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1->''"Disperse, loyal Battle Monkeys! Do my bidding and bust a cap!"''
2-->-- '''[[TheHero Zetta]]''', ''VideoGame/MakaiKingdom''
3
4A Player Mook is a PlayerCharacter that is a character strictly in the game mechanics sense. These characters have no names, unless the player [[HelloInsertNameHere gives them some]]. They have no personality, and they don't act in the plot at all. Essentially, they're {{Mooks}} and {{Red Shirt}}s that you get to control.
5
6'''They can be defined by a few features that differentiate them from the Story Characters:'''
7* The Player Mooks use [[YouALLLookFamiliar the same set of appearances]]. Often whatever class the generic character is will dictate how they look.
8* If there are mechanics to raise and develop characters, Player Mooks can learn only "generic" abilities. While they'll have access to all the default classes and skills, the Story Characters often have a unique class, plus they can access all the generic classes.
9* While Story Characters come and go at the whims of the plot, you can make as many Player Mooks as you want [[ArbitraryHeadcountLimit within limits]] and dismiss them whenever you want if you desire to do so.
10* Because their number and makeup is entirely determined by the player, these Generic Characters will never appear in a cutscene or do anything in the plot. The one usual exception is when they are first introduced, the one time in which the game can know who/what and how many they are.
11
12Because they're always present and eminently customizable, quite a few benefit from getting nearly as much experience as the main character, so they are never OverratedAndUnderleveled nor do they require LeakedExperience.
13
14Because of the amount of time and effort many players put into training and equipping these kinds of characters, they often become the target of VideoGameCaringPotential.
15
16Also see CastOfSnowflakes. Compare/contrast NonPlayerCompanion who also plays supporting roles to the [=PCs=] but is usually much better developed (if not always more useful) than mooks; a GuestStarPartyMember may skirt the line between these two tropes.
17----
18!!Examples
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20[[foldercontrol]]
21
22[[folder:Fighting Game]]
23* ''[[VideoGame/SoulSeries Soulcalibur III]]'': In Chronicles of the Sword mode, the player can create Mooks equal to the number of normal custom character slots they have purchased. Given that these will stay with the player even when, post TimeSkip, the previous allies are all BrainwashedAndCrazy or had a FaceHeelTurn, not to mention retaining their levels during NewGamePlus, they tend to form the most effective parties.
24[[/folder]]
25
26[[folder:First-Person Shooter]]
27* ''VideoGame/BioShock2'': The multiplayer has you play as the [[{{Mooks}} Splicers]] to avoid having six [[LightningBruiser Subject Deltas]] running around at once.
28* ''VideoGame/GutsNBlackpowder'': The soldiers you play as are generic soldiers from the 1800s trapped in a zombie infested area, having no unique character traits beyond their class.
29* ''VideoGame/HellgateLondon'' [[ThatOneLevel confounded players]] with an UnexpectedGenreChange in which {{Mook}} troopers had to be endlessly expended fighting through creatures that the players could, by that point, have strolled through themselves.
30* ''VideoGame/StarWarsBattlefront'' is this trope in spades -- you even jump between random {{Mooks}} (somehow keeping your experience and bonuses) if your current character gets wasted.
31[[/folder]]
32
33[[folder:Hack and Slash]]
34* ''VideoGame/DynastyWarriors'', from the third game on, allow the player to recruit bodyguards and armed them, but they just ended up being kill-stealing player mooks.
35** Later ''Dynasty Warriors'' and ''VideoGame/SamuraiWarriors'' games added Create Your Own Officer options and allowed you to play as a Player Mook in campaign. Every created officer had the same storyline.
36** Even later games in the Empires sub-series mixed Mook and non-Mook offices into the slush during game play. Based on your "friendship" with the various officers you commanded different ones would appear in cut scenes. If you were close to your Player Mooks, then they showed in the events.
37[[/folder]]
38
39[[folder:Platform Game]]
40* ''VideoGame/KillerQueen'': The characters have no names besides the names of their classes (Drone/Soldier/Queen), which are never mentioned outside of the short "How to Play" sequence. The game is all gameplay and strategy, with absolutely zero plot or character development.
