History FantasticRacism / Videogames

* The orcs of ''ArcanumOfSteamworksAndMagickObscura'' are consistently oppressed, discriminated against, and stereotyped as near-mindless subhumans. There's even a political screed in the game titled "The Orcish Problem". Half-orcs got the same treatment as orcs even though there was no difference in intelligence between them and humans. A half-orc labour organiser is one of the most eloquent [=NPCs=] in the game. The trope is also subverted via the game's SpaceJews, the stereotypically Jewish gnomes, who [[spoiler:really ''are'' engaged in a globe-spanning ''Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion''-style conspiracy to manipulate the other races of the world for profit and power]].
** The hostility between Mages and Technolist also counts. [[MagicVersusScience This makes sense, considering one critically fails in the presence of the other.]]
** Otherwise, Orcs are the only race to get this treatment. Elves and dwarves aren't especially hated by humans [[ElvesVSDwarves or each other]], pretty much everyone likes halflings and half-elves, and racism against half-ogres is limited, due to the fact that pissing off something that big and strong [[TooDumbToLive is a really stupid idea]].

** ''Fallout 3'' does, however, use this trope a lot when dealing with the ghouls; People who have been hideously mutated by prolonged exposure to radiation. There are feral ghouls which can't be reasoned with and attacks anything on sight, and there are civilized ghouls, which are pretty much just friendly [=NPCs=] without skin. Naturally, the population of the wasteland tend to mix this up and treat all ghouls as monsters. This conflict is vital to the quests "You gotta shoot 'em in the head" and "Tenpenny Tower."
*** Becomes a JustifiedTrope when one appreciates that WordOfGod indicates it is merely a matter of time before all civilized ghouls eventually turn feral. Given a choice between cautious discrimination and one day discovering your neighbor has become a crazed cannibalistic monster, it's easy to empathize with the racists.
*** Other WordOfGod claims that is false, as 99% of all Ghouls are over two hundred years old, hinting Ferals are driven insane during the process of becoming a ghoul (which is very, ''very'' slow and painful). Shown over in New Vegas as no one other than [[TheEmpire the Legion]] has any problem with Ghouls, hell the NCR has them as [[BadAssArmy Rangers]].
* Somewhat subverted ''VideoGame/FalloutTacticsBrotherhoodOfSteel''- having to recruit tribals from outlying settlements goes against their own ideals just on its own, but the epynomous organization also accepts ghouls and intelligent deathclaws into their ranks despite the objections from Simon Barnaky. After [[spoiler:he is captured and Dekker takes command]], super mutants and reavers are also allowed to join. Keep in mind, this straying away from the original ideals of the Brotherhood of Steel is done more out of necessity in most cases, as their own numbers without them are too few.

*** [[spoiler: Yeah, well ... they don't. We wish they did, though.]]

* Another Bioware game, NeverwinterNights, also pulls on this, moreso in the first game than the second. In the first game, talking to common people on the streets would garner variable responses depending on your race or even ''class''. The only race not discriminated was (surprise surprise) Human, but even then, if you were a Sorcerer or Barbarian, expect some hatred. It isn't like that in the second game as much, but there is some racism taken for laughs (like Neeshka the Tiefling calling dwarves "squat, smelly drunks" and Kelgar the Dwarf calling Tieflings "backstabbers").

** The empire treats Espers as basically magic batteries, not even awknowledging them as living creatures. No other humans interact with espers. As a result Terra's half esper nature is never brought up beyond it giving her terrifying power. A better example is the Thamasa residents and their ancestors that were feared and driven away due to their magic potential.

*** Other WordOfGod claims that is false, as 99% of all Ghouls are over two hundread years old, hinting Ferals are driven insane during the process of becoming a ghoul (which is very, ''very'' slow and painful). Shown over in New Vegas as no one other than [[TheEmpire the Legion]] has any problem with Ghouls, hell the NCR has them as [[BadAssArmy Rangers]].

