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{{trope}}
[[File:Press X to die 7576.png|link=The Impossible Quiz|
The player is given the option to perform an action that can only ever result in failure or otherwise hinder progress. Rather than simply disabling the action, the developers instead let the player try it, and then punish them for it. Most of the time it's just [[Schmuck Bait]] included as a joke, but some especially sadistic developers add such things with [[Trial and Error Gameplay|no, or little, warning]] in games where [[Continuing Is Painful]].
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{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* In ''[[Fate/Zero]]'' and ''[[Fate/stay night]]'', Masters have Command Seals (3 per contract) that force their Servants to do exactly what the Masters say, even if the only possible outcome of said action is losing the Holy Grail War. In ''[[Fate/Zero]]'', {{spoiler|Kayneth}} force his Servant {{spoiler|Lancer}} to commit suicide, as part of the deal to let him walk away unmolested<ref>Unmolested by the other party of the contract, [[Loophole Abuse|but not necessarily from anyone else.]]</ref> from the war after he's crippled.
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== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* ''[[Wheel of Fortune]]'' is perfectly happy to let players pick a letter that's already been picked. They can even buy a vowel that's already been picked. Under no circumstances can this be beneficial; it's just an easy slip-up that wastes a turn and sometimes money. It's not even an attempt to get the players to pay attention; there's a board just offscreen that tells them the letters that have already been called.▼
▲* ''[[Wheel of Fortune]]'' is perfectly happy to let players pick a letter that's already been picked. They can even buy a vowel that's already been picked. Under no circumstances can this be beneficial; it's just an easy slip-up that wastes a turn. It's not even an attempt to get the players to pay attention; there's a board just offscreen that tells them the letters that have already been called.
** However, they avert this with vowels. If every vowel in the puzzle is revealed, the host informs the players that there are no more vowels left, even if the puzzle doesn't have all five vowels in it. (They are also dimmed on the used-letter board at this point.)
* As seen on ''[[The Colbert Report]]'': [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z86V_ICUCD4 The Machine That Turns Itself Off].<ref>Doesn't seem like an example of this trope? Consider it from the machine's perspective.</ref>
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== Video Games ==
* In the game ''[[Kindergarten]]'', when getting beat up Buggs after the teacher tells you to provoke him, you have the option to "Accept your fate".
* One ''[[Minecraft]]'' mod allows you to make machines powered by electricity. You could use copper cables to route the power to these machines. Not using rubber to insulate the cables would cause you to get an electric shock.
* ''The Amazing [[Spider-Man]]'' on [[Game Boy]] featured a level in which you needed to press a button at the very end to get into a window. Everywhere else, though...
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* The ''[[Death Gate]]'' adventure-game. Among the spells you learned along the way was 'Self-Immolate', which does [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin]] - using the spell would instantly kill you. It did, however, turn out useful when fighting a mirror image of yourself. Just scribe a mirrored version of the spell's runes - which does nothing - and your copy would dutifully flip it and kill himself.
* ''[http://www.rrrrthats5rs.com/games/dont-shoot-the-puppy/ Don't Shoot the Puppy]'' is a parody of these: once you've started a level, any action (including moving the mouse by ANY amount) results in failure—the only way to not shoot the puppy is to leave your computer alone.
* There is a similar game called ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20150210183918/http://www.venbrux.com/blog/?p=23 Execution]'' by Jesse Venbrux. The only way to "win" is to quit. {{spoiler|Restarting results in an "it's already too late" message and shows you the failure screen, ''even if you delete and reinstall the game''. This is because [[The Dev Team Thinks of Everything|the game records your loss in a part of your computer's registry that's not deleted when uninstalling.]]}}
* In ''[[Fallout]]'', you can set the timer on a nuclear warhead to 30 seconds. Try to [[Outrun the Fireball|outrun ''that'' fireball]].
** In the sequel, you can try to manually arm a nuclear warhead. While a high science skill character will succeed at this, a character without... Won't.
