History Main / VideoGameCrueltyPotential

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* ''Film/FreeGuy'' is set in a video game called ''Free City'', where players are encouraged to be violent sociopaths and commit crimes to gain experience, with the film often showing the players in the real world to be regular people and some being children. [=NPCs=] are friendly people who are unaware they are in a game and accept everything that happens as if it was normal, with the protagonist Guy working in a bank and simply going through the motions when the bank is robbed every day. However when Guy breaks his programming and starts being a good guy by gaining experience through stopping other players, while at first annoying, he soon wins over the players who admire him for doing the opposite of what the game intends players to do and causes many to question how cruelly they treat [=NPCs=]. The ending shows that despite the idea of him being sentient is treated as a conspiracy theory by most, practically the entire world is invested in what happens to him and admire him for his kindness. [[spoiler:Also, when ''Free City'' is turned into the much more friendly ''Free Life'', it turns out that people would want to play a game where they don't kill [=NPCs=].]]

This is the potential a video game has for the player to do [[KickTheDog awful]], ''[[MoralEventHorizon horrible]]'' things to enemies or even friendly and neutral [[NonPlayerCharacter NPC]]s.

* VideoGameCrueltyPotential/ShootEmUps

* In ''[[Franchise/TombRaider Tomb Raider 3]]'' it's impossible to shoot Lara's butler, as he always shields himself with the dinner tray. (However, you can lock him up in the walk-in fridge.)

* ''Series/{{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."

* The [=YouTuber=] LetsPlay/GrayStillPlays practically ''thrives'' on this trope, no matter what game he's playing. His OnceAnEpisode intro says it all:

* ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemAkaneia Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem]]'' had a chapter where you fight four previously recruited characters from a previous arc. You can kill three of them, leaving a specific unit to survive and be recruited later in the Remake, where killing them won't give you anything, as they are recruitable.

* ''VideoGame/TheCrystalOfKings'' starts it's first levels where hostile orcs and goblins are in the middle of a RapePillageAndBurn on the city, and you're assigned to fight off the forces of chaos. However, you ''can'' cut down fleeing civilians or finish off wounded soldiers on your side, and suffer zero penalties for your actions. A later stage in a forest allows you to kill harmless wildlife like deers, while there are areas in which you can desecrate the graves of fallen heroes and gain points in the process.

* ''VideoGame/TheCrystalOfKings'' starts with your heroes assisting the evacuation of Estorea as the forces of evil are attacking. Between killing orcs and halflings, you ''can'' attack and kill Estorean civilians or fleeing soldiers, suffering no penalties in the process. The second stage set in a forest also have benevolent, harmless animals like deers, which you can kill just for fun.

* VideoGameCrueltyPotential/RhythmGames

* VideoGameCrueltyPotential/BeatEmUp

In games where there is a level editor or allows a sense of creativity, the trope can be [[UpToEleven taken up to eleven]] by allowing those with less constructive intentions to target those of a player character nature [[ForTheEvulz just for fun.]] This can also happen outside of creative games/sandboxes through the medium of joke weapons or modifications/hacking.

* In all three of the ''VideoGame/{{Marathon}}'' games, you are not only capable, but ''encouraged'' by ''Creator/{{Bungie}}'' to kill [=BOBs=], which, in the first game, are unarmed civilians who have no hope of survival without the Player's help. In ''Marathon 2: Durandal'', they are volunteers risking their lives and listening to the batshit Durandal to help the player, however, like in ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'', killing two of them will cause them to shoot at you. In ''Marathon Infinity'', it's actually the player character's mission to kill them in more levels than they help him in, and for some reason they're a ''lot'' [[TookALevelInBadass better at killing you than they are at killing aliens.]] The aliens that so easily killed them before, while working at your side, get mercilessly mowed down by the [=BOBs=].
** The [=BoBs=] are actually beefed up in the game physics for most of the levels where you're fighting them. Notably, unlike aliens, they do not generally scale in difficulty when you are fighting them, which means that if you are playing on levels below Normal, the levels where you fight humans will generally be more difficult than the levels where you do not, and if you are playing on levels above Normal, the levels where you fight humans will generally be less difficult than the surrounding levels.
* In ''VideoGame/SoldierOfFortune II'', killing any NPC's results in an [[HostageSpiritLink instant game over]].

* In ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'', in Coruscant there is a child quest giver that is inordinately higher level (maxed at 50) than all the other quest-related [=NPCs=] in the area. Almost as if the devs are protecting her in case PVP ever makes it way to that area.

