History SchmuckBait / VIDEOGAMES

SchmuckBait examples in Video Games.

[[quoteright:300:[[VideoGame/Portal2 https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/glados_9.png]]]]

* SchmuckBait/VideoGamesAToC
* SchmuckBait/VideoGamesDToF
* SchmuckBait/VideoGamesGToL
* SchmuckBait/VideoGamesMToR
* SchmuckBait/VideoGamesSToZ

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* A lot of the [=SCPs=] in ''VideoGame/SCPContainmentBreach'' are blocked off from the player by a little more than a keycard, or having the player ''really'' going out of their way to have themselves be killed by whatever horror lies in the next room. Of course, being a SCP-reader and knowing what each of them are helps in avoiding them (or embracing them, if you wish to see TheManyDeathsOfYou).
* ''VideoGame/SeriousSam'' absolutely ''adores'' this trope. While there are some that are painfully obvious, i.e. a +1 Health pickup in the middle of a wide-open area that would be ideal for encircling whatever schmuck took that bait and then blasting him to bits, there are some that trigger on picking up certain ''secrets'' as well!
* ''VideoGame/ShadowrunReturns'': [[spoiler:The PC honestly believes that their old, alcoholic, junkie friend Sam Watts could afford a 100,000-nuyen life insurance policy?]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Shadowverse}}'': [[https://shadowverse-portal.com/card/101131050 Robin Hood]] is frequently cited as an example of "why you should read the card", with anecdotes of entire fields of Fairies or Skeletons being annihilated by his effect due to the opponent futilely trying to take him out in combat. Forestcraft has other cards that can employ this trope, usually in the form of things like [[https://shadowverse-portal.com/card/104123010 Man-Eating Mangrove]] and [[https://shadowverse-portal.com/card/105123010 Wood of Brambles]] intercepting attacking minions or [[https://shadowverse-portal.com/card/105141010 Beauty and the Beast]] shrugging off a hard removal.
* All ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' games feature this to some extent. Many, in fact, are inventively nasty, such as tricking you into healing bosses, fighting them under major disadvantages, powering them up, willingly walking into traps, and many, ''many'' more. ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIV'', for example, has the boss fight with King Kenji. [[spoiler:Towards the end, after losing enough HP, his sprite disappears and he claims to lose, and the game asks if you want to pick up the remote on the ground next to him. Astute players will notice that he hasn't done the standard boss explosion animation yet, that the boss music is still going, and that this choice occurs during battle rather than afterwards. Picking up the remote anyway results in Kenji sucker-punching you with an attack that causes physical damage and Sick status to all party members.]]
* In ''VideoGame/SimCity 2000'' every branch of the city's municipal services can be funded or de-funded with a slider. If you move the Transit Authority funding any lower than 100%, however, your advisor [[BerserkButton doesn't take it well]]: "YOU CAN'T CUT BACK ON FUNDING! [[MemeticMutation YOU WILL REGRET THIS!]]" He's not wrong: while reducing funding to other departments is often a safe, good idea, de-funding transit will cause infrastructure to disintegrate and is not a good idea. The game lets you do it anyway, though.
* ''VideoGame/TheSims'' takes this to TooDumbToLive levels when it comes to the Cow Plant in ''VideoGame/TheSims2: University'' (also downloadable content for ''VideoGame/TheSims3''). Hey, look! That plant has a slice of cake in its enormous tooth-filled mouth! Certainly nothing bad can [[KilledMidSentence come of—]]
* In ''VideoGame/SkiesOfArcadia'', Vyse can find a handkerchief hanging on the wall of Aika's house on Pirate Isle. If you check it out, Vyse lifts it up to find a pinhole allowing him to see into Aika's bedroom. Aika is less than happy to find him inadvertently peeping on her, but Vyse notes that covering it with a hankie on the ''outside'' only draws attention.
* The frozen pole in the IF game ''So Far''. The invitation to [[TongueOnTheFlagpole lick the pole]] is Schmuck Bait. But the game [[Film/AChristmasStory triple-dog-dares you to lick it]] anyway (in case you needed even ''more'' convincing).
* ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'':
** In ''VideoGame/Sonic3AndKnuckles'', you can find a few monitors with Robotnik's face on them. Naturally, breaking these open damages you.
** In ''VideoGame/SonicRiders'', Sonic's arch-enemy Dr. Eggman appears on a gigantic TV screen and says he's holding a competition where entrants must give him their Chaos Emeralds. [[IdiotBall Sonic decides to enter and gives Eggman the Chaos Emerald he just found.]]
* ''[[VideoGame/SoulCalibur Soul Calibur III]]'': After repeatedly [[CassandraTruth trying to warn]] Yun Seong about [[ArtifactOfDoom Soul Edge]], Seong Mina resorts to the next best thing: beat him to it, then set a trap... with pork buns. You'd think he'd at least wonder where they came from, but [[WhatAnIdiot he actually falls for it]] and starts to take one. Which was just the opportunity [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MzaVxopQEw Mina was waiting for]].
* In ''VideoGame/SouthParkTheFracturedButWhole'', Cartman's hideout has a Cube of Ultimate Destruction with a sign warning you to not touch it. Touching it or smacking it has Cartman yelling at you to cut it out. Do it enough times and the cube breaks, [[NonStandardGameOver causing the entire universe to be completely wiped out.]]
* Many {{Creator/Sierra}} [[AdventureGame adventure games]], particularly ''VideoGame/SpaceQuest''. It's something of a malicious joy for them.
** Pressing the "Don't Touch" button in the escape pod of ''VideoGame/SpaceQuestITheSarienEncounter'' causes the pod to plunge into ''VideoGame/KingsQuestIQuestForTheCrown'' or ''VideoGame/ConquestsOfTheLongbow'' (depending on whether you're playing the original game or the VGA remake) and crash upon impact. Actually, [[RuleOfCool it's one of the coolest deaths in the game]], so just seeing it might be worth doing it, so long as you save the game first.
** On Labion in ''VideoGame/SpaceQuestIIVohaulsRevenge'', there is a square of grass outlined with lighter pixels. Walking onto it will drop you into a pitfall. Trying to look at the trap will cause the narrator to call you paranoid (an even more obvious giveaway).
** ''VideoGame/SpaceQuestIVRogerWilcoAndTheTimeRippers'':
*** One computer terminal allows you to delete a file called "Space Quest 4" from its hard drive — attempting to do so aborts the game and returns you to the DOS prompt[=/=]Windows desktop without a second warning.
*** [[HaveANiceDeath "You were warned not to break into the change machine, but did you LISTEN?"]]
** The SCS Eureka's self-destruct mechanism in ''VideoGame/SpaceQuestVTheNextMutation'' [[spoiler:at [[ChekhovsGun any time other than]] when [[GodzillaThreshold it's (really) the only option you have left]]]].
* In ''Spades'', before the play, you bid the number of tricks you expect to take. One possible bid is Nil, where you score a 100-point bonus if you take no tricks... or a 100-point penalty if you take even one trick. Sometimes you are offered the option of a Nil bid when holding the Ace of Spades, the one card guaranteed to win any trick.
* ''VideoGame/{{Spelunky}}'' contains various ''Franchise/IndianaJones''-style traps, one or two different types per area. They're all very clearly marked by a shiny (and valuable) idol. Grabbing the idol will set off the trap, and — if you haven't seen that particular variety of trap before — it ''will'' kill you.
* Happens a few times in ''VideoGame/SpookysHouseOfJumpScares'', mostly in the DLC. When you reach the checkpoint after room 250, Spooky will tell you to look behind you, which results in [[JumpScare a LOUD cacophony of Specimen 1]]. If you value your life in the Karamari Hospital DLC, it's also best to avoid sitting on the red chair, or to avoid any seemingly endless hallways.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Spore}}'', there used to be a "Bad Baby!" achievement, which you could only get if a creation of yours was banned from the servers. Naturally, everyone and their mother started deliberately uploading offensive creations in order to get this achievement. It got so bad that the achievement was eventually ''removed from the game''.
* ''VideoGame/{{STALKER}}'':
** Anomalies, semi-invisible energy surges, frequently serve as this. They produce valuable, powerful artifacts which can be seen floating in the air from a distance, but dash to grab it too quickly, and the anomaly will be happy to rip you to shreds. In fact, the Zone (the game world) itself serves as a form of Schmuck Bait, as people are drawn to enter it by the promise of a making a fortune finding artifacts, but the mutated wildlife, invisible anomalies, and hostile warring human factions means your life will likely be pretty short. If anything, this acts as a form of natural selection — [[WorldOfBadass anyone who manages to survive in the Zone is an ironclad badass]]. Or obscenely lucky.
** You can sometimes find what looks like a wounded loner (complete with sunrise suit) calling out for help. [[spoiler:[[WoundedGazelleGambit Approaching him will cause him and his bandit friends to stand up and start shooting at you.]]]]
** Most dead bodies with good equipment are schmuck bait to some extent. After all, where there's a corpse, there's usually something nearby that can ''make'' corpses.
* ''VideoGame/StarControl'':
** You're given repeated warnings to stop asking about the Androsynth. If you don't take the hint and find a different topic to talk about, the [[spoiler:Orz]] turn hostile and attack... which sucks for you, because they're normally one of the only two races in the game that are immediately outright helpful.
** Late in the game, the Utwig will give you a very large bomb. Do not play with it.
* ''VideoGame/{{Stellaris}}'':
** There's a quest where you are able to reach into a psychic realm, and one option you can get is to make a pact with an entity who promises you vast power, in the form of a long-term amount of huge bonuses to your empire. At a price. The game tooltip says in bright red letters "DO NOT DO THIS". [[spoiler:After the 50 years of bonuses are up, the entity annihilates your entire empire's population, destroys any ring worlds and orbital habitats you have built, and renders every planet uninhabitable, except for one planet with a handful of people on it. It also spawns a near-invincible avatar of destruction to devour the entire galaxy. [[ControllableHelplessness The player's pitiful exile colony is left for last.]]]] It is widely ([[UrbanLegendOfZelda but incorrectly]]) assumed that Alexis Kennedy, one of the main writers for ''Fallen London'', as well as the [[CosmicHorrorStory Horizon Signal]] event chain in ''Stellaris'', was involved in this particular option. He wasn't, but his influence is clear.
** New players might encounter in their expansion inexplicably uninhabited Gaia worlds that feature a ton of resources and can be colonised by any life, regardless of their usual homeworld preferences, and have unique names like "Pristine Jewel". Not believing their luck, these players eagerly establish colonies on the world without realising that these world are the Holy worlds of a Fallen Empire, an ancient civilisation with technology centuries ahead of the players'. The aliens will contact you and ''very angrily'' demand you vacate the unspoiled planet immediately, or face their wrath. [[AwakeningTheSleepingGiant And if you are so stupid as to blow said holy planet to bits with a Colossus...]]
* In the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' fan game ''VideoGame/StoryOfTheBlanks'', where you play as Applebloom, you are warned by Zecora not to go into the forest after dark, and Twilight orders you not to go anywhere as she tries to clear the blocked forest exit. Of course, you ''[[ButThouMust have]]'' to follow that mysterious pony deeper into the forest for the game plot to progress...
* When you reach [[BigBad Mr. X]] in the final stage of ''VideoGame/StreetsOfRage'', he'll ask if you want to join his crime syndicate. Saying yes in single player mode has him open up a trapdoor beneath you, dumping you back to stage six.
* ''VideoGame/StreetsOfRogue'' has a cyanide pill item, which has a predictable result if you use it on yourself. The description even reads "Maybe don't eat this. Seriously." It does have uses, since you can use it to poison air supplies, poison drinks, or fill a water pistol with instant-death spray.
* If you're told "Do not do this" in ''VideoGame/SunlessSea'', please don't do it. If you're told you can't return somewhere, then don't return. And if you click something that not only has that sort of warning, but tells you straight up it'll make you [[ImAHumanitarian Eat Your Crew]], you can consider yourself either a Schmuck, or too damn curious for your own good.
* ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'':
** ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'':
*** In some stages, you'll encounter Lakitu, the turtle enemy floating around in a cloud at the top of the screen, dangling a 1-Up mushroom at the end of a fishing line. If you grab the item, he'll rain Spinies down on you for the rest of the level. Luckily, he's easily killable and you can steal his cloud afterwards to bypass large parts of the stage. Amusingly enough, the ghost house levels feature Fishin' Boos instead which try to do the same, except with a blue flame that hurts you instead.
*** At least one hack pulled a move that makes the infamous KaizoTrap seem easy. At the start of a certain level, there was a message block saying not to hit the midway point. A little later, you see a seemingly inaccessible 3up moon with no way out. And then you see the midway point. If you hit the midway point and died later in that level, you'd spawn next to where the 3up moon was, and the message block there chastised you for not following directions.
** ''VideoGame/PaperMario'':
*** ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'':
*** Midway through the sixth chapter, you encounter a ghost on a train who would like to help you on your quest, but, before he does, insists you help him first. Turns out he left his diary somewhere in the baggage car and has been tormented for years with the knowledge that someone might find it and read it, preventing him from passing on to his next existence. He agrees to help you if you get the book, but he very sternly warns you that under no circumstances are you to open and read it. The game deliberately berates this point, meaning that if you are even mildly curious, you will have your interest piqued. It even goes so far as to put a message on the game's bulletin board after the chapter saying, "Good thing you didn't read my diary!" Once you find the book in question, you can select it from your inventory and try to open it. The game will make you go through several confirmation screens before the diary finally opens. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vb9i2GoqtoY Your reward]] for your curiosity? [[spoiler:[[NonstandardGameOver An instant game over.]]]]
*** After bringing Hooktail, the first chapter boss, down to 0 HP, she will beg for mercy and offer to give you 1000 coins, a rare badge, and the opportunity to smell her feet. Saying no to all of these will lead to Hooktail eating the audience and reviving half of her HP, but saying yes will lead to not only that, but also getting in a quick cheap shot for plenty of damage. The fact that many characters warn you of this tactic should be proof enough that it's a dumb idea.
*** Legend states that beyond the Thousand-Year Door beneath Rogueport lies untold treasures. However, that was a myth forged by [[spoiler:Beldam]]. Grodus and the X-Nauts know the truth, which is that the door is the prison of [[spoiler:the Shadow Queen]] and that the seven crystal stars are the locks on the door.
*** Subverted with the four demons locked inside black treasure chests that trick you into letting them out, and then "curse" you... by giving you extremely useful abilities that are necessary to beat the game. [[spoiler:This is because these demons used to be the four legendary heroes who ended up in their current state because they were cursed by the BigBad, and are using LoopholeAbuse to help you.]]
** ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'':
*** The game keeps the tradition alive by Tippi warning Mario about going into outer space without a helmet. Oddly enough, you ''can'' refuse to put on the helmet — and if you do so enough times, you go into space and die.
*** Several rooms in one chapter feature mushrooms just ''tantalizingly'' out of reach. They move away if you attempt to approach them. If you chase them, various nasty things will happen to you — such as getting dropped into a pit. You actually collect the mushroom in all but one case, so you can easily exit a trap with [[WorthIt more health than you went in with]].
** ''VideoGame/SuperMarioSunshine'':
*** In Noki Bay, there is lone OneUp standing at a nearby wall for an easy pickup. Attempting to grab it causes a punching glove to pop out from the wall and send Mario flying a few feet.
*** In Delfino Plaza's [[ThatOneLevel infamous Lily Pad Ride level]], there is a Warp Pipe at the end to trick you into thinking that you can enter and get sent back to the start of the level to try again. In reality, this takes you back to Delfino Plaza, which means you have to go through the whole process of getting back to the level.
** A disconcertingly large part of Fawful's scheme in ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiBowsersInsideStory'' relies on characters eating any piece of food offered to them by a complete stranger. [[spoiler:Or, in one case, by the person you're trying to defeat.]]
** You get some of these in ''VideoGame/LuigisMansion''.
*** One of the first is a string of coins leading past one hallway door and to a second. If you notice the second door has no placemat and sticks out, among other traits, you should realize it's a trap door (you'll find a lot of these "doors" in the game).
*** When Luigi looks in a mirror in the storage room behind the ballroom, he sees a red button that says "Don't push" reflected on the other side. Considering StupidityIsTheOnlyOption here, he presses it and part of the wall rolls back to reveal a storage thing in the floor, and a poster that says danger. Again, the only way to proceed is to vacuum up the poster and then push the other BigRedButton, releasing all the Boos.
* ''VideoGame/SyphonFilterDarkMirror'': At the beginning of the third level, a plant worker standing in front of a fuse box tells his coworkers not to throw the breaker switch. As VideoGameCrueltyPotential, you can assassinate him by electrocution.
* The original ''VideoGame/SystemShock'' sets you up rather evilly around halfway through. SHODAN plans to wipe out all life on Earth with a massive barrage of laser fire from an orbital station, and naturally it's your job to stop her. Unfortunately, you stumble across an inadequately labelled laser-control switch. Play with it, and... well. SHODAN will be very pleased, to say the least.
* ''VideoGame/TheTalosPrinciple'':
** For what reason is that tower there, really, if you are not allowed to enter?
** In one of the desert areas, there is a tree with a sign labelled "don't look up". If you actually do look up, a fruit falls on your head.
* ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'':
** The sprays, which can be used to lay traps for enemy players; apply a spray, hide nearby, and ambush them when they stop to look at it. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOR3snVKW0E One griefer]] used [[DistractedByTheSexy images of scantily-clad ladies]]. Some Snipers will use sprays with small, hard-to-read text to trick players into reading it while they line up a perfect shot.\\\
Also works for some decal-customization-capable melee weapons, for example the ''Conscientious Objector''. A Demoman wielding a customized one, a ''Chargin' Targe'' or ''Splendid Screen'', and ''Ali Baba's Wee Booties'' (and maybe any weird hat as well for good measure) can confuse certain noobs long enough for one to execute a charge-kill. At point blank if the noob is really new to the game, natch.
