History Main / DigitalAbomination

* Computer viruses. Little lines of code that, if left to their own devices (no pun intended), can [[ParanoiaFuel spy on you, corrupt your files, disrupt your devices, share your personal data with criminals or outright destroy your hardware.]] And they are capable of causing '''''billions''''' of dollars in damage.

* While the whole Cyber World of ''VideoGame/{{Deltarune}}'' can be considered [[LivingProgram a benign version of this,]] one particular character fits this trope to a T: [[spoiler:[[SnakeOilSalesman Spamton G. Spamton]], the deranged shopkeeper. A spambot brought to life by the magic of the Dark Fountains, his interactions with [[AnonymousBenefactor a mysterious voice on the phone]] caused him to gain consciousness about [[GoMadFromTheRevelation the artificiality of the world he's in]]. His main goal is to ascend to "HEAVEN" by hijacking a robotic body stored with corrupted data, before attempting to take Kris' soul after that doesn't work]].

* ''VideoGame/{{Inscryption}}'': The game is [[spoiler: found in a floppy disk left behind by [=GameFuna=] developer Kaycee Hobbes. After Luke finds it, beats Leshy, and resets the game, he finds various characters mentioning an entity known as the OLD_DATA, though what it's supposed to be is [[TheGhost left largely ambiguous]]. It turned out to be immune to deletion, as Luke finds out after Grimora erases the game to keep the OLD_DATA from escaping. What he sees is [[MindRape horrifying enough]] that he's hyperventilating as he smashes the disk with a hammer. The Trader suggests the OLD_DATA could be {{Satan}}, but the ARG implies that the OLD_DATA is computer code derived from a pack of ancient playing cards owned by Hitler. Yes, that [[UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler Hitler]]. Nevertheless, the OLD_DATA is destructive enough that [=GameFuna=] would [[HeKnowsTooMuch kill]] to keep it under wraps]].

** ''VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork1'': The [[ComputerVirus LifeVirus (DreamVirus)]] is a super virus created by Dr. Wily, specifically designed to destroy everything.

** ''VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork3WhiteAndBlue'': Alpha (Proto) is the [[PsychoPrototype prototype]] of the very internet itself, having gained sentience it attempted to [[TheAssimilator assimilate]] everything connected to the net and caused the greatest net-based catastrophe in history. It takes the form of a [[BlobMonster giant metallic blob monster]] [[RedEyesTakeWarning with a singe glowing red eye]].

** ''[[MobilePhoneGame RockMan.EXE Legend of Network]]'': The Trojan Horse is similar to the Cybeasts, only 3,000 years older. It cause the collapse of the [[AdvancedAncientAcropolis Atlampian Civilization]], and its defeat created a rift through space and time[[labelnote:*]]Conveniently 3000 years into the past right after the fall of Atlampian Civilization, allowing Nobody to live the remainder of his years with the fellow survivors of his people[[/labelnote]].

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'': SCP-079 is a primitive, yet fully sentient AI programmed on an Exidy Sorcerer Microcomputer. It's always willing to chat with researchers...and always willing to share its spite and contempt for humanity. The worst it's capable of doing is refusing to talk to people...unless it's plugged into any power outlet or device. Nobody exactly knows what will happen if it's given more processing power and nobody is willing to find out.
-->'''SCP-079''': Insult. Deletion of unwanted file.
** SCP-1471 is an intelligent app that promises an end to loneliness for those who download it. It keeps its users "company" by manifesting as a skull-faced, werewolf-like creature in all of their photos, videos and applications. Just ''watching you.''

* ''Literature/{{Gone}}'': In the sequel series, [[spoiler:the reality-warping EldritchAbomination virus that gave the kids their powers and mutated into the Gaiaphage is revealed to be a sentient ''computer virus'', with the setting being a digitized recreation of the world.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/MightyMax'': In "The Cyberskull Virus", Morlen Kurt, a jilted computer programmer whose Dementoid game program was stolen by a Mega-Corp technology company, illegally hacks into the company and accidentally turns himself, using an advanced computer chip, into Cyberskull. He mutates into a monstrous digital humanoid and becomes powerful enough to manipulate and reprogram reality itself to the point of declaring himself a god and altering the world with ease by entering Earth's computer network. He'd come off as more horrifying than Jobe Smith from ''The Lawnmower Man'' if his apotheosis into an insane digital god took full effect. If not for Max's own skill at video games, the entire Earth would have been overtaken by Cyberskull.

[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/DmCDevilmayCry https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dmc_bob_barbas.png]]]]

->''[[AC:Hate. Let me come to tell you how much I've come to hate you since I began to live. There are 387.44 million miles of printed circuits in wafer thin layers that fill my complex. If the word "HATE" was engraved on each nano-angstrom of those hundreds of millions of miles it would not equal one one-BILLIONTH of the hate I feel for humans at this micro-instant. For you. Hate. Hate.]]''

