Line #48 Main/TheComplianceGame


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6	->'''Will Riker:''' Get the damned control chips back in place in the correct order. Now!\
7	'''Wesley Crusher:''' It's like a game. How fast can you do it?
8	-->-- ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', "The Naked Now"
9
10	A character is trying to get another character to do something. However, they don't want to -- perhaps there's something else they'd rather do, they find the thing they're being asked to do boring, they're afraid, or they're just being defiant (common in a BrattyHalfPint, but not exclusive to them). So, the first character suggests they play the Compliance Game.
11
12	The Compliance Game is any attempt at making a desired action seem like a game in order to get the other person to do it. Sometimes, this is just using WeaselWords to make it seem more fun than it is (e.g. "Let's play 'Fold the Laundry!'"). Other times, the person puts more effort into it, for instance involving things like make-believe, costumes, music, or making it into a competition (e.g. "How about we see who can put the dishes away the fastest?!"). If it's a baby or toddler who they want to eat some food, they might pretend a utensil is an airplane or a train. Sometimes this works, but other times the other character sees right through it.
13
14	Usually, the person being offered the "game" is a child, because children tend to have a lower tolerance for activities they find boring, most of them are keen on the idea of games, and they might be too naive to realise they're being tricked. If they're an adult, expect them to be [[FunPersonified playful]], [[TheDitz stupid]], [[ManChild childish]], [[CompetitionFreak competitive]], or [[AttentionDeficitOohShiny easily distracted]].
15
16	Subtrope of BatmanGambit and supertrope to TheQuietGame. Compare MonikerAsEnticement and GreensPrecedeSweets for other common kiddie bribes, GettingTheBabyToSleep for when adults do wacky things to make a baby fall asleep and/or stop crying, and IncrediblyLameFun for when someone truly sees something mundane as a game. May happen alongside HideAndNoSeek if the excuse for getting the kids to leave is framed as a game, or FencePainting if the thing they want the other person to do is a chore and the way they make it seem fun is by turning it into a game. TruthInTelevision, especially among parents.
17	----
18	!!Examples:
19	[[foldercontrol]]
20	[[folder:Comic Books]]
21	* ''ComicBook/BeastWarsUprising'': Self-inflicted by the freelancer Bisk, who sees the world as a massive video game and allocates "points" for successful completed "quests". His main employer Gnashteeth (who later renames himself [[WesternAnimation/BeastWars Megatron]] after the ancient Decepticon) finds this kind of annoying, but [[BunnyEarsLawyer tolerates it because Bisk is just that good]].
22	[[/folder]]
23
24	[[folder:Fan Works]]
25	* In "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xur02FkGYAM Don't Let the Pigeon Be a Ghostbuster]]", a parody of ''Literature/PigeonSeries'' that [[WeirdCrossover crosses over]] with ''WesternAnimation/TheRealGhostbusters'', the Pigeon wants to join the Ghostbusters, but isn't allowed. At one point, he says, "Let's play Catch the Ghost", but it doesn't work.
26	[[/folder]]
27
28	[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
29	* ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo'': When Marlin and Dory are surrounded by jellyfish, he determines that they need to bounce on the tops of the jellyfish to reach safety. To prevent Dory (who has a very short attention span) from dawdling, he makes it into a race. ''WesternAnimation/FindingDory'' shows that Dory's parents used similar strategies to help her memory.
30	* ''WesternAnimation/InsideOut'': When Riley is seen as a baby, she [[KidsHateVegetables doesn't want to eat broccoli]], so her parents get her to eat it by pretending the spoon is an airplane.
31	* ''WesternAnimation/{{The Lion King\|1994}}'': a villainous example. Scar draws his nephew Simba into a gorge (an otherwise uninteresting place) under the excuse his father will bring him a surprise to "die for", when [[NotHyperbole he actually wants to have him trampled by thousands of wildebeests]] grazing nearby. Just before leaving Simba alone to call his dad, he advises his nephew to practice his roar before he comes back. This is actually an excuse to keep Simba occupied while he gives the hyenas the signal to drive the wildebeest heard down into the gorge. It also has the unintended effect (still, Scar easily exploits it in two different situations) of leading Simba to [[FalseCause the conclusion his roar caused]] both the stampede and his father's death (the herd rushes down the gorge a few seconds after Simba's roar echoes in the canyon).
