-->'''Adam Smith's Revenge:''' ''By the end of the game you are renowned everywhere as the Legendary Heroes, every surviving government and authority figure has rallied behind you, the fate of the world is obviously hanging in the balance, and out of nowhere random passers-by give you a pat on the back and heartfelt good luck wishes. However, shopkeepers won't even give you a discount, much less free supplies for the final battle with evil.''
-->-- [[http://project-apollo.net/text/rpg.html The Grand List Of Console Role-Playing Cliches]]

This is the simplest way of saying that the market in a game hates you, the player, beyond all measure.

What this means to the player of a game, and it need not be an {{MMORPG}}, is that during the course of a game, the price of a valued commodity will go up, usually several times, usually to the point where it's prohibitive to actually buy this commodity, and heaven help you if you can't find this commodity in the game normally.

Take, for example, inn prices. The farther out from the origin point one goes, the more expensive a night at the inn is. It does not matter if the Inn is in a capital city, or whether it's in a podunk village in the middle of nowhere. To understand the significance of why this is wrong, consider the following: which is going to be more expensive, given properties of approximately the same size and number of stars: a hotel room in Manhattan near Times Square, or one in Poughkeepsie?

In short, AdamSmithHatesYourGuts.

Named for the cliche from the above list but also from [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Smith Adam Smith himself]], (the one from the 18th Century, ''not'' George Goodman, the current-day writer on finance who uses this pen name) who is usually considered to be the father of modern economics. Common in games that manage to avert WithThisHerring. See also CommandAndConquerEconomy. A hero with a HundredPercentHeroismRating might be able to get a discount, though.

[[strike:Contrast with]] Ironically often overlaps with KarlMarxHatesYourGuts, where the gaming economy is stacked against you so that all goods have a globally fixed price, but you can never sell things for that price, so becoming a successful businessperson is nigh impossible without serious abuse of the system.
----
!!Examples
[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]

* Lampshaded and justified in ''Evil islands''. In one instance your base of operations is a village where you are praised as the ''ChosenOne'', but the village merchant is such an infamously stingy bastard he explicitly warns you right away that he will still charge you with all your purchases. [[spoiler: Later all the village money happens to be stolen and he once again clearly refuses to supply the village guards with weapons for free... because they didn't stand for him against brigands]]. Another time you join some rebels and obtain all the gear from their blacksmith. He actually apologizes for his shameless prices and explains that he has to smuggle the weapons and bribe the officials of the EvilEmpire.
* Lampshaded in ''MassEffect'', where you can yell at the requisitions officer of the ''Normandy'' for charging you for equipment.
** Justified when he explains that none of the equipment he's selling is Alliance issue, but in fact purchased and/or bartered from port merchants, passing ships, or under-the-table networking with other supply officers via Alliance mail calls. Without the player paying him the officer wouldn't be able to purchase any of the extra equipment in his inventory.
** You can also purchase fairly cheap licenses to expand his stock.
** You can also yell at just about anybody who is selling weapons during a major crisis. They never give in, usually with some variation of "Hey, gotta make a living," as their excuse. Justified, as if this were happening in RealLife, there would be greedy people making a buck off somebody else's peril.
*** Though if you have enough Charm, you can get a shop discount. And one merchant (Doctor Michel) gives you a discount for helping her with some problems she's having. (Mind you, she was fired from her last job for giving away free stuff.)
*** Also, this only happens in relative safe zones. During the initial sequence on Eden Prime, where things have [[DyingLikeAnimals hit the fan]], there are multiple instances of your character confiscating or being freely given weapons and equipment from survivors.
** Too bad there isn't the option to gloat over the fact that the primary function of the shops is just to empty your maxed-out inventory and that you probably make more money than they do selling all the VendorTrash guns you pick up.
* ''StarFlight'': The price of fuel for your vessel will DOUBLE several times over the course of the game, and while the rationale is provided for it in the reports you'll get, you won't get any warning that this is going to happen until you return home and see the price has doubled again.
** Once you know everything you need to beat the game properly, you can rush through and finish the story before the first date falls, thereby stalling the increase in price permanently. However, most players are unable to beat it to the first increase. As many find catching animals and finding new mine-able planets the gameplay's appeal, this seems intentional.
* ''StarControl'': In the second game, there are actions you can take ([[spoiler:[[WhatTheHellHero selling your crew to the Druuge to tend nuclear furnaces (and serve as fuel for same)]]]]) that will cause the price of crewmembers (effectively your life points in this game) to rise, along with the ire of your home station master.
** This will also occur if you consistently lose men you purchased from the Earth Starbase (something that can easily happen if you try to use the pitiful [[ArtificialStupidity Cyborg]] - [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard Which except for very few specific instances guarantees the loss of a ship or 13]] - instead of actually controlling your ships), but this takes longer and can easily be offset by [[spoiler: giving Tanaka (or his brother) a Shofixti maiden after repeatedly insulting him and escaping, thereby speedily repopulating the Shofixti race]].