41* ''Franchise/{{Kirby}}'': ''VideoGame/KirbySuperStar'' introduces the ability for Kirby to turn one enemy into his ally, and it can optionally be controlled by a second player. ''VideoGame/KirbyStarAllies'' later expanded upon this concept, bringing the total player count up to four and introducing playable bosses through the "Dream Friends" system.
42* ''VideoGame/MrRobot'': There are four plot-essential robots that join your party (by having their personalities [[PartyInMyPocket copied into your head]]), one for each "class". But you can also get a couple more robot personalities to help you in battle by exploring the world thoroughly, and their existence isn't mentioned at all (even when the main character whines about how crowded it's getting in there).
43[[/folder]]
44
45[[folder:RPG -- Eastern]]
46* ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'':
47** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIII'' is the very first game in the series to have them. Other than TheHero, you could go to a tavern at any time and make new characters.
48** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIX'' has them too, as a throwback to the third game.
49** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestV'' and ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVI'' feature [[{{Mon}} recruitable monsters]]. Their only personality is that they come with names.
50* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'':
51** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasy'': The original game just has the player select classes for the four party members. They have no individualized dialogue or storylines.
52** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIII'' features a party of four identical, generic characters with no separate character traits or plot elements, beyond the fact that all interactions with [=NPCs=] are ostensibly with the player character that was listed first on the character creation screen.
53** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIVTheAfterYears'' does this over and over again. There's a generic Black Mage (named "Black Mage") and a generic White Mage (named "White Mage") who join you in both Ceodore's and Porom's chapters -- between the two chapters, they're actually on your team about as long as Palom and Porom were in the original (and in the same places to boot!), but their generic names, nonexistent personalities, and lack of special abilities make them feel a lot more impersonal. In a similar vein, you get "Monk A", "Monk B", and "Monk C" in Yang's chapter; Edward's, meanwhile, has "Guard A", "Guard B", and "Guard C". Then again, this game has tons of characters to begin with, so it seems the game designers were just trying to give you some [[CrutchCharacter Crutch Characters]] without overloading the player.
54** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI''
55*** An early sequence requires the player to control several parties consisting mostly of moogles, one of the franchise's adorable mascots. Unlike Mog, a moogle who is a main character (and first appears during the same event), these moogles have low stats and very limited battle commands. They have no distinct personalities. If glitched into the party later in the game, they cannot equip Espers, the main game mechanic for customization and stat boosting.
56*** Later, Sabin's scenario has the ghosts in the Phantom Train. Most ghosts are enemies but a few will offer to join your party. They have no backstory, a unique class, and a stat set randomly chosen from three presets. You can only recruit ghosts until you have a full party of four characters; if they are KO'd or use their "Possess" skill they leave you party and you can recruit another one, endlessly. However, they always leave at the end of the level.
57** Similarly to ''Dragon Quest III'' and ''IX'', ''VideoGame/TheFinalFantasyLegend'' lets you choose which kind of character TheHero is, and you can recruit up to three more generic party members at a guild.
58** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyLegendII'' has the Hero take three of their classmates with themm.
59* ''VideoGame/TheLastRemnant'' has a mixture of unique, more powerful leader-type units, and loads more generic soldiers. The Xbox version only allowed a limited number of leaders, but the PC version removed this restriction.
60* ''VideoGame/PokemonMysteryDungeon'': Any non-required party members will appear in cutscenes (assuming they even let you bring any to a plot-related dungeon in the first place) and will wordlessly react to what happens, but never actually get any dialogue. The main characters don't even acknowledge their existence save for one instance in the first game [[spoiler:where the Partner asks what happened to their allies after getting Rayquaza to stop a meteor at the end of the base game, and being assured that they're fine]].
