->'''Luke:''' Is the Dark Side stronger?\\
'''Yoda:''' No, no, no. Quicker, easier, more seductive.
-->-- ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack''

Evil is a vile temptress. [[EvilIsCool She's cool]]. [[EvilPaysBetter She's rich]]. [[SuperpoweredEvilSide She's powerful]]. [[EvilFeelsGood She makes you feel good]]. She is everything you want, if not everything you need. And the most tempting aspect of evil?

She's easy.

You see, Good makes you work for her. You want her blessing, you have to take the difficult path. You have to talk to the villagers and understand their complaints instead of intimidating them into submission or just blowing them up and taking what you want. You have to work through problems. And human problems, well, they tend to be complicated. And as Good is fond of reminding you, the pursuit of her is a never-ending quest. She is like the horizon: no matter how tenaciously you pursue Good, you're never quite going to reach her.

Evil, on the other hand, offers you her fruits with seductive ease. One squeeze of the trigger, one slash of the sword, one cutting remark, and you've won her approval. Evil presents the hero with an easy, obstacle-free path to riches and rewards. There's a reason CuttingTheKnot is a thing, why the ConMan can trick his mark, even though what he offers is obviously TooGoodToBeTrue, and why [[DealWithTheDevil people still accept a devil's bargain]].

Expect Good to remind you how easy Evil is and reproach the hero for considering the simple path. Choosing such a path is why TheProtagonist might become a VillainProtagonist instead of TheHero. The mentor will remind our hero that the easy path is not the right one. Sometimes the true cost of evil being easy is that it's [[CripplingOverspecialization overspecialised]] in destruction, meaning that [[InverseLawOfUtilityAndLethality a "weak" good power ends up more effective than a strong evil one]].

There's a second, [[{{Videogame}} game]]-specific aspect of this trope. A lot of games are fond of the KarmaMeter. This allows the player to dictate the morality of the game. Unfortunately, the evil options tend to be quick, clean, easy. They don't require LevelGrinding or other annoyances. The good options, on the other hand, require effort, puzzle-solving skills and other time-intensive activities.

Compare BeingGoodSucks, DiligentHeroSlothfulVillain, and AmbitiousButLazy, the latter which often involves a character trying to get ahead in life via unscrupulous means. Compare/Contrast BeingEvilSucks.
----
!!Examples of the first facet include:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* ''Anime/DragonBallZ'': Part of Vegeta's arc in the Buu Saga. Having gotten nowhere [[HardWorkHardlyWorks training his ass off]] to surpass Goku, and viewing his newfound love for his family and the Earth as a weakness holding him back from doing so, he voluntarily [[DealWithTheDevil sells his soul]] to Babidi, both to [[EvilFeelsGood recapture the feeling of glee he felt when he was evil]] and to finally bridge the gap between them. Ultimately, however, the strong ties he formed on Earth prove to be stronger than any joy he felt being evil again, and he gives his life to stop Buu and make amends for all the evil he has done. Ultimately subverted, as by the end of the Buu Saga, he's embraced such virtues as love and friendship, and by doing so, he's gotten much closer to Goku's level.
* Negi Springfield of ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'' chose Black Magic because the light path wasn't fast enough. For context, Jack Rakan said that if he choose light path of honest hard work then he ''might'' be on [[TheRival Fate's level]] in five to ten years. Magia Erebea could get him there in ''a month''. It's downplayed in that it's not ''actually'' evil, just much more dangerous--both to himself and others.
* In ''Manga/DGrayMan'', Alma Karma comments that dark matter is much easier to use than innocence.
* In ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'', you have [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Vampirism]] and [[ThePowerOfTheSun Hamon]], polar opposite ways to achieve similar powers. To become an immortal vampire, all one need do is perform a blood sacrifice involving one of many ancient {{magitek}} stone masks; while Hamon requires weeks of backbreaking hard work to gain a basic understanding. Needless to say, vampirism is the evil path.
* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'',
** We see two different people becoming the [[spoiler: Juubi's Jinchuriki]] as part of the Moon's Eye Plan. One of them [[spoiler:(Tobi/Obito Uchiha)]] harbored some doubts about the plan and briefly lost his sanity, having to fight hard to regain it, while the other [[spoiler:(Madara Uchiha)]] was completely on board with the plan and easily succeeded without even a momentary inconvenience. [[spoiler:Unfortunately for Madara, he's thus left unprepared when [[DragonWithAnAgenda Black Zetsu]] backstabs him and thus provides the Juubi's true will with the opportunity to commit GrandTheftMe on Madara with no chance of fighting back.]]
** This was basically Sasuke's reason for his FaceHeelTurn: he felt that if he stayed in Konoha with his teammates he wouldn't get strong enough to defeat Itachi (adding to the fact that Naruto seemed to be catching up to him). However, in his defense, he was also recently rehospitalized by Itachi and his sanity has taken a sharp dive along with his confidence.
* [[DeconstructedTrope Deconstructed]] in ''Webcomic/OnePunchMan''. It's revealed that Garou, the so-called Hero Killer is [[spoiler: actually a NobleDemon who actually wants the world to be at peace and to the heroes to actually be {{Ideal Hero}}es. However, to Garou, it was alot easier trying to bring world peace by being an all-powerful evil monster, because all he had to do was beat heroes and in his mind, humanity would unite against him. Saitama even notes that the approach is perfect for someone "with no confidence like him." Saitama then tells him that Garou would never win because his half-hearted "monster hobby" would never be able to stand up against the full-hearted conviction of Saitama's "hero hobby." Garou crumbles out of his demonic transformation as Saitama not only manhandles him, but picks apart the mentality of the whole thing, leaving Garou defeated]] Evil Is Easy? Usually is. Will you get the prize that you ''actually'' want? Not necessarily. Will you even succeed? Not guranteed, especially since [[MiseryBuildsCharacter the harder and longer route tends to make you stronger in the long run.]] Ultimately, [[BeingEvilSucks Garou is left powerless by his own lack of confidence and that he took the easy way out.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'': This is Bruce's justification for not killing any of his RoguesGallery, and not even making [[BatmanGrabsAGun making an exception]] for the Joker, when Jason Todd confronts him over it.
-->'''Jason''': Your moral code just won't allow that? It's too hard to "cross that line"?\\
'''Batman''': No. God Almighty... no. It'd be too damned easy. All I have ''ever'' wanted to do is kill him. For ''years'' a day hasn't gone by where I haven't envisioned taking him and spending an entire month putting him through the most horrific, mind-boggling forms of torture. All of it building to an end with him broken, butchered and maimed... pleading-- ''screaming''-- in the worst kind of agony as he careens into a monstrous death. I want him dead maybe more than I've never wanted anything. But if I do that, if I allow myself to go down into that place... I'll never come back.
* One of the most horrible aspects of the [[ComicBook/FinalCrisis Anti-Life Equation]] is that, as part of its absolute enslaving properties, it relieves anyone who it's used on of all personal responsibility, so its victims will feel tempted to remain under the user's thrall. Green Arrow, even after having his Equation-broadcasting helmet removed, struggles to resist obeying Darkseid's orders, given just how ''easy'' Anti-Life is compared to just being himself.
* ''Franchise/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Vol 1]]: Eviless became a slaver simply because it was simple and expected of her in the Empire. When most aspects of her job became illegal she found it far easier to turn criminal with other slavers and attack Wonder Woman looking for revenge rather than adapt to the new guidelines or learn a new trade.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fan Works]]

* In the ''Blog/BetterBonesAU'', when the benevolent afterlife of [=StarClan=] refuses to give Blackstar [[CatsHaveNineLives nine lives]] due to all of the horrible things he has done in the past, Runningnose offers him lives from [[{{Hell}} the Dark Forest]] instead. However, he refuses to ally with Brokenstar and Tigerstar again even if it would give him a longer life, deciding to earn his lives the hard way through gradual atonement.
* In ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'', this theme is discussed, with Harry - particularly in the sequel - being faced with the canonical choice between 'what is right and what is easy'. In this case, 'easy' means tapping into his SuperpoweredEvilSide that could let him solve more or less all of his problems with a wave of his hand, at the low, low costs of possibly going insane and becoming an ApocalypseMaiden par excellence, while also unleashing an EldritchAbomination that once ate a galaxy.