** The Syreen Penetrator (which, being the [[GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe Blue Skinned Space Babes]] ship, [[FreudWasRight looks EXACTLY like you'd expect]]) has the ability to call crew from the opposing ship and capture them. Master this, and you start getting REWARDED for slavery, as you can then sell the enslaved crew back at the inflated price.)
** Though this trope is inverted at the near-end of the game when [[spoiler:the Chmmr suddenly grant you unlimited resources to build anything you wish.]]
** This is justified in-game by the fact that the Earth Starbase itself has severely limited resources (and crew, natch!)
*** …and if you sell enough crew to the Druuge it is quite explicitly stated that you're effectively bribing people to join up with a known slave trader.
**Justified, or perhaps Lampshaded, with the Melnorme traders, whose culture considers giving without receiving in turn to be vulgar. So no freebies.
* Many {{MMORPG}}s are guilty of the above as they are run by player-driven markets, with one of the chief offenders in [[{{Dancingrage}} this troper's]] mind being…
** ''AnarchyOnline'''s player driven market is inflated to such a degree due to the [[RandomlyDrops rarity of items]] that many players are often turned off by the market and its impressive prices. In a game where any given character can hold 1 credit short of 1 billion credits, you will find single items running for up to 5 BILLION credits (mind you, credits are only as easy to make as your willingness to enjoy dirty socks) while you find player owned CITIES (which besides the benefits also give option to get their hands on some of those [[RandomlyDrops Random dropping loot]]) on sale for equally terrifying amounts of cred. Does nobody else see the irony in "Anarchy" becoming a textbook example of inflation in a capitalist market?
*** Anarcho-Capitalism Online isn't as catchy, is all.
*** Anarchy is a political framework, not an economic one.
**** That depends on who you ask. Many anarchists define anarchy as a lack of hierarchy, in which case capitalism is right out.
***** Except for the Anarchy Police needed to people from voluntarily entering into hierarchal arrangements and therefore becoming a privileged upper class.
** After the release of the Burning Crusade expansion for {{World of Warcraft}}, the market for low level items and materials soared due to vast amount of gold being generated by high level characters and the massive demand for low level gear for said high level character's low level alts.
*** However, also somewhat averted in that the higher your reputation within a faction, the less the services that faction supplies (vendors, flightmasters) cost.
*** This isn't really a valid example as the price inflation of goods is part of the ''player-driven'' economy. As the above Troper mentioned, the better reputation you have with any given NPC faction, the ''cheaper'' their goods become.
*** However the inflation in the cost of flightpaths is a more direct example of this trope. You can fly from one tip of the Eastern Kingdoms to the Other for less then a gold, it'll cost you that much to travel within the zone in Icecrown.
** Most {{MMORPG}} developers are aware of this trope and will often build {{Money Sink}}s into their games to remove excess cash from players' wallets, with varying levels of success. Do you twink your alt or drop 20K on a giant mammoth or a [[SchizoTech motorcycle]]?
**Averted by ''FinalFantasyXI''. Although the auction house is a player-run economy, NPC store prices drop according to how much fame(a hidden stat that goes up whenever you do quests) you have in the town they are located in.
*** Although, your rewards are still given ''after'' you save the world, instead of before.
* ''The Daichis: Earth's Defense Family'' are enlisted to protect the world from danger, and given all sorts of cool weapons to do it with. But they have to '''pay''' each time they use them. And the cost of using their weapons is usually much more than the reward. And they weren't warned about this ahead of time.
** Also happens in most any bounty hunter anime, from Cowboy Bebop to Gunsmith Cats. You break it, you bought it. Used mostly as an excuse to keep the heroes working by remaining in debt for the period of the show. (and sometimes past the ending as well)
* ''SteambotChronicles'' has this happen with the price of fuel and parts/repairs as you progress through the story. Working through the story segments quickly and not recognizing the point where you can jump off and just go wandering about for a few game weeks can lead to severe cashflow problems and/or death. Prepared players, however, can easily amass a nice fat bankroll and a stockpile of parts to sell back to the shops at the newly-inflated prices, although that latter is only slightly better than breaking even.
* ''DigitalDevilSaga'' is pretty bad about this, especially because the same money you need for items is also spent on your abilities, which get ludicrously expensive by the end of the game.
* ''{{Persona 3}}'' also had the items getting exponentially more expensive, which is made even more bizarre when you consider that your protagonists are Japanese school children, and that the person selling you the gear was a police officer who was fully aware of the situation.
** Not to mention that one of the children was the daughter to a multi-national company. God forbid they spare a couple million yen to help save the world.