61[[/folder]]
62
63[[folder:RPG -- Strategy]]
64* ''VideoGame/DarkestDungeon'': The units skirt the line between PlayerMooks and a CastOfSnowflakes. On the one hand, each unit type (called "heroes", but effectively classes) has a default name, a unique appearance, a short backstory, and their move-sets and dialogue lines are plenty enough to hint at a personality. On the other hand, the player can recruit and even field multiple instances of the same hero at a time, with at most a PaletteSwap to distinguish them visually. On the other-other hand, the affliction and quirk systems ensure that even two same-level, same-class units will have distinctive traits, such as a love interest in town, a hatred of the undead, a proclivity for paranoia, or a tendency to eat when under stress. On the [[OverlyLongGag other-other-other]] hand, said features mostly boil down to stat adjustments, and don't really have any narrative bearing besides the implications of the quirks' names and the occasional line of random dialogue.
65* ''VideoGame/DestinyOfAnEmperor'' seemed like a pretty standard RPG based on the Romance of the Three Kingdoms story, until you realized that that's not HP, but soldiers! Wow, so many dead bodies!
66* ''Franchise/{{Disgaea}}''
67** In particular, Prinnies are even treated like mooks by the plot, and all [[WeHaveReserves that]] [[WhatMeasureIsAMook entails]]. Parodied by the platform spin-offs where 999 other Prinnies serve as ''lives'' for the main character, whose only distinction is an apparently easily transferable red scarf.
68** Though in ''Disgaea'', your non-Mook player characters have a harder time learning magic (except Flonne) and can never change class, as your Mooks can, so the Mooks can actually easily outdo the non-Mooks (except [[OneManParty Laharl]], [[CrutchCharacter at first]]) unless you abuse the Mentor/Student system to teach your named characters a wider variety of magical spells (and even that is hard for the less magically-inclined among them, especially the monsters-type ones who can't use staffs).
69** ''3'' adds a bit more personality to generic characters, with an introduction scene for each class that plays upon creation, and the ability to talk to them to get some often amusing dialogue from them. 4 lets you individualize them a little by choosing one of three personalities for them during the creation process, which determines their battle quotes and voice, and also allows you to place them in the hub to provide conversation or run the various shops and services.
70** In fact, ''4'' has Valvatorez say that the 60,000 enemies the party is about to face resolve to 10,000 per character - there are six plot party members. When one character who is an unofficial part of the party points out that she's included in this, Valvatorez hastily says that her ten thousand were actually being counted among the Prinnies. Yeah, the humanoid player mooks are, plot-wise, beneath the ''[[MascotMook Prinnies]]'' in importance.
71* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics''
72** Strangely, there are actually some specific, non-generic Mooks in the Final Fantasy Tactics games: In the first, the generic characters at the introductory monastery fight (that you keep once you get into chapter 2) all have set names. Also, the plot-relevant Chocobo, Boco, is otherwise just a generic monster (who has dialog when using "help" on his name in the formation screen while real generics just say "..."). The original release had exactly enough space to keep every named character, including these, and no more. In Tactics Advance, there are recruitable 'generic' characters with story ties which come with powerful skills pre-learned.
73** Generic units in Tactics Advance and its sequel are ''slightly'' less generic in that they can at least get a fair bit of dialogue if you opt to deploy them as the leader for a sidequest battle. Each race has their own unique pre-battle and post-battle dialogue, and with all of the dozens of sidequest battles, that amounts to a lot overall.
74* ''VideoGame/LabyrinthOfRefrainCovenOfDusk'' is a second NIS title with player mooks controlled by a sentient book. In this case, a magical tome that somehow acquired a soul gets sent to explore a labyrinth with a squad of magically animated puppets.
75* ''VideoGame/MakaiKingdom'' is easily the biggest example of this trope from NIS -- ''no'' plot characters join you until the post game, all of your playable characters until then are generic nameless mooks. Even {{lampshaded}} by Zeta, who calls them "Battle Monkeys".
76* ''VideoGame/MountAndBlade'': The premise of the series is to form your own army of player mooks and have many adventures with them around the fictional world of Calradia.
77* ''VideoGame/PhantomBrave''. Particularly odd is the theme on how ''alone'' Marona is, only counting Ash as company. The gazillion of other Phantoms she summons do not count at all.