** Clever Heavies can use their [[SatiatingSandwich Sandviches]] as Schmuck Bait. Throw the Sandvich someplace where an enemy is likely to notice it, wait for the schmuck to take the bait, then pump 'em full of minigun lead. Works especially well with the Tomislav (every minigun except the Tomislav makes a loud WHIRRRR when preparing to fire. The Tomislav just makes a small ''click!'').
** Spies who can disguise themselves as high-priority targets from their own team (such as Snipers or Medics) and make enemies follow them hoping to get an easy kill... only to go around a corner and back-stab them, or lure them into an ally Sentry Gun or Heavy. Another trick with Spies is to adopt the famous spycrab pose or do something like a conga taunt. Have a Pyro or another suitable class hide near you. Eventually someone from the enemy team will notice and try to kill you rather than laughing. Lead them to the Pyro and watch the fireworks.
** One that involves cooperation with another player is chasing a friendly Spy disguised as a member of the other team. This is particularly effective if the attacker is using a secondary or melee weapon and missing and the Spy is disguised as a target with low health. The enemies will throw all their normal caution about Spies to the wind and rush in to help. The Spy can get often get an easy backstab, and if not, the Spy and the "attacker" can usually finish the opponent off anyway.
** One classic trick in the common map 2Fort is to lay a wad of stickybombs on the medkit in your team's sewer as you head out through it for the other team's fort. If the Demoman encounters more resistance then planned, he just runs back to his own sewer and backpedals towards safety rather than going for the medkit. Since players instinctively jump towards the medkits when entering the sewers, they often stand right on the bombs. The tactic is so effective that many players ignore the highly circumstantial nature of the trap and call it griefing.
** New players can expect to be told to use unbindall in the console at least once, whether told it is a cheat command, or for a more legitimate purpose. The command, as its name implies, unbinds all your keys from their commands, preventing you from doing anything until you reset your keys. And many new players don't know ''how'' to reset their keys...
** The Gunmettle update added the ability for players to pick up weapons from killed enemies, which drops your weapon in its place. If you're lucky enough to have an incredibly cool gun like an Australium or an Unusual, you can kill someone, then drop said cool gun in its place, then pick a place to hide. Someone is bound to walk by and try to pick it up, and you can then kill them while they're distracted with doing so.
* ''VideoGame/{{Terraria}}'':
** One of the possible title messages says, "Press alt-f4." Alt-f4 is used in Windows to close a window.
** Occasionally while traveling underground, you can find a large ore vein with a PlungerDetonator, which will set off explosives that will mine all the surrounding ore... and also blow up anyone unknowing enough to have activated it.
*** However it can be safely set off if you are on the right side of the plunger and right click it. Who ever told you that you HAVE to jump on the plunger?
** While going underground, you may encounter a Lost Girl who looks and acts like the characters you can rescue to invite them to your town... until you approach her and she turns into a Nymph that can rip you to shreds.
** The Old Man by the Dungeon near one of the world's edges tells you not to enter until you have beaten his master, Skeletron. Despite his warnings, the door is unlocked. Yet take his word: going too far in before killing Skeletron summons the Dungeon Guardian, a nearly invincible giant skull that can kill you with one hit. Making matters worse was that prior to 1.4, it was possible for a DiscOneNuke weapon to spawn on platforms above the Dungeon's danger zone, making it more tempting to peek deep in to the entrance if it wasn't already in the main entrance.
** One of the last major updates introduced booby trapped chests, and they really stand out: there are dart traps facing it, bounlder traps above, and even dynamite underneath. You can try opening it, but you are unlikely to survive. [[spoiler:If you got Wire Cutters by then, just trim the wires. Otherwise, mine out the dynamite and shield yourself and the chest with blocks.]]
*** What makes it even stranger? It's a gold chest, which is found in underground cabins under normal circumstances. But there's always the off chance that the trapped chest will be disguised as an underwater or biome chest, making it harder to tell whether or not it is a safe chest at first glance.
*** If you are lucky, terrain generation will break one or more traps around trapped chests, so it is possible to have a trapped chest that can be robbed without punishment.
* ''VideoGame/{{Thief}}'':
** In the Bonehoard level of ''VideoGame/ThiefTheDarkProject'', a wall carving with precious-looking diamonds for eyes warns you "Stay away from my face, thief, or you'll be sorry." Just approaching it is enough to trigger the trap: an endless stream of fireballs.
** In ''VideoGame/ThiefIITheMetalAge'', you may come across a button labeled, "Do not push this button." [[spoiler:Press it, and two angry {{giant spider}}s spawn directly behind you. Were you expecting a prize, genius?]] Actually a fairly reasonable trap to put someplace where you're expecting a thief. People who live there know better than to touch the button. An unauthorized visitor wouldn't be able to resist.
* ''Franchise/TombRaider'':
** In the second to last level in ''VideoGame/TombRaiderIII'', after crossing over a pit of fire, there's a Large Med Kit sitting in plain sight in a narrow hallway. Seeing how difficult the game is in general and how rare health kits are (unless you have actively been looking in secret areas for them), most players will happily try to take the item. However, stepping on the tile where the item rests causes a spiked log to roll down from above and crush you if you don't react fast enough. Even if you do avoid it, the trap sits on top of the item, rendering it inaccessible. Likewise, the Coastal Village level is ''full'' of baits to lure you to your doom; two areas have large health kits. One triggers a trap and blocks your path while the other health kit is sitting on quicksand. There's also a button to open a door while a second button nearby will set Lara on fire.
** You know that statue of King Midas in ''VideoGame/TombRaiderAnniversary''? The one with one of his hands sitting on the floor? Go ahead, try standing on it. Hey, just how ''did'' the legend of King Midas go, again...?
* In ''VideoGame/TownOfSalem'':
** The Veteran can "alert" and kill anyone who visits them that night. One common tactic is "vet baiting", in which the Veteran tries to get people's attention during the day in the hopes of luring the bad guys in. Visiting a baiting Veteran is falling victim to SchmuckBait, because anyone means ''anyone'', even those who usually ''can't'' be killed at night. Of course, the Veteran can also kill their allies...
** The Jester. If the Jester is lynched, they win and kill one person that voted guilty on them that night. Voting guilty on a suspected Jester is therefore SchmuckBait. Yes, vote for the guy refusing to give a role and generally being obnoxious. [[SarcasmMode It totally won't get you killed.]]
* Some of the ''VideoGame/{{Tropico}}'' games have a Print Money edict you can implement, with FlavorText telling you [[CircularReasoning to print more money, after doing so drives the price of building too high]].
* The ''VideoGame/{{Ultima}}'' series (specifically ''[[VideoGame/UltimaVI VI]]'' through ''[[VideoGame/UltimaIX IX]]'', plus the first ''VideoGame/UltimaUnderworld'' game) has the [[FantasticNuke Armageddon spell]]. The beings who give or ''sell'' it to you specify that the spell will terminate all life in the current plane of existence. Who would be dumb enough to cast it? Well, there's a reason Sosaria's previous civilization came to a very sudden stop 700,000 years ago...
* In ''VideoGame/UnEpic'', near the very beginning of the game, Daniel finds a massive pile of gold, and the Demon who is trapped inside him, who very much wants him to die so he can escape, encourages Daniel to take it. Doing so quickly drains Daniel's life until he's dead. Though if you die, then avoid it, the demon asks Daniel why he didn't take the gold, in which he implies [[BreakingTheFourthWall he learned his lesson from before]].
* ''VideoGame/UntilDawn'':
** While exploring the asylum, Mike can find a severed arm attached to a mechanism that is waving it, with a tag of some kind attached. If you go to take a look at the tag, [[spoiler:you find the hard way that it's attached to a bear trap, which ensnares two of Mike's fingers]].
** The ultimate Schmuck Bait, however, comes in the mines. You know how one of the most commonly-cited rules of a horror movie is that you ''never'' [[LetsSplitUpGang go alone]] to [[CuriosityKilledTheCast investigate a strange noise]]? Well, a surprising number of players forget that rule when they send Ashley to split from the rest of the group when they hear what sounds like Jessica's voice down another path. Ignoring the fact that Jessica is missing and presumed dead at this point (and, if you screwed up while playing as Mike trying to save her earlier, she may well be dead), [[spoiler:it's actually a wendigo imitating Jessica, who proceeds to rip Ashley's head off if she (i.e. the player) falls for one of the most obvious horror movie traps ever]]. LetsPlay/{{Markiplier}}'s [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yytMqOjNixk reaction]] when he fell for it was absolutely priceless.
* Obscure NES title ''VideoGame/{{Uninvited}}'' has a particular situation where attempting to go down a hole will result in the game warning you about the GiantSpider lurking around down there, and advise you to just leave it be. [[TooDumbToLive You can insist.]] Oddly enough, you ''do'' encounter the same spider in the same room if you screw up one of the puzzles: encountering it in this manner gives you the time to use one of your spells to paralyze it for just long enough to sneak past. Of course, you can always turn back afterwards, with a predictable result.
* The [[MacGuffin plot-driving]] Ankaran Sarcophagus in ''VideoGame/VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines'', though not for the reason the character is led to believe. You just ''know'' there has to be something bad in there, given the ArcWords are "Don't open it!", every even remotely trustworthy character in the game cautions you against it, the only person who wants to open it is your power hungry BadBoss, and it is ''heavily'' implied to contain an immensely powerful vampire capable of bringing about TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt. In the end, the player gets to decide whether or not to open it. [[spoiler: Its contents are a ton of C4, a timer with less than ten seconds on it, and a mocking note from [[HeKnowsAboutTimedHits Jack, the tutorial man]].]]
* In ''VideoGame/{{Vay}}'', you'll run into an NPC guarding a treasure chest, warning you against opening it. If you [[KleptomaniacHero give in to your natural RPG instincts and try to open it anyway]], the chest will unleash what the Creator/WorkingDesigns localization crew affectionately calls the "Gold Vortex", which gobbles up '''''all''''' of your hard-earned gold.
* ''VideoGame/{{Wick}}'' has an in-game version of itself where the player is blindfolded and led into a forest with nothing but candles and matches and must survive until 6 am. Cue the ghost children.
* In the preview trailer for ''VideoGame/WildStar'', Buck, the Human Spellslinger Explorer, finds a huge derelict robot and curiously reaches for an exposed wire... with unfortunate results.
-->'''Buck:''' ...Had to go and touch it...
* ''VideoGame/{{Wizardry}}'':
** The first game's dungeon contains a dead end passage four squares long. In the first three squares, you receive these messages (the fourth square holds a pit trap):
-->''A dungeon is dark...\\
When it's not lit...\\
Watch out, or you'll...''
** Near the end of the fourth game, Werdna can encounter a miniature black hole with something pulsating inside, and has the option of putting his hand inside. If you choose not to, the game tells you "Good idea! You could have lost a hand that way!" and rewards you with an item you need to get the GoldenEnding.
* ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'': Neku best summarizes it when Beat explains that if he sees a button, he has to press it after being asked why he didn't think about it:
-->'''Neku:''' I think they design traps with people like you in mind...
* ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}}'':
** In ''Warcraft III'', Frostmourne is floating above a dais that has an inscription that reads "Whosoever takes up this blade shall wield power eternal. Just as the blade rends flesh, so must power scar the spirit." Arthas decides that it's WorthIt — and TrapIsTheOnlyOption to defeat the current enemy.
** ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'':
*** Mimiron has his [[HarderThanHard higher level of difficulty]] activated by pressing a [[BigRedButton gigantic red button]] labeled "DO NOT PUSH THIS BUTTON". Fiery death ensues if you have pressed this button unprepared.
---->'''Mimiron:''' Now [[NiceJobBreakingItHero why would you go and do something like that]]? [[CantYouReadTheSign Didn't you see the sign]] that said "DO NOT PUSH THIS BUTTON!"? How will we finish testing with [[SelfDestructMechanism the self-destruct mechanism]] active?
*** A Rogue class quest makes you go to the clan's secret base; the stated objective is "Survive the trial". When you find the secret entrance and wander through the cave, there's a lonely treasure chest that looks normal... but if you click on it, a much higher-level elite enemy will come and kill you with one strike. The trick? You must ''not'' click the chest, but calmly go through the cave. It's even lampshaded by the NPC you return the quest too: "Couldn't keep your hands away from the chest, could you? Don't worry, almost no one can."
*** Players in Battlegrounds will often set up some schmuck bait with the following "/e has reported you AFK. Type /afk to clear this status." Typing /afk marks you as "Away from Keyboard", and if you're in a Battleground, it removes you. The results of this with {{Munchkin}}s are [[HilarityEnsues predictable]].
*** Another battleground prank is for a mage to open a portal, and say to click on it to help summon free food and water. And everyone who isn't paying attention gets dumped out to a city and given a "deserter" debuff that prevents them from rejoining for 15 minutes. [[http://awkwardzombie.com/index.php?page=0&comic=011209 As demonstrated.]]
*** During the ''Legion'' expansion, the developers announced a brand new treasure hunt that would unlock a secret prize for the entire ''WOW'' public. A small community of players, hoping to unlock the hippogriph mount, found the orb keys hidden in a random place in the ocean, found a secret map hiding in plain sight being used as a beer mat, and figured out how to activate every single orb key scattered across Azeroth. Unfortunately, the secret prize turned out to be a world-eating titan that now threatened the game world. Yay.
* ''VideoGame/YouHaveToWinTheGame'' has this; one room has a sign telling you it's a bad idea to go left. It's not kidding, as doing so takes you to the beginning of a previous, very difficult room.
* The first ''[[VideoGame/YsIAncientYsVanishedOmen Ys]]'' game features a room in one dungeon in which a lone treasure chest is surrounded by several statues that look remarkably like enemies you encountered earlier. Guess what happens when you open the chest? However, you really ''do'' need what's in the chest.
* The original ''VideoGame/{{Zork}}'' had a hint book in which the last chapter listed a number of things the player might try doing in the game. More than a few of them will result in the player's death, including desecrating dead bodies in Hades, burning a black prayer book, and waving a magic scepter while standing on a rainbow that the scepter made solid.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:M-R]]
* ''{{Videogame/Mardek}}'':
** In Chapter 3, in the Sun Temple, you come across a save point. In the same room, you find a conspicuous chest in the middle of your path. Opening that chest will unleash a Griffen that will crush you if unprepared. If you're using the official walkthrough, though, you'll be informed beforehand.
** On a bigger note, after clearing the Sun Temple and gaining access to the world map, you can go to a place called the "Desert Path". There is nothing special about the Desert Path except for a cave. Inside the cave is a save point and another conspicuous chest. The walkthrough doesn't tell you anything about this chest. You'd better have learned from your previous encounter with the Griffen and save before opening it. [[spoiler:Opening the chest will get you [[CurbStompBattle ruined]] by the [[BonusBoss Bone Demon]] inside that's meant to be fought at the end of the game. Beating him, however, grants you the InfinityPlusOneSword for a hirable [[OptionalPartyMember mercenary]].]]
* ''Franchise/MassEffect'' Series:
** ''VideoGame/MassEffect1'':
*** [[spoiler:The entire galactic civilization turns out to be the result of this. The AbusivePrecursors, [[SapientShip The Reapers]], created the [[PortalNetwork Mass Relay Network]] and placed the Citadel in the center of it. The Citadel is a self-maintaining habitable space station big enough to house an enormous population, thus ensuring any species would make it a hub of communication, commerce, and military strategy. Unfortunately, it is also a massive portal generator, intended to allow the Reapers to launch a surprise attack against the heart of any civilization that discovers it, then use all of the records left behind to find and exterminate the survivors.]]
** As you enter the [=ExoGeni=] facility, there is a locked room. You can hack (read: lockpick) your way in to find a crate full of loot and what looks like a dead geth armature (walking tank). Touch the crate and the armature wakes up.
** ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'':
*** There's this character called Morinth, see. She's an asari, an alien race that can mate with anyone by joining nervous systems. She has a particularly rare genetic quirk that causes her to burn out the nervous system of whomever she mates with. This is extremely addictive for her and invariably fatal for the other person, but gives her a boost of strength and biotic power. Guess what she offers to you. Guess what one of your responses is. [[NonStandardGameOver Guess what happens if you take her up on it...]]
*** There's a smaller example during Tali's loyalty quest. When you encounter Admiral Zaal'Koris vas Qwib-Qwib, Tali tells you not to ask about the name. One of the dialogue options is, of course, to ask about it.
---->'''Tali:''' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HyFMwTa5yE&feature=related Oh, here we go.]]
** ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'':
*** [[ArrogantKungFuGuy Kai Leng]] deals you your only mandatory defeat in the game by using CutscenePowerToTheMax, which gets under Shepard's skin and likely pisses off the player. The thing is, immediately after, your comm specialist is able to track Kai to his final hideout and Kai sends you an e-mail specifically to taunt you about your loss. This can cause you to want to forego any further asset-building missions, starting the endgame battle sequences with fewer war assets than you would have if you were patient and leading to a more costly victory, or even a defeat.
*** One of the series' most beloved {{Running Gag}}s is the ability to punch out an annoying reporter on camera. Doing this at any point in the series will cost the player five or ten war assets in the third game, depending on if she was knocked out there or if she was punched previously.
** ''VideoGame/MassEffectAndromeda'':
*** The game utilizes the series' interrupt prompts, only this time the things they cause can be bad, as in Jaal's loyalty mission. Pushing the button causes the exact opposite of what he wanted, [[spoiler:killing Akksul and making him a martyr for all the other xenophobic angara, rather than discrediting him]]. Also, it'll make Jaal unable to talk to Ryder for some time afterward.
*** In one out-of-the-way area on Elaaden, it's possible to find a group of scavengers standing around a crate. They won't attack, but that crate looks very tempting, doesn't it? Should you be unable to resist the urge, they attack. [[spoiler:And the crate's contents are no different from any other in the game.]]
*** According to some of the angaran resistance, the kett have a habit of leaving vehicles lying around, unlocked but perfectly intact and functional, where ''anyone'' could steal them... until the angara get in, at which point it explodes. Though, as they point out, the kett only started doing this ''after'' the angara did it to them.
* Some of [[VideoGame/MechWarrior Mechwarrior 2]]'s missions take place in a large city full of buildings that can all be targeted to see their name and inspected to see their contents. You get warehouses containing food, business headquarters containing offices and the like - what you'd expect from any city. But if you wander away from anything pertaining to the mission and target everything out of curiosity, you might eventually find an otherwise nondescript building suspiciously called "Oh, just a building...", which will display "Don't shoot me!" upon inspection. Do the obvious and you'll trigger a nuclear explosion that destroys everything in the level, yourself included.
* ''VideoGame/MegaManClassic'':