*** They do provide you with a [[spoiler:party member]] that probably cost a few billion yen in R&D, but they can't spring for a new sword or a few energy bars.
* Averted in ''{{Lunar}}: The Silver Star'' and its remake, in which your old childhood buddy Ramus actually ''does'' recognize that you're about to go save the world and give you unlimited free items from his store just before the final battle.
* Averted in ''RomancingSaGa2'' where, as a monarch, the player has access to such ungodly sums of money from the country's treasury that they never have to worry about being able to afford equipment from stores. Building new facilities in their kingdom, on the other hand…
* ''FinalFantasyX'' [[LampshadeHanging hung a lampshade]] on this when Wakka literally yelled at a vendor for charging him full price for weapons and items right before a boss battle, despite the fact the vendor was in the same [[strike:boat]] airship as him and his party. Since said boss was capable of destroying the airship, the vendor would die if the heroes failed. The vendor's calm response was, and I quote, "I have faith in your victory."
*** Which is an exceptionally poor decision, considering they were up against one of FFX's ''series'' of ThatOneBoss.
** While less related to the economy, in [[FinalFantasyX X]] random people would give you items if you talked to them, considering you're a summoner and her guardians. It made the stinginess of the shopkeepers more noticeable.
** ''FinalFantasyV'' sort of subverted this by having the shopkeeper in Bartz's home town give a discount (which is very appreciated when the single revival item in the game costs 1000 gold). But only because it's Bartz's hometown.
** ''FinalFantasyVI'' subverted it at Figaro Castle, where the shopkeepers will refuse to charge Edgar (the king) or Sabin (his brother). However, both characters insist on paying, pointing out that the shopkeepers still have to earn a living. (If Edgar is your party leader, they still give you a 50% discount, though.)
*In ''KingdomHearts'' and ''KingdomHearts II'' Huey, Dewey and Louie don't give a damn that is their uncle buying and saving the world as we know it, but outright [[spoiler:don't care that their uncle disappears for a year between the first and second game]] as longs as he keep on coughing up the munny.
* In ''DeusEx'', "Smuggler" won't give you explosives unless you pay an absurd amount of money for them, even if you've helped him out before, and even though he knows you need them to [[spoiler:blow up a superfreighter full of enough of an incurable virus to infect the entire North American continent!]]
** Fortunately the ship in question has plenty of explosives available for you to use
** The economy of ''DeusEx'' confounds. Hacking into ATM networks will usually give the player somewhere between 100 - 500 credits a pop. Credit Chits are rare and few between. Yet, everyone and anyone who sells you "second-hand goods" will charge you 700 credits for a clip of ammo (6 shots, which early enough in the game, could go quick), up to 2000 or more for a weapon add-on (accuracy mod, scope, etc.). On the other end of this problem, you can find this crap laying around ALL OVER the place. You think that the supply would outweigh the demand at SOME point…
*** Not to mention that most of the people who take thousands of credits off your hands for relatively common items are somehow still homeless despite apparently sitting on money machines.
*** However, [[spoiler:at the beginning of the game]] you play an elite government agent and completing your assignments efficiently and following orders reaps commissions and performance bonuses, totaling thousands of dollars. ''Deus Ex'' encourages players to work hard, be curious, ''and'' loot for maximum survivability.
*** This is even lampshaded at one point later in the game; if you pay someone's 5000 credit asking price for a suit of thermo-camouflage, which is a huge amount of cash for something that is neither that rare nor that amazingly useful, he'll be dumbfounded anyone was willing to go for his offer.
*** The game actually does a good job at keeping your resources just ahead of demand, which with the multiple solutions to any given puzzle means that you could be drowning in lockpicks while carrying around seven different guns in the false hope that one of them might have enough ammo to get you through the next firefight. On an economic basis, part of the plot is that the economy is screwed on a massive scale.
* Similarly, in ''[[ResidentEvil Resident Evil 4]]'', the vendor(s) charge you rather high prices for weapons and other items, even though Los Illuminados are just as much a threat to him as to you. Lampooned in [[http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2005/01/14/ this Penny Arcade strip]].
** At the risk of going into EpilepticTrees territory: if you notice, the vendor(s) have strange glowing eyes, possibly indicating that they too are infected with Las Plagas, hence the hordes of Ganados are probably not a threat to them. Another subtle visual cue is that their fingers are the exact same deathly-pale shade some of the Ganados -- such as the one with the axe at the start of Chapter 1-2. Furthermore, if you look at them through the infrared sniper scope, you can see the parasites inside them.
*** In that case, this might be a subversion! The noble shopkeeper turns against his own kind to help you! The fact the market exists at all proves Adam Smith ''doesn't'' hate you!
** Fact: The Merchant IS, in fact, one of "them". EpilepticTree: He was originally in some way involved with Saddler and the various other infected who are more than just mindless zombie mooks, but turned against them for some reason.
