History Main / Twinking

[[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant Not to be confused with]] TheTwink; the two words may share some etymology (see [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twinking the article]] on Wiki/TheOtherWiki for details) but are otherwise unrelated.

* ''Franchise/BaldursGate'' and related games such as ''VideoGame/IcewindDale'' allow you to import characters for a new playthrough, including your high level hero with endgame gear to cut through the early chapters. Bonus in ''VideoGame/BaldursGateII'' with the ''Throne of Bhaal'' expansion installed, since you can bring a character at level 40 (which is considered "epic" in D&D standards and you wouldn't reach that level until the end of the expansion) directly in the starting dungeon of the base game, which is hilarious in perspective because at that point you are considered immensely stronger than the BigBad that off-screen captured you. Even more ridiculous if you install a mod such as Trilogy, which lets you play the whole saga in a single run: you can bring that level 40 epic character directly in the prologue at Candlekeep, and summon planetars or demons, cast "meteor shower", use overpowered (for late saga standards!) weapons like Carsomyr or Crom Faeyr, or turn into the Slayer while facing those petty rats in the storehouse.
** The first game also had an incredibly abusable tutorial section, where you were taught how to manage a full party with the help of five NPCs. While you couldn't bring them with you and they would take back any equipment you tried to leave the area with, there was nothing stopping you from looting them bare, export your character, then start the game over and import the same character. Complete with a ton of gear to sell or use, and which won't get taken away.

Due to the SortingAlgorithmOfWeaponEffectiveness, the most dirt-common item in the late game would be a DiscOneNuke if you could [[SequenceBreaking just get a hold of it before the endgame]]. Alternatively, what if you could bring your whole endgame character "back in time" to effortlessly kill early-game {{mooks}}-- or better yet, midgame {{mooks}} who would be far beyond your Level 1 character's ability to kill-- while your low-level character sits back and soaks up the LeakedExperience?

* This completely broke the [=PvP=] in ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsI'' as players would (by using dual accounts) pass late-game, leveled-up weapons and armor to new characters so they could invade ''actual'' new players in the early areas (usually the first multiplayer area, Undead Burg) and brutally murder them without mercy ForTheEvulz.

* ''Franchise/BaldursGate'' and related games such as ''VideoGame/IcewindDale'' allow you to import characters for a new playthrough, including your high level hero with endgame gear to cut through the early chapters. Bonus in ''VideoGame/BaldursGateII'' with the ''Throne of Bhaal'' expansion installed, since you can bring a character at level 40 (which is considered "epic" in D&D standards and you wouldn't reach that level until the end of the expansion) directly in the starting dungeon of the base game, which is hilarious in perspective because at that point you are considered immensely stronger than the BigBad that off-screen captured you. Even more ridiculous if you install a mod such as Trilogy, which lets you play the whole saga in a single run: you can bring that level 40 epic character directly in the prologue at Candlekeep, and summon planetars or demons, cast "meteor shower", use overpowered (for late saga standards!) weapons like Carsomyr or Crom Faeyr, or turn into the Slayer while facing those petty rats in the storehouse.[[/folder]]

** Some players attempt this by trading in a high level mon and using it to sweep the early gyms. However, the game discourages this with the obedience mechanic: higher leveled mon that you didn't personally catch will often disobey you until you get a certain number of badges, by which time they should be less overpowered. However, if the mon in question is high-level enough the disobedience mechanic only makes battles take longer as the mon's attacks are still OneHitKills when they do decide to attack.

** Pokémon can be given items to hold, then traded. This means that any item which can be held can be transferred between games - this includes [=TMs=] for powerful moves such as Earthquake, and items [[VendorTrash which can be sold for massive amounts of money, such as the Balm Mushroom]], as well as more mundane things such as Poké Balls and healing items of much higher quality than anything normally available at that point in the game.

* In ''VideoGame/XCom2'' you can save your favorite soldiers and import them in new playthroughs to have their faces, names and backstories always with you. Due to an oversight, the beta versions of the game allowed you to import the items that the soldier was equipping when exported, and use them from the beginning, even if you didn't research the necessary technologies. Your operaties entered your barracks still wielding whatever weapon, armor or consumable they were using, even plasma shotguns and blaster launchers! However, since basic weapons weren't single items but part of an infinite pool that was available only after crafting, if you tried to change your weapon (e.g. laser or plasma rifles) in the primary slot you would not have been able to select it back, only sticking to normal guns. Single items like grenades, special ammo or vests could be put in the inventory and given to other soldiers instead. It was later patched before shipping.

* In ''VideoGame/XCom2'' you can save your favorite soldiers and import them in new playthroughs to have their faces, names and backstories always with you. Due to an oversight, the beta versions of the game allowed you to import the items that the soldier was equipping when exported, and use them from the beginning, even if you didn't research the necessary technologies. They entered your barracks still wielding whatever weapon, armor or consumable they were using, even plasma shotguns and blaster launchers. However, since basic weapons weren't single items but part of an infinite pool that was available only after crafting, if you tried to change your weapon (e.g. laser or plasma rifles) in the primary you would not have been able to select it back, only sticking to normal guns. Single items like grenades, special ammo or vests could be put in the inventory and given to other soldiers instead. It was later patched before shipping.