** When fighting the Boobeam Trap (the fourth Wily stage boss) in ''VideoGame/MegaMan2'', the boss consists of five wall-mounted turrets which periodically shoot at you. Getting to them is made difficult by a complicated room arrangement, including five walls which can be destroyed by your Crash Bombs to make it easier to move around the chamber. Two of those destructible walls directly block one of the turrets each, and must be destroyed, but the remaining three are this trope. See, the Crash Bombs are the only weapon that can hurt the turrets, and you have exactly seven shots-- one each for the two necessary walls and the five turrets. If you destroy any of the "optional" walls, you won't have enough weapon energy to finish the fight. (Technically there's two ways to avoid this: the first is to place one of the Crash Bombs so it destroys one of the turrets and one of the required walls simultaneously, which is a tricky shot, but leaves you with one bomb to spare if you pull it off. The second is that the walls don't regenerate if you die, so if you're not on your last life (or trying for a no-death run) you can blow up all the walls, die, refill your Crash Bombs on the way back to the boss chamber, and have plenty of ammo *and* no walls to obstruct you.)
** ''VideoGame/MegaMan5'' has a room in Charge Man's stage where you have just climbed a ladder, to the right is the way on, and to the left is a long bed of spikes with no wall on the other side, which may lead you to wonder if something is on the other side (not a stretch, given that similar tricks have been present in earlier games). If you have Rush Jet, you can climb on, fly over the spikes to the other end... and end up hitting the end of the room, falling onto the spikes, and losing a life.
---> '''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCDL-6jflGg&feature=player_detailpage#t=127 GeminiLaser]]:''' ''DEATH! There's nothing on the other side but [[SpikesOfDoom DEATH]]!''
*** Likewise, the suspicious pit placed in Stone Man's stage.
---> '''[[https://youtu.be/EY7Ps90G06w?t=12 GeminiLaser]]:''' ''Before we begin let me satisfy my curiousity on something.'' *dies* ''[[CaptainObvious Yeah, it's a pit!]]''
** ''VideoGame/MegaMan9'' has the Metools disguised as 1-ups. In normal gameplay, these are a bit more understandable to be tricked by, but in [[EndlessGame Endless Attack]], where you get only one life...
** ''VideoGame/MegaMan11'': For one of his [[BossBanter taunts]], Blast Man tells Mega Man to catch his bombs. Since when is that a good idea?
* ''VideoGame/MetalGear'':
** About halfway through the Plant chapter of ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'', there is an electrified floor that the player has to deactivate in order to progress in the game. Colonel Campbell specifically warns you not to test it. But you can anyway.
** Upon first meeting [[MagnificentBastard Ocelot]] in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'', Snake knocks him out. Once control is restored to the player, many players take their knife to him, causing a Time Paradox. This nets an achievement in the HD version.
* ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'':
** A painting depicts the formation of blocks used to create the Wither, an extremely powerful EldritchAbomination who will stop at nothing to kill you. If a player doesn't know that the blocks are used to form such a creature, and builds the formation of blocks out of curiosity, they're in trouble.
** The mod Mystcraft can have books with this. Failing to create a book linking to the Overworld before jumping into an Age you've created will, more often than not, cause you to be stuck in that Age. Alternatively, certain Age symbols that you use to write Ages carry with them a hefty toll. Good luck mining all that extra ore in that Age when the entire world is falling apart at the seams.
* In ''VideoGame/MisterMosquito'', the just-barely-cracked-open microwave visibly has a huge load of [[HeartContainer heart rings]] inside. Upon entering, the microwave closes and roasts you alive if you don't get back out in a short period of time.
* ''VideoGame/Mother3'':
** A herd of enemies called [[MixAndMatchCritters Cattlesnakes]] can be found roaming peacefully about a field, making no attempt to fight you, but a nearby sign warns you not to try to battle them. [[spoiler:You can battle them, but they're very hard enemies with very high offense, and when you first go to the area where you can find them, they will almost certainly steamroll you.]]
** If you approach an enemy from the back, it has to spend a turn turning around to face you from the front, leaving it vulnerable for a turn or two. [[spoiler:Cue an enemy that launches missiles out of its rear.]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Myst}}'': Atrus invoked this trope when he designed his library. The shelves are full of books leading to worlds of bounty, easily plundered, but the two books given pride of place on lecterns are traps. Atrus explicitly told his sons never to touch them. Tragically, this might have contributed to the boys' {{Face Heel Turn}}s, as they were driven by their fantasies of what the books might hold, but this also caused them to be [[HoistByHisOwnPetard Hoist By Their Own Petard]] when they entered the books and found there was no way out.
* In ''VideoGame/TheNeverhood'', the only way to die partway through the game and get the "Game Over" screen is to [[BottomlessPits jump into a pit]], which is clearly labelled with signs that say ''not'' to jump there...
* From ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights'':
** In ''NeverwinterNights/ShadowsOfUndrentide'', one section of the kobold caves includes a treasure room with prominent red arrows pointing to it and four lowered gates around it, which might as well have a sign reading “OBVIOUS TRAP” above it. When you open the chest and just find a note from the kobolds laughing at your foolishness, you're probably sighing and nodding in agreement as the gates spring up around you.
** In the mod ''VideoGame/ADanceWithRogues'', one mission involves pretending to be a stripper so you can infiltrate the mayor's mansion and steal a statue, which you are warned in no unambiguous terms not to tamper with. If you use the item's "unique power", it summons a succubus (a demon, which is rather more powerful than you should be at that point).
* ''VideoGame/NierAutomata'' has a handful of Joke Endings triggered by doing intentionally counter-intuitive actions the game warns you about.
** The description for the "OS Chip", a skill chip that is equipped at the beginning of the game, warns "Removal means death". [[PressXToDie It should be safe to remove, though.]] WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong
** Activating the self-destruct option while on the Bunker, an orbital station that contains all of your back up data. Normally, you would respawn at a travel station, but since you just destroyed the one place that held your data...
** At one point, Jackass will give you a mackerel, a fish that is said to have adverse effects on androids when consumed. [[PressXToDie It sure looks tasty, though...]]
* ''VideoGame/NoMansSky'': The Whispering Eggs found near abandoned buildings look like any other rare treasure. However, attempting to harvest one [[spoiler:spawns a wave of ferocious Biological Horrors that can overwhelm a careless explorer in seconds]].
* ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes'': Bad Girl sometimes drops to her knees and starts crying. If you attack her while she's crying, she will [[OneHitKill instantly kill you.]] [[spoiler:Sometimes. On other occasions, she ''really is'' crying and wide open to attack. Look at her hands - if one hand is on the bat, she'll kill you; if both hands are on her face, she's open.]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Oddworld}}: Abe's Oddysee'':
** There are fireflies that give hints if you stand still and chant for a while. One of those hints is: "Watch...out...for...that...bat" — whereupon the GoddamnedBats swoop down on you and kill you.
** The very end of the game has a countdown until DeadlyGas floods the factory and, should the player rescue the last worker, they will be given the one-use ability to avoid capture by murdering the evil C.E.O.s and the capturing guards almost instantly. Doing so, however, leaves the player alone in the board room with the [[TimeBomb still-counting-down gas timer]] and a lever labelled "'''GAS SHUTOFF'''", which [[spoiler:drops two more guards into the room, forcing the player to be captured anyway or [[ButThouMust suffocate to death]]]].
** Near the end of the game, you'll find a lever marked "Ring for Service". Pulling it spawns a Slig that shoots you dead on the spot. [[spoiler:You need to possess said Slig in order to advance, and getting out of its line of fire is fairly easy.]]
** In a similar example to the above, one of the [[KentBrockmanNews Magog on the March]] segments in ''Exoddus'' informs you, "If you have any further questions, feel free to pull the lever to your right." Pulling that one sends a crate down to crush you.
* ''VideoGame/PapersPlease'':
** Throughout the game, your job as a border inspector is to keep out anyone who is not allowed in your country or turn people away if their papers are not in order. At a few points, you're given papers by a rebel group aiming to overthrow your government, and they walk away after giving you their messages. Later on, the head inspector visits you and tells you about the rebels while also requesting that if you have any information about them, you should tell him ASAP. Most players playing for the first time would very likely give the rebels' papers to the man, thinking they are doing the right thing. Nope! Giving your boss those papers will have him suspect you of being an affiliate with the rebels and [[NonStandardGameOver you're arrested for being associated with terrorists]]. Even the achievement for this mocks you for being too honest.
** At one point, the rebel group will give you a little envelope with poisonous powder inside, which you are to apply to the passport of a person the rebels want out of the picture. The envelop has "DO NOT TOUCH POWDER" written inside. Three guesses as to what happens if you touch the powder, [[PressXToDie and the]] [[NonstandardGameOver first two]] [[TooDumbToLive don't count]].
** Early in the game, you receive a hefty 1000 credit bribe. [[spoiler:Accepting it will cause you to be ratted out by neighbors, thus costing you the money you took plus your savings. If you burn the 1000 credit bribe, but accept the second bribe which is double that amount, you get a NonStandardGameOver. Accepting the first bribe is fine if you need cash to get through the day, just so long as you let an EZIC agent in the next day to clear your name.]]
** Late in the game, [[spoiler:the rebels ask you to assassinate a key target while one of them provides a distraction. Regardless of whether you use the non-lethal tranquilizer rifle or the deadly sniper rifle, shooting the target will result in your arrest. Worse still, the rebels will send you a note revealing that your replacement isn't cooperating with them and they will have to stop their plans for a while]].
** Your supervisor Dimitri orders you to admit entry to Shae Pierskova, who he says is an old friend of his. When Shae arrives at your booth, [[spoiler:she presents diplomatic authorization, but because Arstotzka is not one of the countries on the document, you can point this out, at which point the Detain button appears. [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall As if noticing the button that she shouldn't be able to see]], she warns you that you probably shouldn't detain her because Dimitri is "not forgiving person". Detaining her will result in Dimitri having you arrested the next day on made-up charges, resulting in a NonStandardGameOver. However, if you merely deny her, you get a verbal ass-chewing from Dimitri but no formal consequence.]]
* ''VideoGame/ThePath'' only gives you two instructions: Go to grandmother's house, and StayOnThePath. Guess what you do.
* ''VideoGame/Payday2'': In Henry's Rock, there's a button simply labeled "Do Not Press". You can press it... on [[HarderThanHard Overkill difficulty or above]] only. [[spoiler:Pressing it causes tear gas to rain from the ceiling, along with two turrets.]]
* In the old game ''VideoGame/PharaohsTomb'', scrolls make blocks of bricks appear. Usually, this is beneficial. ''However'', sometimes they aren't. For example, there's a shortcut in one level — except taking it means you collect a scroll that bricks you in. In another, you can collect two idols for several thousand points — except first, you collect a scroll which (yep) bricks you in.
* The very short InteractiveFiction game ''VideoGame/PickUpThePhoneBoothAndDie'' is one of the purest examples of Schmuck Bait ever created. And yes, if you pick up the phone booth, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin you die]]. There is a way to win, though.
* In ''VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment'', one of the quests involves a [[SealedEvilInACan box]] that The Nameless One is forced to deliver to several people because they don't want it, and they state repeatedly to ''never'' open it, that is it not good to ''know'' what's in it, and more importantly, to never, ''ever'', under any circumstances leave the Hive (the part of the city the game starts in) while carrying the box. Classic Schmuck Bait. There are actually three ways to complete this quest: you can open the box yourself like an idiot [[spoiler:and fight a low-level demon which is unlikely to be a threat unless there's no one in the party with a magic weapon]], you can simply leave the Hive while it's still in your inventory (which causes the box to vanish with no apparent results other than the gem on it replacing it in your inventory), or you can complete a quest that has you run all over the Hive to find someone that will destroy the box and send its contents to multiple dimensions, [[spoiler:netting you some XP and a small amount of money from the guy who gave you the box, provided you manage to find him]]. [[spoiler:Choose the second option, and near the end of the game, you end up encountering "[[NamesToRunAwayFrom The Fiend from Moridor's Box]]", which turns out to be the strongest monster in the game.]] In fine ''D&D'' tradition, taking the hardest way out nets you the best treasure and a huge amount of XP... if you survive.
* Point-and-click adventure game ''VideoGame/PleaseDontTouchAnything'' is built entirely around this, given the title and premise. [[spoiler:However, one of the game's endings requires the player to do it.]]
* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'':
** ''[[VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue Pokémon Red, Blue, and Yellow]]'' has the [[MagikarpPower Magikarp]] salesman. 500 Pokémon Dollars for a low-level Pokémon that starts off with no useful moves? While it's still a bit overpriced, the good news is he's available far sooner than the fishing rods are, allowing you to [[DiscOneNuke evolve it into a Gyarados]] before you'd even be able to catch one normally. The guy shows up in ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'' too, but this time, it's after you beat the main storyline, and this is the only way you can get a Gyarados in-game, other than transferring or trading one; you can't fish for them in Unova.
** The monster houses in the ''VideoGame/PokemonMysteryDungeon'' series look innocent enough, initially appearing to simply be empty rooms with a higher number of items in them than usual. However, the moment you set foot in them, close to a dozen enemy Pokémon will appear out of nowhere, and likely put you through a lot of pain if you weren't prepared for it. They also tend to be laden with traps, which can lead to further complications even after getting rid of the enemies if you don't tread cautiously. Though for a player prepared for it with a high-powered room wipe move like Heat Wave, they're exceptionally good at farming experience.
** In ''[[VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl Pokémon Platinum]]'', there is a member of Team Galactic running back and forth, looking up and down, about five paces each way, as if suffering an attack of epilepsy, in the Galactic Warehouse. He is one of the few Mooks in the building (and, indeed, in the game) who doesn't challenge you to a battle on sight. As those types are usually the ones who give the player useful items or information upon speaking to them, one is naturally inclined to do so... at which point, he challenges you to a battle.
* The ''VideoGame/PoolOfRadiance'' series by SSI has one when fighting the final boss of the game series, a powerful demon. When you win out over his first wave of attackers, he tries to tempt you with the power of the stone he has and runs a command word by [[UnreadablyFastText too quickly to read]]. If you used tricks like [[FreezeFrameBonus pausing the computer at the right time to read the code]] and input it, you complete the demon's plan, causing Elminster to rise up from the pool, crying out in horror, before swiftly dying, along with the entire party.
* ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}'':
** In ''VideoGame/Portal1'', the BigBad pulls a BriarPatching gambit in regards to a weird object she just dropped, even going so far as to {{lampshade|Hanging}} her use of ReversePsychology. Messing with it ''is'' bad for you.
--->'''[=GLaDOS=]:''' [[AC:I wouldn't bother with that thing. My guess is that touching it will make your life even worse, somehow.]]\\
[[AC:I don't want to tell you your business, but if it were me I'd leave that thing alone.]]\\
[[AC:Do you think I'm trying to trick you with reverse psychology? I mean, seriously now.]]
** ''VideoGame/Portal2'' has quite a few examples. To wit:
*** The "missing" Emancipation Grill, which [=GLaDOS=] specifically tells you not to bring anything through. Sure enough, she just wants to YankTheDogsChain.
*** [=GLaDOS=] attempts to lure you to her "final test", which is conveniently already solved and has an open doorway ostensibly leading to the outside. Falling for it earns you an [[ViolationOfCommonSense achievement]]... and a reload.
*** A door marked "[=GLaDOS=] Emergency Shutdown and [[TheCakeIsALie Cake Dispensary]] -- Keep Unlocked". She savagely {{lampshade|Hanging}}s this one, despite it being a case of StupidityIsTheOnlyOption.
--->'''[=GLaDOS=]:''' [[AC:I honestly, ''truly'' didn't think you'd fall for that. In fact, I devised a ''much'' more elaborate trap further ahead for when you got through this easy one. If I'd known you'd let yourself get captured this easily, I would have just dangled a turkey leg on a rope from the ceiling.]]
*** Several of [[spoiler:Wheatley]]'s {{Death Trap}}s, or as he refers to one of them, a "[[BetterToDieThanBeKilled Death Option]]". He goes so far as to express pleasant surprise if you actually fall for them, and one earns you an [[ViolationOfCommonSense achievement]].
* After you are released from the Human Juicing Machines in ''VideoGame/Prey2006'', you come to a switch beneath an observation window overlooking the same machine. Pushing the switch causes the machine to resume its juicing of the other captives, and it cannot be deactivated again. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Way to go, hero.]]
* ''VideoGame/Progressbar95'': Clippy may show up carrying an "x4" sign and saying "Don't press!" while a timer ticks down. Actually pressing the button that closes him makes him say "I told you!" and spawns four copies of him.
* There are a few strangers who you can meet in ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption2'' who make it quite obvious that going off with them is a bad idea.
** There's a creepy man you meet in the swamp whose name is Sonny. Sonny will ask you if you want to go into his house and be his "friend". Don't do it, because Sonny will rape you, and it's not PlayedForLaughs.
** There's a very odd man you can find who lives on a pig farm. He and his "wife" will invite you in for dinner. If you accept, they'll roofie you, steal all of your money, and throw you in a mass grave. Turns out that his "wife" is also [[VillainousIncest his sister]].
** A guy in the HubCity of Saint Denis will offer you a deal on guns if you follow him down an alley. He robs you and takes half your money, but unlike the pig farmer incest couple, you can't get the money back.
* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil'': In one of the rooms there is a neatly-mounted Shotgun on the wall of an otherwise plain room, taking it [[spoiler: and '''not''' replacing it with the Broken Shotgun you can find in the other areas of the mansion]] results in the previous empty square room seperating the room you're currently in from the hallway locking '''both doors''' after you pass through the exit of the room containing said shotgun, then a slow-but-inevitable [[spoiler:(unless you're Jill and Barry saves you in an iconic cutscene)]] DescendingCeiling crushes you.
* ''VideoGame/RiseOfNations'' has Greenland in the New World campaign: it's ''very'' hard to take, because you have to gather up a lot of food and endure constant harassment while doing so. Your reward? The Fish resource, which can be found basically anywhere there's a coast. Hey, it's Greenland, what did you expect?
[[/folder]]