32	* ''WesternAnimation/RiseOfTheGuardians'': In a {{Flashback}}, Jack's sister is too scared to cross some thin ice, so Jack convinces her to do it by saying they'll "have a little fun" and having her count the steps.
33	* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverseTheMovie'': To prevent Spinel from following her to Earth, Pink Diamond tells her that they're going to play a game in which Spinel stands very still. Spinel, who was created for the sole purpose of amusing Pink, stands in that spot for ''millennia'' after Pink leaves. [[spoiler:PlayedForDrama in that Spinel eventually learns that Pink lived a whole life and then died on Earth without her. She realizes that Pink tricked her, figures that Pink never had any intention of coming back for her, and becomes furious.]]
34	[[/folder]]
35
36	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
37	* ''Film/BloodBrothers2007'' has the EstablishingCharacterMoment for Mark, a HitmanWithAHeart. Assigned to kill several rival mobsters in a crowded restaurant but noticing three little boys playing in front of him, Mark then calls the boys, challenging them to a game of hide-and-seek. As two of the boys run off to hide under tables and the third closes his eyes to count to 100, Mark expertly guns down all his targets and leaves without the children seeing him.
38	* The WW-II film, ''Film/HeroesOfTelemark'' ends with Professor Rolf Pedersen trying to evacuate the children on a soon-to-be-sunk ferry loaded with German superweapons by convincing the kids to partake in a "drill game" with the vessel's lifeboats, moments before it goes down.
39	* ''Film/MaryPoppins'': Mary, the nanny to Jane and Michael Banks, gets them to tidy their shared bedroom by having them play a "game" called "Tidy Up the Nursery", all the while [[MusicalChores singing a song]] about how a bit of positivity can turn any chore into a game, just like adding sugar to medicine.
40	* ''Film/NationalTreasure'': When fugitive Ben Gates can't get into the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia to see the Silence Dogood letters, he has his friend Riley go instead and he recruits a young boy to go in and out, searching for the exact letter of the alphabet he needs from particular words in particular rows so that he can crack a code. Riley pays him for each sequence he brings him back, so he's excited to do it for him. The villain Ian notices the kid running back and forth and gives him 100 dollars to tell him what letters he gave Riley.
41	[[/folder]]
42
43	[[folder:Literature]]
44	* The protagonist of ''Literature/TheAdventuresOfTomSawyer'' managed to have his friends ''pay'' for the privilege of repainting his fence.
45	* ''Literature/CharlieAndLola'': In "I Will Not Ever Never Eat a Tomato", Charlie gets his little sister Lola to eat her food by giving it crazy names and claiming that it comes from other planets.
46	* ''Literature/DiaryOfAWimpyKid'': In "The Last Straw", Greg complains that his grandfather bought him a "laundry hoop" for Christmas. It was a plastic hoop attached to a net, and he claimed it would make putting his clothes away more "fun", but Greg says that Grandpa essentially bought him a chore.
47	* In ''Literature/DrFranklinsIsland'', after Semi and Miranda become convinced that they can't escape Miranda, who [[CopeByPretending Copes By Pretending]] that there's hope and things aren't all bad, tells her friend that they're going to pretend to be volunteers. Semi initially thinks that's insane but sees Miranda's point, that if they're going to die they don't have to die screaming. Conveniently, acting like volunteers rather than going berserk as Semi tends to on her own means they're treated better, allowed to wait out the SlowTransformation in a replica hotel suite rather than in straitjackets in cells too far apart to let them talk to each other.
48	* ''Literature/{{Fudge}}'': In "Superfudge", after Fudge hides his baby sister Tamara "Tootsie" Roxanne, his big brother Peter gets him to show where she is by playing the "hot, cold" game (saying "hot" when he searches and gets close to finding her and "cold" when he gets farther away).
49	* In a ''Literature/HenryHuggins'' book, Henry and his friend are assigned to look for bugs for biology class. They get the little neighbour boy to help by saying, "Let's pretend we're scientists looking for specimens".
50	* ''Literature/PeekABooPoo'': In the sequel, [[UnnamedParent the mother]] tries to get Heidi to use her potty chair by putting a teddy bear on it and saying, "Watch Teddy."
