Times where you can tell the good guys from the bad based on whether or not they're Nice to the Waiter in Video Games.
- In Blossom Tales: The Sleeping King, King Orchid and his brother Crocus are polar opposites on this front. A book in the library notes how a young Orchid would donate many pairs of his shoes to the downtrodden in Blossom Town, and in the present he's The Good King who lets people from all walks of life into the Knights. Crocus, in contrast, is infamous for forcing the castle staff to undertake grueling chores for him.
- In Disgaea Infinite, the Netherworld Database states that Flonne is kind to the Prinnies, who in turn have formed a fan club.
- In Disgaea Dimension 2, the heroes acquire the services of a knight named Barbara, who seems to have no free will of her own and lives only to follow orders. Flonne berates the others for taking advantage of this and making Barbara perform mundane tasks for them...but even she has been using Barbara to record her Toku shows for her, so she doesn't have to remember to do it herself.
- Dragon Age uses this trope a lot:
- Dragon Age: Origins:
- It's shown that the dwarves have a Fantastic Caste System, and two opponents fight to become the next king. The Evil Prince Bhelen, who allegedly poisoned his father (the last king), killed his eldest brother, made the middle sibling into the fall guy, and wants to be king simply because he wants to rule, is for expanding rights for the lower castes and casteless and supports economic reforms for expanding surface trade rights for the merchants. He even marries a casteless woman for love. His opponent, Reasonable Authority Figure Harrowmont, was the former king's best friend who is running to honour his Last Request, and fought to maintain the innocence of the Dwarf Noble if you picked that origin. He is also a traditionalist who supports the current caste system, favours the nobles and soldier castes, and dislikes caste-less.
- The Dwarf Noble can have this relationship with Gorim, their second, even demanding that their elder brother Trian apologise after he insulted Gorim for being from an "inferior caste". The Female Dwarf Noble and Gorim can even have a secret relationship on the side, though it can't be made official as the other nobles would skin Gorim alive for dallying above his station.
- During the Dwarf Noble origin, they can also invoke this by choosing dialogue options that make them come across as a Wise Prince/Princess (and avoiding those which act like a Royal Brat). This includes defending a scribe who has earned the ire of a fellow noble by writing an unflattering (but true) book about his Paragon ancestor, showing kindness towards Rica when she assumed they were Bhelen coming to meet her in his bedchamber, and rebuking Gorim several times for being rude towards the various merchants in the Diamond Quarter.
- The Human Noble has a chance to do this during his/her origin as well, when interacting with Nan, the head of the kitchen in Castle Cousland, and also with some soldiers who are playing cards while guarding the treasury. It's also implied that the characters' parents are this way toward servants, soldiers, and commoners, which is a big part of why the people of Highever are so loyal to the Cousland family.
- In a similar vein, in Dragon Age II Hawke has several opportunities when dealing with various people, including bartenders, quarrymen, prostitutes, and the servants in his/her own noble household.
- In Dragon Age: Inquisition, it's revealed that there's an entire spy network built on this principle. Servants in noble households who are treated badly by their employers will frequently tip off the Friends of Red Jenny about those same employers' less-than-savory behavior, and the Jennies use this information to make life more difficult for those nobles. The nobles who treat their employees well are generally not subjected to retaliation by the Jennies, since their servants have fewer complaints. Sera, a companion of the Inquisitor who belongs to this group, often reminds the player character not to "punch down" on the people supporting them from underneath.
- Dragon Age: Origins:
- The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion: Countess Umbranox is considered one of Anvil's best rulers in centuries and has an excellent reputation among the common people of her city, with several lower-class NPCs commenting that she takes the time to greet them personally.
- In Ghost of Tsushima, Jin is this, compared to his uncle, as he remains polite and courteous to even the lowliest commoner he runs into, so long as they show him at least a nominal degree of respect due to his station, but once he likes you, he'll even let that slide. It's telling that his childhood friend is the commoner Ryuzo and he becomes closer to the thief Yuna and the blacksmith Taka than any other noble. Even in his childhood, Ryuzo is his only friend mentioned, making it likely that Jin was like this at a young age.
- Zagreus of Hades pays little attention to social station when interacting with others, approaching mortals, servants, and even convicts with just as much respect and good faith as he does other gods. This winds up getting Dusa into trouble for regularly "bothering" him when he casually strikes up a friendship with her without realizing she's not supposed to speak to him outside her professional capacity as a maid.
- According to the CDs in Mega Man & Bass, Flash Man's strength is that he's "kind to his subordinates". But the CDs are best taken with a grain of salt (Flash Man is also accused of doing "evil things in the bath", presumably with his Time Stop power).
- Alrond from Octopath Traveler II invokes a slight variation of this. He's one of the richest people in Solistia, but he likes to explore his town while disguised as a commoner. He explains to Partitio that this is partly because he likes to see how people treat him when they think he's equal to (rather than better than) them. In a more typical example, he's also quite friendly to his butler, Misha.
- In the Kill Killbane ending for Saints Row: The Third, The Boss (an unrepentant gangster whose crimes are too high to list) apologizes for taking over the newscast after he declares Steelport a city-state.
- In Super Mario 64 DS, you can talk to the Toads around the castle as each of the four playable characters. You'll notice that Mario and Yoshi are well-liked, Luigi is made fun of for being in his brother's shadow... and everyone is terrified of Wario.
- Triangle Strategy has two examples.
- Lord Symon Wolffort is well-loved by his citizens, partly because he listens to them and treats them all equally (as noted by an NPC you can talk to during exploration phases).
- Dragan Aesfrost treats the miners under his employ well, even promising them double pay after he discovers salt in the Grand Norzelian Mine and needs them to keep it a secret for a bit.