[[folder:G-L]]
* ''VideoGame/GodOfWar'':
** ''VideoGame/GodOfWarII'': Hold R1 to drain your godly power into one easily-stolen sword. Since ''[[BigBad Zeus]]'' is the one who tells you to do this, only the most unsavvy players would think this will end well. ButThouMust...
** In ''VideoGame/GodOfWarPS4'', Kratos can use the branches of Yggdrasil to [[WarpWhistle fast-travel]]. He is repeatedly warned that jumping off the branches will kill him, but there is nothing stopping the player from doing it. [[spoiler:That being said, there's a hidden area near Jötunheim's portal that requires you to jump off the branch while wearing a special protective rune.]]
--->'''Brok''': And whatever do you, never, never, [[PunctuatedForEmphasis EVER]], never, ever, [[OverlyLongGag ever, ever, ever]] throw yourself over the edge of the path... lest you want death.
* ''VideoGame/GoldBox'':
** While exploring a tower in ''Curse of the Azure Bonds'', you have the option of picking up a piece of parchment on avoiding the tower's traps. Tip number one: Don't read [[StuffBlowingUp Explosive Runes]].
** ''Secret of the Silver Blades'' has a room in the Dreadlord's lair with a sign: "Certain death lies behind this door. This does not lead to the Dreadlord." If you enter the room, there is a very difficult fight (with the same sort of monsters you've been encountering already, but more of them), which is introduced by a spectre saying "I'm very sorry, but you were warned." The room contains no treasure and no Dreadlord.
* ''VideoGame/GoldenSun'':
** The game makes [[StupidityIsTheOnlyOption stupidity the only option]]. You can find a pillar of the sort you are usually knocking down with Force deep in the Altin Mines, next to a sign saying "Do not strike the wall! Rocks may fall!" ''You have to trigger a rockslide here to continue in the game.'' This leads to two potential SugarWiki/FunnyMoments:
*** If you do not have the Force Psynergy to knock over the pillar, Garet will pop out, get pissed off at the dead end, and kick it down, causing the rockslide.
*** Whether you or Garet cause the rockslide, it results in Isaac having to make an IndyEscape from a giant rolling boulder (which knocks a hole in the floor of the mines, enabling you to continue further down).
* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'':
** ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV'':
*** Go to [[PaedoHunt www.littlelacysurprisepageant.com]] on the in-game Internet and COOL THINGS happen! [[note]]Not really. You just get an instant five-star wanted level.[[/note]]
*** If you choose to take the [[spoiler:Deal]] route at the end of the game. Sure, nothing will go wrong with working with [[spoiler:Dimitri]] one last time for a huge payday, will it? Not that the other route is much better, mind you, but choosing to [[spoiler:Deal]] results in a full-on DownerEnding due to your greed, while [[spoiler:Revenge]] still ends up being [[BitterSweetEnding quite a downer]], but not nearly as much.
** ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'':
*** When playing the online component, you're told that holding down the chat key while singing into the microphone will net you some easy [=RPs=] when your character takes a shower. And it does — a measily 50 RP. You know what else it does? [[spoiler:It broadcasts your singing to the ''entire session''. How bad the aftermath will be depends on whether you're on a completely public session, a friends-only or crew-only session, or playing solo, and how good your singing actually is.]]
*** In the story mode mission "Deep Inside", after accidentally kidnapping a woman while trying to recover one of Devon's cars, Franklin spots a red button inside the vehicle and wonders what it does. [[spoiler:Pressing it causes the woman to be [[EjectorSeat ejected out of the car]] in absolutely hysterical fashion.]]
* ''VideoGame/GuildWars'' has several treasure chests, heaps of gold, and suspicious wall panels scattered throughout the Nightfall lands labelled "Do not touch". When you touch them, you will get a precious item and gold, [[spoiler:but several Djinns will spawn and try to kill you]].
* In ''VideoGame/{{Hacknet}}'', the [[spoiler:[=CCCHacksquad=]]] server is this. [[spoiler:Its only purpose is to teach the player what to do if a trace completes.]] It's probably based off the [[spoiler:"honeypot server" trap used to catch attempted hackers (further supported by the password being "honeypot" and the beehive desktop background in its GUI file)]], making it video game schmuck bait that imitates real-life schmuck bait.
* ''VideoGame/HalfLife'':
** ''VideoGame/HalfLife1'':
*** Early on, after the resonance cascade, you reach an elevator with a large warning sign next to it — "In Case Of Fire Do Not Use Elevators" — should you press the button, an elevator full of scientists will fall screaming to their doom. (The developer who thought this up said that it worked both as a game element and as a message to other developers — "Enough with the [[FetchQuest damn button puzzles]] already.") The elevator still falls even if you don't press the button. Though most people probably do anyway.
*** After killing the assassins, a room opens up revealing a first-aid station. Naturally, the player will go for it straight away to heal up, but get ambushed by some soldiers and have all their weapons taken away. Even if you know about this in advance, [[StupidityIsTheOnlyOption you can't avoid it]].
** ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'' and its expansions tend to leave small piles of ammo, health, and power apparently in the open on the opposite end of seemingly empty rooms or vents, except when you go to get them, the floor will collapse or something and leave you suddenly surrounded by headcrabs or somesuch. The first time, you can probably be forgiven for falling for it, but afterwards not so much, especially since you can grab the items safely from a distance with your gravity gun. In time, you come to realize that the corpses you tend to find nearby are from the many people that sacrificed themselves setting those caches, and the things that killed them are likely expecting your arrival, too.
* The ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon'' games have this in the form of Golden Lumber. It's an indestructible building material, but in most games, it can only be used as fencing. It's also expensive (one piece usually costs 100,000G. By comparison, one stone piece costs 100G and you can make them yourself). In many of the older games, golden lumber is taken by your neighbors as showing off your wealth, so your friendship levels will drop, until you sell the pieces you have off. The only game where the stuff is actually useful is in ''[=HM DS/DS Cute=]'', where you can make virtually indestructible buildings (and that's only really feasible [[BraggingRightsReward late into the game]] or using [[GoodBadBugs the 1 Billion Gold glitch]]).
* It is very, ''very'' obvious that something is not right with Dr. Shuu Iwamine in ''VisualNovel/HatofulBoyfriend''. It is so obvious that something is wrong about him that many players will decide that his weird behaviour being a RedHerring is too obvious, and that his route is a double-bluff. [[spoiler:They're right. ''Shuu has no good ending.'' Unfortunately, you need one of his bad endings to get the true ending, and both of them if you want the epilogue.]]
* ''VideoGame/HearthstoneHeroesOfWarcraft'' uses this with Secrets. Sometimes, though, it combines this with TrapIsTheOnlyOption, as there is almost no way to make progress towards victory without tripping that one Secret, at which point the objective becomes minimizing the impact of triggering it. Knowing what Secrets are available, how each possible Secret can trigger, and under what context a possible Secret could be used is vital to playing around them.
* ''VideoGame/IWannaBeTheGuy'':
** There's a screen that replicates the "It's dangerous to go alone! Take this..." cave from ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaI''. Touching the sword kills you. And mocks you for jumping into a sword.
** [[PressXToDie "This is the safest room in the game, only Q can kill you."]]
* In ''VideoGame/{{Ikachan}}'', there's a chamber full of fish that comes with a sign "Curiosity killed the cat". Trying to enter this chamber will shut the entrance, and should you come without the ability to thrust sideways, you will be left to die on a(n in)conveniently placed [[SpikesOfDoom spike-bed]].
* ''VideoGame/TheImpossibleQuiz'', question 35. "Pressing this button will result in a game over." [[spoiler:It is ''not'' lying.]]
* ''VideoGame/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade'': Sure, you can punch Colonel Vogel or even [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu Adolf Hitler]] while a soldier has a machine gun pointed at you. No points for guessing what happens next (although breaking Hitler's nose ''does'' ​add 10 points to your losing score).
* In ''Videogame/JablessAdventure'', you encounter a mermaid who'd rather not talk to you, and keeps offering you useless things to make you go away. Eventually, she says, "Listen, if I tell you a secret, will you leave me alone? ...If you pester the mermaid too much, you're gonna have a bad time." If you talk to her again, she says "I warned you", and kills you instantly.
* ''VideoGame/{{Jardinains}}'' and its sequel ''Jardinains 2!'' have a [[PoisonMushroom power-up]] that looks like a prohibition sign. In the manual of ''2!'', its name is revealed to be "Very, Very Bad". The description is "Do not get this powerup. '''Do not get this powerup'''" (emphasis original). If you catch it anyway, you'll lose all the ball and paddle powerups you had ''and'' have to deal with a tiny paddle and a really fast ball for the rest of the level or until you lose a life. Granted, sometimes you have to catch the powerup to avoid losing the ball, and sometimes you don't have time to react and move your paddle out of the way, but most of the time, it's Schmuck Bait.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Karoshi}} 2'', there's a level where a message says "You will quit if you press 'q'." Most people will try, though.
* ''VideoGame/KidIcarusUprising'':
** Chapter 2 presents a section of its ground-based level that has a treasure chest, just sitting out there in the open, waiting to be plundered. Not. That chest's a trap, and Magnus even tells Pit how the facet of an actual treasure chest with actual treasure presented in plain sight is outright ludicrous. And in case you think it'll still give you treasure, all it gives you is a heart. Have fun trying to make that worthwhile while facing a mob of two dozen enemies.
** In Chapter 5, during the invisible path section, there's an easy-to-reach chest. Want its treasure? Sure... if you don't mind an Orne [[JumpScare suddenly materializing out of nowhere when you try to approach it]]. Mind you, Ornes are [[OneHitKill lethal]] on [[CollisionDamage contact]].
* ''VideoGame/{{Kindergarten}}'': If you're not Nugget's friend and talk to him during recess, he'll try to convince you to enter the Nugget Cave, a ''very'' deep hole he dug in the sandpit. If you say yes, your character jumps into the pit and falls to his death.
** [[VideoGame/Kindergarten2 The sequel]] has one when you get sent to detention. At the start of detention, Dr. Danner tells you not to talk and then immediately asks if you understand. If you respond that you do, he shoots you for speaking.
* ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII [[UpdatedRerelease Final Mix]]'': The [[BonusBoss Absent Silhouettes]] are easy to access from early on, and often appear right in front of you while you complete each world's story (in fact, Sora and Co. point out [[spoiler:Zexion]]'s when they pass it in The Underworld, though you can't do anything with it yet). Examining them will usually lead to an unprepared player getting murdered.
* In ''VideoGame/KingsQuestVIHeirTodayGoneTomorrow'', the Genie attempts to get you to kill yourself through a succession of schmuck baits.
* ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'':
** You are tasked with delivering a box to a Hutt and warned not to open it, or something very bad will happen. You have a choice as to whether or not to open it. If you do, your consciousness is transmitted to a PhantomZone-like prison dimension. The inmate there challenges you to a contest of riddles, the winner of which will get to return to the real world and inhabit your now-mindless body, and the loser of which will be stuck in the prison dimension indefinitely. Even if you win and return to your body, you don't get any rewards. Unless you like riddles, it's best not to open the box.
** At one point, you visit a Sand People encampment. You're warned not to take anything from their camp without permission. If you do, every one of them turns hostile and attacks you. And when they're reiterating their oral history, you're warned not to question any of it; if you do, they attack you. You're told that sand people must never remove their all-covering garments for what amounts to religious reasons. If you admit you killed a sand person and stole their clothes, they attack you. And so on.
** There is also a mild example in ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords''. When you go to Korriban and start exploring the Valley of Sith Lords, Kreia will contact you and mention that you shouldn't disturb the corpses. If you decide to loot them anyway, enemies spawn and attack you and Kreia chastises you.
** ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic:''
*** On Alderaan, a house of assassins has a "Guest Wing" full of traps. One of these is a chest, sitting on a pedestal in the middle of the room; it's even labeled "[[LampshadeHanging Conspicuous Security Chest]]". Lying in front of it is the body of a previous Schmuck, done in by a half-dozen poison darts. Guess what happens if you open the chest?
*** A player is exploring Voss, minding their own business when... hey, what's this "Forbidden Knowledge" tablet? Looks like a lore object, let's read it — say hello to the two-part World Boss!
* ''VideoGame/KnyttStories'':
** There's a fan level called ''Don't Eat the Mushroom'', with the laughable plot of Juni traveling three screens to deliver a package to a neighbor, encountering a mushroom on the way. If you actually decide to listen to the title and ignore the mushroom, you can deliver the package, thus ending the game in less than a minute, as discovered by LetsPlay/ProtonJon on his first try. If you touch the mushroom, you drop into a psychedelic wonderland upon entering the next screen, and, upon completing the acid trip, you can either deliver the package or return home, or, alternately, go jump in the ocean.
--->'''LetsPlay/ProtonJon:''' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGvZa3tiYwY Does doing drugs actually do this? I— I'm gonna need to check this, 'cause if I took a hit of acid and suddenly saw the Burger King on fire singing "What is Love", I'd be amazed.]]
** There is also the level ''[[http://nifflas.lpchip.nl/index.php?topic=5156.0 Do Not Pick Up The Key]]'', in which everything tells you not to pick up the key at the end. {{N|onPlayerCharacter}}PCs, signs, hieroglyphs, computer screens, snowmen, ''everything''. There are dozens of message boxes throughout the level telling you not to pick it up. What happens if you pick it up? [[spoiler:First of all, the bridge leading to the GoldenEnding will disappear if you try to cross it. Below it is a teleporter with a rather ominous custom effect. If you step into that teleporter, a cutscene appears with the words "YOU LOSER!" on a red background, surrounded by a wall of text [[WhatTheHellPlayer calling you out for picking up the key you were explicitly told not to pick up]]. As a punishment, the game then sends you to the "Room of Doom", a rather difficult challenge area with [[HopeSpot non-functioning levers placed there to tease you]].]]
* ''VideoGame/LaMulana'':
** In the first game, one of the stone tablets says not to read the glyph again (which triggers more enemy spawns, if the warning is ignored), one of them warns not to use weapons in a certain location (or else lighting strikes the player), and so on. The Chamber of Extinction's DisconnectedSideArea has a coin sitting out in the open at the end of a narrow side passage. It's a trap, since you don't get coins in this game except by breaking pots (and the occasional wall) or killing enemies. The [[UpdatedRerelease remake]] changes the coin to an Ankh, which should be just as big a warning. There's also an Ankh Jewel sitting out in the open in the Twin Labyrinths and a Sacred Orb in the Inferno Cavern. Getting either is never that easy.
** ''VideoGame/LaMulana2'' has the Cursed Tablet. There's a warning sign before it that says not to read it twice or you will be cursed, it's surrounded by a destructible barrier, reading it once will cause the tablet to inform you of the curse, and your NPC friend to send you an e-mail saying not to read it again. Reading the cursed tablet twice permanently activates hard mode for the rest of the game.
* In ''VideoGame/LayersOfFear'', there's a moment where an ominous message warns you not to look behind you and you hear the sound of a woman sobbing. If you ignore it and turn around anyway, you'll get a JumpScare.
* ''VideoGame/Left4Dead'':
** If you see the Witch and manage not to instantly startle her, and everyone else tells you ''not'' to shoot her... ''listen''. Particularly annoying is in ''[=L4D2=]'', where you get an achievement for ''not'' startling any of the 10-20 Witches in the sugar mill of the Hard Rain campaign. It's not certain what is worst; the tension and difficulty of the actual task, the constant reminders about not shooting the Witches from the AI, or the AI taking the Schmuck Bait themselves and shooting a Witch that could easily have been avoided and forcing the rest of the group to save them.
** ''VideoGame/Left4Dead2'':
*** The game has jukeboxes at some places, with which you can put on music for use when zombie killing. The problem is, said music also attracts zombie hordes. A variation of this exists in "The Passing" DLC, in which there is a stereo at a wedding... which causes the witch that always spawns there to get spooked and immediately attack the survivor that activated it, in addition to a horde being summoned.
*** The "Dead Air" campaign takes place in an airport. In one part of that airport is a metal detector that you can walk through in plain sight. Walking through it will cause an alarm, alerting a TRUCKLOAD of Infected. It becomes a ButThouMust in the sequel due to changes in the map that force you to walk through the detector.
* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'':
** In [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaI the original NES game]], there are several caves where you can choose between a red potion or a HeartContainer. A red potion can be bought for a paltry 68 rupees, heart containers cannot. There is no reason to choose the red potion over a Heart Container. Interestingly, some 30 years later the world record speedrun route would in fact take one of the potions. Actually completing the medicine sidequest takes too much time, but having two full health refills is far more valuable in level 9 than one more heart, as it allows several damage boosts and more aggressive play against both the Patras and Ganon himself.
** In ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast A Link to the Past]]'', a sign says not to throw anything into a nearby circle of stones. This game allows you to pick up and throw signs. [[spoiler:The ''first'' time you do this, you actually get rewarded for it; in fact, you need the item you get to complete the game. Do it again, though, and the creature that lives in the circle of stones throws an active bomb at you.]]
** Rather than the tradition click-and-buy shop hubs, the shops in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaLinksAwakening Link's Awakening]]'' have you pick up the item and bring it to the cash register to pay for it. If you try to shoplift, the shopkeeper will yell at you, and you won't be able to leave without putting it back or paying. However, some fancy maneuvering makes it possible to slip past his line of sight and get it for free. If you do this, all [=NPCs=] will call you "THIEF" instead of your chosen name, and the shopkeeper will kill you if you ever go back in [[note]]In the DX version, stealing from the shop to get a photo is required to obtain legal 100% completion; however, it's not required to actually beat the game[[/note]].
** In the German version of ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime Ocarina of Time]]'', a hidden Gossip Stone behind the Deku Tree says (in German): "They say something mysterious will happen if you press the reset button while playing." Of course, nothing happens besides your progress being lost.
** In ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask Majora's Mask]]'', the fight with Goht only happens because you decided to shoot a ''Fire Arrow'' at the giant mechanical demon entombed in a block of ice. As usual, to continue with the game, you have to [[NiceJobBreakingItHero release the monster]], and then kill it.
** ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess Twilight Princess]]'':
*** The miniboss of Arbiter's Grounds, Death Sword. It's a honking great big sword, strapped to the ground with ropes covered in prayer strips. It practically screams, "Sealed Demon: Do Not Touch". But of course, [[StupidityIsTheOnlyOption you have to go and cut the ropes]].
*** In the bomb shop, Barnes has signs plastered everywhere warning customers that lit lanterns are forbidden. If you light your lantern, Barnes panics, drops his eye protectors... [[spoiler:and harmlessly dumps water on you to extinguish the lantern]].
** ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword Skyward Sword]]'':
*** The game {{lampshade|Hanging}}s this via a treasure chest that appears while helping [[MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch Batreaux]]. Batreaux will warn you, ''desperately'', that this treasure chest is ''not'' to be opened, and goes on at length about the horrible [[StatusEffects Cursed Medal]] that lurks inside. You can repeatedly tell him you want to open the chest anyway. If you ''do'' open it, he admits that the curse is pretty easy to circumvent (the item greatly increases the chance that enemies drop items in exchange for being unable to open your pouch inventory and thus use your healing potions, and all you need to do to circumvent the curse is to drop the medal off at the storage), and that the human tendency towards doggedly persistent curiosity is one of those things he finds so darn endearing about them.
*** An NPC in a house warns you not to break her pots. If you've ever played any other game in the franchise, you'll know that breaking pots equals cash, and most likely will see no reason why it should be any different here. Wrongo: bust her stuff and she'll charge you. A similar case happens in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker The Wind Waker]]'' if you go to the bottom floor of the House of Wealth and smash Mila's father's vases.
*** When you first enter the Lumpy Pumpkin, you can see a Piece of Heart hanging from the chandelier, and you're warned not to roughhouse on the second floor to prevent it from falling. Once you roll into the railing twice, it falls and you're forced to work to pay for a new one. Once you do a few jobs, [[spoiler:the owner buys a more extravagant one and rewards you with another Piece of Heart]].
** In ''VideoGame/HyruleWarriors'', some out-of-the-way keeps function as traps with no real way to tell them apart from the regular variety beforehand: if you clear them out in hopes of uncovering a treasure chest, you'll be trapped inside and need to kill off some Elite Mooks to open the doors. If you don't know about them beforehand and time it poorly, getting trapped inside one at a bad moment might cause you to lose the entire battle.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Lemmings}}'', the bomber skill will cause a lemming to explode. This is useful in some levels for removing part of the landscape or simply getting rid of a blocker, but no matter how you use it, it results in the death of the lemming you assign it to. In some levels, you are required to save 100%, but the game still gives you the bomber skill. Obviously, there is no way to use this skill and still complete the level successfully. It's mainly there to tempt idiots.
* ''VideoGame/LennusII'' takes this to a cruel extreme. It is ''very'' easy to talk to a shady NPC and wake up with your money missing — for good.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Loom}}'', legend has it that looking under the hood of a Weaver is fatal. When he's got Bobbin captive, Cobb can't resist finding out whether the legend is true. [[spoiler:It is.]]