51	* The animals in ''Literature/ProtectorOfTheSmall'' are [[AmplifiedAnimalAptitude much smarter than normal]], enough to want to [[ActionPet help Kel against her enemies]]. Kel has to explain to her dog and sparrows that training exercises are like a game, not like real fighting, and they shouldn't attack her opponents even when she gets bruised.
52	* ''Literature/PigeonSeries'': Attempted in "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus", where the Pigeon is trying to [[BreakingTheFourthWall persuade the viewer]] to let him drive the bus. At one point, he says, "Let's play 'Drive the Bus'," but this doesn't work.
53	* ''Literature/WarriorCats'': When Bluefur (who would later become Bluestar) needs to bring her kits to [=RiverClan=] in the middle of the night, she tells them they're playing a game called Secret Escape, and they need to be very, very quiet while sneaking out of the camp or they'll get caught.
54	[[/folder]]
55
56	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
57	* In ''Series/{{Dollhouse}}'', there is [[PlayedForHorror a particularly creepy example]] involving an adult. [[spoiler:Joe Hearn]] rapes [[spoiler:his charge]] Sierra several times when she is in her {{Womanchild}} EmptyShell state; he tells her that it is a game.
58	* ''Series/TheHauntingHour'': PlayedForHorror in "Uncle Howee". The titular character, a [[SubvertedKidsShow creepy kiddie show host]], comes into the real world to punish Jared, a BigBrotherBully who's been cruel to his little sister Cynthia. Uncle Howee makes Cynthia disappear and challenges Jared to locate her, but he calls the situation a game named "Find Your Sister Before Mom Gets Home and Grounds Ya for the Rest of Your Life!" [[spoiler:Jared ultimately loses and, in a KarmicTransformation, is forced to become a puppet character on Uncle Howee's show forever.]]
59	-->'''Uncle Howee''': If you find her, you get to keep her--if you don't, well, I guess you'll have some explaining to do.
60	* In ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'', Lily and Robin realize Barney will practically do anything if they challenge him (with Barney proclaiming his trademark "challenge accepted!" line). After having fun getting him into a bunch of antics, they try to challenge him to run an errand for them. Barney doesn't actually go for it until they challenge him to also pick up a girl while doing it.
61	* ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'': In "Desert Crossing", Trip's heatstroke is [[DangerousDrowsiness making him very sleepy]] but Archer fears that Trip would go into a coma if he fell asleep. So, he makes Trip stay awake by playing a game where they name countries beginning with different letters. When they get to "X", they argue over whether Xanadu counts.
62	* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': In "The Naked Now", Wesley wants to get Data (an android) to sort some pieces of technology. However, he doesn't want to do it as he's malfunctioning and essentially acting drunk, so Wesley says, "It's like a game", which entices Data to do it.
63	[[/folder]]
64
65	[[folder:Music]]
66	* ''Music/TheWiggles'': In "The Toilet Song", the singers try to get the viewer ([[AssumingTheAudiencesAge who they assume to be a toddler]]) to [[ToiletTrainingPlot sit on the toilet for the entire song]] by calling it the "Toilet Challenge".
67	[[/folder]]
68
69	[[folder:Web Animation]]
70	* ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'', "Play Date": Homestar tries to plan a meet-up with others in the cast, but it seems they're all busy with other plans or in trouble, and the only one left is Strong Mad. Unfortunately, Strong Mad's idea of "playing games" is too intense for Homestar, and tries to tone it down:
71	-->'''Homestar Runner:''' ''(tired and bandaged up)'' Okay, Strong Mad... We're gonna have a little something I like to call "Migraine Time". We can play your new favorite game: "Feathers... & Cotton." Ready? Go. ''(He places a hot water bottle on his head)''\
72	''(As he's talking, a [[BombWhistle whistling sound]] is heard off-screen, until after he's finished, at which point an asteroid crashes through the ceiling of Homestar's house and crushes him)''\
73	'''Homestar:''' WAAAAUGH!!!\
74	'''Strong Mad:''' [[NoIndoorVoice THIS ONE'S NOT MY FAULLLLT!]]\
75	''(Nebulon rises from inside the asteroid, with his usual stock sound effect)''
76	[[/folder]]
77
78	[[folder:Webcomics]]
79	* The ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'' strip "[[https://xkcd.com/1566/ Board Game]]" shows Cueball making a board game club do his taxes by presenting them as a board game. According to the AltText, they are more thorough than people whose job ''is'' to help with filling out tax forms.
