History Main / KleptomaniacHero

* The old ''MonkeyIsland'' games literally force you to pick up everything you can find because it will become useful later, often as part of some complicated crazy scheme that requires using several items in concert... the challenge is figuring out how. Fortunately, our hero Guybrush has [[HyperspaceArsenal unlimited carrying space]] in his trouser pockets or under his jacket. There's even room for the live monkey and the 10' extensible banana plucker.
** ''MonkeyIsland2'' makes a subtle joke about this: one island has a wanted poster for your character listing a variety of thefts (and other misdemeanors) performed by Guybrush as the game progresses. A certain book in the library also contains the definition of a kleptomaniac, eliciting a "Hmm..." from Guybrush.

** In ''TalesOfMonkeyIsland'' this is lampshaded by Guybrush asking someone if he can take an empty bucket. She asks him what he's going to do with it, and he says he doesn't know. She asks him why he would want to take it, then, and his response is "Because it's there, I guess."

* The ''{{Gothic}}'' series certainly ''allows'' TheHero to act on his thieving tendencies, but the owner of the house will hear the rummaging and come running in (no matter how far away he or she initially was) and attack if you refuse to stand down. The fact that every NPC in the vicinity - including those you have to avoid killing - chips in is an extra deterrent.

* The ''{{Gothic}}'' series has a simple rule. If you weren't seen or the item in question is not in an area where anyone has claimed ownership (like a dungeon), if you take it, it's yours. However, if you are seen, you will get your ass kicked by the aggrieved party and almost certainly every guard in the area.

*** Not if you do it right: first, kill all hostiles in an area. Then, use your companions (if you have any) as loot mules, stash whatever puts you over your encumbrance limit in a container close to the location's spawn point, then fast-travel back and forth until you nab the whole stash. Then if you were nice to Gob in Megaton, go sell to him, as that 10% discount also means 10% more value then the other merchants give you for your haul.

* Lampshaded in the first ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' CD ROM game. Rincewind needs to help himself to virtually everything that can be moved in every location he visits as most of them will prove useful later on. If you speak to Nobby the City Watchman at the gate during Act I, he mentions there's been a few strange thefts around town recently.

-->'''Commoner #1:''' And you didn't stop him... because...?
-->'''Commoner #2:''' Hello! His sword is as big as '''me'''.

* ''MassEffect'' does this in a bigger way than most: once you look inside a container, it is literally impossible to exit the container interface without looting everything inside. Curious players that look inside other people's things are ''forced'' to steal everything! Naturally, no one ever cares, but given the roleplay-centric emphasis of the game, it's rather surprising to run into such an immersion-breaker.

* [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] in ZeroPunctuation's review of AmnesiaTheDarkDescent, as one of the symptoms of adventure game heroes.

[-[[caption-width-right:300:Created by [[http://sia-chan.deviantart.com/art/Stealing-in-Skyrim-302715374 Sia-chan]]]]-]

As much as the motto for the FPS is, "[[ShootEverythingThatMoves If it moves, shoot it]]," the motto for the AdventureGame and RolePlayingGame is, "When it's dead, loot it." or "Take everything that isn't [[EmptyRoomPsych nailed down or too heavy]] [[hottip:* :and anything that can be pried loose is not considered nailed down.]]" (The latter advice appeared in the general strategy section of Creator/{{Infocom}}'s manuals.)

** Aside from that, the game seems to expect you to steal absolutely everything from everyone at all times. [[hottip:*:The KarmaMeter is apparently solely tied with how many people you kill and all it does is flavor a few lines of the game's ending monologue.]] Basically, if you're allowed to be standing where you are, you have unlimited rights to anything you can get your hands on short of attacking and hacking.

[[quoteright:225:[[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/good-things-come-to-those-who-break-clay-pots-t-shirt_3803.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:225:You can thank the Minish later.]]

* The "take everything that isn't nailed down" comment is parodied in the ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'' text adventure game "Thy Dungeonman", in which there's a flask in a room which IS nailed down, and if you forcefully attempt to take it, the game tells you it was a [[LoadBearingBoss load-bearing flask]], and the dungeon collapses on you.

** As an example, the designers of ''Videogame/BioshockInfinite'' littered the bodies of your fallen enemies with low stength restoratives for your health and salts. These objects also appear commonly in the world design - since you have no inventory, they have to be offered almost constantly. Eating a few such items will restore you to full health. ''Jesse'', however, tracks down and devours every food item he comes across. While at full health and salts. In areas he might need to backtrack through later. ''While recording an action Let's Play.''

*** Also in ''Vegas'', just trespassing in an owned house or room for more than a minute or so will make the occupants go ballistic.