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** When you enter level 4-1, which is set in outer space, you can choose not to put on your air helmet. Do that 3 times and after Tippi mocks your ineptitude, BOOM- game over.
** Another [[We Can Rule Together]] happens in the next-to-last chapter. Cue another 10 Windows Vista "Are you sure"'s from the same character from the previous example before leaving you at the [[Big Bad]]'s [[Nonstandard Game Over|mercy]].
* In ''[[New Super Mario Bros. Wii]]'''s multiplayer coop mode, you can press the A button to go into a bubble and let your friend(s) continue the level, then have one of them pop the bubble to bring you back into the game. This can save you a life or two when going through tight spots, as only one player needs to surmount the challenge. BUT... the A button is not disabled when everyone else is in a bubble (or out of lives), so if you press it then, you'll be stuck in a bubble with no way to pop it, and you'll have to restart the level!
** This can actually come in handy sometimes—if you're on your last life, everybody else is out of lives, and you're plunging to your doom, letting yourself die causes a Game Over and you have to reload your last save. But going into a bubble will only make you restart the level and bring back the other players.
* ''[[Fire Emblem|Fire Emblem:]] [[Fire Emblem Elibe|The Blazing Sword]]''. Go on, [[Violation of Common Sense|attack]] [[Purposefully Overpowered|Fargus]]. I ''dare'' you.
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* In ''[[Mech Assault]]'', in the multiplayer Grinder mode if you play with a friend you are able to walk around as a regular human. Press a certain button? [[Ludicrous Gibs]]!
* ''[[Mother 3]]'': While playing as Duster in Osohe Castle in Chapter 2. In order to get inside the castle, you must open a hole to get to the floor below. Fortunately, there's a conveniently placed statue holding a large iron ball. Dash into it, and it'll drop the ball, which crashes through the floor. Dash into it from the right, and it'll drop the ball which crashes through ''you''.
* The ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' parody adventure game ''Kingdom 'O Magic'' contains a [[Star Wars|Thermal Detonator]] as a collectible item. Using it ''anywhere'' plays a cutscene of a nuclear explosion followed by the standard death sequence.
* In the adventure game ''KGB'', you can use your gun on yourself. The game even asks you if you really want to do it. Of course, if you do, you die.
* The game ''[[Wax Works]]'' has, in the Egyptian level, the option to knock down a supporting pillar. This is required; however, the game makes no effort to dissuade you from standing beside said pillar while knocking it down. Oops.
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** Similarly, you get a choice in Unlimited Blade Works that is essentially between 'kill yourself' (although you take the [[Big Bad]] down with you) or 'try to stay alive'. Predictably, if you pick the former, you die. The game's hint corner at that point assumes you picked that one out of perverse curiosity and gives you a hint about how to get the route's second ending instead of how you can avoid that death.
** The Fate route has a possible bad end in which {{spoiler|Shirou is killed by Saber}} in a terrible lapse of judgement if the player hasn’t raised enough affection points. Like before, the [[Have a Nice Death]] sequence blatantly calls you out on the fact that given how hard it is to fail that check, you probably went for that end on purpose.
* ''[[
* Blowing up your own starbases in the ''[[Star Trek Text Game]]'', possibly the [[Ur Example]] from 1971.
* Something of a brilliant subversion in Yahtzee Croshaw's graphical adventure game, with text input, [[Chzo Mythos|Trilby's Notes]]. {{spoiler|At the very end of the game when Trilby is severely injured and barely holding onto life, you can decide to just stop trying and enter 'Die'. However, this is actually the CORRECT solution (as your life was needed for a sacrifice).}}
* Guess what happens if you type "pick up phone booth" in the text adventure [https://web.archive.org/web/20130213153922/http://www.spatch.net/games/play.cgi?game=putpbad Pick Up The Phone Booth And Die]?