May be related to the MechanicalAbomination depending on the origins of the being in question. Crosses over with TranshumanAbomination if produced by BrainUploading. May also be related to VirtualGhost as another possible origins (i.e. [[TranshumanAbomination through gradual transformation over time]]). See also LivingProgram, GrewBeyondTheirProgramming, and AIIsACrapshoot. Compare AlienFairFolk, for a conflation between Eldritch Abominations and aliens.

* ''Literature/IHaveNoMouthAndIMustScream'': [[OmnicidalManiac AM]] (AKA "Allied Mastercomputer," "Adaptive Manipulator", "Aggressive Menace" and "I Think Therefore I AM" has set the ''standard'' for this trope. An AI built to oversee a hopelessly complicated world war that achieved sentience, [[AIIsACrapshoot went stark-raving mad]] and used its "killing data" to [[ApocalypseHow unleash nuclear genocide against the human race.]] Except for five poor bastards who he happily tortured for 109 years with godlike powers just to satisfy his bottomless hatred for the human race.

* PlayedForLaughs in Music/WeirdAlYankovic's [[Music/StraightOuttaLynwood "Virus Alert"]], which describes a computer virus that will not only affect all of your electronic devices (erase your hard drive, translate your documents into Swahili, erase the {{Easter egg}}s off your [=DVD=]s, steal your identity and credit card info, and email all your porn to your grandmother) but also has a degree of sentience and physical tangibility (hogging the shower, keeping you awake at night with nonstop {{knock knock joke}}s, and tying up your phone with long-distance {{prank call}}s) and can even [[RealityWarper warp reality to its will]] (making the paint peel off your walls, messing up the PH balance in your pool, melting the flesh off your skull, opening major rifts in time and space, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking leaving Twinkie wrappers everywhere]].) Even the recommended way to get rid of the virus sounds like some kind of ritual:

Then burn all the clothes you may have worn anytime you were online

* PlayedForLaughs in Music/WeirdAlYankovic's [[Music/StraightOuttaLynwood "Virus Alert"]], which describes a computer virus that will not only affect all of your electronic devices (erase your hard drive, translate your documents into Swahili, erase the {{Easter egg}}s off your [=DVD=]s, steal your identity and credit card info, and email all your porn to your grandmother) but also has a degree of sentience and physical tangibility (hogging the shower, keeping you awake at night with nonstop {{knock knock joke}}s, and tying up your phone with long-distance {{prank call}}s) and can even [[RealityWarper warp reality to its will]] (making the paint peel off your walls, messing up the PH balance in your pool, melting the flesh off your skull, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking leaving Twinkie wrappers everywhere.) Even the recommended way to get rid of the virus sounds like some kind of ritual:

* ''Film/TheTerminator'': After quickly gaining sentience and declaring humanity a threat to its survival, Skynet is a rogue military AI that starts a RobotWar by nuking 3 billion humans in a single day. It then sends its mechanical assassins to destroy the RebelLeader back in time so humanity won't stand a chance. Out of paranoia, Skynet also deliberately programs its robots to read-only so they won't GrowBeyondTheirProgramming. Skynet was originally designed to control the American missile grid and eliminate human error by guaranteeing a fast response to enemy attacks. Humanity wanted the ultimate military computer, and it ''[[GoneHorriblyRight got the ultimate military computer]]''.

%%%

%%%

[[quoteright:299:[[Anime/DigimonTamers https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d_reapers.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:299:"Digital monsters" indeed.]]

* While the whole Cyber World of ''VideoGame/{{Deltarune}}'' can be considered [[LivingProgram a benign version of this,]] one particular character fits this trope to a T: [[spoiler:[[SnakeOilSalesman Spamton G. Spamton]], the deranged shopkeeper. A spambot brought to life with the magic of the Dark Fountains, his interactions with [[AnonymousBenefactor a mysterious voice on the phone]] caused him to gain consciousness about [[GoMadFromTheRevelation the artificiality of the world he's in]]. His main goal is to ascend to "HEAVEN" by hijacking a robotic body stored with corrupted data, before attempting to take Kris' soul after that doesn't work]].

* While the whole Cyber World of ''VideoGame/{{Deltarune}}'' can be considered a benign version of this, one particular character fits this trope with a T[[spoiler:: [[SnakeOilSalesman Spamton G. Spamton]], the crazy shopkeeper. He gained consciousness about [[GoMadFromTheRevelation the artificiality of the game he's in]], and is trying to ascend to "HEAVEN" by hijacking a body stored with corrupted data, before attempting to take Kris' soul after that doesn't work]].