[[folder:Action RPG]]
* Done in ''Videogame/{{Dishonored}}'', where you can take nearly anything and it is converted into money which is spent on various goodies from [=NPCs=]. Almost necessary for a pacifism run as you need to buy a LOT of sleep bolts. Even funnier when you consider the size of somethings, most notable paintings being almost twice the size of you.
** Taken to a hilarious extreme in one of the first missions, when your target is taking the captain of the guard to show him the portrait he had done, and it's gone.
** Or when in the mansion of one of the richest families in Dunwalls, people see you stealing and comment that they take everything they can find since they figure it won't be missed.
* In ''VideoGame/DeusEx'', while thieving (and tampering with peoples' computers, etc) wouldn't actually make friendlies go hostile, it would earn you a lot of dirty looks and irritated remarks.
** The only places in the game where this isn't true is Paris, where breaking into a house while the police or civilians are there to see you will invoke the wrath of the police and alert the [[spoiler:[=MJ12=] troops]] in the area. Using lock picks in front of certain people, such as the [=MJ12=] troops in Versalife during your first visit will cause them to attack you.
** Averted in its mod, TheNamelessMod; stealing in front of [=NPCs=] will cause them to sound alarms or attack you.
** Also averted in the sequel, where if you get caught breaking and entering, stealing, or hacking, the guards and/or other NPC's will turn hostile.
** Lampshaded in one instance. As you bust into a locked hotel room, Icarus contacts you and suggests you "observe your motivations for breaking the arbitrary laws of the current government".
* In ''VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution'', the player character is the head of security for his company. You can run around breaking into offices and stealing all manner of things, but you'll start receiving e-mails concerning the break-ins and eventually realize that you've created a huge web of paranoia and nobody suspects you because you're the head of security who they trust to find the culprit.
** After you visit the police station, you'll eventually run into a few cops freaking out about the same thing. They're more worried some gangbanger knows where their families live.
** Aside from that, the game seems to expect you to steal absolutely everything from everyone at all times. [[hottip:*:The KarmaMeter is apparently solely tied with how many people you kill and all it does is flavor a few lines of the game's ending monologue.]] Basically, if you're allowed to be standing where you are, you have unlimited rights to anything you can get your hands on short of attacking and hacking.
*** At one point you are in a ruthless mob boss' lair and he has a [[{{BFG}} Laser Rifle]] lying next to him. You can "borrow" the weapon while he is staring right at you and he doesn't even bat an eye. It makes logical sense that he ''might'' lend it to you for your next task, but there's no dialog or anything. It might as well be yours.
* In ''VideoGame/{{BioShock|1}}'', the player's character at one point can eat a candy bar on a table next to [[spoiler:a Little Sister, in Tenebaum's safe house. The Little Sister says "That's mine!" in a quiet, indignant voice. If you eat the other candy bar on the table, she loudly says "Hey!"]]
** Also, you can loot just about any dead body (whether you kill it or it was room temperature) and their weapons, as well as any container, from crates, suitcases, handbags, cabinets, shelves, safes, cash registers... makes you wonder exactly what memories your character had [[spoiler:"tattooed into his mind" when he was administered the mental programming plasmid.]]
*** Taken to new extremes when you can loot a corpse that is presumably ''[[spoiler:your own mother.]]''
** Heck, at one point in Haphaestus in the first game, Andrew Ryan will mock you for wandering around his city, breaking and looting.
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* Maude Cousland in the ''[[Franchise/DragonAge The Keening Blade]]'', a CloudCuckooLander FallenPrincess who has become used to, in her words, killing people and taking their stuff.

When games started to move into different settings, though, the need to [[MacGyvering MacGyver up]] a solution to a puzzle from [[ItMayHelpYouOnYourQuest found items]] remained, and thus it stayed necessary to pick up everything you could find, especially since absolutely essential items might be LostForever unless you grabbed them [[InventoryManagementPuzzle while you still could]]. In populated environments, this makes the hero come off as a bit of a kleptomaniac.

Fortunately, hardly anyone ever notices. In fact, as you wander around the world, particularly in [=RPGs=], you will repeatedly just waltz uninvited into every house in the town, [[RewardingVandalism smash the breakables]] and loot it right before the owner's eyes, and be told "[[WelcomeToCorneria There are many guards in the castle.]]"

* LampshadeHanging in one of the new ''SamAndMax'' games, ''Reality 2.0''. Sam goes to steal some binoculars, on the grounds he needs them more than the owner. Max remarks that that's a pretty flimsy justification for stealing, and Sam agrees. After a pause, they decide to steal them anyway.

* Lampshaded in ''Packrat'' which refers to the main character as "an adventurer with a discerning eye."
* Lampshaded in ''Crazy Old Bag Lady'' where the goal is to locate the mythical Golden Trolley which can hold much more useless junk than your average supermarket trolley.

** On a related note, ''Videogame/MassEffect2'' research activities require mining planets and collecting the metals necessary to buy the upgrades, which you do by scanning planets and firing off probes—regardless of whether the worlds are colonized or who actually owns the mining rights.

* [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in ''{{Robopon}}''. A townsman actually says: "You can even go into someone's house without permission and take things! Here we have a law called what's mine is yours! I really don't have an opinion on the law, but it's strange!"