8 Video Games That Reward You For Not Playing Them

Playing video games can be addictive. They're fun, relieve stress and are a nice way of briefly escaping the real world. Besides, many video games reward players for putting in time and effort; learning news skills and a mastery of how certain mechanics work.

Video games are rarely, if ever, passive and thanks to things like Quick Time Events, even their more cinematic elements now encourage engagement. Whether that be dodging attacks or engaging in swift and exciting combat, even games that aren't action-orientated generally require the player to be thinking critically about what it is they're seeing and what they're trying to achieve.

In most games though it's still technically possible to do nothing at all, it's just that there's no reason to do so. So what's unique are games that reward you for it. Inactivity goes against the very nature of video games, which makes the titles that acknowledge it all the more fascinating.

From a game that practically beats itself if you do nothing to a boss that literally dies of old age if you wait long enough, here are eight video games that reward you for not playing them.

Pacifism in gaming is very seldom acknowledged. You can stand around in-game for what amounts to days, weeks – and yet your goal will normally remain fixed and unmoving. Occasionally, however, a game comes along that takes its sense of time seriously, and Far Cry 4 is one such title.

During the game you play as protagonist Ajay Ghale, a man intent on scattering his mother's ashes and laying her to rest. While travelling to Kryat on a bus, you and a bunch of other passengers are taken hostage by Pagan Min. Min forces you back to his home for a violent dinner, and at a certain point steps out of the room for a breather.

Usually, this is your chance to begin your escape, kicking off the entire campaign. If you wait, however, like Min suggests, when he returns he actually takes you somewhere to scatter your mother's ashes. The final thing Min says to you is “Oh good. You feel better now? Get it out of your system? Maybe now we can finally shoot some !*$% guns.” Though this is a sly wink at the player's pacifism, the game then legitimately ends, credits and all.