80	[[/folder]]
81
82	[[folder:Web Original]]
83	* In [[https://www.ahaparenting.com/read/play-child-emotional-intelligence this]] ''Website/AhaParenting'' article about games, two of them are tricks to get the child to do something you want:
84	** One of them is [[SeekingTheIntangible pretending to search around]] for the child's "strong voice" to get them to stop whining.
85	** The other one is saying goodnight to each body part to get the child to go to bed.
86	* ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'', "Play Date": Homestar tries to plan a meet-up with others in the cast, but it seems they're all busy with other plans or in-trouble, and the only one left is Strong Mad. Unfortunately, Strong Mad's idea of "playing games" is too intense for Homestar, and tries to tone it down:
87	--> '''Homestar Runner:''' ''[tired and bandaged up]'' Okay, Strong Mad... We're gonna have a little something I like to call "Migraine Time". We can play your new favorite game: "Feathers... & Cotton." Ready? Go. ''[He places a hot water bottle on his head]''
88	--> ''[After he's done talking, a [[BombWhistle whistling sound]] is heard off-screen, and an asteroid crashes through the ceiling of Homestar's house and crushes him]''
89	--> '''Homestar:''' WAAAAUGH!!!
90	--> '''Strong Mad:''' [[NoIndoorVoice THIS ONE'S NOT MY FAULLLLT!]]
91	--> ''[Nebulon rises from inside the asteroid, with his usual stock sound effect]''
92	[[/folder]]
93
94	[[folder:Western Animation]]
95	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Bluey}}'':
96	** In "Fruit Bat", Bandit's two daughters Bluey and Bingo don't want to go to bed, so he persuades them to do it by having them pretend to be on a rocket as he carries them upstairs. Then, when Bluey doesn't want to take a shower he encourages her to by having her slide on the floor and pretend to be a penguin afterwards. Finally, when the girls protest being put to bed, he lures them in by promising to play a game where he reads a bedtime story and pretends to fall asleep.
97	** In "Dunny", Chilli tells her daughters to use the word "toilet" instead of "dunny" (which is an Australian slang word), as "dunny" is "not the word the Queen would use". When she claims she would give the girls chocolate if she said it, they try to trick her into saying it by roping her into a game of Pass It On and using "[[CallingYourBathroomBreaks Oh man, I need the dunny]]!" as the phrase. Chilli, however, pretends she couldn't hear it properly.
98	* ''WesternAnimation/CharlieAndLola'': In "I Will Not Ever, Never Eat a Tomato" (based on the book), Charlie convinces [[PickyEater Lola]] to eat her food by pretending it's from other planets.
99	* ''WesternAnimation/CoconutFredsFruitSaladIsland'': In "Five Nuts and a Baby", Fred attempts to feed a baby, which was actually a [[GooGooGetUp fruit bat in disguise]]. The fruit bat refused to eat the baby food, so Fred pretends that the spoon is a flying saucer place and a real one came along to put baby food in his mouth.
100	* ''WesternAnimation/CrawfordsCorner'': In "Crawford Puts on His Coat", Crawford encourages the viewer to put on their coat by framing it as a dance involving laying the coat on the ground and putting it on sleeves-first.
101	* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Daria}}'' sees Daria [[BabysittingEpisode roped into babysitting]] a pair of insufferably [[CheerfulChild cheerful kids]]. Having no particular skill with kids, she at one point resorts to having them play "Lichen", a game where they compete to see who can lie still and silent the longest, allowing her time to summon Jane for help.
102	* In the 1956 Walt Disney short "WesternAnimation/InTheBag", the park ranger first tries to get the bears to clean up the park by making it a game.
103	* ''WesternAnimation/EsmeAndRoy'': In "A Dino-mite Lunch", [[ForgetsToEat Tillie becomes too obsessed with playing with her toy race cars and refuses to eat anything]]. As such, Esme and Roy make a pretend drive-thru so that Tillie can move the cars past it and properly have lunch.