* The entire point of ''VideoGame/LoseLose'' is to be Schmuck Bait. It's a game sort of like ''VideoGame/SpaceInvaders'', except that each alien is made up of a file on your computer. If you shoot an alien, that file is ''immediately and permanently deleted''. Play it at your own risk and don't say we didn't warn you.
* In ''VideoGame/TheLostCrown: A Ghosthunting Adventure'', the Schmuck Bait turns out to be [[spoiler:the crown itself... which you have no choice but to take anyway]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:D-F]]
* In the second level of ''VideoGame/DangerousDave'', you can see gems floating above fire and water. Does the game allow you to jump down and claim them? Why, yes... if you don't mind losing a life for trying.
* ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'':
** ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsI'':
*** Players can leave messages on the ground with the soapstone item, which can be seen by other people who happen to be both online and in the same locations. This [[InternetJerk unsurprisingly]] leads to players telling gullible bystanders to take [[LeapOfFaith Leaps of Faith]] into BottomlessPits.
*** The first game has [[IronicNickname Trusty Patches]], who will generally reward the appropriate level of ([[ObviouslyEvil clearly misplaced]]) trust by dropping you into a pit. [[RunningGag Twice.]]
*** The Twilight Forest is made of these. One side path has a small room with the glow of an item at the far back. A savvy player will note the top foliage of the Nightshade creature that lurks right in front of it. A quick grab and dash, yes? Oops, going into the room causes two more Nightshades to drop at the entrance, while the obvious third also attacks. The area is small enough that all three can hit you with any attack, or even worse, get you with their grab attack animation. The prize? A Purple Moss, an item that you get from ''farming Nightshades''.
** ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsII'':
*** The end of the Pate/Creighton sidequest, regardless of whom you choose to ally with, will send you to the same room containing a booby-trapped exploding treasure chest.
*** On his own, [[DemonicPossession Royal Sorcerer Navlaan]] is imprisoned in a laboratory, alternating between a scared young mage and an ObviouslyEvil dark wizard who bribes you to kill innocent {{N|onPlayerCharacter}}PCs. The SchmuckBait comes into play with the nearby lever, which is preceded by a hallway full of signs warning you to not touch it and leave. Pulling the lever releases Navlaan, who will invade you multiple times throughout the game, but if you leave him in his cell and do his hits (or make him ''think'' you did), then he will become a merchant that sells some items you can't get anywhere else.
*** The Smelter Demon has a very slow, telegraphed SwordPlant attack that is extremely easy to avoid and has it stand still for several seconds afterwards. It certainly looks like the perfect opportunity to run in and get a bunch of hits on it, and sometimes it genuinely is. Other times, it will follow the attack with a highly damaging shockwave that has a large radius. There is no way to tell whether it will do the shockwave or not, leading many players to get baited into taking a shockwave to the face.
** ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsIII'': The setup for the boss fight with [[DemBones High Lord Wolnir]]. You are transported into an endless dark abyss where the only illumination is the faint glow of an item on the floor (a Pyromancy tome). Approach, and Wolnir will burst forth out of the darkness and attack. It's a brilliant JumpScare.
* ''Videogame/DawnOfWar'': There are two ways to get into the enemy base during the ''Dark Crusade'' imperial guard stronghold mission. The first is a long, brutal slog across the entire map through several forward bases, while the second is a seemingly lightly-guarded trench which leads straight into the heart of said base. You do wanna take the former though, unless you want to have your entire forces annihilated by the [[WaveMotionGun hellstorm cannon]] at the base of the trench.
* In the ''Franchise/DeadSpace'' series, the Markers are literally bait that the Brethren Moons use to lure entire civilizations into becoming willing sacrifices. Space is "dead" because every race that preceded humanity fell for the same trap, at least in the Milky Way.
* Near the beginning of ''VideoGame/DeadlyRoomsOfDeath: Journey to Rooted Hold'', the Slayer sets up a stupidly obvious trap, in which hitting an orb will lock you in the room. His companion tries to tell him "The Delver can't be that stupid." However, falling for the trap [[StupidityIsTheOnlyOption is the only way to progress]], and the Slayer gives him an "I told you so".
* The ''VideoGame/{{Deadpool}}'' game gives you the option to use a toilet in his apartment. You might think you're going to get a quick quip about that option, but no, he sits down and uses the bathroom in real time and calls you a freak for choosing this option.
* In ''Dengeki Gakuen RPG: Cross of Venus'', [[LightNovel/BludgeoningAngelDokurochan Dokuro-chan]] positively reeks of this trope in the ''LightNovel/{{Toradora}}'' world. After all, why would her first action after leaving the room you just landed in be to casually flick a switch that releases '''poison gas in the first floor of Taiga's apartment'''? And then she pulls every switch at the beginning of each subsequent floor (despite everyone's protests, even), though these do demonstrate the traps waiting for you there. (Thankfully, she doesn't touch the four levers at the end of each floor, three of which initiate battles.)
* Some levels of ''VideoGame/{{Descent}}'' have a trap at the end. Sometimes you'll notice a switch inside the exit tunnel. Shooting it will do one of two things: unlock a nearby secret (which is usually obvious) or open up a MonsterCloset right over your head (which is usually ''not'' obvious). The devious part is that the first few times you encounter this, the former happens, so you're not as likely to suspect the trap before hitting that switch.
* [[http://jayisgames.com/tag/detarou Detarou]]'s escape-the-room games almost always have at least one schmuck ending. Sure, go ahead and press that BigRedButton on a conspicuously darkened wall. Why, of ''course'' approaching that Finish Line is the way to finish the game, even though half of your inventory is still full. And you should ''definitely'' go in the direction that [[BearsAreBadNews nice-looking panda]] is pointing in or pull that rope he really, really wants you to pull. You ''totally'' won't fall into a TrapDoor and get a Bad Ending screen with Evil Panda laughing over your stupidity!
* ''Franchise/DeusExUniverse'':
** ''VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution'':
*** At one point your augmentations start glitching and you are instructed to go to the nearest L.I.M.B. Clinic for a emergency replacement biochip. [[spoiler:If you've been paying attention to the game or are suitably paranoid, then you'll have picked up on the numerous hints that the "unforeseen" glitches and biochip aren't what the Illuminati-controlled news media is telling you. Even the ''opening cutscene'' has TheOmniscientCouncilOfVagueness talking about this plan before it goes into effect. Sure enough, if you get your biochip replaced, then one of the {{Big Bad}}s uses a killswitch to disable your augmentations before a boss battle.]]
*** A few computers and breakable walls will be placed in view of non-patrolling enemies. These are specifically placed to catch out any player foolish enough to take the bait, putting themselves within eyesight of a guard [[PressXToDie and subsequently getting shot]].
** ''VideoGame/DeusExMankindDivided'' continues the tradition of having technically breakable walls and hackable computers and consoles in view of enemies or police. As an additional twist, don't pick up any loose credit chips you find in the apartments of an arms dealer. Doing so inside the casino of a notorious mob boss, however, seems to raise no eyebrows.
* ''VideoGame/DiabloIII'':
** There are plenty of times the player character sees obvious traps and calls them for what they are. They're willing to play along and "stumble into them", since they're powerful enough to blow through whatever comes along.
** Invoked by Urzael in ''Reaper of Souls''. There just happens to be an unguarded chest, sitting in a garden? When the lid flips open, the gates slam shut and enemies spawn in. He even leaves a note inside, calling you greedy.
* ''VideoGame/DiveKick'' has tips from Uncle Sensei in the loading screen, and more often than not, they fall into this territory. One of his suggestions is to delete your operating system to free up hard disk space.
* At the end of ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry2DiddysKongQuest'' level Glimmer's Galleon, there are a few puffer fish enemies, which usually swell up and move around or explode into shrapnel. There is also one that isn't swollen and doesn't seem to react to you, and right above it is a Banana Coin. If you go for the coin, the fish will immediately swell up and float upward, causing you to take a hit.
* In the ''VideoGame/DontEscape'' series of games, the object is to, well, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin not escape]]. The third game is set on a spaceship, which has a clearly marked escape pod which the player is perfectly free to use. It is obviously ''not'' a good idea to use it, but ''why'' you wouldn't want to is not immediately clear.
* ''[[http://www.rrrrthats5rs.com/games/dont-shoot-the-puppy/ Don't Shoot the Puppy]]''. Every level is a new kind of Schmuck Bait designed to get you to fire that gun by mistake.
* ''Franchise/{{Doom}}'':
** ''Videogame/{{Doom}}'':
*** See that big health kit on the middle of this large, perfectly circular, and otherwise completely empty room? You are free to take it. If you are ready to fight huge waves of monsters that will appear the moment you pick it up from camouflaged trap doors on the walls, that is.
*** Somewhat common among the modding community of ''Doom'' are what are known as "Terry traps", troll levels that start out looking normal, but at a certain point teleport you into a place with obscene imagery, armies of monsters that can insta-kill you, ear-splitting sounds, and/or seizure-inducing flashing. At least one such level even included (through on-screen text) a link to this trope's page.
** ''VideoGame/Doom3'': You'll find rooms that seem perfect for an ambush with a large medkit in a corner, but nothing will happen. However, there's also a vacant hallway with a small stimpack in an opening in it, and touching ''that'' causes an Imp to appear behind you and maul your spine away.
* ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'':
** There's a great example during the "Nature of the Beast" plotline. There is a treasure chest near the Keeper of the elven village. Touch it once and you get a mild warning. Touch it again and the Keeper's apprentice now hates your guts. Though this has absolutely zero effect on anything.
** There are 9 Revenants scattered around the game that will appear if you touch the wrong item and can easily mudstomp an unprepared player. The game does give ominous clues that the items (black vials or gravestones) shouldn't be touched.
* ''VideoGame/DragonFinSoup'' allows you to attempt to eat or drink anything in your inventory as a standard action. Should you try doing this with an item that isn't meant for human consumption (like, say, [[AteHisGun a shotgun]]), you're likely to lose a ton of HP in the process, possibly even killing you.
* ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'':
** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIII'' has the Golden Claws. You managed to find the secret chamber on the first trip to the Pyramid? Neato! You've found the best weapon for the Martial Artist in the game, period. But guess what; you're not leaving with them. From the moment you collect the Golden Claws, every single individual step you take in any direction will trigger a monster encounter. The only feasible way to get them and get out safely is after you've levelled well beyond that point in the game.
** In many games, you can find a sign in the middle of a toxic swamp that tells you to keep out of the swamp that you have to cross just to read the damn sign. Even funnier in ''VideoGame/DragonQuestV: Hand of the Heavenly Bride''; when the hero comes across one, he's a six year old who can't read yet.
* A potion in one of the rooms in ''VideoGame/DragonsLair'' that says "Drink Me" on it. In a castle where everything you can think of is magically enchanted to kill you. [[spoiler:If you do let Dirk the Daring drink it, it "poofs" him into dust and takes a life.]]
* The ''VideoGame/DumbWaysToDie'' video game:
** There's a level asking you not to push the BigRedButton.
** The sequel has a level asking you [[TongueOnTheFlagpole not to lick a pole]].
* The "Maze of Madness" scenario in the online game ''Dungeons & Dragons: Tiny Adventures'' opens with the finding of a jeweled scepter, engraved with a "Keep out of the Maze!" warning. Naturally, your immediate conclusion upon finding it is that anyone who uses jeweled scepters to send warnings must be loaded...
* In ''VideoGame/DustAnElysianTail'', half-crazed sidequest giver Reed asks you to find a mysterious box and repeatedly warns you not to open it if you find it... only for [[BumblingSidekick Fidget]] to do so when you're not looking.
* ''VideoGame/DwarfFortress'':
** Sometimes, you'll find open rooms full of treasure in Adventure mode. These rooms are often either trapped or belong to someone.
** Schmuck bait can be used against [=NPCs=] by exploiting their programming. A popular trap is the "goblin grinder"; an invader enters through one side of an open hallway that leads into the fortress, activates a pressure plate that blocks their exit, and makes it to the end of the hall... only to activate another pressure plate that blocks ''this'' exit, and opens the first one. Invaders will run back and forth in the hallway trying to get out. And of course the floor is covered in SpikesOfDoom.
** Your dwarves may attempt to retrieve corpses or the belongings of corpses with absolutely no thought into how they became corpses. This may lead to them getting killed the exact same way, only for ''another'' dwarf to try and retrieve ''their'' corpse.
* ''VideoGame/DynastyWarriors 3'':
** The game has the [[MemeticMutation famous line]] "Don't pursue Lu Bu!" regarding an optional miniboss in the Hu Lao Gate stage... who in every incarnation of the series as a beat 'em up is actually more powerful than the actual stage boss.
** The AI points out something strange? It's up to you to check and reveal that it was a Schmuck Bait... for the AI! It's even worse when you can't do a thing to prevent it.
---> '''[The Wu Units are behaving suspiciously]'''\\
'''[Cao Cao started a fire attack!]'''
** Pang Tong makes this clear sometimes. He knows a place is perfect for an ambush and he ''falls for it'' just so you have to save him. Actually, this could be him underestimating the enemy's strength, or it could be he is not very good at fighting at all, but...
--->'''Pang Tong''': This forest is a perfect place for an ambush!\\
'''[Wu Units came out of hiding]'''
** You are close to reaching the Enemy Commander and then...
--->'''[Enemy Ambush Troops appeared!]'''\\
'''Allied Commander:''' What? An ambush! They are smarter than I expected!\\
'''[Enemy Units are moving towards the Allied Main Camp]'''\\
'''[Enemy Commander is moving towards the Allied Main Camp]'''
* ''VideoGame/EccoTheDolphin'':
** Among the things said by his podmates in the [[EasingIntoTheAdventure harmless first lagoon]] is "How high in the sky can you fly?" Trying to answer that triggers the abduction of your pod by aliens and the start of the game.
** The reboot has a level ("Chance of Reckoning") that drops the player right in front of the BigBad, who is holding the MacGuffin between her giant fangs... which are wide open ''just'' enough that a stupid player might be tempted to dart between them and grab the MacGuffin. [[EatenAlive Don't.]]
* ''VideoGame/EdEddNEddyTheMisEdventures'': A switch in the Kankers' trailer in level 6 with an obvious trapdoor under it is pulled by Eddy, thinking it will lead to his jawbreakers. It doesn't.
-->Stupid Kankers. I'm way too smart for them.
* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'':
** In ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'', Daedric shrines typically have a large statue of the Daedric Prince they are dedicated to at the center. Usually, one can find all sorts of offerings at the foot of these statues, ranging from a few gold to gemstones to even weapons and armor. However, one item is almost always trapped so that when you pick it up, it summons a Dremora behind you, who will immediately attack. That's what you get for stealing from the Daedric Prince of Destruction or Domination or Madness.
** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]'' has two cases of Schmuck Bait.
*** The first one is Dive Rock, the highest point on the map, with [[SceneryPorn an incredible view of the game world]] and a very long drop. Yes, you can indeed dive off Dive Rock, achieving nothing but a messy you-shaped splatter on the ground below. Naturally.
*** The other is attacking Sheogorath, [[PhysicalGod Daedric Prince]] [[MadGod of Madness]], which goes as well as you may think...
** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'':
*** Bard's Leap is an outcropping of rock channelling a stream a looooong way down into a pool of water. Jumping down the waterfall and surviving nets you a speechcraft level from a bard's ghost, a man who also took the bait but ''didn't'' survive.
*** There's also the Riverwood Chicken. At the very beginning of the game, just after you escape from captivity and learn how to fight, you come across your first village. The first thing you see is a chicken sitting right in the entrance gate. Do not, under any circumstances, attack that chicken. You will get a bounty for property damage, and everyone in the village will pull out their weapons and proceed to wafflestomp you into the ground. You ''can'' pay off your bounty, but this requires you to travel to the ''next'' town and get arrested there, because any nearby guards will unhelpfully cheer on your attackers instead of letting you surrender and pay the 40 gold.
*** When you enter the minidungeon Rannveig's Fast and progress into the main hall, it's largely empty, save for a Word Wall and a large treasure chest. The path to said chest features a large panel which turns out to be a trapdoor, and, if you fall in, you'll land in a cell with corpses at the bottom, revealing that a necromancer uses it to trap foolish adventurers and thieves for magical experimentation. Of course, it's pretty easy to jump up onto the ledges next to the trapdoor to bypass it, though the chest itself is empty.
*** The sidequest "A Daedra's Best Friend". Barbas, canine companion and external conscience to Clavicus Vile, Daedric Prince of trickery, asks you to help him reunite with his master, and warns you ''not'' to accept any offer Clavicus makes. Clavicus himself is reluctant to take Barbas back, but tells you that if you retrieve an axe for him (that the Daedric Prince claims to be a weapon of great power), he'll agree to let Barbas return (if only because his power has waned since Barbas left and he'd like to be back at full strength). When you return with the axe, Clavicus makes his offer: [[KickTheDog use the axe to kill Barbas]], and you can keep it. If you ''do'' choose to kill Barbas, you'll find that not only is the axe vastly underpowered, it doesn't actually count as a Daedric artifact[[note]]meaning it doesn't count towards the achievement for obtaining all Daedric artifacts[[/note]], unlike the reward you get for insisting that Clavicus keep his word and take Barbas back. Hey, what did you ''think'' would happen when you made a deal with the Daedric Prince of ''trickery'', especially when he's separated from his conscience?
* In ''VideoGame/ElroyGoesBugzerk'', Elroy is instructed to not chase the chickens. Until you find an egg, a chicken will appear on most screens to taunt Elroy. [[spoiler:Chasing it leads to a GameOver.]]
