History Main / KleptomaniacHero

*** It also makes the player's kleptomaniac tendencies a JustifiedTrope. The player is Dragonborn, you see, a mortal born with the soul of a dragon. Paarthurnax explains that this not only grants you access to the dragons' [[MakeMeWannaShout Thu'um]], but it also makes you prone to draconic personality flaws, like wanting to [[HairTriggerTemper fight over anything]] and being driven to dominate - and, apparently, also kinda making you want to gather your own DragonHoard. In this case, it could be said all gamers are Dragonborn: [[ShootEverythingThatMoves killing every monster you come across]], [[ItsUpToYou completing every quest you come across]] (including and especially ones that will give you perks like land ownership in return), and taking all the stuff [[RuleOfThree you come across]] are practically ingrained in gamer culture from the time one can hold a controller.

* ''LetsPlay/{{Dream}}'' tries to loot everything useful he can from the villages he finds in Minecraft Manhunt, if he finds a village. Any other world-generated building which has useful items works as well.

* ''VideoGame/DarkestDungeon'' has the entire in-game economy built on claiming stuff from dead enemies, treasure chests, random objects in corridors and so on. Of course, as the rightful Heir to the Darkest Estate, most of what your heroes are finding is probably yours to begin with, and the only reason you didn't have it already was because of the thing where your Ancestor woke up Cthulhu and left the entire place a twisted nightmare landscape. You can also have Heroes with the actual Kleptomania trait; it's considered possibly the worst in the game, because Heroes afflicted with Kleptomania 1) make the loot vanish without trace and you're never getting it back, and 2) don't even wait to use inventory items, leading to them continually being bled, blighted, diseased, stressed, afflicted with new and more annoying quirks, maimed or otherwise inconvenienced by whatever it was they stupidly stuck their head into while checking for anything shiny.

*** [[ArcherArchetype Itsuki]] preferring to only use the acquired materials as Experience Points to put into his PointBuildSystem for his [[JobSystem Job Class]] and only takes in new Bows he finds based on [[PowerEqualsRarity the weapons' overall rarity]] through [[PowerCopying Weapon Copy]], leaving him [[ExcaliburInTheRust unwilling to touch lesser bows or materials]] that could be used to unlock more unique abilities for his Bow.

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* In ''VideoGame/NoUmbrellasAllowed'', you can scavenge trashcans for money or items after work. Some passersby even comment on how gross it is, and your customers will haggle any picked-up items for a cheaper price, even regular items that you buy from other customers, because they'r suspicious of you.

* In ''VideoGame/NoUmbrellasAllowed'', you can scavenge trashcans for money or items after work. Some passersby even comment on how gross it is.
* In ''Videogame/TheSims3'', a sim with the Kleptomaniac trait will steal anything they can get their hands on. There's even a lifetime wish for ''50,000 simoleons worth of stolen goods''.

** Also exaggerated -- in ''Night of the Raving Dead'', you can pick up an ink ribbon, but it doesn't actually do anything. No puzzles, no easter eggs, nothing. It's plain and simple taking it because it's there.

* Strong Bad in ''VideoGame/StrongBadsCoolGameForAttractivePeople''. It's entirely in-character for [[CardCarryingVillain him]], though.

* Parodied in ''Videogame/{{Earthbound}}'', where the heroes can get items out of... well, trashcans. Yes, even food items. The game also lets you steal from a self-service food cart, but not without a fight.
** Also lampshaded in ''Earthbound''. Cookies are healing items; a character sitting in a room full of gift-wrapped boxes informs you that he made cookies for everybody. Take the cookies from the boxes and he asks, reasonably enough, "How could you?"

** The ''[[Videogame/EarthBound Mother 2]]'' manga mocks gamers who walk around pressing A in front of everything [[http://earthboundcentral.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/m7.jpg on this page]]. (The third panel shows Ness trying to "Check" the drawer, with the text "No problem here" on the bottom, imitating the game's verbage.)
** ''Mother 3'' goes as far as placing presents out in the open that... fart. If you're lucky they might play some new music or launch some fireworks.

* ''VideoGame/TouhouLostBranchOfLegend'': Implied by the "Thief" contributor to the Score / EXP tally:
--> Have more than 20 Exhibits.

*** It also subverts this on two occasions, but both with the same item. In Chapters 2 and 3, one of the Tazmily Village residents is given a big bag of money by Fassad, which he then puts in the well. You can then walk up to the well and take it...only for the game to tell you that you put it right back. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in that at that particular part of the game, in Chapter 2, you live in a society where money is pretty much nonexistent, and in Chapter 3, you're being controlled by Fassad who would probably shock you into next Tuesday if you took it before he was ready.

** In the sequel, ''Videogame/{{Dishonored 2}}'', this trope continues to be played straight as you can outright loot... your own possessions (technically), as you embezzle royal vaults early in the game while leaving Dunwall. {{Justified}}, however -- Corvo, for example, outright states that he needs all the cash he can get to bootstrap retaking the throne. Emily is the Empress so when playing as her it's literally her own choice to take whatever she wants.