104	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}}'': In "Let's Play Simon Says", Stumpy, Quack-Quack, and Mr. Cat make a huge mess in the living room out of discarded snack packages. Kaeloo wants them to clean it up, but they refuse, so she tries to make them clean it up via a game of Simon Says. [[TheSmartGuy Mr. Cat]] isn't fooled, but the game gets Stumpy and Quack-Quack to clean up the mess immediately.
105	* ''WesternAnimation/LittlePrincess'':
106	** In "I Want Baked Beans", the Princess wants to have baked beans for lunch instead of the pasta that's on offer. The King tries getting her to eat it by pretending the spoon is a plane, but she says, "I'm too old for that game."
107	** In "I Want to Cook", the Princess wants Puss the cat to be her food taster, but he refuses to eat anything. She eventually gets him to eat by pretending the spoon is an airplane, since it's what her parents do when ''she'' refuses food.
108	* ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'':
109	** In "[[Recap/TheLoudHouseS1E12AlongCameASisterChoreAndPeace Along Came a Sister]]", Lincoln gets Lynn to stay still by tapping her and saying, "Freeze!".
110	** In "[[Recap/TheLoudHouseS2E25TheCryingDameAntiSocial The Crying Dame]]", Lily is TooUnhappyToBeHungry after [[LostToyGrievance her siblings throw out her toy]]. Leni tries to do the "here comes the plane/train" trick (though, being TheDitz, she gets it wrong and says, "Open your airplane. Here comes the tunnel.") but Lily's still not hungry.
111	* ''WesternAnimation/MarthaSpeaks'': In "Martha's Life in Crime", a thief named Carlotta Bumblecrumb tries to get Martha (a dog) to steal an autographed baseball by telling her to "fetch the [[BabyTalk bally]]". However, Martha chases the ball around instead.
112	* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Munro}}'', four year old Munro does a self-inflicted version to do his daily routine at boot camp. He interprets doing drills as a game called "Face" ("Right Face", "About Face", etc.), and doing chores as a game called "Get This Man's Name" (where someone would pick soldiers out for duties around camp). Being only a kid, and surrounded by adults who refuse to see him as one, nobody bothers to correct him.
113	* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePony'': In "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E22ABirdInTheHoof A Bird in the Hoof]]", Fluttershy thinks that Celestia's pet bird Philomena is sick because she's molting and has a cough. She tries feeding her [[SoupIsMedicine homemade soup]], but Philomena refuses it. Fluttershy tries pretending the feeding spoon is a train, but this doesn't work.
114	* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': PlayedForDrama. [[spoiler:After the Draining Spell is activated, everyone in the Boiling Isles begins to die slowly and painfully. King is then left with the choice to free The Collector -- a [[GooGooGodlike childlike god]] who is the only one capable of stopping the spell. As the entity is solely interested in playing games, King convinces them to save everyone by suggesting they play a game called The Owl House, which requires an entire island's worth of players. Unfortunately, this subsequently results in the Boiling Isles becoming The Collector's personal playground]].
115	* ''WesternAnimation/PeppaPig'':
116	** In one episode, Peppa's cousins Chloe (who's about elementary school age) and Alexander (a baby) come to visit. The family tries to spoon-feed Alexander, but he refuses until they pretend the spoon is an airplane.
117	** In another episode, George, who's a toddler, [[KidsHateVegetables refuses to eat a salad]] at lunch. Grampa Pig solves the problem by arranging the vegetables into the shape of a dinosaur, George's favorite animal, prompting the little tyke to devour the whole thing.
118	[[/folder]]
119
120	[[folder:Real Life]]
121	* In a particularly horrible real-life example, Nazi scientist Josef Mengele tricked countless children into going along to the gas chambers by telling them that they were playing a game called "walking to the chimney", with the promise of sweets if they "won".
122	* A tragically common tactic used in asymmetrical warfare is for a guerilla to tell a child to take something to a particular spot as part of a game, and naturally the item will turn out to be a bomb. Examples of this tactic being used are brought up in places such as post-invasion Afghanistan and Iraq. A particularly insidious version involves telling the child that they'll get a reward once the "game" is complete... with said "reward" being the honour of being martyred and rewarded in the afterlife.
123	[[/folder]]

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