* ''VideoGame/EpicBattleFantasy'':
** ''VideoGame/EpicBattleFantasy3'': "Hey! Let's prod this chained demon we found with the business end of our weapons! What could ''possibly'' go wrong?!"
** ''VideoGame/EpicBattleFantasy5'' lets you capture the FinalBoss in a NewGamePlus after the Version 2 update. Its summon power is listed at 9,999 and the description of its move is an ominous "Deletes current simulation." [[spoiler:Using it will kill every enemy ''and'' player character, stripping away Morale and Auto-Revive and guaranteeing a game over. And ''then'' it gives a Jump Scare image of Snowflake and forces the game to close itself.]]
* In ''[[VideoGame/EscapeVelocity Escape Velocity: Nova]]'', you have the option of buying cheap versions of certain ship upgrades that seem like a good deal, until their timers run out and they either break, disable your ship in space, or blow it up. Also present is the Auroran Drop Bear Repellant, which claims to prevent the random Drop Bear attack, which is a real possibility for non-Aurorans in their territory. Buying it will actually ''ensure'' that you will get attacked at some point.
* In ''VideoGame/EtrianOdyssey'', beware of any enemy that is weak to all physical attack types. Most of these enemies have some way to capitalize upon this, such as inflicting the Curse status ailment so that whoever attacks them takes as much damage as they inflicted, which will certainly be a OneHitKill for the attacker in addition to their target in this case, or using some sort of LastDitchMove to debilitate your entire party with status ailments effectively mandating that you kill them last (thankfully, ''Etrian Odyssey V'' onwards cures status ailments at the end of each battle).
* ''VideoGame/EveOnline'':
** A common tactic: a lone player will often wait somewhere off the stargate or station in low/null security space. When other unsuspecting players start shooting at him, not only do they find that said player has a strong tank, but several of his friends have warped in and/or decloaked.
** The Amarr have several ships that are specifically Schmuck Bait, especially the Maller and Prophecy, both of which are minimal threat but insanely hard to kill for their size and cost. Bonus points go to the Imperial Navy Augoror, which is a faction cruiser and thus an automatic high-priority target for new fleet commanders, but if properly fitted [[StoneWall is tougher to take out than a fleet battleship, while being less dangerous than a frigate]]. Seeing any one of these three ships by itself minding its own business is almost always a new player or an ambush.
** There used to be an unintentional form of player bait. Pressing Ctrl + Q at the same time quit the game back to the desktop. Many a new player, when asking in a public chat channel how to, for example, open the galaxy map or launch all their drones at once, would often receive the answer "press Ctrl + Q". This has since been removed.
* ''VideoGame/{{Eversion}}''. A cute, cheerful platformer? Just how could this be "not for children or those of a nervous disposition"? It is a very popular game to get Let's Players to do a blind run of.
* Parodied in ''VideoGame/EvilGenius'', with the trap "Do Not Touch Button".
* Your very first challenge in ''VideoGame/TheEvilWithin'' is to swipe some keys from a hulking, monstrous butcher called the Sadist, and sneak away undetected. Coming up behind him in a low position gives you a button prompt to take the knife you just found and jam it in the Sadist's back. Do this, and he'll NoSell the effort and immediately turn around to show you [[OffWithHisHead a very innovative way to instantly lose about ten pounds]].
* In ''VideoGame/EVOSearchForEden'', in the fish level, you can attempt to go on land before beating the boss. Guess what there's none of in the air yet? Oxygen.
* ''VideoGame/EyeOfTheBeholder 2'':
** If you are advised to ''not'' enter the little room filled with higher-than-normal magic items (including magical plate armor) in a dungeon expressly made to kill you, guess what you should not do. Go on. Guess. [[spoiler:Doing so causes the room to seal behind you as you release a pressure plate that said magic armor was holding down, resulting in your party being trapped and dying from starvation (no matter what kind of party you have, including clerics high-level enough to make food and water).]]
** A very literal one also happens in this game. At one point, you receive a message from your mentor that the BigBad is preparing a spell that will completely destroy your party, rendering you impossible to raise again. To foil the scheme, you have to go into the next room and let yourself be killed by the monsters. [[spoiler:It is the BigBad impersonating your mentor. If you ''do'' get yourselves killed, he'll mock you for your gullibility. If you don't, and slay the monsters, he'll just reveal himself and rage at you for ''not'' being a total schmuck.]]
* ''VideoGame/FallenLondon'':
** Some options contain a remark to the effect of "Don't do this, it's a bad idea." Those curious enough to take this option will invariably find out that the remark was truthful.
** Seeking Mr. Eaten's Name is an ongoing storyline composed of ''nothing but'' SchmuckBait of the [[BrownNote Lovecraftian]] [[GoMadFromTheRevelation sort]] that will destroy your character's stats, inventory, connections, pets, friends, health, soul, and sanity. The Failbetter Games staff member responsible for most of the idea wrote it as an experiment on the crazy lengths players will go to complete a sidequest for no reward beyond learning what happens next.[[note]]An idea facilitated by the fact that players who seek the name are generally willing to keep mum on the plotline's story, making very little information regarding it (apart from the costs, that is) available even on fan-managed wikis.[[/note]] For a very long time, it wasn't even ''finished'', and this was common knowledge, and people played it anyway. Now that it is finished, it's equally common knowledge that the ending deletes your character and bricks your account — and people play it anyway!
*** One particular portion of the Seeking leads to a point where you can choose between two dialogue options. One offers you a seemingly free, automatic success, the other is expensive and offers you a vanishingly small chance at success. Which should you pick? [[spoiler: The first. The devs were banking on players getting this far in the Seeking to believe that everything that looked too good to be true was... except this time it wasn't.]]
** While Seeking as a whole is bait, one option is particularly famous for taking it UpToEleven. It costs 50 Fate (roughly 10 [[BribingYourWayToVictory real-world dollars]] and significantly more than many of the lengthy storylines that also cost Fate), and comes with a prominent warning: "THIS WILL DESTROY YOUR CHARACTER FOREVER AT A COST OF FIFTY FATE AND FIVE CARNIVAL TICKETS. THERE IS NO TEXT WORTH READING BEHIND THE BRANCH RESULT. IT IS NOT NECESSARY TO PLAY THIS BRANCH TO CONTINUE THE STORY. DO NOT CONTACT SUPPORT TO COMPLAIN IF YOU ARE RASH ENOUGH TO CLICK THIS BUTTON." One player was curious enough to take the option, and somehow it ''didn't'' delete his character, to which he [[http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/09/19/of-london-and-the-sunless-sea-failbetter-interview-pt-2/ filed a very polite bug report]]. [[spoiler:It currently does not actually make your character unusable, but anyone doing this will be rewarded with the unique quality Scorched by the Sun.]]
--->'''Alexis Kennedy:''' If you like, think of it as an alternative to Molyneux's "Curiosity", except instead of tapping on a cube you're gradually peeling your own skin off.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Elona}}'', one of the first interactable objects a player will find is the piano in the inn in Vernis. Said building also contains Loyter, a high level NPC. By Elona's rules, higher level NPCs are harder to please when playing a musical instrument and will easily throw rocks at the player to make them stop. And Loyter being strong enough to one-shot a low level player with a thrown rock, this means playing the piano will result into an instant death.
* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'':
** In ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'', it is possible to find a Garden of Eden Creation Kit (The G.E.C.K.) — and you may activate it. Trying to do so will warn out that it will destroy everything in a several-mile radius for raw materials — whereupon you may confirm that you'd like to activate it.
** ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'':
*** The final chamber of Vault 11 is locked by a terminal which can only be accessed through a password, which itself is at the far end of the explorable space in the Vault. Everything you've read up to this point tells you this chamber is bad news, as in the "not compatible with continued living" kind of bad, but chances are you're going to go there anyway simply because you ''have'' to know what the fuss is about. The game awards you with a decent amount of XP for doing so, since it's an unmarked quest. ...If you survive the surprise.
*** The game uses a double-trap all the time with land mines, since it knows that you will never pass up the opportunity to disarm a useful, valuable mine and add it to your inventory. There are many areas where a prominent mine is placed within the detonation radius of one that is hidden. One example is just outside of Nipton, where the developers have placed hidden frag mines under the traffic cones near some not-so-hidden mines, such that stepping within range to disarm the obvious mines will activate the others.
*** Early on, you're directed to travel to a town via a winding highway going south and looping back around. The town itself is a comparatively short distance east. Which provokes the obvious question: why not just go as the crow flies and cut across the desert? Scorpion Gulch, that's why. Remember the Giant Radscorpions in the previous game? Hideous to look at, but not so tough? Well, they're back, except that they're much bigger, their poison is far more deadly and drives you mad, and shooting them with the weapons you will likely have at hand just pisses them off. And in ''Fallout 3'', you only had to deal with one or two at a time; Scorpion Gulch is crawling with the things, you may be attacked by a dozen at a time, and even if you somehow manage to kill them, more will just come out of holes in the canyon walls. Many players tried the "simple walk east" and quickly learned a valuable ''New Vegas'' lesson: unless you are armed for Deathclaw, ''stick to the damn roads''.
*** ''Fallout 3'' only has two types: Deathclaws and Enclave-controlled Deathclaws (as the name implies, they are enslaved by the Enclave and won't attack them). ''New Vegas'', on the other hand, has a whopping '''''seven''''' types of Deathclaws: standard Deathclaws, young Deathclaws, Blind Deathclaws, Deathclaw alpha males, baby Deathclaws, mother Deathclaws (who become frenzied if you hurt or kill one the babies), and the Legendary Deathclaw (possessing double the health and attack power of the normal Deathclaws). All but the Legendary and Blind Deathclaws can be found in the Quarry between Sloan and Black Mountain as part of an unmarked quest. The ''Lonesome Road'' add-on also has two types of Deathclaws: normal and Irradiated (Deathclaws capable of dealing radiation damage: in other words, a combination of Deathclaws and Glowing Ones).\\\
Blind Deathclaws are a bait themselves. Any player would, after seeing their name by either targeting or going into V.A.T.S. mode, obviously try to sneak around them. This is generally the first of ''many'' kills in their hands, however, because this type of deathclaw have an impossible amount of Perception. Not a lot. Not max. Literally ''impossible'', more than the player can ever hope to achieve (in a unmodded game, of course). As in, by the time a Blind Deathclaw spawns in the map, ''[[OhCrap they're already homing in on your position]]''.
*** "Dead Money":
*** You are explicitly told (before you have an opportunity to do so) that if you [[spoiler:read "Sinclair's Notes" on the terminal in the Sierra Madre Vault]] you will become permanently trapped. If you do so, you'll get a NonStandardGameOver where you starve to death. [[spoiler:That said, just because ''you'' know about the trap doesn't mean you can't spring it on someone else...]]
*** The gold bars in the Sierra Madre vault are immensely valuable. You really don't want to leave without them... but picking up more than just a few will break your carrying capacity, slowing you to a crawl and ensuring that you won't get out of the vault before your bomb collar goes off.[[note]] It is still possible to escape with ''all'' the gold bars if you manage to sneak past a particular character (which requires a lot of patience and luck) and then going into a door that leads you back to the beginning of the area.[[/note]] DeathByMaterialism is a ''major'' theme of this add-on.
*** [[OmnicidalManiac The Toaster]] in "Old World Blues" offers you a super-rare Mojave snowglobe, if you stick your hand into his bread slot. What do you think happens when you stick your hand into the bread slot of a ''psychopathic, murderous toaster''? Though you aren't actually given the option to do that.
** ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 4}}'' gives you a chance to set up your own Schmuck Bait with the Wasteland Workshop DLC. One of the new things the DLC adds is the ability to build traps for various wasteland critters, including Raiders and Gunners. Their traps are large boxes with "Free Chems!" (for Raiders) and "Free Guns and Ammo!" (for Gunners) written on the sides.
* ''VideoGame/FantasyQuest'' gives a whole series of options like "bang your head against the rocks". All kill you, but the game lets you undo each fatal move.
* From the ''VideoGame/FatalFrame'' series:
** Many ghosts in the series will just stand or sit there, doing nothing, and never disappear. But get close to them or take a picture of them and they'll re-appear right in your face.[[note]]The Hair-Brushing Woman does this to Kei in ''VideoGame/FatalFrameIII''[[/note]]
** A shiny blue object is a valuable item ready to be picked up. But in ''VideoGame/FatalFrameIV'', ''[[VideoGame/FatalFrameII Deep Crimson Butterfly]]'', and ''VideoGame/FatalFrameMaidenOfBlackWater'', [[FloatingLimbs some pale hand]] may grab your arm as you grab the item.
* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'':
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'':
*** The Trickster/Lil' Murderer. First of all, it's an ''imp''. Secondly, the thing comes along, doesn't attack, and casts [[EnemyScan Scan]] on ''itself'', telling you it has a weakness to Lightning; it never does anything else. You ''know'' it's a trap — this is the VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon and you've just fought your way down like 10 levels of dragons, dinozombies, and ninjas just to get this far; there's no way it's this easy! But you can't resist finding out what happens, and cast a lightning spell on it. [[spoiler:The scan's not lying — he ''is'' weak to Lightning — but that same spell just powered him up. ''A lot.'' [[KillerRabbit Oops.]]]]
*** In Cecil's Trial in Lunar Ruins, there's one trial which involves you standing still on guard duty while a fellow guard has to make an urgent leave, and he warns you ''not'' to get distracted. Of course, some things will happen before your eyes and tempt you to check things when you should not, which will make you fail this challenge... [[spoiler:Except that, even in Game Boy Advance, it was a bit glitchy, and you ''could'' move during some "events" within this challenge. Oops!]]
*** Cecil's Trial has you battle an imp in one of the challenges. [[spoiler:But if you're in a rush, you'll kill the imp instead of waiting to listen to it, failing the challenge.]]
** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV'', while exploring in a cave, you may come across a narrow pathway where you seem to randomly pick up 10 Gil. You move on, and, on your next step, you pick up 20 Gil! And then 40! Wow! You're picking up double the previous amount every step! [[TemptingFate Surely no ill could come of this...]] [[spoiler:If you do tempt fate, you'll wind up facing [[ThatOneBoss Gil Turtle]], a horrible, undead turtle that is very, very difficult to kill.[[note]]If you ARE able to kill it, which nets you 5000 Gil immediately, you can continue down the path for more Gil, but you run the risk of fighting Gil Turtle again; the cash goes up to 40,960 at the end of the path (and a possible Gil Turtle battle), at which point you will hit a dead end and have to turn around and go back, but there are no encounters until you exit and reenter, which resets everything.[[/note]]]]
** The way to recruit Yuffie into your party in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' is to have a random encounter with her in the forest areas. Once you defeat her, she'll show up on the floor next to a save point, and if you go talk and say the right thing to her, you can recruit her. However, if you decide to use the save point before instead, she will steal money from you and run away. Considering how the game trains you to use a save point as soon as you see one, many players would take the bait without even thinking.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'' has several friendly monsters that [[FairyBattle ask you for an item]]; they will give you tons of AP for it, and their battle theme is different to show that they're friendly. However, there's a monster called the Gimme Cat that tries to trick you by demanding a Diamond, and if you give it one, it runs off with it and you leave with nothing. However, since the normal battle theme plays, that should tell you "do not listen to this monster". Be careful fighting it, because it attacks with the powerful Comet spell.
** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'':
*** Near the beginning, when you are taking the very first hunt, you will see a green ''T. rex'' (Wild Saurian) lounging about in the first area of the first dungeon of the game. The Wild Saurian spawns docile, like the nearby Cactites, so it won't attack you if you don't strike it first. If you have a shoot first, ask questions later mentality, you will quickly learn the unfortunate truth that the gamemakers made it docile for a reason: the Wild Saurian has over 6,000 HP and level in the double digits, several magnitude above your probable level at the time, and will certainly KO you in one hit if you aggro it. What is more, it can also cannibalize the Wolves and level up to maximum, so it will only grow stronger the longer you remain in the area. To give you an idea, you are supposed to confront it after completing the fifteenth dungeon of the game.
*** There are also Entites and (to a lesser extent) Elementals, which, like the Wild Saurian, spawn docile. They appear alongside normal enemies, but the latter are level 25 and have 15,000 HP, while the former are level 45 and have 48,000 HP. The first Entite can be encountered just before the end of the first act even though it is on par with enemies from the second-to-last dungeon in the game. What makes them even more frustrating is that they can also be aggroed if any magick is cast nearby (regardless if it is from you or other enemies, or if it is harmless or harmful), an unpleasant surprise for newcomers.
*** After you defeat the Rocktoise mark in Bhujerba, the Moogle who gave you the quest will ask you to go to the shop where she works to get her diary, and tells you not to read it. [[spoiler:Whether you read it or not doesn't matter, but what you tell her when she asks you if you did does.]]
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'': So you've just reached Pulse, now you can finally go anywhere you want! Hey, look at those gigantic tortoise-things! Surely they give massive CP! No need to worry, we just defeated a [[PhysicalGod fal'Cie]], we're badass enough to handle this thing... [[spoiler:No, no you're not. HaveANiceDeath. Though they really DO give massive amounts of CP, and drop some amazing items, but by the time you're ready to fight them, you'll probably have maxed everyone's Crystarium anyway.]]
** What's that? You've just finished the tutorial to ''[[VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy Dissidia 012: Duodecim]]'', and think you're some kind of bigshot? [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dj-n-NG3YPk&t=2m35s You'll learn.]]
** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII2'', you gain access to the Archylte Steppe very early on, in which, under sunny conditions, a Long Gui spawns. You can fight him more or less right out of the gate. [[CurbStompBattle You won't last ten seconds.]]
* ''VideoGame/FinalGirl'' has an option to take a bath at one point, but mentions it's an obvious trap.
* ''VideoGame/FreddyFazbearsPizzeriaSimulator'': It's possible to buy Lefty before it can be salvaged, but 1) it only costs $5 while everything else from the same store costs several ten thousand dollars, and 2) its danger level is a full 9. If you buy it early, not only are you robbing yourself of the potential cash you'd get from a successful salvage, but you'll have one big {{Demonic Spider|s}} that might force you to restart the game due to its sheer difficulty.
* Suicide Booths in ''VideoGame/{{Futurama}}: The Game''. Walk inside. Press the button. Restart from last checkpoint. Turns out they function just like they did in the series. Who would have guessed?
[[/folder]]

