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An index of tropes relating to reward and punishment in video games. Also covers bonuses of various kinds.
- And Your Reward Is Clothes
Beating a challenge results in a new piece of clothing for your character.
- And Your Reward Is Interior Decorating
Beating a challenge results in modifying and/or decorating a structure.
- Anti-Frustration Features
A part of the game which will give you an unusual advantage or benefit, breaking the normal rules of the game or genre.
- Anti-Grinding
Measures put in by game developers to prevent Level Grinding and emphasize strategy.
- Anti-Poop Socking
The game rewards you for taking a break or punishes you for playing too long at once.
- Awesomeness Meter
You get a reward for doing something cool.
- Battle Trophy
Congratulations on beating that boss! You can keep his head as a memento.
- Bladder of Steel
Games that don't let you pause or save for a very long time, or punish you if you take a break.
- Bragging Rights Reward
It's a great reward, but in order to get it you have to be so powerful that it's useless now.
- Bonus Feature Failure
This is meant to be a reward?
- Cartography Sidequest
The game gives you a reward for viewing every part of a map.
- Collection Sidequest
If I collect a hundred purple squirrel hides, I'll get this neato fridge magnet!
- Concept Art Gallery
Where you get to see What Could Have Been.
- Continuing Is Painful
Where continuing or losing a life results in an even harder challenge.
- Cosmetic Award
A reward that serves no purpose other than telling you that you won an award.
- Death Is a Slap on the Wrist
You died! Your punishment is the loss of half a second of playtime! Muwahaha!
- Debug Room
A location, menu or mode with options the programmers use for testing the game.
- Developer's Room
A room in a game filled with in-jokes and notes from the developers.
- Discount Card
Shops sells their items at a discount to you.
- Double Unlock
A bonus is unlocked, but you can't access it until you unlock something else.
- Do Well, But Not Perfect
Some game objectives require you to be not perfect, but somewhere between "mediocre" and "good" to win them.
- Earn Your Fun
You get no rewards unless you jump all these hoops! Within ten seconds! Five hundred times! You nancy wimp!
- Easy Level Trick
A secret in a level that makes that level easier.
- Embedded Precursor
A bonus wherein the original version of a game is included somewhere in a later installment or Updated Rerelease.
- Every 10,000 Points
You get a reward every X number of points (or coins or whatever) you collect.
- Evil Pays Better
If you can do good or evil missions, the evil missions will have better rewards.
- Extended Gameplay
A bonus story or challenge that begins after you beat the Final Boss.
- Fast Forward Mechanic
Lets you skip ahead in time to the good parts instead of aimlessly trying to kill time.
- Flawless Victory
When you beat a match in a Fighting Game without getting damaged.
- Gameplay Grading
The return of Scoring Points! Anyone can finish the level, but can you finish it with an A-grade?
- Kyu and Dan Ranks
The traditional grading system for Go and martial arts; it has since spread to many other games.
- Golden Path
The path with the most content or the best endings.
- Guilt-Based Gaming
The game tries to deter or punish the player for a particular course of action by making them feel guilty.
- Healing Checkpoint
Reaching a checkpoint or save point replenishes your health and/or supplies.
- Holiday Mode
A bonus (different sprite, special event) that only shows up on particular dates.
- 100% Completion
Way of extending potentially short gameplay by setting completed tasks as a percentage, sometimes given explicitly.
- 100% Heroism Rating
In games where you can be good or evil, doing every single good-oriented side quest will result in being hailed as a hero or saint.
- Idiosyncratic Combo Levels
Good! Great! Awesome! Outstanding! Amazing!
- Inexplicable Treasure Chests
Boxes of goodies that can appear pretty much anywhere and can contain pretty much anything that no one seems to mind the player collecting.
- Infinite 1-Ups
An easy way of gaining an infinite amount of lives, which makes the game far easier than it should be.
- I Was Told There Would Be Cake
Standard video game rewards: Coins, 1UPs, power stars, and yummy cake.
- Kill Streak
Kill a certain amount of enemies in a row without dying in order to acquire stuff.
- Kleptomaniac Hero Found Underwear
When your hero searches through people's drawers, he finds underwear.
- Last Lousy Point
C'mon, I've got 99% completion... dangit, where is that Last Lousy Point?!
- Law of 100
All Platform Games will have at least one type of common item that will give you an extra life if you collect one hundred of them.
- Meaningless Lives
Games that have lives, but it's so easy to gain them or so simple to continue that they are meaningless.
- Mercy Rewarded
You get rewarded for not killing the bad guys.
- Missing Secret
It looks like there's an item or secret that can be found (e.g. blank spot in the menu), but it doesn't actually exist.
- Monster Compendium
A list of all enemies you encounter throughout the game with detailed information.
- Offscreen Start Bonus
If you go in the opposite direction from "normal" at the start, you get an item.
- Old Save Bonus
Where a save for a different game on your memory card unlocks a bonus in your own game.
- Play Every Day
You'll earn more for playing a few minutes tomorrow than a few more hours right now.
- Promoted To Playable
A character who was an NPC or boss in one installment of a series becomes a potential player-controlled character in a later installment.
- Promotional Powerless Piece of Garbage
An expensive, unique, and/or rare item or card which is totally useless.
- Regional Bonus
A bonus given to a game when it gets released in other regions.
- Rank Inflation
When A rank isn't high enough, go for A+ or S or SSSSSS!
- Rewarding Inactivity
A reward given for not tackling the challenge in front of you.
- Rewarding Vandalism
Blow up people's houses - there's money inside!
- Secret Level
A bonus level that is not required to finish the game.
- Set Bonus
Benefits that are magically available when the player has a complete set of items.
- Sliding Scale of Video Game Objectives
How broadly the objectives of a video game are defined.
- Socialization Bonus
An aspect of the game where you can get additional content or powerups by interacting with other people who own the game.
- Sound Test
A menu which allows you to listen to all (or most) of the in-game music.
- Spelling Bonus
Collecting all the letters of a word may win players something extra.
- Unlockable Content
Extra content that is not immediately available but becomes so after specific requirements are fulfilled.
- Unstable Equilibrium
When a game rewards a player who performs well with bonuses and advantages - meaning the better you do, the easier it becomes, whereas if you do badly, it gets harder.
- Video Game Cruelty Punishment
A game that allows a player to be cruel, but will make sure that he gets his comeuppance for doing so.
- Violation of Common Sense
Where the game allows you (or outright forces you) to do something that would be really stupid in the real world.
- Virtual Paper Doll
Any computer program that lets you change clothes a character is wearing.
- What Do You Mean, It's Not Cosmetic?
Being awarded with achievements unlocks gameplay features.
- Whoring
The process or act of focusing all effort or resources into only one or a few aspects of a game's mechanics with the intent of drawing massive profit or advantages from it.
- You Lose At Zero Trust
A game that punishes you for neglecting your relationships with other characters.
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