* In ''Fanfic/PonyPOVSeries'',
** This applies to [[SuperPoweredEvilSide Nightmarification]] vs [[DeityOfHumanOrigin Alicornification]]. Alicornification, done the correct way, takes the effort of obtaining a full and complete understanding of what you're going to become, which naturally requires a great deal of time and devotion. Nightmarification, however, only requires a bit of dark magic and allowing one part of you to consume the rest to the point of being all you are. However, Alicornification comes with enlightenment, while Nightmarification comes with [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity insanity]], and anyone who's become one and been purified generally [[WasItReallyWorthIt has the opinion it's decidedly not worth the power.]] [[spoiler:While a Nightmare purified with the Elements of Harmony becomes a mortal Alicorn, don't expect them to feel ''that'' was worth it either.]]
** Luna mentions this as the reason why Hydia and her family willingly worshiped [[GodOfEvil Morning Star]] despite full well knowing what he was. Evil is the path of least resistance to get what you want because [[ItsAllAboutMe it let's you care only for yourself]], while good requires effort to account for the needs and well beings of others. So evil is simpler and easier than good, but ultimately not stronger.
* This is part of [[AlphaBitch Chloe's]] problem in ''Fanfic/TheOneToMakeItStay''. While she recognizes that bullying others the way she does is wrong, she isn't willing to put in the effort necessary to change her ways because... well, that would take ''effort''. And she wouldn't get the [[EvilIsPetty petty thrill]] of supposed superiority as she makes others feel horrible about themselves and like they're lesser than her. Throw in a tendency for her to get what she wants ''without'' having to work for it or face any ''serious'' consequences for her actions, and you've got a recipe for disaster. Especially once that KarmaHoudiniWarranty runs out, and her resulting temper tantrum leads to [[spoiler:Hawkmoth getting his hands on the Black Cat ring]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
* [[spoiler:Hal Stewart from ''WesternAnimation/{{Megamind}}'' freely admits that he thinks being a hero has no real rewards while being a villain does.]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog'', the villain is literally ''named'' "Dr. Easy". (Facilier shares a root with words like "facile" and "facilitate"). His whole deal is giving people the easy path to achieving their dreams, which usually turns out to be more beneficial for himself than for them. He got his own power from a DealWithTheDevil. This is [[{{Foil}} in contrast to]] the hard-working Tiana.
* A theme in ''WesternAnimation/SupermanShazamTheReturnOfBlackAdam:''
--> '''[[KidHero Billy Batson]]:''' "Be good and good will follow." That's what my parents used to always tell me. But, you know, [[Franchise/{{Superman}} Mr. Kent]], I was good [[ParentalAbandonment before they were taken from me]]. I was good [[AbusiveParents at the foster home]]. And I was good [[NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished fifteen minutes ago]]. [[BeingGoodSucks I'm starting to think being good isn't good for me]].\\
'''Clark Kent:''' It seems that way sometimes, doesn't it? But that's because good is hard. Bad is always easy.
* This is also Batman's justification for [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim not making an exception]] for [[ThouShaltNotKill his one rule]] for [[JokerImmunity The Joker]].
-->'''Batman''': [[spoiler: No! ''God'' almighty!... No. It'd be too damned '''easy'''. All I've ''ever'' wanted to do is kill him. A day doesn't go by I don't think about subjecting him [[PayEvilUntoEvil to every horrendous torture he's dealt out to others]] and then... end him. [...] But if I do that, if I allow myself to go down into that place... I'll never come back.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* ''Franchise/StarWars:''
** Several mentor figures refer to TheDarkSide as "the easy path." The Sith have a similar opinion of the Jedi, and in the EU often call the Jedi weak (or stupid, or both) for not succumbing to its lure. In light of the fact that the Sith are historically [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder the less fortunate of the two]], the latter view does have some substance.
** {{Inverted|Trope}} with Kylo Ren in ''Film/TheForceAwakens'', since he wants to follow the Dark Side but is tempted by the Light Side, and his main rival Rey is his equal, if not potentially his superior, despite being far less versed in the Light Side and training in general. This is ironic because his being tempted by love is broadly the same thing that was always giving trouble to the old-fashioned Jedi, who thought they should be stoically emotionless (though the ''older'' iterations of the Jedi weren't as restrictive with emotions).
* ''Film/RockyV'': The shady [[CorruptCorporateExecutive boxing promoter]] [[BigBad Duke]] tempts Rocky's pupil Tommy to his employ with a fast track to the championship. Rocky knows this is a bad idea, but the young fool dismisses him and sells out. Duke gives Tommy a winning title shot... and he [[ManipulativeBastard planned on]] the resulting media backlash (which Rocky predicted) putting the kid under his thumb.
* From ''Film/ThreeHundred'': "Unlike the cruel [[TheHero Leonidas]], who required that you stand, I ask only that you {{kneel|BeforeZod}}."
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' discusses this trope at some length and using several characters within its CrapsackWorld. BeingGoodSucks and is far from easy for those who try it, sure. And, a thirteen-year-old boy like Joffrey can manage to be TheCaligula with relative ease; or, how the intellectually challenged, but physically strong like Gregor Clegane who can manage without much trouble; or, how about Little Walder? Lord Walder Frey started young, too. Or, how about Ramsey Bolton? But, the take-home message is actually "StupidEvil Is Easy (and kills you just as easily), it's PragmaticEvil you really need to work your socks off for if you want the big bucks (yet it can still kill you; it just takes the cheque longer to find you)". The wages of sin may be death in this series, but all men must die. The Evil just die more ironically after killing off some of the Good.
** It gets more complicated since Good is just as fraught with problems. As [[AntiHero Tyrion]] [[DeadpanSnarker loves to point out]], [[HonorBeforeReason certain types of Good]] manage to be [[StupidGood "harder" without being "better"]] since they make you [[GoodIsDumb predictable]], [[ItsAllAboutMe require that others conform to your moral standards]] and can, in the end, [[TotalitarianUtilitarian result in just as many innocent people dying]]. Especially since [[RevengeBeforeReason many "good" characters consider revenge (via combat and countrywide warfare) perfectly acceptable]]. [[CrapsackWorld There's no guaranteed success in Westeros]], but [[BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil exercising realistic judgment while keeping your actions in service to your goals]] avoids the most famous pitfalls.
* ''Literature/HarryPotter'': [[EccentricMentor Dumbledore]] at the end of [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire the fourth book]] refers to the choice between "what is right and what is easy."
** For the first six books, Crabbe and Goyle were little more than a BumblingHenchmenDuo who hung around as bodyguards to Draco Malfoy, and they weren't particularly talented or skilled at anything. Come the final book, they've learned to use ''unforgivable'' curses and prove themselves rather skilled with TheDarkArts.
* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' has this as a key theme, with it being repeatedly noted that using magic to solve all your problems is tempting, and using dark magic is even more so - though Harry explicitly notes in the second book that he feels dark magic is ultimately less powerful than his own kind, while Bob the Skull later notes that creation magic is actually much harder (and takes much more power) than destructive magic (not that this makes it any less dangerous). It also steadily drives you insane, along with other prices, along with the other small point that if you take the quick and easy route to power, you're not going to understand it very well. And if you come up against someone who's at least a match for you, power-wise, with that understanding and skill, you're screwed - as is brutally demonstrated in ''Skin Game'', when Dresden faces off against [[spoiler: Hannah Ascher,]] a powerful Warlock - a dark Wizard - who'd previously fought and killed Wardens, Wizards in the PersonOfMassDestruction weight-class who specifically hunted Warlocks, and was [[spoiler: the host of Lasciel to boot; Lasciel being a FallenAngel who'd previously spent a large amount of time in Harry's head some years ago and knew his previous strategies]]. [[spoiler: She's]] a match for him for power, and probably his superior skillwise in fire magic (which, since PlayingWithFire is his speciality, is no mean feat), but a [[CripplingOverSpecialization lack of a rounded skill-set]], an AttackAttackAttack strategy, and a dialled up temper mean that Dresden defeats [[spoiler: her]] relatively easily by ensuring that [[spoiler: she's]] HoistByTheirOwnPetard. As he bleakly states afterwards, having tried to talk her down, it wasn't a fight. It was murder.
