Basic Trope: A character continues to commit a crime they used to have a reason to but no longer do.
- Straight: Bob pickpockets to make ends meet, but continues to do so even after he's in a financially-stable position.
- Exaggerated: Bob commits a terrorist attack for attention, and commits even more even now that everyone knows him.
- Downplayed: Bob responds to people who call him names by calling them names in return, but continues name-calling even after everyone has stopped.
- Justified:
- Bob always wanted an excuse to start engaging in his behavior, and is now hooked.
- Bob started robbing banks to get money for his daughter Alice's medical treatments. Now she's healthy... but being known as a bank robber means that Bob can't get a legitimate job, and he has to keep robbing banks to make ends meet.
- Inverted: Bob donates money to charity just to improve his reputation, but likes the feeling of doing good so much that he can't stop.
- Subverted: Someone drops their wallet. Bob picks it up... and gives it back to them.
- Double Subverted: But took out all the cash first.
- Parodied: Whenever someone points out that Bob should stop, he angrily responds, "I can stop any time I want!"
- Unparodied: As it turns out, Bob cannot stop, and his addiction to stealing destroys his life.
- Zig Zagged: Bob swears off his behavior, reverts to engaging in it, stops himself, relapses, and so on.
- Averted: Bob stops stealing once he has enough money to not need to.
- Enforced: "The viewers need An Aesop on how crime is never the answer."
- Lampshaded: "I thought you had enough money by now?"
- Invoked: The police want to lock Bob up, so they pose as ordinary citizens and keep their wallets in open view for Bob to attempt to steal.
- Exploited: Alice recruits Bob to steal for her.
- Defied: "Alright, I really must stop now. I can afford to live anyway."
- Discussed: "What's Bob gonna do about his money situation? What if he starts stealing and it all goes downhill from there?"
- Conversed: "This is unrealistic. I'd know to be careful how much I stole if I wanted to get away with it."
- Implied: Bob swears off stealing as he looks proudly at his empty hands. The scene cuts to him looking ashamed of himself as he holds a wallet.
- Deconstructed: Bob steals often enough that he attracts the attention of the police and is soon caught.
- Reconstructed: He skips town and resumes his thieving activities elsewhere.
- Played For Laughs: Bob steals some candy from the refrigerator at work, justifying it with how peckish he is, but can't stop himself.
- Played For Drama: Bob's compulsion to commit crime is examined in great detail, and the fact that he chooses crime for his own gain over more legal and ethical solutions brings his moral character into question.
- Played For Horror: The item Bob stole was cursed to make him steal on a regular basis. The police officer who confiscates the item is also put under the curse, and no one figures out the supernatural effect of the item.
Okay, now that you've read the Playing With page, you're going to go back to the unabridged version... right?
