History Main / RewardingInactivity

* In the videogame version of ''MontyPythons The Meaning of Life'' the only way to get the PlotCoupon in the Japanese rock garden is to do nothing. Twice.

** In the ''VideoGame/{{WarioWare}}'' stage on ''SuperSmashBros Brawl'', one of the microgames that may pop up is to stand still and do nothing. However, stomping over this trope with steel-shod boots it's sometimes better to suck down any punishment handed out for failing the Microgame... By landing some seriously heavy hits on your static opponents. ''Falcon '''PAWNCH!'''''

* The Easy-difficulty [=CPUs=] in MarioParty games will sometimes make your job very easy. A rather impressive demonstration can be seen [[http://il.youtube.com/watch?v=m6PxRwgjzZw here]].

* One of the hidden paths in ''WarioLand 2'' requires you to have Wario sleep in, by simply not pressing a button to wake him up at the start of the first level. After a few minutes, the stage ends and you get the new story.
** One of the microgame themes in ''WarioWare Touched'' uses the DS' microphone and simply require you not to make a detectable noise for a few seconds.
** ''WarioWare Twisted!'' also featured a microgame where you weren't supposed to create any input through the motion sensor. This is hard when it comes up in a normal game, but easy to do in the dedicated album mode (just set the console down for a few minutes).
** In the ''WarioWare'' stage on ''SuperSmashBros Brawl'', one of the microgames that may pop up is to stand still and do nothing. However, stomping over this trope with steel-shod boots it's sometimes better to suck down any punishment handed out for failing the Microgame... By landing some seriously heavy hits on your static opponents. ''Falcon '''PAWNCH!'''''

* In ''Mario Adventure'', a notable hack of SuperMarioBros3, a few of the levels in Desert Dares (World 7) asks you to survive for about 30 seconds in a single-screen level with a Wakitu (a Lakitu that drops bombs instead of spines). One in particular seems impossible, until...

* Required in one part of ''[[MarioAndLuigi Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story]].'' You have to simply wait until Bowser's back is healed before proceeding. The game even suggests that you enjoy a cup of tea while doing so.

* One of the Achievements in "TheSaboteur" is for Sean to smoke 50 cigarettes. Sean begins smoking when you idle, so to get the achievement, put the controller down and walk away for an hour.

* For some ''{{Pokemon}}'', choosing ''not'' to evolve at the "normal" times opens up new avenues of possiblity.
** Also in ''{{Pokemon}}'', the door to Regice's chamber is unlocked by reading the message, then standing there for a period of time.

Some games reward a character for ''not'' tackling the challenge in front of them. This could be a form of {{Dynamic Difficulty}}, where the player is given an advantage if they haven't managed to overcome an obstacle after a certain amount of time, or may be a solution to a puzzle. In some cases, especially with {{MMORPG}}s, they actually [[AntiPoopSocking reward you for logging off entirely!]]

* This is how you get one of the Secret Stars in ''{{Braid}}''. You have to spend [[ScrappyLevel two]] [[WallBanger hours]] waiting for a cloud to move across the level.

* In TheWorldEndsWithYou, experience for leveling up pins is rewarded for not playing the game.

* Unintentionally introduced in TeamFortress2 with RandomlyDrops. The game (currently) has no way of telling if the player is actually, well, playing. This spawned a plethora of ''idling servers'' with small maps designed to prevent the afk-measures so the player can then minimize the game and do whatever else he wants while still enjoying the same chance to get new items as an active player.

* In ''{{Ratchet And Clank}}: Size Matters'', you fight as Ratchet against Giant Clank. Somewhat subverted as you have no weapons at the time, but the only way to win is to dodge his attacks.

* This is the entire premise of ''[[http://www.kongregate.com/games/Aragagg/dont-shoot-the-puppy Don't Shoot The Puppy]].

* In TheWorldEndsWithYou, not playing for a while can level up your pins. If you can figure out what pin set would give you an [[TacticalRockPaperScissors adavantage]] against the next [[BossBattle Boss]]/BossInMookClothing, but those pins have no experience, some players (read: this troper) like to cheat the system by setting the DS clock forward a week.