*** He isn't exactly one of them. Notice that he speaks Cockney, while the other Ganados are [[strike:Mexicans]] Spanish, so (more EpilepticTrees:) he may have been like Luis, a scientist or specialist of some sort hired by Saddler, but was shafted with a Plaga (which he may have been able to remove, as the PRL 412 doesn't affect him) and was sticking around for a chance at payback and found it in Leon.
* Subverted slightly in ''MetalGearSolid 4'' as the last act offers a 50% off all of the weapons etc. in Drebin's shop. However, this isn't directly related to aiding you on your missions; it's only because business is going bad [[spoiler:(The disabling of ID'd guns creating a slump on the 'necessary' war economy)]] and they need to make sales.
* In ''TalesOfEternia'', not only does each successive town charge more for the inn, but the moment you visit an inn, every other inn you've ever been to increases ''their'' prices to match the new one.
* In ''TalesOfSymphonia'', some service providers are initially happy to help out for free when they discover that you're the Chosen's group. Naturally, you quickly run into a group of people taking advantage of this by impersonating you.
** Of course, none of the actual shops'll give you any credit.
** Worse is the Item Shop, "Marble's"-- you are identified as the Chosen's group, save both Chocolat AND Cacao (the owners of the shop) DIRECTLY, and they're still charging you full price.
*** Worse STILL: The shop in Iselia that won't give the people who are going to save the freakin world (who he's known forever) for a reduced price.
** Later when you get Regal, the president of a very powerful company, (provided you've kept his EX Skill "Personal" on)- his mere presence in the party gives you a 10% discount on EVERYTHING, and a 10% Selling Bonus for EVERYTHING. But the name of said skill is "Charisma", meaning it is his charm.
** The weird thing is that they give Regal (a duke and the owner of the largest company in Tethe'alla) a discount, but not Zelos (The freakin chosen and the 2nd richest person in Tethe'alla, who commands the church and can probably get all the shop keepers imprisoned or executed for not giving him a discount).
*** Of course, every female in both worlds give him stuff (some of which can be rare, like the super rare Hourglass) for just being himself (as long as you have his "Personal" Ex-skill on).
* Subverted in ''TalesOfHearts''; late in the game, when the world is going down the tubes, all the shops start giving you 5% off - better than nothing. This carries to a New Game +, too.
* Averted HARD in ''TalesOfTheAbyss'' -- prices go up and down dependent upon actual availability. If a town is destroyed, its products get more expensive. If there's a war on, weapons are suddenly at a premium. On your NewGamePlus you can take serious advantage of this by stocking up on items when they're cheap and unloading them when the price skyrockets.
* The player can choose to avert this themselves in any TalesSeries game by taking advantage of the fact that many commodities - especially food - don't cost as much in some areas as in others. It's possible to make ridiculous amounts of money as a merchant if you know the differences..
** In ''TalesOfInnocence'', a GoodBadBug made Hermana's Bear Claw sell for more than its own price.
* Absent in the original ''PaperMario'', where the Toad Houses are free of charge. It is hinted somewhere in the game it's because they're owned by the Mushroom Kingdom and thus are a public service and not a private one like in every other [=RPG=].
** However, in the distant continent Mario travels to in Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, free health care is no longer an option. Healing blocks now charge coins to recover your stats–the same service offered in the previous title–and inns now charge coins to stay in.
*** This trope is somewhat averted in the varying inn prices. They accurately reflect the wealth of the local area. The inn that charges the most coins, at 30 coins, is in Poshley Heights, which is essentially where all the rich people live high lifestyles; compare to criminal cesspool Rogueport, where the inn charges only 5 coins.
** KarlMarxHatesYourGuts is averted in both ''PaperMario'' titles. It is possible to purchase items from one shop in the land and sell them at a higher price in another shop for a small profit. In example, you could cheaply purchase a Fire Flower in a warm place and sell it at a cold place at a higher price. This is no secret; it is hinted at within NPC dialog in the original, and one of the first side-quests in the sequel teaches the player a simple trick to make coins. [[spoiler:Buy a Sleepy Sheep in Rogueport for 8 coins, then sell it in Petalburg for 10 coins – a 2-coin profit. Rinse and repeat for infinite profit, although the journeying can get tedious.]]
*** Even more so once you get access to a [[ItemCrafting chef]]. Not sure if it works in the second game, but in the first, you could buy Mysteries for 1 coin each from the shop in Boo's Manor and give them to Tayce T. back in Toad Town for cooking. You'll either get a potentially rare random item or a Mistake, which is otherwise useless but can be sold at Boo's Manor for 5 coins, quintupling your investment if you're willing to take the time out from your adventure to do the trade route over and over.