* While not in-game, per se, ''{{Halo}}'' suffers a bit with the Elite specisim. This may have something to do with "They're harder to headshot from behind" regarding SWAT, but the slur "Dinosaur" seems to come up too many times for it to be just that. Seriously, try making a thread on the forum about those guys, and you will invariably get at least one comment about "they're dinosaurs" and about [[RuleOfFunny -5 posts]] about how they're fun to play as. Say anything about liking to play as them, and you'll get called out on it because of the aforementioned headshot problem.
** In-universe, however, this too happens. Grunts and Jackals are competing for higher billing while Elites and Brutes are at eachother's throats for leadership. The Prophets favor the Elites [[spoiler:except for Truth, who orders genocide one them]] over Brutes but ignore the Gunt/Jackal conflict. [[spoiler:In the Great Schism, the Brutes focus more on the Elites than humanity, acording to the Halo wiki.]]
** The Forerunners followed a religious creed known as the Mantle, which teaches that the [[ThePrecursors Precursors]] told them they should protect and lead all other life. Unfortunately, for most of them this translates to "Our gods told us we're better than everyone else". Their children are taught that humans are no better than animals, some of their scientists revere humanity only as objects or constructs, and the most powerful leader in their government seems to use their equivelant of the n-word towards other species in casual conversation. The racism also extends to different castes ("rates") in their society.

** To be fair to [=DiZ=], the only Nobodies he had met before had thoroughly screwed him over and destroyed his entire world back when they were human, so he has a right to be bitter. He did apolgize to Roxas after learning he was capable of feeling emotion before [[spoiler: exploding]].

** There is a massive exception to the rule: [[http://df.magmawiki.com/index.php/Cacame_Awemedinade Cacame Awemedinade the Immortal Onslaught]], Elf King of the Dwarves. His boundless rage for his own kind (They killed and ate his wife) so impressed the dwarves that they made him their king, [[DropTheHammer and his skill with a hammer is legendary.]]

--> '''Zoltun Kulle:''' ''Yes. Whatever else he may be, he is the aspect of Justice... and there is no justice in murder.''

*** In the third game we actually get to see one of the monasteries where Ardat-Yakshi are housed away from society, and Liara, an asari, talks about the Ardat-Yakshi in what would be a very dehumanizing way if they weren't, well, asari. The asari believe the condition prevents sufferers from developing empathy, but most Ardat-Yakshi are not actually monstrous - those who are are just very high profile.
** Ashley also shows what looks like outward hints of fantastic racism by not trusting the alien team members at first, though a lot of her concerns ''are'' justified by the fact that she is pretty much in charge of operational security on the ''Normandy'', and the alien crewmembers include a turian (whose species have had a violent history with humanity), a self-admitted quarian drifter, the asari daughter of the BigBad's second in command, and a krogan mercenary - pretty much the most untrustworthy thing in the galaxy.

** The hostility between Mages and Technolist also counts. [[MagicVSTechnology This makes sense, considering one critically fails in the presence of the other.]]

** The hostility between Mages and Technolist also counts. [[MagicVSScience This makes sense, considering one critically fails in the presence of the other.]]

** The hostility between Mages and Technolist also counts. (This makes sense, considering one critically fails in the presence of the other...)

* Half the point of the ''ZoneOfTheEnders'' series. In fact, "Ender" is a pejorative term by Earthlings referring to those born on Mars and the outer colonies. In turn, the Martians use it for those living on the outskirts of the solar system.

* ''Franchise/MassEffect'' is replete with the speciesism the page quote describes. Salarians and krogans are on bad terms, as the latter are a bit miffed about the DepopulationBomb that's rendered their species impotent and dying. Turians and humans have strained relations, since FirstContact came in the form of [[ColonyDrop the turians bombing a human colony from orbit]], all because the humans didn't not realise they were breaking intergalactic law by turning on a dormant mass relay. While the turians believe they were right in upholding the law from a bunch of upstart newcomers, humans are still miffed that the turians never even bothered to inform them it was against the law before they started shooting. The batarians outright ''hate'' humans due to them encroaching on territory the batarians themselves want to develop for their own ends. Humans don't particularly like batarians for the latter's practice of slavery and their attacks on human colonies. Most of the alien species in general are sore toward humans due to their surprising expansionism, unprecedented growth, and their disproportionately powerful role in galactic politics. Humans themselves have formed extremist groups (Cerberus) and political parties (Terra Firma) encouraging something similar and reinforcing the idea they're trying to take over the Galaxy. And ''everyone'' ostracises the quarians for creating the geth, blaming them for the RobotWar that ''only'' affected their race and left the quarians without a homeworld, with most planets actively refusing to even let their Migrant Fleet enter their space.

*** The sequel adds some justification to this prejudice, as apparently [[spoiler: the Ardat-Yakshi (asari who inflict DeathBySex) are dramatically more likely to be born from a union of with a pureblood, so societal prejudice against these kinds of unions is in many ways an overt attempt to stop these creatures from being born. [[http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Codex/Aliens:_Council_Races#Asari:_Ardat-Yakshi Unfortunately, about one of every 100 asari is to some degree an Ardat-Yakshi.]]]]

