In Evil Genius, the more the player gloats, the more notoriety is gained, and notoriety is key to progress.

The claim: in the game Evil Genius (2004), gloating earns the player notoriety, and notoriety is key to progress. TRUE: the game's manual, official materials or reliable guides confirm a gloating mechanic that raises notoriety, and that notoriety gates or drives progress (for example, unlocking henchmen, objectives or acts). MOSTLY TRUE: both parts hold with a minor difference in detail, for example gloating yields notoriety only in certain situations, or notoriety is important but not strictly required. MIXED: only one part holds, for example notoriety is key to progress but gloating is not a meaningful source of it. MOSTLY FALSE: gloating exists but has little or no effect on notoriety, and notoriety plays only a minor role. FALSE: the game has no such gloating or notoriety mechanic.

Set before the research began.

1. E1 Evil Geniuses Evil Genius Wiki (WordPress fan wiki) · 25 June 2017

   “Right click and your evil genius will walk over and start gloating over the prisoner. This increases your notoriety by 1.”

2. E2 Evil Geniuses Evil Genius Wiki (WordPress fan wiki) · 25 June 2017

   “Note: if he escapes WHILE you are gloating, you will not gain the notoriety and you will not be able to gloat over them again when they are re-captured.”

3. E3 Evil Genius FAQ/Walkthrough Walkthrough & Hints - Cheatbook CheatBook · 26 August 2006

   “Notoriety at least 450”

4. E4 Evil Genius FAQ/Walkthrough Walkthrough & Hints - Cheatbook CheatBook · 26 August 2006

   “must get 200 notoriety to make them appear. Keep doing AoIs until they appear.”

A fan wiki says that in Evil Genius, gloating over a captured agent raises notoriety by 1 (E1). It also says that if a prisoner escapes while being gloated over, no notoriety is gained and that prisoner cannot be gloated over again after re-capture, so gloating does not always yield notoriety (E2). A third-party walkthrough lists notoriety thresholds as requirements: "Notoriety at least 450", and 200 notoriety needed to make something appear (E3, E4). Both parts of the claim hold, but gloating is a small and limited source of notoriety, so the verdict is mostly true.