* In ''Literature/DragonBones'', the whole plot is this. Ward chooses to "steal"/free a slave, which means he has to flee from his own castle. He then decides that, in order to [[MakesSenseInContext avoid being taken to an insane asylum]], he needs to become a war hero. Conveniently, there have been problems with bandit hordes from the south in one country, so he, his siblings, the freed slave, his [[AWizardDidIt own]] [[MakesSenseInContext slave]] and some loyal subjects travel there and become unpaid mercenaries. Soon, they have nothing to eat, as due to an old grudge between the countries no one sells them anything, and they don't steal anything more valuable than sour apples from a tree at the wayside. Doing good comes naturally to Ward, as he has been protecting his siblings from their abusive father all the time, but in the end he has to do something ''really'' hard. [[spoiler: Oreg, who is nearly immortal and has been a slave to Ward's family for hundreds of years, asks Ward to kill him. And Ward does it, even though he has come to consider Oreg a friend, or even brother, at that point. Doing the ''wrong'' thing, which would have catastrophal consequences, would have been way easier.]]
* In the title, and pretty much the thesis, of the thriller ''One Bad Thing''. The goodly characters have never done anything truly wrong, but those who commit one misdeed and realize [[KarmaHoudini there's no cosmic retribution]] lose a good portion of their restraint, and in all but one case become jerkasses or villains. (That one case is the main character, and really isn't evil so much as chaotic, but is [[ValuesDissonance treated as mildly repulsive]] in a manner similar to [[Literature/GreatExpectations Magwitch]] or [[Literature/ATaleOfTwoCities Sydney Carton]].)
* In ''Literature/TheEyesOfTheDragon,'' the narration notes that it's easier to do evil magic than good magic. Good magic is even harder for [[BigBad Flagg]]--he needs to keep [[PuppetKing King Roland]] alive, but his ability diminishes since he doesn't actually ''want'' to, he just wants to keep [[TheWisePrince Roland's son]] off the throne.
* ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'', and especially with the Zahn novels, explores and deconstructs the trope. In fact, some of the books note that the dark side ''is'' stronger, in terms of combat... but then being a Jedi isn't just about surviving fights.
* ''Literature/ElementalMasters'':
** In ''Literature/TheFireRose'', Jason comments several times that Paul's magical training is stalled out because he's putting all his effort into finding a shortcut route to power.
** The series as a whole toys with this. Compelling low-level elementals ''is'' less time consuming and more reliable than cajoling or bargaining with them; but not only does such techniques place a firm ceiling on the power of the elementals that can be dealt with, constant attention and avoiding any moment of weakness is needed to ''keep'' even weak elementals from turning on or abandoning an Elemental Master unless they actually like him or her.
* In ''Literature/WhenDemonsWalk'', the hero finds, after much searching, someone who knows how to banish a demon. The downside? It involves sacrifcing a male virgin in a particularly cruel way. She's all "Thanks, but no thanks", and goes on to find a less morally questionable way to deal with the demon, even though she doesn't even know if one exists.
* Referenced in ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' quite often, especially in the Witches books.
** In ''Literature/WitchesAbroad'', Nanny Ogg, noting how young Lady Lilith looks, reflects that "The wages of sin are death, but so is the salary of virtue and at least the evil get to go home early on Fridays".
** In ''Literature/LordsAndLadies'', Granny Weatherwax kind of admits but ultimately deconstructs the trope. She says she took the hard path, "and the hard path's pretty hard, but it's not as hard as the easy path."
** Parodied in ''The Discworld Companion'', again discussing Lady Lilith's youthful appearance: "Moralists will say this is because sin is easier than virtue, but moralists always say this sort of thing and some sin is [[ComicSutra quite difficult]] and requires [[NoodleImplements specialised equipment]]."
* Referenced in the ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}}'' book ''Literature/LordOfTheClans'', when Grom Hellscream is telling Thrall the history of the orcs.
-->'''Thrall''': You said the shamans were disappearing. Doesn't that mean the warlocks' way was better?\\
'''Grom''': It was faster, if that's what you mean.
* Inverted in the {{Literature/Darkover}} novel ''City of Sorcery,'' where a resident of the eponymous locale says that evil is harder than good, because evil involves going against nature. (When one of the protagonists deduces, accurately, that this means the woman's definition of good is being in accord with nature, the woman seems baffled by the comment.)
* ''Literature/MotherOfLearning'': Becoming a necromancer requires the ability to sense souls besides your own. You can gain the ability either by making an extremely complicated potion using rare ingredients from a monster that only appears in extremely specific circumstances and hope you don't get killed in the process... or you can just grab a random person's soul and consume it for power. Most soul magic is like that, which is one of the reasons it's assumed evil by default.
* ''Literature/TheScholomance'': {{Mana}} is magical power created through personal effort; ''[[TheDarkSide malia]]'' is power [[VampiricDraining drained]] from something else's LifeEnergy. Significant ''malia'' use leaves wizards [[ThisIsYourBrainOnEvil crazy]], [[EvilMakesYouUgly deformed]], and eventually dead, but almost everyone cheats a little bit (killing shrubs and anthills isn't too soul-scarring), and dedicated [[EvilSorcerer maleficers]] can fuel outright horrors with mass HumanSacrifice before they burn out.
** [[TheHero Galadriel 'El' Higgins]] deals with [[BadPowersGoodPeople an even more severe version]] personally. Most of the aforementioned blood sacrifices require thought and effort to arrange in order to draw out more energy than expended. Not only can El rip the life out of a resisting wizard with the same act of will most need to fry a roach, but unless she monitors her accessible mana reserves carefully she risks instinctively dropping those around her to make up the shortfall when she casts powerful spells... and she has [[PowerIncontinence a degree of trouble casting anything]] ''but'' [[PersonOfMassDestruction powerful spells]]. Much of the reason she is a [[WillfullyWeak strict-mana]] IneffectualLoner is that she knows how '''trivial''' it would be for her to become a [[BigBad wizarding civilization threatening Dark Empress]] and has too much empathy to risk inflicting that on everybody.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* UsefulNotes/BarackObama stated in one of his early 2009 speeches that "America does what is necessary, not what is easy" (or something like that). This was parodied on ''Series/TheDailyShow'', where Jon Stewart asked Obama "Have you ''met'' America?" and provided a number of examples where Americans chose the easy road over the right one.
-->''"We invented the Roomba because [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacuum_cleaner the other automatic cleaning device]] we invented required us to ''[get up and move around]''."''
* ''Series/{{Charmed|1998}}'': Evil was consistently shown to be the much easier path on the show; demons, warlocks and other evil beings almost universally possessed offensive powers (energy balls and fire balls), teleportation powers and had no fear of [[PersonalGainHurts Personal Gain]], with the ability to ''steal other powers'' on top of that. Meanwhile, the sisters are limited to whatever magic the PowersThatBe decide they're ready to use, cannot use magic for mortal problems (not that it stops them in later seasons) and cannot possess powers from demons, as the one time Phoebe tried that, [[BadPowersBadPeople she nearly turned evil]].
** It is also stressed that while good witches have the possibility of turning evil, evil witches cannot become good.
* ''Series/TheSopranos:'' Even through his thick forest of rationalizations and angry denials, Tony is generally aware that he's a terrible person, and he ''wants'' to be a "good guy." But he's not willing to do any of the work or accept any sacrifice required to actually be good, and it's just easier for him to do what he's always done -- hurt people for profit.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Music]]
* Referenced in DMX's ''Damien III'''
-->'''DMX'''- "I don't even know why I fucked with you from the door!"
-->'''Damien'''- "Because you knew I could give you what you wanted and more"
-->'''DMX'''- "I coulda got it from [[{{God}} Him]]!"
-->'''Damien'''- "But you would have had to '''wait'''."
* ''I Do Believe In Love'', Katie Melua
--> Is it true a politician's heart can rust away and fall apart?
--> I guess it must be hard, oh it must be hard
--> To know what's good and to know what's easy
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Religion]]
* This goes back all the way to ancient Greek philosophy. The Cynics had a legend about Heracles being at a crossways. One path was smooth and easy, the path to vice; the other was rocky and full of thorns, and it was the path to virtue.
** A very similar image appears in the Literature/{{Child Ballad|s}} "Thomas the Rhymer":
--->"O see ye not that narrow road,\\
So thick beset with thorns and briers?\\
That is the path of righteousness,\\
Tho after it but few enquires.
--->"And see not ye that braid braid road,\\
That lies across that lily leven?\\
That is the path to wickedness,\\
Tho some call it the road to heaven."
* ''Literature/TheBible'':
** UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} says this in the ''[[Literature/TheFourGospels Gospel of Matthew]]'':
--->"''Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.''"
** There are similar passages found throughout the Bible which share this sentiment in different ways; [[Literature/BookOfIsaiah Isaiah 35]] is one such example.