*** Turns out she was ''right'' about worrying about alien nationals having full access to the ''Normandy'', as in the third game, the quarian delegation shows up with a ''very'' familiar looking stealth-drive, implying that Tali copied the idea.
*** On the other hand, the inner workings are fairly straightforward (the artificial gravity equivalent of a carrot tied to a stick, crossed with a modification to the heat transfer system). The only real trick is, it makes the ''Normandy'' as expensive as several cruisers.
** Then there's the quarians: ''No one likes them''. The labor unions hate them because they're scabs, the council hates them because they made the geth, and all the other aliens see them as beggars and thieves, not helped by their habit of strip-mining planets as the Migrant Fleet travels. In fact, they dump their criminals on civilized planets as they move because they lack the resources to support a prison population.

** Notably, {{AI}}s suffer extensively more so than even the quarians. Roughly half of the {{AI}}s one encounters in the game have justified reasons for being misguided antagonists.

*** Though part of the problem with AIs according to the backstory, even after the war with the quarians the geth completely shut themselves off from the rest of the galaxy, and any ship sent to make contact with them was destroyed, along with any organics who entered their region of space for any reason, cementing their status as a threat. At the time the game takes place, most of the geth would like to make peace with the rest of the galaxy. But the prejudice against them is only half of the problem: they don't really understand organics either, and they know they need to be cautious until they can find some common ground.
** There's also some of this toward the krogan by the other Citadel species, who dropped the genophage on them during the war, and once the war was won they were in no particular hurry to cure it, leading to the krogan's slow depopulation and extinction.
*** Actually, if you believe what one of the scientist who worked on the genophage says, it leaves the krogan population at a finely calculated equilibrium. The krogan evolved on a DeathWorld, and after their uplifting by the salarians their explosive birthrate rapidly lead to overpopulation and aggressive expansion. This started a galactic war that the genophage ended. Unfortunately, their current situation is not being helped by the fact that most krogan (who, comparing to the old birthrates, thinks they're doomed) become mercenaries and die (although less often than most other species would, being really hard to kill by comparison).

* The background lore in ''TheElderScrolls'' series makes heavy use of this trope. The most obvious examples? The Bretons and [[OurOrcsAreDifferent Orcs]] hate each other, the Nords and Dark Elves hate each other due to war, the Argonians and Dark Elves ''loathe'' each other due to slave raids and slavery by the latter, and the Khajiit and Wood Elves regard each other with hatred, both of them raiding each other's homeland. The High Elves and Dark Elves, in particular, are both racist against all other races; ironically, the Redguards,(who are to all extent Blacks) are treated in a pretty much neutral light, possibly due to the fact that they only arrived recently compared to the long histories between the other races.

** Even if you play a Dunmer in [=TES3=], you're still considered an outlander. It's not a question of race so much as culture. And the Ashlanders consider ''all other Dunmer'' as outlanders.
** This gets even worse in ''{{Oblivion}}'' when you hear rumours of a countess interested in species 'purity' and torturing Argonians, then find a torture chamber in their castle.
** Speaking of ''{{Oblivion}}'', in the Shivering Isles expansion pack, one NPC is terrified of cats, he has a pet dog. And he has the unfortunate problem of a Khajiit that happens to really like his dog, resulting in him being constantly wary. If you are a Khajiit yourself, you can't even take his sidequest, and he'll sick his dog on you!

** Valen Dreth, the first NPC you meet in ''{{Oblivion}}'', has a nice rant to deliver against whichever race you may be, even if you're a Dunmer like him.
** ''TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'' takes this UpToEleven after introducing the Thalmor, High Elf supremacists who are for all intents and purposes [[ANaziByANyOtherName the Tamrielic equivalent to the Nazi party.]]

* Several games in the ''TalesSeries'' invoke this trope to varying degrees.

* Most of the faction conflict in ''{{Rift}}'' seems to be more political and cultural than anything else. However, a Guardian NPC in the Defiant start zone ''does'' outright refer to bahmi (who are the descendants of human/[[OurGeniesAreDifferent air]] [[NatureSpirit spirit]] hybrids) as "planetouched abominations."

* In ''ValkyriaChronicles'', Rosie ''really'' hates the Darcsens often taking out rage her on Isara. Rosie eventually comes around and stops hating Darcsens.

** The sequel ''ValkyriaChroniclesII'' makes racism a bigger plot point [[spoiler: as the antagonists are a Gallian Noble House that didn't take well the whole revelation of Gallia's ruling family being Darcsens]].