** The ''MarioAndLuigi'' series plays this trope straight, in the sense that vendors don't offer discounts even though the Mario Bros are trying to save the Mushroom and Beanbean Kingdoms, even ignoring the fact that the bros (or at least, Mario) are world-famous by this point. They do offer discounts based on the bros' Stache stat, though. Forget the fact that Mario and Luigi are celebrities out to defeat evil witches and aliens; they get discounts because their mustaches look good!
* Avoided for the very last mission of ''ArchimedeanDynasty'', where the fate of humanity hangs in the balance (but what's new?). Even the most expensive and most powerful cannon is offered for a pittance.
* In ''MegaManBattleNetwork'', every successive HP Memory upgrade is usually at least twice the price of the one you just bought from the same vendor. [=PowerUP=]s likewise in the first two games. ''[[MegaManStarForce Star Force]]'' does this too.
* ''{{Diablo}} II'' has Tyrael, who charges up to 50,000 gold to resurrect your mercenary companion. He's an ''angel''! What's he going to do with the money? Build ornate churches?
** In regards to the Merchants of Light accompanying Tyrael, additional information at Battle.net gives a reason for why they charge you for weapons and armor despite being at Hell's doorstep. Like Tyrael, they are forbidden to help you directly. Selling and buying equipment [[TakeAThirdOption is a way for them to work around it]], because it qualifies as indirect help at best.
*** From the game's website:
--->''In Act IV, Tyrael will resurrect your Hireling but he will charge you. What does he do with that gold? Angels got to pay the bills too.''
* In ''SuperMarioRPG'''s final dungeon, just before the entrance to the final boss battle against Smithy, a Toad sets up the area with a save block. He also sets up ''shop'' to sell you items like mushrooms and revival potions. Note that this Toad is on ''your'' side and the fate of the world hangs in the balance on this next fight. Guess the economy's more important than that. Although he does sell them at half price.
** Though right nearby is also a coin block that'll never run out. And wasn't it Croco that was selling the items?
*** The infinite coin block is deep in Bowser's keep. Two dungeons away. And no, pretty sure it's a Toad. Croco's elsewhere.
** This gets even worse. Look at the dialouge box. This isn't '''A''' Toad. This is '''THE''' Toad.
* CityOfHeroes uses a [[JustifiedTrope justified version]] of this trope. Money in the game is called Influence or Infamy (depending on faction) and can represent that shopkeepers are giving you free or discounted stuff but you have to prove you deserve it first. Of course the fact that players can trade it with each other is a little odd…
** But [[JustifyingEdit easily]] [[FanWank explained]], naturally: the hero giving the Influence puts in a good word around town for the hero receiving it, which has the unfortunate side effect of looking like them "selling out" to some. Infamy is a bit trickier, though. The solution probably involves [[NoodleImplements several dozen toothpicks, a box-set of the fifth season of]] ''[[BabylonFive Babylon 5]]'', [[NoodleImplements a rabid grizzly bear, and "street cred."]]
*** Well, the rabid grizzly bear makes sense. After all, you are killing their best friend.
*** Of course, spreading Infamy could be explained by the giving player spreading the (bad) word around for the villain receiving it, but the giving villain seems like a sellout and therefore thought to be less badass.
* {{Bioshock}} does this with a literal Ayn Rand's Revenge. It can be justified, though, as you are in a super-capitalist dystopia, and the 3rd act takes you through the residential district, where demand for ammo would be higher.
* Subverted in a locally-written game called ''No'' (to hide it from the system managers) which ran on the mainframe computer at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, California back around the late 1980s. You got to travel around the galaxy buying and selling things, or alternatively, looting other ships and stealing their supplies. Planets had different technology levels, from 1 to 9. Goods became cheaper the higher the technology level, so that photon torpedoes at a #4 technology planet were less expensive than the ones at the #1 planet (which is how you made money, buying from H.T. planets and transporting goods to lower technology ones.) Higher technology planets also did better things with ship's equipment, e.g. a #2 shield could provide more energy against other ships trying to fire on you to loot your ship than did a #1 shield, a #3 did better than a #2, and so on. If you bought a #3 shield at a #3 or higher technology planet, the price was in line with it being what it was worth, say, twice that of a #2. But buy a #3 at a #1 planet, however, and while the planet ''would'' sell it to you, the price might be 100 or 500 times as much, which is in line with demanding high technology in a place not equipped for it, it's much more expensive where they don't know how. Each planet's level was announced when you arrive, and prices were clearly marked on the price chart, but the program wouldn't prevent you from being stupid and not checking the price. Planetary technology levels were based on a formula as if to say some planets developed faster than others.
* Subverted in ''{{Fable}} 2'', where you can actually buy any offending store and lower the prices accordingly. Added bonus: Lowering prices counts as a pure and wholesome act, adding to your karmic stats.