* This is mainly the reason why not only is [[SevenDeadlySins Sloth considered a Deadly Sin]], but why it's the ''penultimate one'' in terms of severity, (beaten only by {{Pride}}). Following the path of Sloth means those people are not doing anything constructive nor contributing positively to society, but their Sloth also means they are either letting evil deeds be done when they can stop them, yet choose not to, or are doing evil actions themselves because it is easier for them to do so rather than perform good actions for their goals. Best summed up in this quote:
--> '''Edmund Burke:''' The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* ''TabletopGame/ChroniclesOfDarkness'':
** ''Inferno'': The temptation of [[DealWithTheDevil demonic pacts]] is that the personal benefit can be great, but the worst costs can be inflicted on [[HumanSacrifice some other schmuck]]. If a [[SevenDeadlySins Wrath demon]] can make you the WorldsStrongestMan in exchange for only a HairTriggerTemper, why not beat a stranger unconscious for even greater rewards? Aside from your {{sanity|Meter}}, the KarmaMeter, and the [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope slippery slope]], why not?
** ''TabletopGame/MageTheAwakening'' has this as one of the major appeals of the [[AncientConspiracy Seers of the Throne]]. Being a mage is a difficult, dangerous life; wouldn't it be wonderful if there were people who could smooth out the rough patches, ease the strain of living, do all that terrible ''thinking'' for you? And all you have to do is swear loyalty to [[GodOfEvil the Exarchs]].
** ''TabletopGame/GeniusTheTransgression'': This is given as one of the major reasons why player Geniuses might still deal with the [[AncientConspiracy Lemurians]]. Lemuria might be both crazy and evil, but it still has far better infrastructure and far more resources than the Peerage, and sometimes there is just no other way to get the 50 kilos of pure iridium you need to build your new experimental computer core.
** ''TabletopGame/PrincessTheHopeful'': It's mentioned that the All-Consuming Darkness is extremely easy to access by the standards of ''TabletopGame/ChroniclesOfDarkness'' supernatural powers: all you need is some rudimentary occult knowledge and a willingness to kill or torture sapient beings, and you can lay claim to all sorts of Dark powers. However, the powers of the Darkness are also fairly limited in their scope, and tend to come with some pretty hefty side effects.
* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'':
** In the Literature/{{Dragonlance}} setting, black wizards gained levels faster than white ones, being evil and following the much easier path. However this was counterbalanced by black wizards having a lower level limit - eventually a white wizard would surpass his black counterpart. Red wizards (neutrals) fell between the two extremes advancing faster than white but slower than black and topping out lower than white but higher than black.
** In 2nd edition ''TabletopGame/DarkSun'', defilers (wizards whose spells [[WalkingWasteland suck the life from the land]]) advance in level much faster than preservers (who limit how much energy they use) do. Defiling is so obviously bad news for everyone that if it ''didn't'' come with immediate and direct benefits, even the most selfish of wizards wouldn't do it. ''Magazine/{{Dragon}}'' later gave rules for preservers casting defiling spells if they felt they had to (which would set them on the road to becoming a defiler), making it closer to the MoralityDial version.
* This is a gameplay mechanic in some versions of the the Star Wars tabletop game, where at lower levels using the Dark Side provides more benefits, but it quickly peters off and is eclipsed by the Light.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'':
** Defending oneself against Chaos involves maintaining control over one's emotions, specfically rage, lust, hope, or fear of death. You have to do this in a CrapsackWorld. It gets worse; since Chaos is far from the only threat, its servants can very often sway Imperials by using the promise of power (either psychic, mutation or possessed weapons) against the Tyranids / Orks / Dark Eldar/ Necrons/ Traitor Legions.
** The Imperium itself, meanwhile, is a corrupt, decaying fascist shell largely thanks to the inertia of its own colossal age and size - making life better for humanity would require superhuman effort, and even their own tailor-made superhumans are usually unwilling and/or unable to take up the task, not least because exploiting the wretched, unfair system for their own ends is so much easier and more fun.
** Ironically, the [[BigGood Emperor of Mankind]] himself is revealed to be very prone to this. In particular, much of the blame for the Horus Heresy can be attributed to his willingness to leave clearly dangerous or unstable individuals in power, like several of the Traitor Primarchs, creating the conditions that would lead to them being that way, and generally crushing anyone who did not immediately and totally capitulate to him, simply because it was the quickest option for getting results.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* Franchise/CarmenSandiego {{invert|edTrope}}s this, having [[FaceHeelTurn turned evil]] specifically because it was ''harder'', and thus more of a {{challenge|Seeker}} for her.
* ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'': Both Assassins and Templars remark that this trope is the big advantage that the latter has over the former; the Brotherhood demands a ''lot'' of its members and its goal of peace-with-freedom is more difficult than the Templar goal of peace-through-control. Assassins in general also chide the latter for their "easy solutions" which Templars in general fire back as being easier to implement and more effective.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Infernax}}'', several evil choices tend to require less effort than the good choices, with many of them involving less combat or even avoiding boss fights altogether. For example, one quest involves a possessed priest. The Good option requires finding the exorcist Gregor to exorcise the man, and Alcedor needs to fight and kill a werewolf boss to access Gregor's abode. The Evil option is to simply slay the possessed there and then.
* Downplayed in ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'', where being the most evil you can be in the game requires a ''lot'' of walking around looking for encounters, and fighting the two most difficult bosses the game has. However, for normal encounters you'll find it's often easier to kill the monsters [[PuzzleBoss than it is to figure out how to spare them]], and you'll even get called out on it if you kill anyone on a neutral run.
--> '''Undyne''': Self defense? Please. You didn't kill them because you had to. You killed them because it was easy.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* There's one in ''Webcomic/{{Shadowgirls}}''.
--> [[spoiler:'''Becka''']]: If you have two choices you can usually tell which one is right. Because it's the hardest one.
** [[spoiler: Later quoted by one of the villains, during his HeelFaceTurn. Looking how Becka turned him for the good, she will be great mother one day.]]
* This is a recurring theme in ''Webcomic/{{Sinfest}}''. At the same time, it's subverted in that Slick's application for "Anything You Want" via the Devil takes FOREVER to process.
* The ''Kings War'' arc of ''{{Webcomic/Roommates}}'' in spades. It revolves around a GoodVersusGood conflict, where the real question presented to the characters is "[[SecretTestOfCharacter What would you do to win?]]". There is literally a page where one of them asks if he has to StateTheSimpleSolution and the other replies with 'no', but points out a big problem with said simple solution (this trope).
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* In his [[Recap/TheNostalgiaCriticS9E24 review]] of ''Film/IllBeHomeForChristmas'', WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic goes off on a rant regarding this to [[HateSink D-Bag]], who goes out of his way to commit antics of ComedicSociopathy just to make people, the Critic included, hate him, only to be bewildered when the Critic doesn't:
-->'''D-Bag''': What conceivable reason could you have not to hate me?
--> '''Critic''': '''''BECAUSE IT'S TOO EASY!!''''' It's the easiest thing in the world to do! Any imbecile can hate! It's ''lazy''! You wanna know what takes effort? Being nice. It is ''so'' hard to be nice to some people!
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* In ''[[WesternAnimation/AllDogsGoToHeaven All Dogs Go To Heaven the Series]]'', this is [[BigBad Belladonna's]] view and she has an entire ''VillainSong'' about evil being the 'easy way out'.
* In ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', most bending disciplines require a lot of training before you can do much of anything with them. The exception is Firebending, which, though not evil in and of itself, is most easily used for destruction and is the specialty of the villains. With Firebending, it's relatively easy to learn how to create a mighty inferno powered by rage. What's harder to learn is putting the brakes on afterwards; When Aang first learns, he can create fire in an afternoon- but accidentally burns Katara, much to his horror. [[spoiler: It's later revealed that this is a corrupted version of firebending; the real one is powered by joy and passion and functions more like the other disciplines.]]
