History Main / VideoGameCrueltyPotential

—>'''Leo:''' Do you think Sims feel pain?\\

*** It was also his only choice for victory when faced with overwhelming odds. "The enemy gate is down" indeed.

* A major BerserkButton for [=PksparxxDathotneSS=] is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjOmdsTm0N8 having to leave Yoshi behind]] in any installment of ''Francise/SuperMarioBrothers'', [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACYtR6DI5Mg especially if you need to use him as a springboard]] for a DoubleJump by throwing him away (which has become MemeticMutation in of itself). He has gone as far as to start a campaign called "No Yoshi Left Behind" [[SeriousBusiness protesting this injustice]] and even designed and sold a t-shirt over it. And one thing that is ''sure'' to get PK pissed in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioMaker'' is to force him to abandon a Yoshi with a level you present him with just to get his goat. He will actually abort the level if it comes to that. And the one time he didn't, he lived to regret it... because winning the level by abandoning a Yoshi led to him finishing the level in a manner [[VideoGameCrueltyPunishment that forced a Yoshi to be dropped into LAVA.]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_brDHcSPwo Take a gander.]]

* ''Series/{{Westworld}}'' is set in a meticulous recreation of the wild west using "Hosts", RidiculouslyHumanRobots programmed to essentially be non player characters in a real-life sandbox for rich people to mess around with as they please. Naturally, some guests take this to its logical extreme [[RapeAsDrama forcing themselves on the hosts who are programmed to hate it as much as any human would]], if not outright murdering them just because they can (two guests in particular talk about using a friendly host for firing practice if they get bored). One showrunner, Jonathan Nolan, specifically mentioned video games such as ''Videogame/RedDeadRedemption'' and ''Videogame/GrandTheftAutoV''

* In ''EndersGame'' the battle school students are basically forced to use this to its furthest extent in order to beat the game on their electronic desks.

* Related to this trope, {{Exalted}} has an inherent metaphysical bond between two player character types. While it was meant by the divinities who put it in place to be the stuff of eternal romances and battle-forged friendships, the nature of the bond between the Solar and the Lunar Exalted has the potential for great abuse, both within the world and with [[MindRape certain magical abilities]] the Solars possess that can subjugate their Lunar Mate even more. There is a reason, after all, one Solar charm was dubbed the Lunar-taming Leash.

* The song "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Y05TDInaeU&feature=BFa&list=FLO3B8jJIiCAI&index=2 Indiscriminate Murder Is Counter-Productive]]" by MachinaeSupremacy.

!!In Other Forms Of Media

!!In Fiction

* ''{{Spaced}}'' mentioned this in an episode where Tim is playing ''VideoGame/TombRaider''. When Brian notes that Lara Croft is drowning and asks if that's the point, Tim replies that it "Depends what kind of mood you're in."

'''Tim''': It depends what mood you're in really.

->''"One thing's for sure: if someone's controlling me, he sure has a sick sense of humor."''
-->-- '''VideoGame/{{Kirby}}''', channeling ComicStrip/{{Calvin|And Hobbes}}, ''Webcomic/BrawlInTheFamily''

* ''Series/{{Community}}'' features an episode with Troy and Abed playing a war game that turns out to award points for killing innocent civilians, as they learn when they start playing with a guy who is unbeknownst to them an actual war criminal.

--->'''Troy''' - What kind of game is this?

** Really? You can take all their furniture, replace it with tacky furniture in their hated Interest and even leave them without a place to sleep, eat, or even use the bathroom, and they can't do anything about it or even die a mercy death. Put Goth Boy or Violet into a house made of flowers and rainbows. LightIsNotGood.

* Invoked in chapter 8 of ''Manga/GekkanShoujoNozakiKun'', where the DatingSim they're playing gives options to be cruel to others, like insulting them or attacking them. {{Mangaka}} Nozaki, who was role-playing as his manga's male protagonist Suzuki, picks the cruel option every time, his reason being that Suzuki [[OfficialCouple already has eyes for Mamiko]], the female protagonist of his manga.

* ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive''. Tedd can be quite cruel when playing ''VideoGame/BlackAndWhite'', though apparently not to the extent suggested above.
** He mostly seems to turn people into girls. So it's more or less like his usual behavior, but more.
** If memory serves, it's Grace who goes overboard with this. 'That poor turtle..'

* In the original ''PoliceQuest: In Pursuit of the Death Angel'', during the scene where Sgt Dooley [[ItMakesSenseInContext finds a human-sized chicken in his chair]], the dialogue box will respond, "What a cruel thought.", if the player commands Sonny to draw his gun.

* The concept is explored in "The Game" episode of ''Series/StargateAtlantis'', where Sheppard and [=McKay=] discover and play what they think is a ''Civilizations''-type strategy game, and they engage in some friendly and not-so-friendly competition with each other. Only to learn later that what they thought was just a game was really a Lantean social engineering experiment, and that there are ''real people'' on the other end, doing what their "Oracles" tell them to. People who believe their Oracles are infallible, godlike entities who have their best interests at heart and will eagerly throw themselves into whatever activity they've been ordered to do. Including fighting with neighbors with whom they'd been getting along just fine for centuries, before their long-absent Oracles returned and showed them the error of their peaceful, tolerant ways. Oops.

* KidPaddle when he plays ''VideoGame/SimCity''. He put barbed wire around the city so noone can leave it, and raised taxes to 100% to pay for the police he needs to oppress the population. Not surprisingly, when asked what the biggest problem is, [[ZeroPercentApprovalRating 100% of the people say "the mayor!"]]
* This happens in ''NewspaperComic/FoxTrot'' a lot when Jason plays games. For example, he giggles excitedly when he plays one that sounds a lot like ''VideoGame/{{Carmageddon}}''. And in another strip, Paige complains to her dad that Jason and Marcus are playing a bloody and violent fighting game called ''[[VideoGame/PrimalRage Primal]] [[VideoGame/KillerInstinct Instinct]]'', and is upset because they won't let ''her'' play too.