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Shoplift and Die: Difference between revisions
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{{quote|''"I wasn't kidding when I said pay! [[Prepare to Die|Now, you'll pay the ultimate price]]!!"''|'''The shopkeeper of Mabe Village''' in ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening]]'', if you steal from him [[Too Dumb to Live|and then come back]].}}
In some games, the player is [[Kleptomaniac Hero|expected to grab everything not bolted down]], in other games, if you have the option of not paying for wares, doing so makes a shopkeeper attack you or [[I Fought the Law and
See also [[Badass Bystander]]. Compare [[Ballistic Discount]], [[Disproportionate Retribution]], [[Can't Get Away with Nuthin']], [[I Fought the Law and
▲See also [[Badass Bystander]]. Compare [[Ballistic Discount]], [[Disproportionate Retribution]], [[Can't Get Away with Nuthin']], [[I Fought the Law and The Law Won]], and [[Video Game Cruelty Punishment]].
{{examples}}
* ''[[Nethack]]'''s shopkeepers. The trope was [[Trope Namer|formerly called]] Izchak's Wrath for a reason
** ''Any'' monster besides the player can steal from Nethack shops without penalty. Only a few 'greedy' monsters will actually do so. Drop all your gold in the shop (for store credit). Lead a greedy monster in (a dwarf will do), then back out. Kill them for your money, while keeping the store credit. Much more reliable than pets.
* It's the same story in ''[[ADOM]]'', except the cops summoned are generic thugs, and the shopkeeper himself is a tough
** Shopkeepers in ''ADOM'' can also become hostile just because you have the unholy aura corruption ("Stop scaring away the customers!") By that time, it's fairly likely you can actually kill a shopkeeper, which is no mean feat. (Unless you got corrupted early on by [[Don't Touch It, You Idiot!|unwisely playing]] with that powerful [[Schmuck Bait|ancient scythe]] which just happened to be lying around the dungeon ... then you're screwed.)
* In the ''Mystery Dungeon'' games, some very nasty dogs are sent after the player if they somehow get away with shoplifting.
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** ''[[Shiren the Wanderer]]'' has a rather elaborate system to prevent shoplifting. First, upon picking up any item, the shopkeeper blocks the only exit until the player pays. If the player tries to attack the shopkeeper, he moves at double speed to eviscerate the player with powers rivaling the final boss. Finally, if the player manages to paralyse or otherwise subdue the shopkeeper, upon leaving the store the game will declare "Thief!" and then sic double-speed Guard Dogs and incredibly powerful Sheriffs on you until you somehow manage to leave the town or dungeon floor. To add insult to injury, if you actually are able to kill any of these creatures, you gain neither experience nor items. Small wonder the stats screen has entries for both times you stole items and times you ''successfully'' stole items.
** In ''Torneko'', if you get something and leave the room without paying, or attack the gargoyle shopkeeper, many other gargoyles will come after you. And they're quick and kill you with a single blow.
* Been doing a little gambling in a casino in ''[[Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas]]'', and you're a bit in the red? No problem, they'll give you time to pay them back...about two days. After that, the casino owner will send a hit squad of four guys with SMG's after you. Even if you happen to be the casino owner...
** And when you kill them, they drop a ''lot'' of money. An interesting way to pay off your debt.
* ''[[The Legend of Zelda]]: [[The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess|Twilight Princess]]'' has a parrot who attacks Link if he doesn't pay for his wares in a tiny box. However, since it doesn't do much damage (and you can down a red potion before leaving the stall), the bird isn't very persuasive. And it certainly doesn't help that Link can underpay (to the tune of a single Rupee) and the bird will only respond to this by calling him a cheapskate, sans divebombing. Of course, if you want, [[Video Game Caring Potential|you can pay a little extra in the box, prompting the parrot to call Link a "generous young man".]]
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** ''Saints Row 2'' allows you to rob stores by holding a gun to the cashier and leading him or her to the safe with their money. After they do this, or if you take your gun off them for too long, the alarm sounds and you're immediately given 3 stars of police notoriety.
** ''[[Saints Row the Third]]'' also let you rob stores; it subverted this trope, however, due to the fact that you could rob stores you own (giving you notoriety), only to walk outside and reenter the store (which removes all notoriety because you own it.) But really, you're given so much money you'd never have to do this (other than just to be a dick).
* In ''[[
{{quote|"You won this confrontation. But the good side of you must ache with regret. Ha ha ha."}}
* Shoplifting gets you shot in ''[[Leisure Suit Larry]]'', ''[[Space Quest]] IV'', (in a humorous way) and ''[[Police Quest]]: Open Season'' (in a more serious way).
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* Pressing the attack key instead of the purchase key in ''[[Spelunky]]'' is a good way to be instantly killed by the shotgun-toting shopkeeper.
** ''Spelunky'' shopkeepers get angry over quite a few offenses, and there's a fairly complex system to determine their response to you. Killing a shopkeeper at any time, for any reason, causes the rest to be hostile to you for the rest of the game. Any other crime merely increases your [[Wanted Meter]], which goes down by one each floor. Notably, for whatever reason, stealing from a shopkeeper who is already angry doesn't count as a crime, which can be exploited for consequence-free robbery. As if that wasn't bad enough, some shopkeepers will not be in their stores, but waiting for you at the level exit hoping to catch you.