** Bonus points that two of the three are Game breakers from the Prequel's Second remake.

* ''Anime/DigimonAdventure02'' has [[spoiler:Ken Ichijouji]], the Digimon Emperor/Kaiser, who takes this to the extreme; it's quite clearly implied that he treats Digimon absolutely ''horribly''... however, we then learn that he was under the impression that the Digital World was a video game all along. When confronted to the fact that it's real with no more possibility of escape or denial, [[spoiler: he completely breaks down after Wormmon dies in his arms and later [[HeelFaceTurn joins the good guys]], after which he's revealed to have been the [[SixthRanger ninth Digidestined]], who couldn't join the original 8 because his brother Osamu tried to usurp him.]].
* This happened again in ''Anime/DigimonFusion''. This time, [[spoiler: Yuu Amano was manipulated by the villains into thinking the digital world was just a game world where he could play however he wished. All he wanted was a way to play to the best of his abilities without the risk of anyone getting hurt, and when he finds out this isn't the case -- and that a lot of death and destruction has come from it -- he also has a major breakdown. Fortunately, the heroes, one of whom is his loving sister, are more than willing to forgive him and help him come to terms with things.]]

* In the first issue of 'Loki; Agent Of Asgard' Hawkeye chose to play a fishing video game. Somehow he ended up in a malfunctioning helicopter, pursued by the American army. What's worse is that this kind of nonsense is common when he plays video games. Hawkeye is just that terrible.

* ''Film/FreeGuy'' is set in a video game called ''Free City'', where players are encouraged to be violent sociopaths and commit crimes to gain experience, with the film often showing the players in the real world to be regular people and some being children. [=NPCs=] are friendly people who are unaware they are in a game and accept everything that happens as if it was normal, with the protagonist Gut working in a bank and simply going through the motions when the bank is robbed every day. However when Guy breaks his programming and starts being a good guy by gaining experience through stopping other players, while at first annoying he soon wins over the players who admire him for doing the opposite of what the game intends players to do and causes many to question how cruelly they treat [=NPCs=]. The ending shows that despite the idea of him being sentient is treated as a conspiracy theory by most, practically the entire world is invested in what happens to him and admire him for his kindness. [[spoiler:Also when ''Free City'' is turned into the much more friendly ''Free Life'', it turns out that people would want to play a game where they don't kill [=NPCs=]]].
* In ''Film/{{Tron}}'' and ''Film/TronLegacy'' (and the TV series ''WesternAnimation/TronUprising''), there is [[BloodSport a gladiatorial arena called "The Games"]] where programs fight to the death at the crowd's encouragement, in a parody of ancient Rome. Many sentient lifeforms are regularly murdered in a way utterly contrary to anything else Disney has created in the modern era (approached only by ''Motor City'') which they get away with since they are mere computer programs and not real people. Ignoring that unlike a setting such as ''WesternAnimation/ReBoot'', real people have entered the Grid on multiple occasions and a program has exited it and been able to exist in the real world.

** Crayak's Howlers gleefully wipe out entire species for their master [[spoiler:because they are children who believe that their victims are game constructs and not real people. Jake compares their playfulness to that of dolphins' after morphing one. The Howlers become useless to Crayak after Jake infects their HiveMind with the memory of a kiss (and with it the realization that their "victims" are as real as them).]]

* In ''Literature/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.

** The also comes into play even earlier with the fantasy game, the recreational computer game that the students play. Ender not only [[spoiler: discovers he can kill the Giant that commands the unbeatable "Giant's Drink" minigame, but also has to kill the "wolf-children" that he finds, and then repeatedly kills the snake he finds in the tower]]. However, it's inverted in that final level. [[spoiler:The way around the snake in the tower challenge is not to kill the snake, but to love it.]]
* ''Literature/StoryThieves'': In the fourth book, where you can do numerous things to screw Owen over and you're not penalized at all (though, Nobody does mildly scold you about it you can do it anyways, over and over.)

* ''Series/BlackMirror'': "USS Callister" is an epic {{deconstruction}} of the trope. If the game characters are sentient and being tortured every day by an omnipotent player then they are for all intents and purposes living in a CosmicHorrorStory.

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

* ''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'' as inspiration.

