A perverse incentive is a rule or reward that accidentally encourages the opposite of what its designer wanted. Around 2010, the online retailer DecorMyEyes noticed that complaints about it pushed its site to the top of Google results, which drove more traffic. The owner, Vitaly Borker, began answering customers who reported bad quality or wrong orders with insults and threats. Attention from the angry reviews paid off in traffic, so the behaviour continued for about a decade. He was eventually jailed twice in federal prison over charges arising from these messages.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.