10 Video Games That Secretly Punish You For Playing Well

In the original version of The Sims, one of the player's primary goals was to progress their Sims' careers up to a maximum of level 10 for some serious financial prosperity and overall happiness. Seems simple enough, right?

Not quite. The problem is, reaching level 10 introduces a major element of chance, that after returning home from work there's the possibility your successful Sim will be suddenly moved to an entirely different career track and demoted down many levels.

This is obviously an attempt by developers Maxis to keep the game fresh and interesting for players, but it'll also end up immediately impacting your Sims' financial standing, taking them from a high-up position to a mid-tier one in a new field.

And so, it actually makes sense for players to intentionally keep their Sims at level 9, denying them the requirements to reach level 10 so that they can keep the fat stacks rolling in hassle-free.