* ''Franchise/BaldursGate'' and related games such as ''VideoGame/IcewindDale'' allow you to import characters for a new playthrough, including your high level hero with endgame gear to cut through the early chapters. Bonus in ''VideoGame/BaldursGateII'' with the ''Throne of Bhaal'' expansion installed, since you can bring a character at level 40 (which is considered "epic" in D&D standards and you wouldn't reach that level until the end of the expansion) directly in the starting dungeon of ''Shadows of Amn'', which is hilarious in perspective because at such point you are considered immensely stronger than the BigBad that captured you. Even more ridiculous if you install a mod such as Trilogy, which lets you play the whole saga in a single run: you can bring that level 40 epic character directly in the prologue at Candlekeep, and summon planetars or demons, cast "meteor shower", use Carsomyr or turn into the Slayer while facing those petty rats in the storehouse.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western RPGs]]
* ''Franchise/BaldursGate'' and related games such as ''VideoGame/IcewindDale'' allow you to import characters for a new playthrough, including your high level hero with endgame gear to cut through the early chapters. Bonus in ''VideoGame/BaldursGateII'' with the ''Throne of Bhaal'' expansion installed, since you can bring a character at level 40 (which is considered "epic" in D&D standards and you wouldn't reach until the end of the expansion) directly in the starting dungeon, which is hilarious in perspective because at such level you are considered way stronger than the BigBad that captured you. Even more ridiculous if you install a mod such as Trilogy, which lets you to play the whole saga in a single run: you can bring that level 40 epic character directly in the prologue at Candlekeep, and summon planetars, cast "stop time", use Carsomyr or turn into the Slayer while facing those petty rats in the storehouse.[[/folder]]

** Some players attempt this by trading in a high level mon and using it to sweep the early gyms. However, the game discourages this with the obedience mechanic: higher leveled mon that you didn't personally catch will often disobey you until you get a certain number of badges, by which time they should be less overpowered.

Some form of this tends to be possible in any game with both RandomlyGeneratedLoot and multiplayer that allows item trading, such as most [=MMOs=]. When designers don't make provisions for it but players find a way to do it anyway, it's NotTheIntendedUse. When designers ''do'' make provisions for it, it's typically in the form of [[AntiFrustrationFeature Anti-Frustration Features]].

* ''VideoGame/{{Torchlight}}'' and ''[[VideoGame/TorchlightII the sequel]]'' encourages this with the shared stash. Got a piece of Unique equipment that your class can't equip? Give it to one of your [[{{Altitis}} alts]] to use!

* ''Videogame/{{EverQuest}}'' originally had few limits on what gear a player could equip, but no easy method of transferring goods from one player to another. This lead to things like players trying to find a hidden spot to ''drop'' the item they wanted to transfer where the other player could pick it up. And yes, occasionally another player would find the item before the former owner could get the new character to the gear - and the [=GMs=] were unsympathetic to players who lost gear doing this. Asking a third party to hold onto the item and transfer it was another way, but it had the same problem, and the same downfall if the transferring friend's greed overcame him. Over the years Everquest gradually became more friendly to players trying to speed their alts to high level, and added the shared bank. However, it also added a feature in which gear equipped on a player much lower than the intended level would have reduced stats. It also introduced the attuning system, where gear became locked to a player so they couldn't pass it on to ''anyone''.

* In early releases of ''VideoGame/{{Ys}} I'', it was possible to go into the mine (the second dungeon), avoid the over-powered monsters, and grab some chests containing high-level gear better than anything you could afford at that time before setting foot in the first dungeon. Later adaptations fixed that by locking the chests in the second dungeon with a key that was found in the first dungeon.

** Pokémon can be given items to hold, then traded. This means that any item which can be held can be transferred between games - this includes TMs for powerful moves such as Earthquake, and items [[VendorTrash which can be sold for massive amounts of money, such as the Balm Mushroom]], as well as more mundane things such as Poké Balls and healing items of much higher quality than anything normally available at that point in the game.

* ''Franchise/{{Diablo}}'':

* Due to Creator/FromSoftware not taking any precautions against it, this completely broke the [=PvP=] in ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsI'' as players would (by using dual accounts) pass late-game, leveled-up weapons and armour to new characters so they could invade ''actual'' new players in the early areas (usually the first multiplayer area, Undead Burg) and brutally murder them without mercy ForTheEvulz. Of course, if they ''really'' wanted to bully new players (and they did) they could just shamelessly hack the game anyway to make themselves invincible or kill their victim and permanently cripple their character in one hit (and they did) because From were ''terrible'' at anti-cheat, so in the end the twinkers were arguably the ''least'' of the [=PvP's=] balance problems...

[[IThoughtItMeant Not to be confused with]] TheTwink; the two words may share some etymology (see [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twinking the article]] on Wiki/TheOtherWiki for details) but are otherwise unrelated.