History SchmuckBait / VIDEOGAMES

* The first ''VideoGame/{{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.

** 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 but no formal consequence.]]

*** 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 [[{{GIFT}} unsurprisingly]] leads to players telling gullible bystanders to take [[LeapOfFaith Leaps of Faith]] into BottomlessPits.

** 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, who immediately attacks you.]]

** TheJester. 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.]]

*** Near the beginning, when you are taking the very first hunt, you will see a green ''[[TyrannosaurusRex 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.

* 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?

* 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?

** 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!\\\

** In Noki Bay of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioSunshine'', 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 ''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/EpicBattleFantasy3'': "Hey! Let's prod this chained demon we found with the business end of our weapons! What could ''possibly'' go wrong?!"

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.]]

* ''Franchise/MassEffect'':
** [[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.]]

** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'', after you defeat a 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/SurvivingMars'': Stirling Generators as starting prefabs. Yes, they net a lot of energy. Yes, you need energy to run your first buildings. But they are totally not cost-effective, and piling them up as prefabs in your starting payload will only utterly drain your funding and limit your space. Many games failed just because inexperienced players fell into the bait and bought them, thinking they would make a great start for the colony. They don't. You can bring the materials required to build them in site and it will be way cheaper. But before you research the tech required to build Stirlings, you can put online your outpost with some solar panels and batteries with good placements in many small electric grids. And it will wonderfully work, without spending all the money needed to bring in Stirlings and their mainteinance.

* ''VideoGame/SurvivingMars'': Stirling Generators. Yes, they net a lot of energy. But they are not cost-effective, and piling them up as prefab on your starting payload will only utterly drain your funding. You can start your outpost with some solar panels and batteries with good placements in many small electric grids. And it will wonderfully work, without spending all the money needed to bring in Stirlings and the materials for their manteinance.

** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'', after you defeat a Mark in Bhujerba, the Moguri 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.]]

* In many ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'' 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.