* On ''WesternAnimation/{{Captain Planet|and the Planeteers}},'' [[GodOfEvil Zarm]]'s first appearance has him offer the Planeteers magical gauntlets that are far more powerful than [[BigGood Gaia]]'s rings. Unfortunately, using them also make them DrunkOnTheDarkSide. (This especially fits this trope because the one Planeteer to refuse the offer is [[TheHeart Ma-Ti]], whose power is both [[IncorruptiblePurePureness the most good]] and [[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway the most useless]].) The gauntlets are also fashioned so that the Planeteers have to remove their rings to wear them, symbolically casting aside their allegiance to Gaia.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheDragonPrince'': While how evil it truly is is still ambiguous, part of the allure of Dark Magic, as explained in an article by the creators and Claudia in season 2, is that using the life energy of magical creatures allows a mage to do what would normally take natural talent (with only elven mages naturally having a connection to a Primal Source), a Primal Stone, and/or years of study to achieve, fitting in with Viren's obsession with pragmatism. [[spoiler: In his VisionQuest after [[BatmanGrabsAGun using it to save Rayla and free the dragon Soren and Claudia had captured]], Callum expresses surprise and discomfort at just how ''easy'' it was, despite feeling that it's wrong]].
* The difference between WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague {{Franchise/Superman}} and [[EvilCounterpart Justice Lord Superman]] is that Lord Superman got tired of BeingGoodSucks, and when ComicBook/LexLuthor killed Franchise/TheFlash, Superman threw away his morals and killed Luthor. He and the other Justice Lords took over the Earth as a dictatorship to administer "justice". At the end of the episode, League Superman says that he is tempted to abuse his powers to solve problems the easy way, but he chooses to do things the hard way.
* ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPandaLegendsOfAwesomeness'' has this when [[OminousOwl Fenghuang]] wants Po to [[FaceHeelTurn join her]] in "Owl Be Back". Unlike [[SternTeacher Shifu]], she's not just ''willing'' to teach him all sorts of cool kung-fu moves, but ''eager'' to the point she turns [[spoiler:her assault on the Jade Palace]] into an impromptu, entertaining and fast-paced training session. She also lavishes him with praise and calls him a fast learner, as opposed to Shifu repeatedly pointing out his flaws.
[[/folder]]

----
!!Examples of the second facet include:

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* ''TabletopGame/OldWorldOfDarkness'' as a whole seems to be quite the fan of this. Whether vampire, werewolf, mage, or other monster, the player characters are supposed to be regularly and reliably tempted with the easy but vile path.
** ''[[TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade Vampire: The Dark Ages]]'' did this with Infernal disciplines. They made them incredibly easy to earn... it just cost a few more bits of your soul. Or whatever vampires had that didn't make them tools of the devil. [[EvilVersusEvil Or more like tools of the devil than they already were.]] Or something.
** On the other hand, in ''TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade'', Humanity is the ''easiest'' Path to follow. You see, just being evil turns you into an animalistic predator. Being evil and remaining ''sane'' requires you to study under an elder to adopt an alien mindset, and then you have to maintain your sanity by following precepts ranging from vile to just plain [[BlueAndOrangeMorality weird]]. Under some Storytellers, however, this can be played straight when you pick "The Path Of Whatever I Was Going To Do Anyway," most notoriously with the Path of Paradox.
** ''TabletopGame/WerewolfTheApocalypse'' in particular lacks the Harmony of ''TabletopGame/WerewolfTheForsaken'', making it easy to build up useful Rage through needless violent acts.
** ''TabletopGame/WraithTheOblivion'' has the titular characters wrestle with their Shadow, which pushes them towards serving Oblivion, and succumbing to its temptations too often and eroding the KarmaMeter results in the character turning into a spectre. Spectres similarly deal with Psyches, and heeding the Psyche too much causes a spectre to become a normal wraith. The mechanics of a wraith falling into spectredom were vastly easier than the ones for a spectre to rise into becoming a wraith.
* Core ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons 3.5'',
** There's the Paladin, a 20-level hard-to-handle base class that often makes it more difficult for the rest of the party. On the other hand, you have the 10-level Blackguard, which gets evil-flavored versions of just about every paladin ability. By the numbers, the Paladin should be more powerful at the end of the day for anything that counts level into the numbers, but this is subverted when fallen Paladins get most of their powers back as Blackguards. You can blame mechanics for this; Paladins are [[LinearWarriorsQuadraticWizards Linear warriors]] so their increases per level don't matter much beyond a certain level (such as, say, 10th).
** Most spells of the "evil" subtype (mostly necromancy spells) have the particularity of being really strong whenever your spellcasting class allows you to use them with the drawback of not scaling at all with subsequent levels. In short, evil spells give a huge power spike early in the campaign at the cost of becoming lackluster later.
* Borderline version in ''TabletopGame/TheDresdenFiles'' RPG. Lawbreaker supernatural powers grant bonuses to the effectiveness of a given spell, if you're using it for the purposes of further breaking that law. For example, a character who's killed someone with magic once will get a +1 bonus to his spells if he's trying to kill someone with it afterward. Killing more increases the bonus. This is said, in the rulebook, to represent the [[TheDarkSide seductive, corrupting nature]] of breaking the laws of magic.
** Similarly, Sponsored Magic comes with several bonuses that will both make your spells stronger, and let you cast them easier. The catch, of course, is the more you take advantage of the bonuses, the more in debt you become to the sponsor, and the more they can exert influence on you. Deals with Demons and Fallen Angels fall squarely into this trope, whereas deals with, say, {{God}} fall right on the "Good is Hard" side.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' uses mostly the same spells and classes as ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' and adds one notable example: two similar healing spells, celestial healing (good) and infernal healing (evil). Both heal a target over time, have the same casting time and similar material components, but celestial healing increases in duration with levels at a rate of 1 round/2 levels (typically capping at 10 at 20th level but can go higher if feats are involved), and infernal healing has a flat duration of 10 rounds but cannot heal damage from good-aligned sources and silver weapons. This makes celestial healing a weak spell at early levels but a strong one at later levels if the character goes for feats to improve their spellcasting, and infernal healing is incredibly strong at early levels but cannot be improved in any way and is easily countered by a clever choice of gear and spells in late stages of most campaigns.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* Many ''Franchise/StarWars'' games let the player choose between the dark and light sides. The dark side tends to be simpler, but not always.
** Played with and sometimes averted in ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic''. An example would be on Manaan, where the prime moral choice comes down to pumping nerve toxin into the ocean (dark side) or overloading a Republic harvester (light side). The nerve toxin can be deployed by pressing a button, but can result in getting banned from the planet, making several sidequests unwinnable. Overloading the harvester requires the player solve an (admittedly easy) puzzle, and bears no negative consequences. It's inverted on Taris, where the dark side option only becomes available just before you are about to finish the light side path.
** Also either averted or played straight depending on the situation in ''KOTOR II: The Sith Lords''. It's played straight in a lot of the sidequests (for example, the evil route to dealing with the Exchange boss in the Refugee Sector on Nar Shadaa just involves doing a few errands and talking to people, while the good route inevitably leads to killing every Exchange goon in the Sector), but averted in the overarching plot (when you encounter the Jedi Masters, the good path is to talk to them, get some questions answered, and go on your way; the evil path is to fight them to the death, and they are tough).
** ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'' [[ZigZagged plays ping pong]] with the trope, sometimes with DeliberateValuesDissonance as a light-sided Imperial action is the same thing as a Dark-Sided Republic one. The running theme is Republic KarmaMeter actions are often "ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight versus ShootTheDog" and the Imperial one is "MyCountryRightOrWrong versus ForTheEvulz"
** Inverted in ''VideoGame/TheForceUnleashed'': The Light Side final boss uses a lightning attack you can reflect to damage him and summons mooks you can kill to restore health. The Dark Side final boss is a master of lightsaber combat who gives you very few openings to damage him and no chance to restore lost health during the battle.
** Then played straight in Ultimate Sith Edition where, during the fight with Boba Fett, you can just use Force Lightning with him unable to block it, thereby making him the easiest boss in the game.
** Also inverted in ''VideoGame/JediAcademy''. The Light Side FinalBoss is this resurrected Dark Lord of the Sith possessing what had been the main villainess up to then. It's a considerably easier fight than the DarkSide boss: [[MemeticBadass Kyle Katarn]]. Also, as a darksider, you have to fight both the Jedi and Sith Cultists throughout Korriban and the Jedi are harder to kill (but have less offense).
* Inverted in ''VideoGame/{{Overlord}}'', which makes sense since you're a VillainProtagonist. Gaining 100% Corruption, the Evil Path, requires you to go out of your way - sometimes, FAR out of your way - to do evil deeds. 0% Corruption, the Good Path, on the other hand... mostly just requires you to refrain from doing evil deeds when offered the opportunity.