[[folder:A-C]]
* ''[[Videogame/AIWarFleetCommand AI War 2]]:'' Any number of undesirable minor factions can be allowed into the galaxy if you do the wrong thing. Destroy the engine disruptor keeping the [[SpacePirates Marauders]] off the galaxy? Call over [[TheJuggernaut an ancient, near-indestructible giant vessel that destroys everything it finds, eats it, and moves on]]? Destroy the only thing keeping [[GrayGoo the Nanocaust]] from infesting everything it finds and turning things into a three-way war? Go right ahead. [[CrazyEnoughToWork It might even help if you're that desperate]], and you get a bunch of Science for your troubles anyways. Destroying the AI Communicator Nodes tends to count; you'd think having multiple [=AIs=] [[EnemyCivilWar attacking each other more than you]] would help, right until you see they don't hold ''anything'' back when fighting against an equal enemy, and [[LetsGetDangerous bring in the big, big stuff that can casually kill you on the way to their real enemy]].
* Burrowing near a flower in ''VideoGame/AlienHominid'' gives you an extra life. But hopefully the players who reached level 3-2 remembers that there's a giant SandWorm monster that eats anything who digs underground in that level, with the spot by the health-giving flower being no exception, otherwise...
* The Brass Bull, the Iron-Maiden, and the Shoulder-Shattering torture chambers in ''VideoGame/AmnesiaTheDarkDescent''. Go ahead, light the fire beneath the bull statue, and hoist the empty chains up to the ceiling. Or wander up and poke the Iron-Maiden's spikes. On a lesser level, you get a hand prompt when hovering over a fire or a pot of acid. Clicking on them does exactly what you're thinking it does.
* In ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossingPocketCamp'', there is a memory that you can unlock involving Filbert and Kid Cat. They're talking about the rocket when Kid Cat invites the player into the conversation. Filbert is interested in the giant launch button, but Kid Cat and the player suspect it to be real. Filbert gets talked out of pressing the button at first, but the temptation is too much and he presses it, thinking nothing will happen. When Kid Cat and the player finally realize, in horror, that Filbert pressed the launch button, they panic, and Kid Cat decides to board said rocket and go to space. He makes it back safely.
* ''VideoGame/{{Antichamber}}'': In one room, the ceiling says, "Don't look down." If you look up at that, then down, the floor disappears.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Arcaea}}'', one of the Partners you can unlock in a [[TemporaryOnlineContent limited-time event]] is Nono from ''VideoGame/{{CHUNITHM}}''. Promotional material for the game states that if you get an EX grade or higher with her, you'll earn a whopping ''2,525 Fragments'' (for context, you typically earn 10-20). [[spoiler:When you unlock her and check her stats, you find out that she has a Frag stat of 0.5, which translates to a ''0.01 multiplier'', meaning that you will only get 25 Fragments. That said, she's a subversion in that if you continue up her map, you'll unlock Regulus who has legitimately good stats, so you have to unlock Nono if you want Regulus.]]
* ''VideoGame/ArxFatalis'':
** A literal trail of gold coins leads to a treasure chest, and when walking up to it, you can hear goblins talking about ambushing the human. By this point in the game you can probably take on a few goblins without breaking a sweat, but the chest is empty anyway.
** A quest to find the merchant's daughter can lead you to [[spoiler:a cult that plans on sacrificing her to summon a demon. After killing the cultists, instead of freeing her from the altar (and so long as she's still alive), you can use a [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential sacrificial blade nearby to kill her]]... completing the ritual and summoning the demon, [[VideoGameCrueltyPunishment who immediately attacks you.]]]]
* You can invoke this in ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIII'': Entering a hiding place gives you the ability to whistle, which lures guards to investigate, allowing you to easily take them out. Hilariously, the opportunity for this is an example in itself, because this can easily send four guards your way, more often than not making your discovery guaranteed.
* In text adventure game ''Asylum'', at one point you find a written note that tells you to "look up". [[DeathByLookingUp Something that you don't want to do.]]
* ''VideoGame/BaldursGate'': The final game hands you a greater wish. If you wish to grow strong, you get handed a ton of enemies guaranteed to wipe you off the face of Faerun. That said, it's quite a fun fight and reasonably winnable at a high enough level.
* ''VideoGame/TheBindingOfIsaac'' has a card called the "Suicide King" with the ominous pickup text "A true ending?" It turns out to live up to its name: using it kills you instantly, bypassing any health, shields, or even invincibility. Downplayed in that extra lives can be used to circumvent this, and it also spawns a number of pickups and even an item or two appropriate to the room's item pool, so experienced players who have an extra life to burn can use this to their advantage.
* ''VideoGame/BioshockInfinite'': "Dewitt, stop. Do not alert Comstock to your presence, stop. Whatever you do, do not pick number 77, stop. Lutece." Granted, [[ButThouMust the game forces you to pick #77]].
* ''VideoGame/{{Blasto}}'' has buttons in the first few levels that have a big sign reading "DO NOT PRESS" over them. If you actually ''do'' press them... [[PressXToDie you explode]]. [[GuideDangIt Except for one particular button that instead reveals a secret pathway.]]
* In several places in ''{{VideoGame/Bloodborne}}'', a path ends with a pit or a ledge that, if the player has been taking notice of where secrets are often hidden, may look like the leap of faith one would normally go down to find an item or a {{N|onPlayerCharacter}}PC; instead, they just lead to death by fall damage. It's common practice for players to leave notes either warning players away or [[{{Griefer}} egging them on]].
** In one of the Chalice Dungeons, there's a great bell hanging from the ceiling in one of the rooms. Hitting it has no effect... other than summoning ''every monster in the dungeon'' to that room.
* ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands}}'':
** The Vault contains [[spoiler:The Destroyer]] and not the great riches promised but never seen.
** The main quest "Jaynistown: Getting What's Coming To You" is an obvious trap... [[ButThouMust which you have to trigger]].
** The "Claptrap Rescue" mission in the ''Robot Revolution'' DLC. [[spoiler:It's an ambush.]]
* ''VideoGame/BoxxyQuestTheGatheringStorm'':
** At one point in the tutorial dungeon, there's a large pile of gold surrounded by many bloodstains. This is your introduction to the local flavor of ChestMonster, Karma Chameleons, who lie in wait to ambush greedy travelers.
** In the final "battle" with [[spoiler:Boxxyfan's]] breath mask, you might notice that you have the option of running away instead of just smashing the mask, tempting you into thinking there may be a pacifist solution. Nope, you just end up getting [[NonStandardGameOver brutally]] [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice backstabbed]] for your efforts.
* ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'':
** ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare'':
*** Played straight in the Museum "credits" level of ''Modern Warfare 2''. After browsing the lifelike dioramas re-enacting scenes from the game, the player will invariably notice a large button, to which the onscreen prompt responds "Do Not Press (whatever the action button is for your platform)". [[PressXToDie Pressing the action button]] results in [[spoiler:all the figures coming to life and bloodily ending the unprepared player. If you're prepared, though, it's not all that hard to survive as long as you get out of the room fast enough]].
*** ''Modern Warfare 3'' gives us the Airdrop Trap support killstreak, which is a booby-trapped care package crate intended for your enemies. Savvy players quickly learn to never go near one (especially if it's placed somewhere stupid like in the middle of the map), but with a little bit of acting and a tantalizing prize inside (such as an Osprey Gunner)...
** In ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOps'':
*** In multiplayer mode, some players will use care package crates as Schmuck Bait, throwing them out in the open and waiting for an unsuspecting enemy to wander over and attempt to steal the crate. Doing so leaves the "Schmuck" standing still in a helpless state for several seconds, enough time for the other player to score an easy head shot or tomahawk kill.
*** The reverse can also happen to the owner of the care package. If a person with the Hacker Pro perk kills the owner before he/she can get the package, the hacker can booby trap the crate and leave an unpleasant surprise waiting for their victim or any of their victim's teammates that happen upon the trap. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-UoWOASSEU&t=54s Let the]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRFCXvN5Ciw multi-kills ensue.]]
* Putting the UsefulNotes/PlayStation game ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight'' into a music player plays a hidden audio track of the main character Alucard reminding you that the disc is meant to be used on [=PlayStation=]s only, and that track 1 contains computer data, so please, don't play it. He also [[LampshadeHanging hangs a lampshade]] on this by saying, "But you probably won't listen to me anyway, will you?" Back when this game came out, CD-ROM data was not as common as it is today, and most of the earliest CD players would try playing the data track, resulting in a screeching wall of sound that ''can'' damage your speakers. To keep people from doing this, a lot of games had a similar track.
* In ''VideoGame/CaveStory'', the first time the pit of instant death appears in the game is adjacent to a sign saying: "Watch out! Deathtrap to your left! One touch means instant death!"
* At one point in ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'', you'll get a chance to go to Ozzie's fort in 600 A.D. After defeating powered-up versions of Flea and Slash, you'll be led into a room where Ozzie's operating an obvious DeathTrap, where a guillotine is guarding a delicious-looking treasure. Attempting to grab it while the machine's running will cause damage to your party. Instead, you'll need to go up the stairs to chase after Ozzie, at which point a greedy imp will attempt to open the treasure box, only to get chopped to bits by the guillotine. You can grab the contents after chasing away Ozzie, but there's not much of use in there anyway (just a Hi-Potion). [[spoiler:There's a corridor on the lower-right where Ozzie has hidden most of Magus's most powerful equipment. Curiously, he leaves this portion of the room unguarded.]]
* The 580-point version of ''VideoGame/ColossalCave'' has a button marked "EMERGENCY STOP — Do not push!". If you press it, the game deliberately enters an infinite loop. And this was written for a single-tasking operating system, so the only way to regain control of your computer is to reboot.
* ''VideoGame/CommanderKeen 2'', subtitled "The Earth Explodes", has an alien mothership orbiting Earth, with numerous death rays that will cause it to, you know, explode. Each of those comes with a convenient switch that allows the player to activate them. Oops.
* In ''VideoGame/CookieClicker'', the game tells you it's a bad idea to purchase the late-game upgrades "One Mind", "Communal Brainsweep", and "Elder Pact" in their descriptions and gives you a series of increasingly ominous warning messages if you attempt to buy them. If you go ahead and buy them anyway, expect for [[SurpriseCreepy strange things]] to happen to your game screen.
* ''Videogame/CrashBandicoot'' games contain the piles of boxes. Some of them hide a TNT or Nitro box inside, so if you try to spin them, you'll promptly get blown to kingdom come.
* ''VideoGame/CrimsonLand'' offers you a choice of randomly chosen Perks every time you level up, each of which has its own benefits (and occasionally drawbacks). Two of the Perks- Grim Deal and Death Clock- ''will'' kill you, in exchange for increasing your current score by 66 percent and giving you 30 seconds to kill for double points, respectively. It's possible to get one or both of them as a choice for your first level up, and they will end your game with a rather disappointing score if chosen.
* ''VideoGame/CultistSimulator'': You can romance Saliba, whose lovers "are a little less" each time he takes his pleasures from them. He outright quips that "this will end badly" if you start trying to romance him. In the epilogue, you, too, are eventually reduced to nothing.
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[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/glados_9.png]]