** Further subverted by the more "loved" you are, the more discount you get. If this troper recalls correctly, being more renown and good makes you more loved.
* Averted in the first Fable in that the economy was driven by supply and demand and that you could earn discounts and get better prices for your sold goods by having a higher guile level.
* Subverted in ''KnightsOfTheOldRepublic 2'' where you at one point could ''reprogram'' a droid shopkeeper to give you better prices.
** The above robot reprogramming subversion also appeared in ''{{Fallout}} 3''.
* Subverted in the first ''RatchetAndClank'' game, where at one point you can acquire a failed attempt at a mind control device that causes vendors to give you a discount.
* Subverted in ''System Shock 2''. With good stats and lucky clicks, you can either reprogram vendor machines to give items at lower prices, or change the stock altogether, replacing soda drinks with armor-piercing bullets.
* Lampshaded in [[ColonCancer Dungeons & Dragons: Forgotten Realms: Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II]], just before the last stage. The titular city is overrun by the undead, and only a makeshift barricade stands between the shopkeeper and a horde of zombies, and the city's Only Hope is for you to storm the villain's citadel. If you complain about the shopkeeper still charging you full price, he points out that he's confident of your success, but if he gave away his goods where would he be after you save the city. Furthermore, you can afford it, so it isn't like he's jeopardizing the city's safety by refusing to just give the items away.
* Averted utterly in ''{{Freelancer}}''. Though guns bought later in the game are more expensive than guns bought earlier, it's because they're better guns. Ammo for each weapon costs the same amount wherever you go, as do nanobots and shield batteries. Prices fluctuate for tradeable and minable commodities, however, and this is one of the major ways to make money in the game.
** Also, once you join [[spoiler:The Order]], you can buy their equipment at dirt cheap prices, including one of the best ships in the game.
*** And in that case, "dirt cheap" means "sell a single missile to buy a whole fully-equipped ship with tens of better missiles". The ship in question costs much, much less than your cheap starting ship… and, for some reason, sells for even less!
** Prices do generally tend to match quality, but it is still rather strange that the most central, highly populated systems in the universe have the cheapest/lowest-quality goods. Outside the universe, it's a good idea, because you start the game in the dead center of the universe, with no money and no ship. As the difficulty rises and you get more money, you go farther from the center, and have the opportunity to spend more money on better equipment. But in-universe, it does not entirely make sense.
* Averted in ''DungeonSiege''. The stuff doesn't gets unfairly expensive: it's just that the dealers start selling better stuff as you advance.
** Mostly averted that is. All mules are equal, but they are sold in almost every city. This troper bought a mule in the first city for 1500 gold. In the final city, the NPC complained that he was having to practically give away his mules becasue he had no food to keep them alive. The price? 370,000!
* In ''{{Castlevania}}: Portrait of Ruin'', the monk Vincent will sell you various supplies. During a plot event, he'll be [[spoiler:bitten by a vampire, and he'll run back in asking you to heal him. When entering his shop menu, he usually says "I'll make you a deal!", but when he's sick, he literally says "I'll lower the price…I'll lower the price!" However, he doesn't, and after you heal him, your characters ask him if he ''will'' lower the price--to which he response that he's gotta make a living.]] Bummer.
** [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in ''Castlevania 64'' where the shopkeeper is a [[DealWithTheDevil contract that you made with the demon Renon]], who could care less about saving the world from vampires. Of course, we all know how well deals like that go…
* In ''OregonTrail II'', supplies get more expensive the farther out on the trail you go. This is probably [[JustifiedTrope justified]], though.
** Horses actually get significantly cheaper, also justified.
* Justified/Handwaved in ''FinalFantasyXII: Revenant Wings''. The only vendor in the game actually works for you, purchasing equipment while you're off adventuring. This doesn't explain why you don't just use a budget instead of purchasing things through a menu, but [[AcceptableBreaksFromReality you should probably ignore that]].
* ''SecretOfEvermore'' had an interesting take on this trope; each of the four areas of the game uses an entirely different type of money (e.g. gold, gems or credits), and the ''exchange rate'' is where you get shafted, with e.g. 1 gold coin equal to 2 jewels or some such. Therefore, the item you buy may sell for the exact same price, but the currency in use is worth twice as much, so you're really paying twice as much for the same item.
* Justified in ''QuestForGlory'': Each game takes place in a totally new setting, where your heroism in the previous games is known only to a few people, if any. The second game somewhat averts this trope: the catlike "Katta" who you helped in the first game provide you with free lodging and food at their inn, and a couple of the other Katta merchants will give you merchandise for free over the course of the game.
** Additionally, in games 2 and 3, you can bargain in an attempt to lower the price of goods.
** Quest for Glory 2 is a full-on subversion; with one exception (due to the fact that that owner is a {{Jerkass}}), if you need to purchase an item in order to save the city the Katta or Apothecary will give it to you for free if you ask for it while the crisis is taking place. If you ask them for the item before or after the crisis they charge you money, though.