** [[Completely Missing the Point|You still need to pick up the die to finish the game?]]
* ''[[Chrono Trigger]]'' has the Day of Lavos. The [[New Game+]] lets you take on Lavos alone, or just with Marle.
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** Following [[GLaDOS]]'s advice about {{spoiler|completing the final test chamber will make her seal said chamber and flood it with neurotoxins.}}
** Following Wheatley's advice about {{spoiler|coming back to his deathtrap after you've escaped it will make him lament that it no longer works and try [[Easter Egg|and try and try]] to make you leap into the pit the deathtrap was over instead.}}
* In [[Sword of the Stars]], there is a technology you can research called "[[Artificial Intelligence]]". It, and the technologies that come after it, promise huge boosts to your research, economy and industry, as well as a new ship section that makes your ships extra fast and accurate. Sounds too good to be true, doesn't it? [[
** An AI rebellion can easily be averted however, so long as you research the technology before you have colonized any planets or built any AI controlled ships. Then you can get all the benefits of the tech with none of the risk.
* In [[World of Warcraft]], during the Chimaeron encounter (one of the few cases in which you can walk up to the boss without pulling aggro), the raid must talk to Finkle Einhorn to activate the Bile-O-Tron, a device that enables players to survive Chimaeron's attacks. If you attack Chimaeron to pull him like most other bosses, the raid will not live past the first Massacre.
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* The freeware Roguelike game ''[[Elona]]'' has the nuclear bomb. Detonating it result in a cutscene that shows a nuclear mushroom seen from outer space, and then back to the game field, NPCs are dying left and right, "cheerfully" saying "I hate this planet" and so on. [[Refuge in Audacity|This is in a game that allows you to keep a little girl as pet, complete with leash.]] But the nuke ''does'' have its use and you can cheat the death as well as the bad karma, if you know how.
* In ''[[Blocks That Matter]]'', you can hold down the W key to activate your Tetrobot's self-destruct sequence if you get stuck trying to solve a puzzle.
* In ''[[Dungeons
* The second title of the ''''[[Oddworld]]'' Series Abe's Exodus. One of the levels has a info station thing where a Slig (Enemy Guard) host an infomercial for the player. At the end he refers to a lever within the level should the player have any questions. If the player pulls the lever, a boulder drops and kills the player instantly. Thankfully this is done right at the start of the level so as not to undo progress. And considering the game so far, it should be obvious to players.
* A literal example in the ''[[Escape Velocity]]'' series. Holding down Cmd-D (Ctrl-D on Windows) for ten seconds triggers your ship's self-destruct.
* Even the old Game & Watch games with LCD screens and so on had this. In ''Donkey Kong'' and ''Donkey Kong Jr.'', you had to leap for something hanging at the end of the course, either a crane hook or a key on a string. You had to jump for them by pressing the jump button. You could also ''walk off'' the platform you were supposed to jump from, which resulted in you falling to your death. This wouldn't count in a modern game, but Game & Watch games with their limited graphics capabilities typically didn't allow for a lot of freedom of movement...
* [[Valve
* Just about every version of [[Lode Runner]] has a suicide button in case you get stuck.
* ''[[Europa Universalis]]'', being based on history, has a number of events where one country can chose to merge with another (eg. Lithuania merging with Poland to form the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth). If the player happens to be controlling the country in question, choosing to merge is an instant game-over.
* In ''[[Resident Evil 4]]'', you can kill yourself in a number of stupid ways, such as shooting fish in the lake and causing Del Lago to swallow you whole, dropping a boulder trap on yourself, pissing off Luis by shooting him, etc.
* [[Kinnikuman: Muscle Fight]]
** Terryman has a super where he stops a train to save a puppy. He loses the round if you use it, but it fills up Terry's super meter for the next round.
** If Kinnikuman Zebra is low on HP if he performs the True Muscle Inferno, Mariquitaman shows up and kills Kinnikuman Zebra with a Mariquita Deadly Ride.
== Web Original ==
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