certain expensive offers in in-game shops. By decoupling Street Cred from Level (and having the former grow at roughly double the rate of the former), the game effectively lets you punch way above your current league, if you so desire, by unlocking missions intended for much higher character levels early.
* Twice in ''Torna ~ The Golden Country'' (the prequel/expansion pack to ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2''), the story stops while you have to build up your community level by doing sidequests and talking to various [=NPCs=]. While it helps [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration explain why Addam is such a fondly remembered hero even centuries in the future]], this is also [[GameplayAndStorySegregation with a war looming threatening the city]], even occurring [[TakeYourTime after the main villain has gained access to and is threatening to use a superweapon]].

* ''TabletopGame/Scion'' embodies this trope. To increase their character's power players must amass legend rather than mere experience.

*** More like a [[DungeonBypass Fame Bypass/Backdoor]]: Normally, you need to visit all [[TheClan Great House]] nobles and [[NobleSavage Ashlander]] chiefs to convince them that you are TheMessiah, and only then will the CorruptChurch listen to your claims. But if you are already famous enough (at least level 20, with at least 50 Reputation,) the Archcanon will grant you a meeting immediately, allowing you to skip what would otherwise be a very long quest.

** Zig zagged in ''Battle for Azeroth'', in which Allied Races were unlocked via getting exalted with certain reputations.

* ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes'' actually says this is how the character levels up. They gain a greater security clearance / threat level, which makes the superhero / villain stronger.

* ''VideoGame/NeedForSpeedUnderground'' and it's sequel has a style gate for certain points in the campaign, where you had to customize your car to reach a set stylish rating. The thing is that the meter only rises if you purchase and install aftermarket parts, and it doesn't increase on purchasing performance parts, the only parts that mattered and the only parts you want to sink on your money for. This pretty much enforces players to grind more for cash so they can [[RiceBurner rice their car]] just [[ButThouMust to progress through]], and the Underground games are rather stingy with the money gained from races compared to other Black Box NFS games.
* In the other side of the spectrum, ''VideoGame/NeedForSpeedMostWanted2005'' has an Pursuit Bounty system that acts pretty much like Underground's style gate where you can't progress and fight the next boss before reaching certain notoriety level, though unlike the Underground's style gate, gaining bounty doesn't require you to spend money on your car except for performance parts, and buying aftermarket/visual parts actually makes it harder for you to grind for bounty because doing so lowers your current heat of the car. More heat in the car = more bounty = faster progression, though having high heat [[DifficultButAwesome also increases the threat level you receive from pursuit]], which upgrades the pursuing cop cars to be faster, stronger, and more abundant.

* ''VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077'' has a mechanic called "Street Cred", which is effectively an secondary CharacterLevel that represents how respected you are in the Night City underworld. You gain Street Cred by completing story missions and side quests (just like regular XP and levels) and unlocks additional side missions, as well as certain expensive offers in in-game shops. By decoupling Street Cred from Level (and having the former grow at roughly double the rate of the former), the game effectively lets you punch way above your current league, if you so desire, by unlocking missions intended for much higher character levels early.

* ''VideoGame/ZanZarahTheHiddenPortal'': Some bosses will refuse to fight you unless your fairy collection is extensive enough, blocking the plot advancement and forcing you to go capturing wild fairies.

* ''VideoGame/NineOneOneOperator'': In the Career mode, you are only able to move on from the town you picked as your starting point to larger ones, and the correspondingly greater work load and more difficult situations, once your reputation grows high enough for the transfer to become approved.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' has this mechanic with the Beast Tribes where extra stuff is available depending on your standing with the group in question. You can often get glamour gear but also crafting recipes for doing these.

* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' has always had gear locked behind certain levels of reputation, but ''Mists of Pandaria'' took the reputation mechanic to the next level by locking some of the story quests behind it, namely the Golden Lotus storyline (removed in patch 5.4), Klaxxi and Shado-Pan storylines, and the patch 5.1 Alliance and Horde storylines. In all cases, the story is told in small chunks, with a specific reputation level to proceed to the next one, mostly by doing daily quests.
** While this does crop up again in the latest expansion, ''Legion'', it is only confined to a single faction, one with whom the player only interacts once they reach the new level cap of 110 and are able to venture to Suramar, a story-centric zone which is home to the Nightfallen, an underground resistance faction comprised of exiles from the Nightborne, who are now living with the Legion patrolling the streets like an occupying army. So not only does the player have to become sufficiently badass for the Nightfallen's leader to even try contacting Dalaran, they then have to get in said leader's good graces so that their cause progresses.