* ''VictoriaAnEmpireUnderTheSun'' works on a crude supply and demand scheme. This often makes it feel like AdamSmithHatesYourGuts because when a major war breaks out the cost of war materials can increase drastically. This is perfectly realistic of course, and if you happened to somehow coax your capitalists into building said weapons factories you might earn a tidy profit. A more straight version perhaps is that as technology (and hence production efficiency) increases so does demand: Unless you keep up the pace you might well end up with a population unable to buy the fancy new toys your factories are producing.
*During the climax of ''[[NeverwinterNights2 Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir,]]'' Volo helpfully comes to your party bearing supplies from the stores… that you have to pay for. Possibly justified in that the merchants he acquired them from probably don't know you're about to save the world.
*Justified in ''Lands of Lore: The Throne of Chaos'', in which the player starts with a writ identifying him as on official business for the king, which can be presented for free services. However, the writ is stolen, leaving him with no proof that he works for the king and justifying why he must pay for things like everyone else.
*Parodied in the freeware game OcularInk, in which the hero's travel fees are paid for by the government.
*Averted in ''EscapeVelocity Nova'', where as you progress through any one of the game's story lines, purchasing outfits and new ships becomes less expensive on planets belonging to the government you are currently serving, as well as granting you access to ships and outfits that wouldn't be available if you weren't working for that government. The only exception to this is the Vell-os, who are slaves in their story line. And since their "ships" are actually psychic projections, you can't buy outfits for them anyway.
* ''TheElderScrolls'' games have always survived on dungeon crawling to collect items to sell in shops or exchange with other characters. Occasionally, the prices are reasonable, but you are usually being fleeced by buying that sword for more than what you sold one just like it for. You tend to get the best deals in your higher-ranking guilds and with people who like you (in ''Daggerfall'', by selling items to stores of "rustic" quality).
** ''Morrowind'', which runs on a bottle economy, offers an subversion: alchemy. That potion you made and can sell is more expensive that the cost of its ingredients most of the time.
* Lampshaded towards the end of ''[=~Star Ocean: The Last Hope~=]''. The Morphus, an ancient and advanced race of galactic guardians, have recognized you as a group of remarkably powerful heroes, and have made you the spearhead in their strategy to prevent the destruction of the entire universe. However, if you approach their own weapons-vendor, he will curtly inform you that "Despite the impending end of the universe, we unfortunately cannot offer you a discount…"
** At the same time, it's mildly averted - you actually CAN get a 10% discount in any store, if you help the owner with a few deliveries…
* In ''Eve Online'', "basic" modules are less powerful versions of Tech I (normal) modules. They were in between Tech I and Civilian (cheap and nearly useless) modules. CCP decided that they weren't needed, and removed the blueprints for Basic modules. Now they fetch massive prices on the market; it's mostly item collectors who buy them.
* Somewhat subverted in Okami, where the very last "shop" in [[spoiler:the Ark of Yamato, the place where all the demons and evil spirits have gathered for you to defeat once and for all]], you are not really "buying" anything - you are leaving a cash offering for the Celestials, and being rewarded based on however much you leave.
* In [[ChronoTrigger Chrono Trigger]], before you do Ozzie's sub-quest at the end of the game, the Medina market charges insane prices for his low-level gear. Once you complete the quest, though, his prices become more reasonable; because you killed Ozzie in the past, the Mystics, who live in the village, never held a grudge against humans.
* {{Earthbound}} seems to avert this trope for most of the game, as you ''start'' in an insignificant little village, and the price of lodging naturally increases as you approach the big city of Fourside and the resort towns of Summers and Scaraba. Additionally, shop prices never seem to change; the cup of coffee that costs $6 in Onett will be valued the same wherever you go. But then, near the end, you reach the Tenda Village and Adam Smith slaps you in the face: items of all sorts are hideously expensive (costing not money but a certain high-valued item that must be bought elsewhere), and the most expensive hotel stay in the game consists of a night on the bare floor of a dank cavern.
* Averted in the {{Pokemon}} games. Everything costs the same amount wherever you go (though it does strike one as a little strange that a tiny shop in dinky little Mahogany Town would stock Ultra Balls when Goldenrod City's massive department store doesn't), and Pokémon Centres are always free. This is justified since you're just a Pokemon trainer, and you're ''not'' saving the world by any means.
** Well, no one knows you're saving the world at least.
** The fourth generation even averts the odd stock issues - the stock in all stores is dependant on how many badges you have - they just won't sell Ultra Balls to greenhorn trainers. The only city-dependant items are specialty balls that generally have explanations as to why they're only sold there (like selling balls that are better at catching water-types in a fishing village).