* Present in the ''{{Touhou}}'' series, most obviously humans versus all forms of youkai, which is the most blatant in ''Undefined Fantastic Object.'' However, there's a few cases of fear and hatred between different species of youkai, such as the fact that everyone in the Underground hates the satori species, since they [[{{telepathy}} read minds]] and apparently can't control the urge to speak other peoples' thoughts aloud.

* Pretty much every single {{NPC}} in {{Ryzom}} displays this. There are four civilizations and two different factions, and everyone thinks that everyone else is an idiot.

** [[BigBad Saren]] in ''VideoGame/MassEffect1'' hates humans more intensely than probably anyone else in the galaxy, up to and including sabotaging then-Lieutenant Anderson's attempt at qualifying as a Spectre. According to the novel ''Literature/MassEffectRevelation'', his FreudianExcuse is that his brother was killed in the First Contact War. Doesn't make him any less of a CompleteMonster, though.

** Some characters also display Fantastic Racist tendencies; [[BigBad Haz]][[CompleteMonster ama]] presses said BerserkButton when he meets Makoto in her Arcade and Story modes, [[{{Troll}} although he purposefully hits every character's]] BerserkButton [[{{Troll}} whenever and wherever he can]]. He also calls [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Rac]][[ElegantGothicLolita hel]] a "shitty vampire" and hates those "goddamn cats" from the [[CatFolk Kaka clan]]. [[BiggerBad Rel]][[MadScientist ius]] also invokes this [[spoiler:during his HannibalLecture as he subjects Makoto to MindRape in her ''Extend'' [[BadEnd Bad Ending]]]].

* In the ''VideoGame/{{Diablo}}'' universe, humans are descended from the Nephalem, who were born from the union of angels and demons who were tired of fighting the Eternal Conflict and created the world of Sanctuary, which humans now call home. Many demons prefer to expunge humanity to the last -- Belial tells you that Azmodan will "exterminate you and every last one of your misbegotten kind" when you reveal him for who he really is, and Azmodan himself calls you and humanity in general "creation's greatest sin." The angels aren't that much different -- while a number of angels aren't fond of humanity (Imperius in particular would rather purge Sanctuary because "demons had a hand in making it exist"), some are, with Tyrael, Itherael and Auriel voting to spare Sanctuary from annihilation. Imperius was flat-out against; Malthael abstained (mainly because he was absent from the council due to Worldstone-related matters when the vote was made), but it was counted against. Zoltun Kulle, [[CompleteMonster twisted though he may be]], even lampshades this.

** In ''LunarDragonSong'', the humans, beastmen and the Vile Tribe hate each other. [[ItGetsBetter Eventually the beastmen learn to accept humans]], and the Vile Tribe generally accept anyone who forsakes Althena and own darkness in the form of crystals as their own (near the end a few begin to question themselves).

* Averted in Game Arts' ''{{Lunar}}'' and ''Franchise/{{Grandia}}'' series. Despite being populated with many different humanoid species, both series avoid this trope with a few exceptions.
** In ''{{Lunar}} Dragon Song'', the humans, beastmen and the Vile Tribe hate each other. [[ItGetsBetter Eventually the beastmen learn to accept humans]], and the Vile Tribe generally accept anyone who forsakes Althena and own darkness in the form of crystals as their own (near the end a few begin to question themselves).
** This is also the case in ''[[NoExportForYou Lunar Magic School]]'', where the beastmen's hate of humans [[StarCrossedLovers stands in the way of a human and a beastgirl getting married]]. And the Vile Tribe essentially hate everybody, and vice versa.

* Averted in Game Arts' ''{{Lunar}}'' and ''{{Grandia}}'' series. Despite being populated with many different humanoid species, both series avoid this trope with a few exceptions.

* The BigBad of ''RatchetAndClankUpYourArsenal'' is a robot who hates organic beigns and wants them destroyed.

* In ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'', the player encounters a land inhabited by 'fiends' (monsters) who built their own civilisation after the human-fiend war. Although the first fiends you encounter are friendly towards humans since the war ended 400 years ago, everyone else either attacks you, sells things for exorbitant prices ('you think I'd give a human the going rate?') or expresses rather loudly that the Fiendlord should have eradicated the human race when he had the chance, which is mildly disturbing. Humans mostly seem to have gotten over it though, since it's hardly mentioned, and they believe that 'some' monsters can live among humans.

** And in the 7th game, there was Marquess Arapham's hatred for the nomadic people of Sacae, which includes our plucky heroine and his very own captain of the guard.