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Not Cheating Unless You Get Caught: Difference between revisions
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* [[Toriko]]'s Gourmet Casino arc lives and dies on this trope. Coco's future-seeing abilities allow him to effortlessly win practically all of the casino's games. Livebearer, the arc's [[Big Bad]], on the other hand, runs a game that is designed to give him every advantage he can think of.
* ''[[Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?]]'': Hermes plays very fast and loose with the rules, especially in season 1 of the anime when he enters Dungeon (an act forbidden to gods), and in season 2 of the anime where {{spoiler|he connives to give Bell Cranel a protective amulet during the War Game}}, and later looks inside the package he delivers to Ishtar then {{spoiler|tells Bell about it later}}.
== Card Games ==▼
* Unhinged, one of the joke sets for ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]'' has a card called [http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=74306 Cheatyface], which you're allowed to put into play for free as long as your opponent doesn't catch you doing it.▼
** Particularly amusing when paired with Ashnod's Coupon (Target player gets you target drink). While they're in the kitchen, there is nothing stopping you from putting all 49 copies of the card you possess into play.▼
* A flare in the original version of [[Cosmic Encounter]] gives its owner a similar power: if you have the filch card in your hand, you can filch cards from the draw deck or discard pile, and reclaim your own destroyed ships, as long as nobody sees you do it. If you're caught, however, you have to put what you stole back, and an extra ship of yours is destroyed. The most recent remake includes this card as an optional variant.▼
* Steve Jackson Games' conspiracy-theory themed card game ''Illuminati'' has a set of "cheating" rules in which almost anything goes (e.g. stealing money from the bank, misstating the powers of your cards, etc) as long as you don't get caught. (If you ''do'' get caught, the only penalty is that you have to undo that specific cheating attempt.) It is recommended that you play this version of the game only with "''very'' good friends or people you will never see again."▼
* The entire premise of the card game known varyingly as Cheat, BS, or I Doubt It. You put down a certain number of cards in a group (such as two aces or three kings) into a pile while everyone else would watch you and either leave you be or call you out for cheating. The idea is to get rid of all your cards in your hand before anyone else does, and it is possible to cheat by dropping down cards you didn't call (such as saying you dropped two aces when they were really a 6 and a 9). If you are called out while you cheat, you have to pick up the whole pile for cheating, but if you ''weren't'' cheating when they called you out, ''they'' have to pick the pile up. It is very much possible to cheat without anyone calling you out on it so long as you don't make it painfully obvious (such as dropping 5 queens, or a card someone else has all 4 of), and in fact, required since passing is not allowed.▼
** People are divided as to whether or not you are allowed to cheat otherwise. One school of thought is that since it's the name of the game, you should cheat as much as possible by hiding cards or playing more cards than you declare so you can't be caught cheating. The other school allows only cheating in the predefined method.▼
* This is an explicit rule in ''[[Munchkin (game)|Munchkin]]''. It's to be expected in a game about [[munchkin]]ing.▼
* In general, any card game that has a specific rule against cheating is really saying this trope. To catch someone cheating, you must accurately describe their cheating action, or be penalized yourself for a false accusation.▼
* In Euchre, there is a significant advantage to being the dealer. Normally, the deal passes to the left after each hand, but the dealer's partner (or in cutthroat, any player) may gather the cards and ''attempt'' to shuffle and deal. If they're caught ''before they finish,'' they have to pass the deck to the proper dealer, but once the deal is complete, the hand must be played.▼
* In UNO!, you are not allowed to play a Wild Draw Four card unless you have no cards in your hand of the color of the faceup card on the table. Attempt to do so, and you won't be penalized, unless another player calls you for it. (Which they sometimes do just to look at your hand.) Even better, the challenger can be penalized for an improper challenge.▼
== Film ==
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Aladdin: I'm in trouble. }}
* ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]'': The Pirate Code is really more a set of "guidelines", or "suggestions." At least they are on the open seas; not so much when [[Keith Richards|Captain Teague]], Keeper of the Code is in the room with a loaded gun. Still some room for... Liberal interpretation, of course.
== Literature ==
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* The Drow (see Tabletop Games below) deserve a mention here as well, since R.A. Salvatore's [[The Dark Elf Trilogy|Drizzt]] books did a lot to codify that picture of their society.
▲== Live Action TV ==
* Al Bundy says as much in an episode of ''[[Married... with Children]]'' where Al enters himself in an athletic competition for senior citizens. When he's standing victoriously on the podium and holding his medals, he says, "It's only cheating if you get caught."
* [[Porridge]] basically ''is'' this trope, with Fletcher delivering lines like:
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* Theoretically, anything a team on ''[[Scrapheap Challenge]]''/''[[Junkyard Wars]]'' brings back to their lot is theirs for keeps. Yeah, right ... unless the other team steals it, in which case the hosts and thieves have a laugh at the victimized team's expense.