[[folder:A-F]]

[[folder:#-F]]

[[folder:G-]]

* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil'': In one of the rooms there is a neatly-mounted Shotgun on the wall of an otherwise plain room, taking it [[spoiler: and '''not''' replacing it with the Broken Shotgun you can find in the other areas of the mansion]] results in the previous empty square room seperating the room you're currently in from the hallway locking '''both doors''' after you pass through the exit of the room containing said shotgun, then a slow-but-inevitable [[spoiler: {Unless you're Jill and Barry saves you in an iconic cutscene)]] DescendingCeiling crushes you.

Often a subtrope of UnwinnableByDesign, or (more usually) UnintentionallyUnwinnable. Also compare PressXToDie.

** ''VideoGame/GodOfWarII'': Hold R1 to drain your godly power into one easily-stolen sword. Since ''[[BigBad Zeus]]'' is the one who tells you to do this, only the most unsavvy players would think this'll end badly. ButThouMust...

*** [[OmnicidalManiac The Toaster]] in "Old World Blues" offers you a super-rare Mojave snowglobe, if you stick your hand into his bread slot. What do you think happens when you stick your hand into the bread slot of a ''psychopathic, murderous toaster''?

*** One particular portion of the Seeking leads to a point where you can choose between to dialogue options. One offers you a seemingly free, automatic success, the other is expensive and offers you a vanishingly small chance at success. Which should you pick? [[spoiler: The first. The devs were banking on players getting this far in the Seeking to believe that everything that looked too good to be true was... except this time it wasn't.]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Wizardry}}'''s dungeon contains a dead end passage four squares long. In the first three squares, you receive these messages (the fourth square holds a pit trap):

*** The game {{lampshade|Hanging}}s this via a treasure chest that appears while helping [[MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch Batreaux]]. Batreaux will warn you, ''desperately'', that this treasure chest is ''not'' to be opened, and goes on at length about the horrible [[StandardStatusEffects Cursed Medal]] that lurks inside. You can repeatedly tell him you want to open the chest anyway. If you ''do'' open it, he admits that the curse is pretty easy to circumvent (the item greatly increases the chance that enemies drop items in exchange for being unable to open your pouch inventory and thus use your healing potions, and all you need to do to circumvent the curse is to drop the medal off at the storage), and that the human tendency towards doggedly persistent curiosity is one of those things he finds so darn endearing about them.

** ''VideoGame/MegaMan11'': For one of his [[BossBanter taunts]], Blast Man tries to encourage Rock Man to catch his bombs. Since when is that a good idea?

Often a subtrope of UnwinnableByMistake, UnwinnableByDesign, or (most usually) UnwinnableByInsanity. Also compare PressXToDie.

* The ''WebAnimation/DumbWaysToDie'' video game:

* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil'': In one of the rooms there is a neatly-mounted Shotgun on the wall of a an otherwise plain room, taking it [[spoiler: and '''not''' replacing it with the Broken Shotgun you can find in the other areas of the mansion]] results in the previous empty square room seperating the room you're currently in from the hallway locking '''both doors''' after you pass through the exit of the room containing said shotgun, then a slow-but-inevitable [[spoiler: {Unless you're Jill and Barry saves you in an iconic cutscene)]] DescendingCeiling crushes you.