* While not taking place in the game per se, [[
* In ''[[Wizardry]] 7'' [[PC
** “Smiley's Shop” in ''Wizardry: Tale of the Forsaken Land''. This time you get two chances to return the item and if you take either of them nothing happens. Not to mention they actually warn you on the sign the security guards are very powerful. Ignore both warnings and you get attacked by a group of four enemies collectively much harder than even the final boss and that you normally fight one at a time, very rarely on the final level of the main game. Defeat them (which actually isn't as hard as it sounds) and you get to keep the item (not really a big deal), get a lot of experience and gold... and the shop closes forever.
** In ''Wizardry VIII'' it's set in NPC scripts, thus their reactions on such events vary between traders (and other NPCs) from attacking to reducing attitude (which means after some threshold you'll need to bribe or otherwise convince this NPC to trade again) to inconsequential chiding or snide comment.
* In ''[[Thing Thing]] Arena 2'', if provoked the shop keeper will wail away at you with a minigun. It is, however, possible to defeat him and he will drop limitless minigun ammo.
* Subverted in ''[[Temple of Elemental Evil]]'' while Rannos Davl and Gremag are listed as CR 20 (designed to use 1/4 of a 20th level (the cap in the unmodded game is 10) party's resources on their own, only Iuz, [[Hopeless Boss Fight|who you are not meant to, but can, beat]] is higher) in the games bestiary they are only a decent challenge for a group of first level characters, particularly if you bring Elmo.
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* Averted in the vast majority of ''[[World of Warcraft]]'', where most vendors can't be attacked, most things you can pick up in towns without talking to a vendor are free for the taking, and most enemies in the world don't care what you pick up on the ground near them. One place in the game that plays this trope straight, maybe the only place, is in the Grim Guzzler bar in the city of Blackrock Depths, an instance. Players can freely walk into the bar from a golem-manufacturing area, but the backdoor of the bar cannot be opened normally or lockpicked. There are several ways to open it, some of which fit this trope, including killing the bartender for the key (and he's definitely the toughest mob in the bar, and this will make some of the other mobs in the bar aggressive and might bring in city guards to "break up the fight") and getting one particular dwarf drunk, who will then get rowdy and break open the door and/or bring in the city guards on his own.
** The part of this that actually fits is a platter of mugs of dark iron ale, and another with a roast boar that can both be picked up will trigger the bartender to attack you. And since he provides the booze, most of the bar will turn hostile and attack if you get too close.
* Played fairly realistically in Spiderweb Software's ''[[Geneforge]]'' series. While shopkeepers can't be stolen from, a lot of the loot lying around is locked up and protected. The results of stealing from [[NPC
** This is an improvement over Spiderweb's earlier ''[[Exile]]''/''[[Avernum]]'' and ''[[Nethergate]]'' series, in which certain items were marked “belongs to another.” You could safely pick them up if there was nobody around, but if something like, say, an invisible guardian-type monster was in the same room and watched you do that, the entire town would instantly acquire a death wish for you (including [[The Guards Must Be Crazy|the guards who will suddenly be three times stronger than when fighting anyone else]].)
* In ''[[Deja Vu]]'', you may take ''one'' cab trip without paying the driver afterwards - try it again and he'll call the cops on you. Coupled with the murder rap you're trying to beat, it's ten to life for you. Taking a [[Ballistic Discount]] doesn't work either - it turns out that there's bulletproof glass between you and the cabbie, and he's even quicker about calling the cops on you if you test it. Perhaps you should try [[Schmuck Bait|shoplifting from the]] [[Ballistic Discount|gun shop owner]] instead...
* ''[[
* The old Apple II game ''[[Legacy of the Ancients]]'' allowed you to steal from shopkeepers. If you did, though, you would get a few waves of city guards sent after you, and for a good portion of the game you were too weak to actually stand up to them. Of course, when you became powerful enough...
* In ''[[Knights of the Old Republic]]'', the player can loot virtually every room in an apartment block, but one contains a bounty hunter who tells your player in no certain terms to leave. If you take her stuff, she attacks and won't surrender until either she or everyone in your party die. She's a wanted criminal though, and you get money for killing her.
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* In the ''[[Streets of Rage]]'' fan remake, Blaze, of all people, pulls this trope if you dare to try to steal an unlockable without paying. If your computer clock is set between 6 AM and 7 AM, Blaze will be sleeping and you can attempt to steal one item. If you fail, you get banned from the store for a day. If you managed to successfully steal the item, you get banned from the shop and every time you complete the game, Blaze will take all the money you collected to pay off the item you stole until it is fully paid.
* In ''[[Divine Divinity]]'', stealing from shopkeepers will lower their attitude towards you, possibly making them refuse to trade with you in the future. (You can fix it by giving them free stuff.) If they get angry enough, they will call the guards. You can get away with stealing, however, if you've already killed all the guards in the area or if you just steal outside of the shopkeepers' line of sight.
* In ''[[Dungeons of Dredmor]]'', stealing an item from a shop [[I Fought the Law and
* Non-video game (but still relevant) example: In the webcomic ''[[Kid Radd]]'', taking place in a world of video game characters, easily angered invincible shopkeepers are used as human shields/weapons.
* Another non-video game example is Ray Charles in the first ''[[Blues Brothers]] movie''. Despite being blind, he just barely missed a shoplifter with his gun from across the room. The kid promptly left without trying that again.
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[[Category:Steal This Index]]
[[Category:Video Game Tropes]]
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