* ''Webcomic/BrawlInTheFamily'' points out just how cruel standard gameplay is to the hordes of hapless {{Mooks}} you cut down, explode, burn and stomp underfoot in any given playthrough in its [[http://brawlinthefamily.keenspot.com/comic/200-odetominions/ "Ode to Minions"]].

** Surprisingly enough, it's ''Grace'' who will unleash seven kinds of overly violent hell on video game enemies, despite being a FriendToAllLivingThings and one of the nicest people you would ever meet in the real world, to the point that Tedd once described her as "possibly a hippie". Susan does argue with the game's mentor figure that the rules of what the game ''Parable'' considers to be evil behavior are highly subjective, vaguely explained and completely arbitrary.

* {{LetsPlay/Skawo}} bashes annoying NPC’s with Mario’s hammer in VideoGame/PaperMarioColorSplash and VideoGame/PaperMarioTheOrigamiKing.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheHollow'': {{Deconstructed}}. Vanessa knowing that it was all a game made her nasty, manipulative and backstabbing towards the other team because she knew they wouldn't suffer physical injuries for real. Hurting Kai was the worst part of it since he saved her from being a permanent block of ice. Unfortunately, you're more likely to get an edge in the edge if you're kind; Adam gets healed by the mutant spider when Kai repairs the king's legs, and the Benjamin brothers help Kai discover his powers when they stay to have fun rather than rushing through the theme park. It's implied that the real Adam, Mira and Kai are scarred from the experience and Vanessa's duplicate regrets her past behavior when she realizes her cheating created digital clones of the teams.

* 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, [[FromBadToWorse 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.]] Mario Maker sadism at its worst!

** There's a hilarious story connected to this: when the ability to actually pummel characters hand-to-hand was implemented, developers and testers started off by having Homer beat up Marge. They made a rule, though, to not Creator/MattGroening see anyone do that. That was quickly tossed out the window when they found out that the very first thing Matt did when he first tested out the game was to literally kick her from the house to the Kwik-E-Mart.

* Josh from [[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCto7D1LMiRoOziCXK9uT5Q/videos Let's Game It Out]] loves to indulge in video game cruelty. No game, however innocuous or lighthearted, is safe from him. The methods he comes up with to torture the [[NonPlayerCharacter NPCs]] in the games he plays are as inventive as they are cruel. Some highlights include: forcing his character to work at being the number one [=YouTuber=] and not allowing him to eat or sleep for ''six years''; creating so much nuclear waste that he essentially destroyed the world and automatically died upon respawn; making a prison system that would put the worst gulag to shame; and burned down his own city to make money. The real kicker is that he often gets rewarded exponentially more than if he tried to play the games correctly. He [[RunningGag also has a thing]] for tormenting characters named [[SitcomArchnemesis Grace]]. Woe to any NPC with that name.

* In ''Literature/{{Daemon}}'', Loki sees humans who are not part of the Darknet as {{NPC}}s. The Daemon does not allow him to outright kill them for no reason, but he can torment them in various ways (like destroying their bank accounts). When he is able to kill them (as part of a mission or in self-defense), he does so happily and in the most gruesome way available to him.

* ''Film/FreeGuy'' is set in a video game called ''Free City'', where players are encouraged to be violent sociopaths and commit crimes to gain experience, with the film often showing the players in the real world to be regular people and some being children. [=NPCs=] are friendly people who are unaware they are in a game and accept everything that happens as if it was normal, with the protagonist Gut working in a bank and simply going through the motions when the bank is robbed every day. However when Guy breaks his programming and starts being good guy by gaining experience through stopping other players, while at first annoying he soon wins other the players who admire him for doing the opposite of what the game intends players to do and causes many to question how cruelly they treat [=NPCs=]. The ending shows that despite the idea of him being sentient is treated as a conspiracy theory by most, practically the entire world is invested in what happens to him and admire him for his kindness. [[spoiler:Also when ''Free City'' is turned into the much more friendly ''Free Life'', it turns out that people would want to play a game where they don't kill [=NPCs=]]].

* ''Webcomic/EverSoSlightly'': Eliana Harrison enjoys letting her "[[BuffySpeak asshole-ery]]'' shine while playing games with multiple endings, implying that she invokes this trope by seeking out the bad endings.

This trope has a few {{Sub Trope}}s. '''Please make sure that your example does not fit better in one of these.'''

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* In Chapter 4 of "LightNovel/GoblinSlayer", Goblin Slayer demonstrates that a protective barrier can also be used to trap goblins inside of a burning fortress.