Stealing is all too easy in video games, what with all the chests and barrels lying around. However, you might want to think twice in these games.

In most societies in any part of the world, theft is generally frowned upon. People don't like it when you take their stuff without asking or compensating them, which is why theft usually results in either physical altercations or legal action.

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In video games, it's generally a lot easier to get away with stealing stuff, thanks to things like glitches and stealth skills. However, just like in real life, game characters don't appreciate having their stuff taken. Some of them can react a bit... disproportionately — usually with guns, swords, magic, or immediate vaporization. No matter the consequences, these games let you know that stealing is wrong, real or not.

In both the original version and remake of The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, there's a tool shop in Mabe Village. The proprietor of the shop is always keeping a close eye on Link as he shops, as he needs to make sure he brings items to the counter to ring him up. With a bit of fancy footwork, though, Link can skirt around the shopkeeper and bolt out the door.

Two things will happen at this point: first, from this point onward, all characters in the game will refer to Link as "THIEF." It doesn't matter what you set your name to at the beginning, your name is THIEF now. Secondly, if you ever set foot in the tool shop again, the shopkeeper will blast you with a bolt of lightning, killing you instantly. He takes theft really seriously.

When you first encounter him at his roving shop in NieR: Automata, Emil is a rather pleasant chap. He's friendly, peppy, and would just love to sell you a new weapon. However, he's also a very private person, and values his property highly. If you find his house and swipe some of that property, he'll get concerned, but ultimately write it off.

If you attempt to steal from Emil again, though, he'll get very cross with you, launching into a sudden boss fight that you will almost definitely lose unless you prepare extensively. It pays to remember that Emil has survived alien and machine invasions, not to mention the simple passage of time. He's really not a guy you want to mess with.

As he's traveling through time in Space Quest 4, Roger Wilco ends up at the Galaxy Galleria, a large space station mall. In one of the stores, Software Excess, Roger can find all sorts of handy items, including a hint book for his own game! However, this is still a business, which means everything costs Buckazoids.

If Roger attempts to take an item without first checking out at the counter, the clerk will warn him twice not to try — if he knows what's good for him. If Roger disregards the warning and walks out the entrance, he's immediately vaporized by the store's security system. Copy protection was a big deal back then, that's how it goes.

Late in BioShock's story, you enter Fort Frolic, one of Rapture's entertainment and shopping districts. Obviously, all the stores are either abandoned or crawling with Splicers, and by that point in the game, you've likely already made a habit of taking everything that isn't nailed down. Surely continuing wouldn't hurt, right?

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However, there is an exception to this. Throughout Fort Frolic, there are store display windows, behind which are often beneficial items like medkits and EVE hypos. If you break these windows, intentionally or not, the security system activates, sending machinegun-equipped security drones after you. Though, if you're skilled in the hacking department, you can use this as a means of quickly summoning helpers for yourself.

Throughout the caves of Olmec's Temple in Spelunky, you'll frequently encounter shopkeepers hocking various helpful items. These shopkeepers, however, are a bit on the twitchy side, and will immediately retaliate with deadly, shotgun-powered force if they feel threatened by you.

The things that make them feel threatened include, but are not limited to, nudging items out of the store, using your whip, throwing a bomb, and environmental destruction near them — even if you have nothing to do with it. Additionally, if you make an enemy of a shopkeeper in a run, every other shopkeeper for the rest of the run will shoot you on sight.

Throughout Zagreus's gallivanting through the realms of Hades, he regularly acquires Obol, golden coins collected by the Stygian Boatman, Charon. Charon takes his Obol very seriously, which is why, if Zag attempts to "borrow" the sack of Obol that sometimes shows up behind Charon in one of his shops, he gets very upset.

Charon will immediately cast Zag into the depths of Erebus, where he'll wipe the floor with him in one of the hardest boss fights in the game. If by some chance Zag manages to defeat Charon, Charon will let him keep the Obol he swiped, along with a free Loyalty Card for a discount. It's a little gesture that says both "thanks for being a loyal customer" and "don't touch my stuff."

In all the modern Elder Scrolls games, from Morrowind to Skyrim, guards regularly patrol the streets of the major cities and towns. If they spot you attempting to steal something from anyone, they'll immediately accost you, informing you that you've violated the local law and that you'll need to serve jail time or pay a fine. Naturally, anything you stole is immediately forfeit as well.

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In the later games, even if the guards don't spot you swiping stuff, shopkeepers may realize you took their stuff and send a gang of bounty hunters after you. This can still happen even if the NPC in question has been killed. Talk about an enduring grudge.

In the Happy Happy Village in Earthbound, home to the Happy Happyist Cult, there's a small produce stand selling fresh eggs and bananas. Nobody is manning this stand, however, or at least nobody you can see. You're just expected to pay the value of whatever you take on the honor system.

If you take stuff without paying, then talk to the red-headed guy by the bushes, he'll call you out for stealing and pick a fight with you. He's not that strong, but after you beat him, he'll gloat about how your conscience must be aching over the act of theft you committed. Not much of a punishment, but perhaps a more thematically appropriate one for this game.

In all the Fallout games, there is little-to-no organized law enforcement in any of the Wastelands. Why waste the resources on such a thing when ammo is plentiful, after all? Even so, there are some affluent individuals who, thanks to large stockpiles of caps and weaponry, can bankroll their own private security forces.

The Van Graffs, owners and proprietors of the Silver Rush weapons shop in Fallout: New Vegas, are an example of these individuals. Upon entering their store, they'll make you temporarily surrender your weapons for security. If you attempt to steal anything or pick a fight with them, the armed guards stationed throughout the store will immediately light you up with their plasma rifles.

While theft and robberies are a recurring element of the entire Saints Row series, seeing as you're playing as a street gang member and all, it's a little different in Saints Row The Third. In that game, the Saints are a nationally-recognized brand, with Planet Saints stores all over Steelport.

You can purchase ownership of these stores if you've got enough cash, but even if you own a store, you can still walk in, pull a gun, and rob the joint blind. Naturally, this will raise your notoriety and prompt the cops to show up to take you out. Amusingly though, due to the way notoriety works in this game, you can walk out of the store, then walk right back into it to wipe your wanted meter. It is still your business, after all.

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Having played a litany of video games since childhood, Daniel is an old school gaming fiend. He first got into the sphere in the age of the Nintendo 64, and has amassed a respectable personal library over the years, with his Steam library alone currently numbering over 600 games. Daniel enjoys researching his favorite games extensively, from their developmental histories to their narratives and characters. Recently, Daniel has been a regular game guide writer for Gamer Journalist, as writing gives him a chance to gab at length about his favorite topic.