** Also, to get 100% corruption, you have to kill a ''lot'' of people. Over 300 to be specific. Considering how many humans there are in the game, getting 100% corruption means that you are going to spend lot of time warping between levels to kill peasants. Unless you abuse Silent Orders resurrection ability.
* In ''VideoGame/SoulNomadAndTheWorldEaters'' the 'Evil' path of using Gig's power IS easier than not using it, as you can gain hundreds or thousands of levels, with the drawback that using it too much is a NonstandardGameOver.
** The Demon Path of Soul Nomad is also notably more difficult than the normal path, as you'll end up facing many heroes and villains of the normal path, only all united against you, instead of acting alone or on your side.
* Most Strategy Games such as ''Total War'' Series and ''VideoGame/GalacticCivilizations'' has a lot of benefits for the evil side before there is a decision to decide if you are a nice guy or not, And genocide give you bad traits but lots of money.
** ''Total War'' has a weird one in the [[VideoGame/MedievalTotalWar Medieval]] [[VideoGame/MedievalIITotalWar titles]]. Your generals have opposed Chivalry and Dread values, but you get Dread for showing more tactical ability than a deranged squirrel (AKA not a frontal charge with your full force) as much as for massacres.
* At least in the early stages, the Carnivore/Predator route seems substantially easier than Herbivore/Diplomat in ''VideoGame/{{Spore}}''. Once you reach the Tribal and Civilized stages, though, a mixed approach is more likely to achieve success.
* In ''Franchise/{{Disgaea}}'', it's trivially easy to kill your allies either accidentally or on purpose. Unless you have a walkthrough, you've just missed the Good Ending of the first game.
** The first ''VideoGame/{{Disgaea|HourOfDarkness}}'' game also offers a bizarre subversion, in the form of two special bonus endings that you can only get by killing large numbers of your allies, [[EarnYourBadEnding far more than you would ever be likely to kill by accident]].
* ''VideoGame/BlackAndWhite'' is much, much easier to play as an evil god. Scaring people by throwing fireballs, rocks and summoning wolves rewards more belief than good miracles do, sacrificing provides an enormous mana boost compared to the worship of an average village, and evil miracles can be almost [[GameBreaker game-breakingly]] devastating (Increased Lightning, with good aim, depopulate an entire village in two shots). By comparison, good miracles are almost all close-range and reward pitiful belief unless you're fulfilling a need of some sort (wood, food), worshiping only becomes effective when you get dozens of people doing it (and this will take a while), and to get the kind of power an evil god will have you will have to build a village so large that it will be nigh impossible for your enemy to ''not'' be able to hit it. And of course there's the resources you will pour into making said village... evil rules this game.
** {{Downplayed}} in that evil is ''very'' wasteful. Lumber (needed for building ''everything'') is slow to grow and there's often not much of it. Fireballing the enemy village may look cool and get a lot of short-term belief, but wastes resources that you could otherwise reinvest.
** Hugely averted in the sequel, however - rather than performing Miracles to impress villages you want to conquer, you have to build up your own city's "Impressiveness" by building structures and prospering to make them migrate to you. And unless you make a pointed, conscious effort to build as unattractively as possible, even building an Evil city up to sufficiently support warfare and a miserable, slave-like populace will attract 50-75% of the villages on the map to migrate. Sure, you can just kill them when they reach your borders, but there's Evil, and there's [[StupidEvil totally moronic]]. Even if you do avoid this problem, Good typically ends up with one massive, prosperous, efficient and productive metropolis that naturally grows until you attract the entire map, whilst Evil ends up with a population whom it's a full-time occupation to keep ALIVE, so many people in the armies that efficiency in other areas is less than nothing, and people spread uselessly and frustratingly over various pointlessly insignificant and underproductive villages on the map.
* ''VideoGame/TheSuffering'' games give you a handful of simple moral choices, usually by introducing [=NPCs=] who depend on you for their lives. If you want to be a murderous villain, all you have to do is blow them away as soon as they stop speaking. If you want the good guy points, you usually have to protect them as they stumble through the halls of a haunted prison. Fail to save them from the unholy abominations and you don't even get points for trying. However, most of your companions are decent fighters, even if they don't check their fire for you (particularly the dynamite guy), and neutral is an ending unto itself.
* While there are rewards for being a goody two-shoes in the ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' series, especially ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'', several of the best rewards and simplest solutions are very, very bad. Sell a sentient, innocent, and helpful [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman android]] into slavery? Free perk for you! Want the single best face equipment in the game, the only one that adds action points? You'll need to kill a friendly guy in cold blood.
** In ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 2}}'' this trope is inverted. Playing a very low-karma character not only denies you many major and rewarding quests but the evil route requires many more direct fights with major [=NPCs=] and the low-karma options are often difficult to discover. Just gaining full access to Vault City requires you to either take a high-karma route [[GuideDangIt to have the perfect stat setup]] to take the no-karma option. Also, the quest lines to [[spoiler:join with the Raiders and/or the Hubologists]] were both left incomplete.
** In ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'', Major factions often send you to win the allegiance of a minor faction, or destroy it. Gaining the allegiance of a minor faction usually involves doing a lot of side quests for them, and going around a lot, which can take up to over 1 hour. If you choose the option to destroy them, you just have to take out your weapon and kill them, thus saving you a lot of time.
* ''VideoGame/PuzzleQuest'' has it both ways. For some sidequests, one can take an easy amoral option for a reward, or the long path for another reward. However, the "good" rewards tend to be superior (though often not worth the trouble) for helping you out down the road.
* In ''VideoGame/MightAndMagic VI'', reaching the Saintly reputation (required for Master of Light Magic) requires you to trudge through quest after quest, slowly building your reputation. However, becoming Master of Dark Magic (requires the worst "Notorious" reputation) takes less than 30 seconds of killing innocent villagers.
* Inverted in the main quest of the first ''Videogame/{{Fable}}'' game. Said main quest gives you good points fairly often, and evil points fairly rarely, so unless you go out of your way to slaughter civilians, you'll probably end up good.
** Played straight outside of the plot: things which give you good points when you kill them, like bandits and undead, are rather difficult to find in large groups and yield only 5 good points. Guards, though slightly harder to kill, spawn infinitely and yield 20 evil points. Also, you can get 600 evil points easy by [[WriterOnBoard divorcing your spouse]].
** Fable is an inversion in that while evil acts are as simple as punching out a window, becoming evil is a full-time job as the default in the game is Good, and going evil mid-game requires multiple {{Moral Event Horizon}}s in order to be recognized as evil.
** As an in-game inversion, the two temples require different types of sacrifice. Avo (good) requests money, Skorm (evil) requests humans. Since you can amass a fortune by repeatedly investing in real estate, it's trivial to [[MoneyForNothing amass more gold than you'll ever spend]], whereas making human sacrifices involves repeated tedious {{Escort Mission}}s to get them to the temple.
** In ''Fable 2'', during the part of the story where [[spoiler: you're a Spire guard, disobeying the evil commandant makes you lose experience]], while taking the evil actions has no negative consequences except, if you don't want them, evil points.
** ''Fable 3'''s third act is designed around this, in concept at least. When you become King/Queen, you need to raise six million gold to defend Albion against the ultimate evil, and becoming an evil ruler is the easiest way to do that. All the good choices cost you money, meaning you'll have to work a lot harder (doing in game jobs and buying loads of property and shops, etc.) and wait a lot longer in real world time if you hope to have that much gold for the final act, and you can't jack up the prices too high on your property, because that's considered a corrupt act. Conversely, all the evil options are expedient and generate revenue, so much so that you could skimp plenty of extra gold out of the treasury and use it for yourself. You can also get specific in game rewards and bonuses specifically for doing things like murdering villagers, meaning you have to miss out on that more powerful weapon or achievement if you want to play a truly good character.
* ''VideoGame/InFamous'' seems to invoke both parts of this trope. It's easy to sway the Karma meter to evil (melee attacking a civilian with low-ranked melee skill grants around 4 ticks of bad Karma as opposed to the 1 for healing a downed one) and Evil often [[EvilPaysBetter Pays Better]], as well. It also makes the game itself easier: Good is precision and non-lethality while Evil is destruction of whatever gets in the way of you and your enemy, it's easier to play through hard mode when you can spend less time aiming and more time shooting.