78* ''VideoGame/{{Spellforce}}'', a blend between Real Time Strategy and Role Playing Game, has you create a player avatar who has the ability to summon a fully controllable army. This is even an explicit ability in the first game of the series.
79* ''VideoGame/TacticsOgreTheKnightOfLodis'': There is a way to actually ''turn'' a Player Mook into a named character. By following a certain sequence of events, SecretCharacter Deneb can [[GrandTheftMe take over]] a Player Mook's body.
80[[/folder]]
81
82[[folder:RPG -- Western]]
83* ''VideoGame/DiabloII'' allows you to hire expendable mercenaries in town to aid you. This was fleshed out in ''VideoGame/DiabloIII'' with "Followers" -- functionally similar to the previous game's mercenaries, but with a skill tree and more lore attached.
84* ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'': When you storm the Tower of Ishal, you are temporarily given nameless PlayerMooks to fill up the party. Depending on your class and Origin, you get either a soldier, a Circle mage, or both. This is because at that point, the only permanent NonPlayerCompanion you have is Alistair and the Tower of Ishal is where you get drilled in the party controls until you really get them. Regardless of what you do, both PlayerMooks perish at the end of the segment, when the tower collapses on itself.
85* ''VideoGame/{{Wizardry}}'': Most games let you recruit and customise minions. ''Wizardry 8'' lets you give them their own distinct voices and personalities. They talk as necessary whenever the plot demands, and often they feel like story characters rather than Player Mooks.
86[[/folder]]
87
88[[folder:Sports Game]]
89* ''VideoGame/MarioSuperstarBaseball'' and its sequel, ''VideoGame/MarioSuperSluggers'', uses this trope like there's no tomorrow. In fact, the only {{Palette Swap}}s available in those games are for the mooks themselves (complete with individualized stats), with the thin justification that those same mooks had palette swaps in the main games to begin with (except for Magikoopa and Dry Bones, who only had palette swaps in the ''VideoGame/PaperMario'' series). Interestingly, while Yoshi gets palette swaps in the sequel, Birdo still doesn't, despite different colored Birdos blatantly appearing elsewhere in the game.
90[[/folder]]
91
92[[folder:Stealth-Based Game]]
93* ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' featured playable mooks in certain installment.
94** The now-defunct online multiplayer mode for ''VideoGame/{{Metal Gear Solid 3|SnakeEater}}: [[UpdatedRerelease Subsistence]]'' had players controlling the enemy soldiers (from the KGB, GRU Spetsnaz, and Ocelot units) from ''Snake Eater'' in addition to Snake and other "unique characters".
95** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidPortableOps'' involves Snake creating his own army by capturing enemy soldiers and persuading them to join his side. The player can then control any of these former enemy soldier and if the player happens to be infiltrating an area patrolled by the same enemy type, the player character can blend in perfectly by not acting conspicuous (read: not shooting anyone randomly).
96** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidPeaceWalker'' has a similar army-building system, except recruited soldiers (and [=POWs=]) that are added to MSF (Snake's army) are all forced to wear standard MSF uniforms instead of keeping their original wardrobe, leading to a more homogenized army compared to the FOXHOUND precursor in ''Portable Ops''.
97* ''VideoGame/PerfectDark''': One of the multiplayer modes has player 1 try to complete a single-player mission while player 2 controls the mooks. The mook usually has only 2 weapons. If the mook gets stuck (or player 2 needs to get to a closer mook) he can use a cyanide pill to effectively BodySurf to another mook.
98[[/folder]]
99
100[[folder:Tabletop Game]]
101* ''TabletopGame/ArsMagica'' has Grogs: non-magical side characters serving MagicalSociety in generic roles like guards, manservants, and stablehands, using restricted character creation rules. Players can take one over for ADayInTheLimelight when their mage PlayerCharacter is occupied elsewhere, and are encouraged to [[RedShirt have fun at the grog's expense]] -- a bodyguard who charges a dragon can be replaced, but one who ''survives'' charging a dragon can become a legend at the table.