* Averted in {{Stonekeep}}. The only shop in the game is owned by a dwarf who'll charge you full price despite the fact that you're at war with their mortal enemies, the throggs...until you show him some feathers from a throgg shaman's headdress. He then goes on to tell you that his family was murdered by a throgg shaman (possibly the one you killed) and allows you to take whatever you want from his shop for free!
* In ''FinalFantasyAdventure'', Watts distills this trope to its essence. He accompanies you through a dungeon to get some silver he needs. Despite the fact that you're accompanying him on ''his'' quest so that he can get what he needs without dying, he ''still'' charges you full price for more items in the middle of said dungeon.
** It gets worse. After you finish the dungeon and Watts gets the silver, he goes back to the Dwarf Cave to forge equipment with it. Does he give you any for free? Of course not, he charges you full price for the sword and armor. You even have to get the silver helmet from a ''different shop''.
* Lampshaded in ''Albert Odyssey: Legend of Eldean'', where the shopkeeper who follows you to the VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon justifies herself saying that she not only trusts your ability to defeat the bad guy, but if you should fail, the money wouldn't matter anyway.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Tabletop Games ]]

* In [[DungeonsAndDragons D&D]] fourth edition, for ease of play everything has a fixed standard price. (Particularly visible in the way the cost of any magic item is purely a function of its level.) Fair enough. However, player characters can never sell anything (''including'' magic items) not explicitly put into the game as a cash-substitute treasure by the scenario designer for more than 20% of it's notional 'market price'… (There's a reason for that, and it's that the game developers explicitly wanted to encourage players to take their characters ''adventuring'' rather than have them sit around using weeks and months of in-game downtime making stuff to generate more money. But it still fits the trope to a T.)
** A special case is also the component cost for the Raise Dead ritual. It starts at 500 gold pieces' worth of materials…until a character reaches 11th level, whereupon it suddenly increases by a factor of ''ten''—and then the same thing happens once more upon hitting level 21 (of 30 possible). {{Handwave}}d by the game as 'death being less willing to return great heroes', of course. This troper wonders what was wrong at giving ''better'' back from the dead effects that cost more as the players went up in level…
***Because death has to be significant enough that it is meaningful, but not significant enough that dying is a major disruption to the game. 500 gp is a pittance to a mid to high level character, so the cost needed to be increased in order to make it at least mean something. It is a constant struggle in such games for death to be meaningful, but not crippling. In previous editions, you lost levels for dying and being raised, so this is a significant step forward as far as pricing goes. And honestly, 20% is not all that strange if you look at it from an economic perspective; sure, the merchant seems like they're ripping you off, but how often do high-level adventurers come by town? In the default assumption, the heroes are pretty much THE heroes, and there just aren't all that many other people who would be capable of buying that +5 flaming bastard sword that you sold to Bob's Used Weapon Emporium.
**Lampshaded in [[http://nodwick.humor.gamespy.com/ffn/index.php?date=2008-11-19 this Full Frontal Nerdity strip]].
* ''{{GURPS}}'' went to a ridiculous extreme in justifying and averting this trope. Magic items are balanced via a, relatively simple, economic system they built for the game (and explain to any GM who wants to change it).

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* On SpongeBobSquarePants, masked superheroes Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy are frequent patrons of the Krusty Krab, but they have to pay full price just like everyone else. Barnacle Boy attempts to ask for a "living legend discount", to no avail.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Web Original ]]

*LegendOfNeil takes this trope to a new level. Not only will the shop keeper not give Link/Neil a discount, he tries to cheat him, swindle him of more money than he has and then kill him

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Real Life ]]

*In a disaster, such as a hurricane or earthquake, the routine response of the local government is to fix the price of everything from fuel to food to water to repair services, in order to prevent "price gouging." However, the inevitable consequence is that first, all the shelves of the local stores (those that don't shut down and flee) are quickly stripped bare by the first wave of survivors, leaving nothing for anyone else, and outside suppliers--- having no incentive whatsoever to risk their lives and livelihood by dragging their price-suppressed merchandise there--- stay away in droves. This happened in the 1990s when Florida was hit by a series of hurricanes, leaving nearly every roof in Miami floating in the Gulf of Mexico: repairs that would have taken months dragged out for YEARS, because the local government put a cap on labor and materials for roof repair…. and everyone decided they could stay at home and go broke just as easily, thank you very much. However, in regions where price controls weren't implemented, the area was soon flooded with "shallow opportunists"-- and the price of supplies and repairs rapidly dropped. It is not so much a matter of Adam Smith hating your guts as the laws of economics laughing in your face.
* The reason shopkeepers won't give you a discount when you claim to be saving the world is [[http://notalwaysright.com/with-great-retail-power/2528 probably because they've already heard it a dozen times]].
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