* ''Franchise/MassEffect'' takes a variation on this with their Paragon/Renegade system. Shepard is a hero no matter what, but you're allowed to choose if they're the "try to make everybody happy" kind of hero (Paragon) or the "IDidWhatIHadToDo" kind (Renegade). Renegade actions are typically easier and often let you skip fights by disposing of the enemies "unfairly", such as by setting off an explosion or electrocuting a mech pilot before he ever gets into the mech. Paragon is harder, but reaps greater rewards at the end, letting you avoid several ''genocides'' that a Renegade will cause, inadvertently or otherwise.
* In ''VideoGame/KaneAndLynch'' the "evil" ending is the easiest, with [[spoiler: Kane betraying his companions and escaping with his daughter]], while the "good" ending requires to play a last and rather tough level to [[spoiler: save your companions]]. Ironically, [[spoiler: the "good" ending is the bleakest of the two, as it's implied that both your daughter and Lynch die, while in the "evil" ending (established by the sequel as the canonical one) they just hate your guts.]]
* In the PC game ''VideoGame/SecretsOfDaVinciTheForbiddenManuscript'', the player character has a KarmaMeter which measures his angelic level (white) versus his devilish level (red). You can increase either level at will, if you have the points to spend, and they also are increased by certain choices made during the course of the game. Quite often, the "evil" course of action is the better one to take -- for example, you're going to have a better chance of getting the female character to like you if you lie and say that the gift you're giving her was your mother's, instead of telling her the truth about how you swiped it.
* Averted in ''VideoGame/AceCombatZeroTheBelkanWar'': morality is entirely based on the number of yellow targets you either destroy or spare. In missions with a lot of yellow targets, you have to deliberately take time away from the actual mission to go destroy them if you want a level other than "Supreme Knight". In addition, spared targets seem to effect karma a lot more than destroyed targets. However, destroying yellow targets nets you quite a lot of extra money, such that if you're playing as a Mercenary (evil) character, you'll have an easier time buying new planes and weapons, as opposed to the Knight (good) character, who has to make each purchase count that much more.
* ''[[VideoGame/NexusWar Nexus Clash]]'' (and previously ''Nexus War'') makes it much harder to stay good than to go evil as an intentional design decision. Demons can wander around murdering whoever they damn well please. Neutrals, goods, and evils are all fair game and all give experience. If you want to be an Angel however or even just a Good Transcendant you have to work considerably harder. While you aren't punished for attacking Demons and evil characters, so long as someone maintains a neutral alignment you are unable to attack them without the karma meter frowning upon you, even if they attack you first! This makes hunting difficult when a large portion of the neutral population counts as StupidNeutral.
** To sort-of-compensate, good warriors can usually beat neutral or evil ones in a straight fight since they obtain an armor ability (which are massively powerful in this game, completely dwarfing any item-based armor) as soon as they reach level 10, while nobody else gets one until level 20. And it scales with level to remain the best for almost the entire game. They also get the most straight "all attacks do extra damage" skills. Plus demons [[NoCureForEvil can't be healed]] even if they ''had'' allies who wanted to (which most non-goods don't). Unfortunately for the angels the game is never ''ever'' about straight fights, and how quickly you gain experience is almost unrelated to how much of a beating you can take except at the highest levels.
** That said, the actual hardest morality to maintain is probably the Nexus Champion's TrueNeutral; morality shifts with every attack rather than every kill, so you can literally slip away from the center over the course of a single fight if you can't finish it fast enough.
* In ''VideoGame/TrueCrimeStreetsOfLA'', to be a [[KarmaMeter bad cop]], all you had to do was drive down the sidewalk plowing down pedestrians. You could reach this unintentionally by, say, accidentally shooting a hostage, or accidentally running somebody over while in pursuit of a criminal, or a stray bullet hitting a passerby. To raise your meter, you have to complete arrest missions, and you're more likely to commit one of the accidental deeds than actually get your job done.
* Very common in ''VideoGame/EpicMickey''. While every problem has a paint-based "good" solution and a thinner-based "evil" solution, the paint solutions are almost always much, much more complicated, to the point where many players choose evil not out of preference but out of ''not having any idea or ability to figure out how to solve the problem the good way''.
* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlertSeries:''
** ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert'' allowed you to play as either the evil Soviets or the good Allies. The first Soviet mission is unloseable, their tanks are more powerful, and their Tesla coils make their bases nearly invulnerable. The Allies, on the other hand, had much harder missions, separate base defenses for infantry and tanks (the Tesla coil would work fine on either), and small, cheap tanks that couldn't hold a candle to even the weakest basic Soviet tank. The arsenals between the two are reversed on the water, but naval-centric missions are few in each of the campaigns, and the Allies' most powerful unit, the Cruiser, isn't available until the last of these.
** Reversed in ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert2'', however, in that the two sides were rebalanced and made more even, the Allies gaining access to a number of GameBreaker units, and the Soviet story mode ends up notably more difficult than the Allied story in both the main game and expansion pack.
** Sorta holds up in ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert3'', the Soviets are the easiest faction to use and the campaign is designed to be the easiest with no notable instances of ThatOneLevel throughout. Zig-zagged between the Allies and the Empire though, as the final Allied missions are very hard, while the difficulty in the Imperial campaign reaches the peak in the middle, then gets toned down by the end.
* The opposite applies in ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberiumWars'', in which GDI's campaign is designed as the easiest since they are the easiest to use.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Prototype}}'', [[ImAHumanitarian consuming]] defenseless civilians for health is faster than trying to wait for Alex's regen to rebuild the same amount of health and easier than taking on the military, especially in Hard mode where every scrap counts. And have a [[SarcasmMode very fun time]] trying to minimize the civilian deaths from collateral damage, even if you try to avoid killing them you'll likely fail. As if in acknowledgement of this, there's actually an Achievement for consuming less than 10 civilians in a run. Not for ''killing'' less than 10 civilians, mind you. You're going to kill a few hundred or so simply by moving around the map. It's that kind of game.
* ''VideoGame/TheGodfather'' is confusing about this. If you try to be one of 'em NeighbourhoodFriendlyGangsters and not extort any more shopkeeps or racket bosses, your income is going to be atrociously little, so BeingGoodSucks. On the other hand, trying to take over businesses with violence leads to enemy mobsters attacking, and this game can get rather challenging at times. If you're dealing with a business that doesn't have a backroom racket, it's easier and safer to build up enough Respect that you can take over without violence - on the other hand, building up Respect takes up more time than you probably would going about things the killy way.
* This is present in many sandbox games with [[KarmaMeter Karma Meters]]. While its easy to get a boatload of evil points in a city by killing every person you come across, there is no easy way to get good points except when give a good/evil choice during a mission. They certainly couldn't give you good points every time you walk by a NPC without performing a spontaneous head-ectomy. Downplayed in some games where your response to RandomEncounters is tracked. If you accept a challenge to a duel in ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption'', for example, your honor doesn't change if you kill your opponent. [[BlastingItOutOfTheirHands Disarming them]], however, gets you a decent amount of honor.
* It is this way in ''NASCAR 2005 Chase For The Cup'' if you are not a good driver. Accidentally bump into other cars while racing and you become "evil" very quick.
* ''VideoGame/DantesInferno:''
** When given the choice to absolve or punish a famous shade (essentially equivalent to opening a treasure chest), the [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential Punish]] choice gives out Unholy experience and a small amount of soul economy. The [[VideoGameCaringPotential Absolve]] option, on the other hand, forces you to play a [[UnexpectedGameplayChange quick-time minigame]], resulting in an equal amount of Holy experience and a ''generous'' amount of soul economy, depending on how well you score in the minigame. Though [[GottaCatchEmAll collecting three]] Beatrice Stones lets you bypass the minigame altogether, it is almost never a good idea to do so, especially on your first playthrough, as you miss the soul payoff from playing the minigame.
** Subverted in the sense that the Cross (or more specifically [[MadeOfIron Divine Armor]]) is a ''massive'' GameBreaker, so any effort spent on buffing your Holy EXP is well worth any amount of tedium the minigames may cause. A ''[[WordOfGod very]]'' [[ShownTheirWork deliberate]] bit of FridgeBrilliance with this.
* ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles1'' toys with this one at times. When there are two mutually-exclusive quests, or a quest that can be completed in one of two ways, the trickier completion -usually- leads to a better outcome for the characters involved... but not always. Sometimes, it's murky which one is better, or the two are equal in result. One notable one that could go either way, yet has a "tough" path, is Emmy Leater's request to give her either a sword or a shield. The shield is easy to find, the sword requires another small collection quest - yet the shield is possibly the "good" option, leading to a shorter final quest in the chain.