* Jeff Winger on ''[[Community]]'' runs basically the entire spectrum of amorality tropes. One of the more [[Egregious]] examples is him creating fake classes to earn credits.
== Music ==
* "Tweeter and the Monkey Man", by the Traveling Wilburys. "Janet told him many times, 'It was * you* to * me* who taught in Jersey everything's legal as long as you don't get caught."
* Tool's song "Jerk Off" summarizes the mentality explicitly: "If consequences dictate our course of action then it doesnt matter what's right, it's only wrong if you get caught"
== [[Professional Wrestling]] ==
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* One laughable subversion of this was at Starcade 1999 in WCW, during a 'Master of the Powerbomb' match between [[Kevin Nash]] and Sid Vicious. In the storyline, the match could only be won by, surprisingly, Powerbombing one's opponent. After the [[Glass Jaw Referee|referee had been bumped]], Vicious had powerbombed Nash and various outside interference had muddied the waters, Nash attempted to powerbomb Vicious, but for whatever reason was unable to and simply left Vicious laying in the ring. When the referee finally awakened, Nash told the official 'I stuck him!' The referee, amazingly, believed him (!) and awarded the match to Nash.
== Tabletop Games ==
* One of the lessons taught to children by playing ''[[Monopoly]]'' is that you only have to pay rent if the person who owns the property realizes you're there.▼
* If a non-word is played in ''Scrabble'', but the next player takes their turn before anyone notices, the word stands.▼
* Actively part of the fluff in ''[[Blood Bowl]]''. Refs can be bribed to not call illegal play, may not see the illegal play, or may be too afraid of the crowd's reaction to call anything.▼
===
▲* Unhinged, one of the joke sets for ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]'' has a card called [http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=74306 Cheatyface], which you're allowed to put into play for free as long as your opponent doesn't catch you doing it.
▲** Particularly amusing when paired with Ashnod's Coupon (Target player gets you target drink). While they're in the kitchen, there is nothing stopping you from putting all 49 copies of the card you possess into play.
▲* A flare in the original version of [[Cosmic Encounter]] gives its owner a similar power: if you have the filch card in your hand, you can filch cards from the draw deck or discard pile, and reclaim your own destroyed ships, as long as nobody sees you do it. If you're caught, however, you have to put what you stole back, and an extra ship of yours is destroyed. The most recent remake includes this card as an optional variant.
▲* [[Steve Jackson Games]]' conspiracy-theory themed card game ''Illuminati'' has a set of "cheating" rules in which almost anything goes (e.g. stealing money from the bank, misstating the powers of your cards, etc) as long as you don't get caught. (If you ''do'' get caught, the only penalty is that you have to undo that specific cheating attempt.) It is recommended that you play this version of the game only with "''very'' good friends or people you will never see again."
▲* The entire premise of the card game known varyingly as Cheat, BS, or I Doubt It. You put down a certain number of cards in a group (such as two aces or three kings) into a pile while everyone else would watch you and either leave you be or call you out for cheating. The idea is to get rid of all your cards in your hand before anyone else does, and it is possible to cheat by dropping down cards you didn't call (such as saying you dropped two aces when they were really a 6 and a 9). If you are called out while you cheat, you have to pick up the whole pile for cheating, but if you ''weren't'' cheating when they called you out, ''they'' have to pick the pile up. It is very much possible to cheat without anyone calling you out on it so long as you don't make it painfully obvious (such as dropping 5 queens, or a card someone else has all 4 of), and in fact, required since passing is not allowed.
▲** People are divided as to whether or not you are allowed to cheat otherwise. One school of thought is that since it's the name of the game, you should cheat as much as possible by hiding cards or playing more cards than you declare so you can't be caught cheating. The other school allows only cheating in the predefined method.
▲* This is an explicit rule in ''[[Munchkin (game)|Munchkin]]''. It's to be expected in a game about [[munchkin]]ing.
▲* In general, any card game that has a specific rule against cheating is really saying this trope. To catch someone cheating, you must accurately describe their cheating action, or be penalized yourself for a false accusation.
▲* In Euchre, there is a significant advantage to being the dealer. Normally, the deal passes to the left after each hand, but the dealer's partner (or in cutthroat, any player) may gather the cards and ''attempt'' to shuffle and deal. If they're caught ''before they finish,'' they have to pass the deck to the proper dealer, but once the deal is complete, the hand must be played.
▲* In UNO!, you are not allowed to play a Wild Draw Four card unless you have no cards in your hand of the color of the faceup card on the table. Attempt to do so, and you won't be penalized, unless another player calls you for it. (Which they sometimes do just to look at your hand.) Even better, the challenger can be penalized for an improper challenge.