* ''VideoGame/NeedForSpeedUnderground'' has a style gate for certain points in the campaign, where you had to customize your car to reach a set stylish rating.

** While this does crop up again in the latest expansion - ''Legion'' - it is only confined to a single faction; one with whom the player only interacts once they reach the new level cap of 110 and are able to venture to Suramar; a story-centric zone which is home to the Nightfallen, an underground resistance faction comprised of exiles from the Nightborne, who are now living with the Legion patrolling the streets like an occupying army. So not only does the player have to become sufficiently badass for the Nightfallen's leader to even try contacting Dalaran, they then have to get in said leader's good graces so that their cause progresses.

[[folder:Wide Open Sandbox]]

[[folder: Tabletop Games]]

* ''Videogame/GrimDawn:'' Certain quests and every faction's better items can only be accessed and bought, respectively, after achieving a certain level of high reputation with them, which can be done by killing certain enemies they particularly hate, doing Bounty runs for them and certain storyline quests. In somewhat of an inversion, getting [[BonusBoss Nemesis]] bosses to spawn requires a certain level of ''infamy'' with that particular enemy faction, which is naturally achieved by slaughtering every last one of them you can find.

* In the ''Iron Gods'' adventure path for ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'', the party arrives at a WretchedHive of a town where AsskickingEqualsAuthority. Downplayed in that the party ''could'' go straight for the final boss of the chapter right away, but building up their local reputation first by completing several sidequests makes the dungeon considerably easier.

* The shops in the ''Franchise/{{Splatoon}}'' series will not sell to you until you reach a certain level of "freshness," which is gained by participating in multiplayer and online battles. However, the freshness required is actually quite low, making it a DownplayedTrope -- being on the winning team just once is enough for friendly neighborhood arms dealer Sheldon to start selling to you, and the others will do so not long afterwards; even if you're on the losing team every match, an hour of play will be enough. Sheldon will sell weapons with varying levels of required freshness, which correspond roughly to their ease of use; he seems to not want to sell you something if he feels you're not experienced enough for it. The clothing shopkeepers, meanwhile, will open up their entire inventory to you once you're sufficiently fresh with them.

-->-- ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon}}''

* The shops in ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon 2}}'' will not sell to you until you reach a certain level of "freshness," which is gained by participating in multiplayer and online battles. However, the freshness required is actually quite low, making it a DownplayedTrope--being on the winning team just once is enough for Sheldon to start selling to you, and the others will do so not long afterwards; even if you're on the losing team every match, an hour of play will be enough. Sheldon will sell weapons with varying levels of required freshness, which correspond roughly to their ease of use; he seems to not want to sell you something if he feels you're not experienced enough for it. The clothing shopkeepers, meanwhile, will open up their entire inventory to you once you're sufficiently fresh with them.

* Twice in ''Torna ~ The Golden Country'' (the prequel/expansion pack to ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2''), the story stops twice while you have to build up your community level by doing sidequests and talking to various [=NPCs=]. While it helps [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration explain why Addam is such a fondly remembered hero even centuries in the future]], this is also [[GameplayAndStorySegregation with a war looming threatening the city]], even occurring [[TakeYourTime after the main villain has gained access to and is threatening to use a superweapon]].

* The third instalment of ''VideoGame/{{Gothic}}'' has this everywhere. The main character earns reputation with various factions in cities and other places around the world but is only allowed to enter some areas (usually inhabited by the city leader) after completing 75 % of the local sidequests.

* In ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto2'', which the missions are available to you depend on how much respect you have from each gang. There are three gangs in each level, and killing members of one gang decreases respect with that gang, and increases respect with another gang. Once your respect becomes negative with a gang, the gang stops giving you missions, and might even start shooting at you.