* 10tons's ''Jydge'' features a character that's a cross between ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'' and ''Film/{{Robocop}}''. The Jydge will self-destruct if it accidentally kills an innocent. However the "Jydge" program can always use extra funds, so your law enforcement cyborg is allowed to "confiscate" money from slain criminals and "their" loot boxes (hmm...funny how criminals have loot boxes all over the mansion of their wealthy hostages). The Jydge can also hack public [=ATMs=] and once you hack some money from that, you can blow the [=ATM=] up for even more cash. Additionally the Jydge can help itself to collectible items found in hidden corners of Edynburg.

* In ''VideoGame/GloryOfHeracles III'', you can loot people's homes for stuff. However, if you have party members with you, [[WhatTheHellHero they'll rebuke you for thinking of stealing]]. If you choose to go through with it, you'll lose Trust, which determines how often companions will heed your orders in battle.
** In the DS game, stealing people's stuff lowers your Luck stat.

* ''VideoGame/DarkestDungeon'': Reynauld the Crusader, one of the two heroes you are guaranteed to start with, always starts with the Kleptomania quirk. This means that at random he will pocket treasure that you find in dungeons or collect from slain enemies, while giving off a NotSoInnocentWhistle. Unsurprisingly, removing this quirk is one of the first things veteran players do when starting a new playthrough.

* ''Videogame/DarkestDungeon'':
** You can literally have this when a hero develops the "Kleptomaniac" flaw. They will randomly steal the contents of any "treasure" curio you encounter, and that loot is gone. It's recommended to cure this quirk as quickly as possible.
** The Grave Robber tends to constantly be stealing supply items from the Hamlet and is implied to be the reason why you have to sell back your provisions instead of storing them. One of her camping skills has her reluctantly cough up some of the stuff she's stolen in hopes that it will help the expedition survive.

* ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands}}'' has chests/safes/boxes/lockers you can open and loot the ammo/gun(s)/money stored inside. Given the influences from ''Diablo'' and ''Fallout'', this isn't surprising (although you can't loot stores (except for any of the aforementioned containers that happen to be inside stores), as the stores are vending machines). Then there's the ammo in the refrigerators, mailboxes, washing machines...and toilets (giving a new meaning to the term "ammo dump"!)...

--->'''Shepard''': So...you just wander the galaxy, righting wrongs?
--->'''Conrad''': Hey, don't say it like that! I talk to people, y'know? Ask them if they have big problems that only I can solve. You'd be surprised how many people are just waiting for someone to talk to them. ''(looks around)'' Sometimes I poke through crates. You know, for extra credits.
** On a related note, ''Videogame/MassEffect2'' research activities require mining planets and collecting the metals necessary to buy the upgrades, which you do by scanning planets and firing off probes—regardless of whether the worlds are colonized or who actually owns the mining rights. Though since Cerberus are terrorists involved in everything from torturing autistic men to control the Geth to genocide of aliens why would they worry about a piddly little thing like that?

*** [[ArcherArchetype Itsuki]] preferring to only use the acquired materials as Experience Points to put into his PointBuildSystem for his [[JobSystem Job Class]] and only takes in new Bows he finds based on [[RarityEqualsPower the weapons' overall rarity]] through [[PowerCopying Weapon Copy]], leaving him [[ExcaliburInTheRust unwilling to touch lesser bows or materials]] that could be used to unlock more unique abilities for his Bow.

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** Spoony sometimes makes fun of this in games, such as during his review of ''VideoGame/Phantasmagoria2'' -- in which the main character is an office worker.

*** [[BladeOnAStick Motoyasu]] is arguably the closest to a Kleptomaniac of the three due to his method of [[EvolvingWeapon empowering the baseline stats of an existing Spear variant to maximum]] based on [[RareCandy the quality of materials that the Spear absorbs]] and how compatible that material is with the Spear in-question through a process of trial-and-error, however this means that he only goes for highest-quality materials instead of more commonplace ones that could offer unique traits when unlocked and refined.

When gaming began, and pretty much every game was DungeonCrawling, this made sense. The hero was typically at least tangentially a treasure hunter, so looting ancient caverns was part of the job description.

When games started to move into different modern settings, though, the need to [[MacGyvering MacGyver up]] a solution to a puzzle from [[ItMayHelpYouOnYourQuest found items]] remained, and thus it stayed necessary to pick up everything you could find, especially since absolutely essential items were {{Permanently Missable|Content}} unless you grabbed them [[InventoryManagementPuzzle while you still could]]. In populated environments, this makes the hero come off as a bit of a kleptomaniac. It doesn't help when the games, in an attempt to encourage the player to explore and TalkToEveryone, hides useful items here and there all over the towns.