* ''VideoGame/XenobladeChroniclesX'' has a blatant example in the mission "Alien Nation". Allowing [[AbsoluteXenophobe Alex]] to murder his Ma-non students has him hand you his cash reward and the mission ends there, while standing up to him results in a boss fight and no credit reward.
* ''VideoGame/{{Dishonored}}'' zigzags this trope. When you proceed through the game, you can either opt to eliminate every enemy in your path or simply sneak by and/or incapacitate them. The former is ''much'' easier to do, especially since the majority of your weapons, tools, and powers make it easier ([[VideoGameCrueltyPotential and more fun]]) to do so. However...leaving a trail of bodies increases your [[KarmaMeter Chaos]], which causes there to be more [[SwarmOfRats rats]], [[TechnicallyLivingZombie Weepers]], and increasingly paranoid guards in future missions. The last level in particular is significantly harder on a high-Chaos playthrough.
* Some of the games in the ''VideoGame/{{WWE}}'' series featured rewards for living up to your character's status as a face (good) or a heel (evil). In practice this gave heels a huge advantage, since living up to their reputation involved using damaging illegal moves, connecting with hard-hitting foreign objects and adding extra pain by refusing to break submission holds. Good guys could only showboat or perform high-risk moves, both of which left them wide open to a counterattack.
* In ''VideoGame/TheBindingOfIsaac'' there are angel rooms, which contain an angel with one item you can have for free, and devil rooms, where you can sacrifice health to buy items from the devil. While some of the angel room items are more powerful, the devil rooms show up more often. Also, once you've bought from the devil no angel room will ever appear...but the devil is still happy to bargain after you've been to the angel room.
* Subverted in ''VideoGame/BioShock1''. Throughout the game, when you encounter Little Sisters, you're given the option of "Rescuing" (curing them and turning them back into regular little girls) or "Harvesting" (murdering said little girl to gain access to the powerful material she was collecting). In theory, someone who picked Harvest was an utter bastard who'd kill children, but they got more power, whereas Rescuing altruistically made things harder for yourself by doing the right thing. In practice, if you consistently choose Rescue, a character will send you gifts out of gratitude, and these gifts include a chunk of ADAM to make up for how much was missed compared to Harvesting (but not quite reaching that point), as well as a few gene tonics and plasmids that can't be acquired otherwise. So now your choices are to be a good guy and have just as much of an easier time in the long run, or be a bad guy [[VideogameCrueltyPotential just to get a head start on ADAM scores early on]]. The sequel, ''Videogame/Bioshock2'', is even more irrelevant in terms of the differences between Rescuing and Harvesting, as the new act, Gathering, simply requires the player to HoldTheLine while a recruited Little Sister gathers ADAM from corpses, which can be utilized in either a Rescue or Harvest playthrough (and the ADAM yield per corpse can be increased through a gene tonic unlocked from a Rescue gift too), rendering the benefits of pure Harvesting even more redundant (and heartless, given that the player character is a Big Daddy who is ''supposed'' to support his Little Sister).
* There are two ways to resolve battles in ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'': killing your opponent or sparing them. Killing them is pretty quick and easy (just time your button presses for maximum damage) and is the only way to gain XP and level up [[spoiler: and if you're going for the [[LeaveNoSurvivors Genocide ending]], your fights become exponentially easier to the point that entire bosses become pushovers]]. Sparing them, however, turns every boss fight and even many regular encounters into {{Puzzle Boss}}es, and making it a habit leaves you woefully underleveled and low on HP [[spoiler: but is the only way to access the true ending of the game.]] The only thing that's harder about killing everything than sparing everything is [[spoiler: you'll have to fight Sans in the Genocide route, and if you do, [[ThatOneBoss you're gonna have a bad time.]]]]
** Genocide is also more tedious. It's not enough to kill everything in your path. You have to fastidiously kill ''absolutely every monster'' in every zone. Have fun LevelGrinding long past the point where it's even necessary.
* In ''[[VideoGame/LandsOfLore Lands Of Lore 2]]'', being Good means cooperating with the various villages and doing their quests so that they'll let you pass on to the next area. Being Evil allows for massive DungeonBypass, as you can simply kill whoever it is that's in your way and collect any items they wanted you to get through a quest.
* In ''VideoGame/ArcanumOfSteamworksAndMagickObscura'', this is played back and forth. For most of the game, you're following a trail of clues from various quest-givers. Killing your way past a quest will very rarely let you bypass a major dungeon outright; usually it'll just get you the clue that the quest-giver would have given you, and it often requires an extremely difficult combat. There is one ''huge'' exception, however: [[spoiler: at T'sen Ang, you have the option to join with the Dark Elves]]. Doing so puts you directly through to someone who can explain most of the game's plot, skips roughly the final third of the main questline, and even [[spoiler: lets you walk freely through the final dungeon and speak to Kerghan directly]]. If you've got a low KarmaMeter and are willing to stain your hands, this is a far quicker road to victory than the standard questline. Likewise, [[spoiler: killing Nasrudin (or K'an Hua, but the latter's not exactly an evil route) sends you directly to the Void, bypassing Vendigroth entirely]].
* ''Videogame/TheOuterWorlds'': One of the early story quests requires you to obtain a Navkey which will allow you to land on the [[ForbiddenZone blockaded moon Monarch.]] Your ally Phineas will direct you to a black market trader who can sell you one for 10,000 bits. However, you also have the option to betray Phineas to the local representative of [[CorruptCorporateExecutive the Board]], who only asks that you buy back his official Board seal from the trader for the lower price of 8,000 bits. With this done, you gain access to not only Monarch but Byzantium, an area that would have been closer to the end-game had you stuck with Phineas.
* ''VideoGame/CryOfFear'': Bailing out of fighting the SkippableBoss and/or sacrificing a smaller chunk of your maximum health nets you the {{Downer Ending}}s in which [[spoiler:Simon commits a MurderSuicide]].
* ''VideoGame/PeretEmHeruForThePrisoners'':
** There are several situations in which you have to go out of your way to help another party member in peril, and it's much more simpler to leave them behind, which will result in them [[{{Permadeath}} dying and getting removed from the party]]. [[spoiler:[[VideoGameCrueltyPunishment This will come back to haunt you]] in the endgame, for one additional PostFinalBoss is added for every teammate you left to die]].
** Soji Mizumi makes the game much easier by being [[PurposelyOverpowered perhaps the most powerful teammate]] you can optionally have on you, with high starting stats, two skills inflicting immensely helpful status effects, and a third capable of delivering a OneHitKill on enemies. Soji Mizumi is also an ImmoralJournalist [[spoiler:and SerialRapist]], and [[TokenEvilTeammate unlike all of the other teammates]], is completely unapologetic about his vices.
* Many games in the ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' franchise offer choices between siding with either the Law, Chaos, or Neutral factions represented by angels, demons, and humans respectively, with the former two being the "evil" choices from a certain perspective. By siding with either side, you have the option to skip certain bosses aligned with that side. As the player character is more often than not the only major contender the Neutral faction has to offer, siding with either Law or Chaos pretty much renders humanity a non-threat.
** In ''[[VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIIINocturne Nocturne]]'', siding with Ahriman or Noah means you can skip over a PuzzleBoss and a BarrierChangeBoss respectively. Siding with Ahriman also means having his strongest underling join you on the spot, with the only downside being the hurdles you'd need to jump [=and/or=] the Macca you'd need to shill to change his skills.
** In ''[[VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIV IV]]'', siding with either Merkabah or Lucifer means they get to join you as a GuestStarPartyMember as you go after their rival. You will, however, have to fight a boss that's hard to fight [[TearJerker for different reasons]]. [[spoiler:Siding with the White means you don't have to face either of them, but instead MercyKill ''everyone''.]] ''[[VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIVApocalypse Apocalypse]]'' ups that ante by basically cutting the game short if you side with them.
** In ''VideoGame/Persona5'', Joker could run out the clock and miss his Targets' deadlines, thus cutting the game short, but [[VideoGameCrueltyPunishment expect to feel like a monster afterwards]]. Near the end, he's given a choice to either join the FinalBoss as his top enforcer or stand against him as he's stood against the other bosses. Siding with him skips over not only the fight itself, but also the final stretch to get there. ''Royal'' brings up two similar choices for the Third Semester. The first time is to let a character be enthralled by the TrueFinalBoss or rescue them, while the other involves allowing the boss to commence with their plan. Both halt the game in its tracks then and there if Joker accepts, but the latter is more lighthearted to a degree.
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