=== Tabletop RPG ===
* One of the scenario ideas in the ''[[GURPS]]'' setting book ''GURPS IOU'', set in a very peculiar university, involves the final exam for the Advanced Cheating class. The questions are just random obscure trivia; the actual test is finding a good way to cheat in it. If you get caught, you fail. If you don't even ''try'' to cheat, you'll be expelled for "terminal cluelessness."
** The difficulty to this being, of course, proving that someone did ''not'' cheat.
* Drow from ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]''. Their entire ''legal system'' is based around this trope. As an example, in the city of Menzoberranzan if a Drow Noble House wants to eliminate another Noble House they must do it in a way that leaves no member of the eliminated house alive, since only the attacked house has the right of accusation against the attacking house, and are the only ones allowed to witness. Anyone else who happens to see the attack are merely "spectators." If even one member of the attacked house is alive to accuse the attackers, the attacking family will, according to the law, be eradicated. If no one is left alive to witness, everyone will act as if the now deceased house [[Unperson|never existed in the first place]], except for vaguely praising the attackers for a successful raid.
** In ''[[Drowtales]]'', one of the rules of the [[Wizarding School|School of Magic]] is "If you attack another student, you must kill and dispose of the body."
** After Drizz't Do'Urden abandoned his House and that House subsequently lost the favor of Lolth, it was annihilated by House Baenre, the First House of Menzoberranzan. However, not only Drizz't, but his brother Dinin and sister Vierna survived the massacre, being taken in by the Bregan Daerthe mercenaries. When Dinin asks Jarlaxle if he'd rescued them because of their claim against the Baenre, Jarlaxle basically tells him, "Pssh. [[Sarcasm Mode|Yeah, like that'll ever happen]]".
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** That information was outside your security clearance. Please report for termination. [[Dissonant Serenity|Have a pleasant daycycle.]] [[The Computer Is Your Friend]].
** On the other hand, if the rulebook also includes a pre-written mission, then the prohibition on players reading the mission is clearly labeled [[Sincerity Mode|"no, really, this time we really mean it!"]]
* The Barathi society of ''[[Swashbucklers
▲* One of the lessons taught to children by playing ''[[Monopoly]]'' is that you only have to pay rent if the person who owns the property realizes you're there.
▲* If a non-word is played in ''Scrabble'', but the next player takes their turn before anyone notices, the word stands.
▲* Actively part of the fluff in ''[[Blood Bowl]]''. Refs can be bribed to not call illegal play, may not see the illegal play, or may be too afraid of the crowd's reaction to call anything.
▲* The Barathi society of ''[[Swashbucklers Of The 7 Skies]]'' has a strong vein of this, matched with extreme legalism (they invented lawyers) and the cultural practice of Vendetta. If you get away with it, it's considered a brilliant piece of politicking to be praised and emulated whenever possible... but if you are caught, then there's a fair chance you and everyone you love will "regrettably drown" well away from water.
== Video Games ==
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* In ''[[America's Army]] 3'', during Combat Lifesaving training, you are specifically told several times that no cheating or talking is allowed. This doesn't stop you at all from asking the student beside you for answers to the test and getting a perfect score.
== Web Comics ==
* In ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court]]'', Eglamore's [http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=162 advice to Antimony] was not exactly what one'd expect from the teacher grounding a student. Annie initially criticizes this advice, but she has no trouble following it later. Of course, [http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=552 his company in their time used to do the same]...
{{quote|'''Eglamore''': We have rules for a reason. For your safety. And if you're going to break them, you should try harder to not get caught.}}
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* Several of the characters in ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]'' view all rules as these, including Captain Tagon. Petey, while generally benevolent, both loves underhanded methods himself and once managed to get Toughs off the hook without confronting human governments by eagerly agreeing they are less than law-abiding, but making them drop all charges because U.N.S. doesn't want him to [[Revealing Coverup|publish as part of the extradition process the very facts they tried to cover up]].
* [[Megatokyo]]: [http://megatokyo.com/strip/1132 Trying to convince himself.]
== Western Animation ==
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*** And to top it off, he continually referenced [[Take That|Bill Belichek and the 2007 Patriots]], claiming that the moral of that situation was ''not'' "Don't cheat" - but rather "If you got to where you were by cheating, ''keep cheating''!"
* Megatron once tried doing this against Optimus Prime in an episode of ''[[Transformers Generation 1]]''; he challenges Optimus to a duel of honor, with the loser exiling themselves, only to use a machine to transfer his underlings' powers into him and sending the Constructicons out to destroy the Autobots' computer, so it wouldn't be able to warn them of the duplicity. It doesn't work, in the end, but Optimus [[What an Idiot!|did completely miss the obvious signs of cheating on Megs' part during the battle]].
== Real Life ==
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Morality Tropes]]
[[Category:Narrative Devices]]
[[Category:Trying to Catch Me Fighting Dirty]]
▲[[Category:Morality Tropes]]
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