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103
104[[folder:Tower Defence]]
105* ''VideoGame/TheBattleCats'': These are the only characters usable. God Cat is the closest thing to an exception in the game.
106[[/folder]]
107
108[[folder:Turn-Based Tactics]]
109* ''Franchise/FireEmblem'':
110** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThracia776'' has these in one chapter, where Glade joins along with a couple of generic knights under his command, who have names such as [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Lance Knight and Bow Knight]]. Since they're only available for the one chapter, most players just strip them of their weapons and use them as cannon fodder.
111** ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemShadowDragonAndTheBladeOfLight Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemMysteryOfTheEmblem Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem]]'' give you these if you get enough normal characters killed. ([[VideoGameCaringPotential Most players STILL start over on a single death anyways]].)
112** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'' allows you to recruit generic units either through Einherjar or by capturing enemy generic units and using My Castle's prison to "convince" them to join you, either through gold or talking. They even get names after they join you, but are limited to their base class tree, making them... [[CrutchCharacter less than optimal after a certain point,]] excluding the capturable bosses that have just high enough growths and rare skills to hold their own for most of the game.
113** ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemGaiden Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia]]'' puts two generic Cavaliers and a generic Soldier under your direct command during the "Battle of Zofia Harbor" DLC map.
114** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'': In Chapter 6 of the "Cindered Shadows" campaign, you need to have four units (including Byleth, but not including the Ashen Wolves) plug up four vortices to disrupt a dark ritual. If you can't deploy enough units to do so, you are given a generic Fortress Knight, Paladin, and Sniper to make up the difference.
115* Get enough of your named squad-mates killed in ''VideoGame/ValkyriaChronicles'' (bar ''II'' and ''III''), and they'll be filled with nameless soldiers who are inferior to the named ones (by virtue of lacking Potentials). It serves as a good reminder to keep the named soldiers alive and not to, meaninglessly, waste them in a fight.
116* ''VideoGame/XCom'': Troopers have randomly generated names and stats and a handful of character models. They are fielded by the dozen, die in large numbers, and replacements are just a few mouse clicks away.
117[[/folder]]
118
119[[folder:Wide-Open Sandbox]]
120* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV'': Max out your [[RelationshipValues Like stat]] with Dwayne Forge and he'll send his gang members to assist you when you call him.
121* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas''. Being awesome enough means one can recruit fellow gang members to assist on missions. They will follow, fire, pursue and then try to get in the car with you to go back home.
122* ''Franchise/SaintsRow'': The player's generic gang members in ''VideoGame/SaintsRow2'' and ''VideoGame/SaintsRowTheThird''. ''VideoGame/SaintsRowIV'' follows suit, of course, with one good variation: a late game unlock gives you several super-powered homies to be summoned. They are actually [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall default player character models]] for ''VideoGame/{{Saints Row|1}}'', ''Saints Row 2'', and ''Saints Row 2'' co-op.
123* ''VideoGame/ScarfaceTheWorldIsYours''. No matter how many times your Enforcer, Driver or Assassin gets wasted, you can call up another one. The regular drivers/co-pilots that assist Tony come in differing flavors and talents and skills (this last part may not be intended). It's so cute to hear them scream curses like the boss. Their highly efficent fighting skills definitely invokes the above mentioned Caring Potential when an enemy mook rushes out of the bushes and shoots them point blank in the face.
124* ''VideoGame/WatchDogsLegion'': There is no central protagonist -- instead, players can make a playable character out of anyone in London, from a highly-trained spy to a curmudgeony grandma.
125* ''VideoGame/{{X}}'': Starships owned by the player, but not used for the player ship, don't even have pilots (specifically, the player's name is listed as pilot on the ship's info screen), unless the player gives them one by activating a script that adds a named pilot. Even then, their name is randomly generated based on the species that owns the sector, and you never interact with the pilots in person beyond giving them orders from a command console. Averted in ''Videogame/XRebirth'', where your starships are crewed by actual people who you speak with to give orders.
126[[/folder]]

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