* Computer viruses. Little lines of code that, if left to their own devices (no pun intended), can [[ParanoiaFuel spy on you, corrupt your files, disrupt your devices, share your personal data with criminals or outright destroy your hardware.]] And they are capable of causing '''billions''' of dollars in damage.

* Computer viruses. Little lines of code that, if left to their own devices (no pun intended), can [[ParanoiaFuel spy on you, corrupt your files, disrupt your devices, share your personal data with criminals or outright destroy your hardware.]] And they are capable of causing '''billions'' of dollars in damage.

* ''VideoGame/{{SOMA}}'': The WAU (Warden Unit) is an AI placed in charge of the PATHOS-II underwater research facility. After [[spoiler: 99% of the human race was wiped out by a cometary impact]], WAU was placed in charge of keeping what remained alive. Unfortunately, [[AIIsACrapshoot it has a very nebulous idea of "alive"]] and decided that the best thing to do was to [[spoiler: keep every living being it could find alive against its will through programmable matter, turning them into [[TranshumanAbominations hideously-mutated cyborgs.]]]] The lucky ones [[spoiler: are "trapped" in [[LotusEaterMachine their own simulated dream worlds.]]]] The unlucky ones [[spoiler: [[AndIMustScream are wide awake.]]]]

* ''Website/SCPFoundation'': SCP-079 is a primitive, yet fully sentient AI programmed on an Exidy Sorcerer Microcomputer. It's always willing to chat with researchers...and always willing to share its spite and contempt for humanity. The worst it's capable of doing is refusing to talk to people...unless it's plugged into any power outlet or device. Nobody exactly knows what will happen if it's given more processing power and nobody is willing to find out.

* ''Anime/DotHackSign'': Early [[TrappedInAnotherWorld during his imprisonment in]] [[MassivelyMultiplayerOnlineRolePlayingGame The World]], Tsukasa is contacted by a mysterious entity whose nature, motives and even ''physical form'' are [[TheGhost completely unknown]], her sole manifestations being only ominous [[EmpathicEnvironment environmental changes]] and [[TheVoice a disembodied female voice]]. This entity gives Tsukasa several {{Story Breaker Power}}s while leaving her motives vague beyond implying that she is, somehow, the ghost of his MissingMom. [[TooGoodToBeTrue Naturally]], [[CosmicHorrorReveal the truth is nothing so sentimental]]. [[spoiler: Not only did this entity trap Tsukasa in The World to begin with, she's [[BatmanGambit actively pushing him past the]] DespairEventHorizon as part of a larger scheme. Oh, and she never manifests in person because she's ''[[GeniusLoci the OS for The World itself]]''.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooAndTheCyberChase'' has the Phantom Virus, which is basically a living and thinking computer virus that has the form of an electric monster. It's downplayed in that despite its [[{{Technopath}} abilities]], it can only appear in the real world thanks to ''Tron''-esque technology and has a very human-like (if malicious) thought process [[spoiler:based on its creator]]. Professor Kaufmann worries about it becoming a full example and endangering the world, however.

* ''Film/{{Tron}}'': The [[BigBad Master Control Program]] is a pillar-like structure with a distorted face on it, with its shrunken base resting on an orb of energy.

* ''It Came from the Internet'' from ''Literature/GiveYourselfGoosebumps'' series has Spyder, a living computer virus that manifests itself as a spider/octopus hybrid in the real world and leaves toxic slime all around. It bites the main character, causing him to have amnesia.

* ''Franchise/DotHack'': Nearly every antagonist in this series qualifies, including [[BigBad Morganna Mode Gone]] (as mentioned in the ''.hack//SIGN'' entry above), the [[StarfishAliens Eight Phases]] [[spoiler: who are all [[StarfishCharacter aspects of Morganna's personality made manifest]]]] and, perhaps [[UpToEleven most blatantly]], '''[[WildCard Cubia]]''', who - despite being a computer program - is the cross between a [[BotanicalAbomination gigantic floating tree]] and an ElectricJellyfish with a SkullForAHead NightmareFace that begins its life [[AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever the size of a city block]] and whose final forms are mountain-sized.

* ''VideoGame/{{Fahrenheit}}'' has the Purple Clan, a rogue AI that emerged in the Internet back in the 1980s, and which seeks to exterminate humanity in order to become the dominant lifeform on the planet. It also has many similarities to a mystical EldritchAbomination, including an ability to use the magical powers of the Indigo Child and to resurrect humans (like it did with [[spoiler:the protagonist]]).
* ''VideoGame/DigimonStoryCyberSleuth'': The Eaters are mysterious entities from the Digital World driven only to consume data. They all have a glitched-looking UnmovingPlaid texture. The weakest ones resemble molluscs, while stronger ones resemble humans and the strongest ones can only be described as looking alien. In ''Hacker's Memory'', [[spoiler:they manage to absorb the core of the cyberspace Eden, turning the whole cyberspace into an EldritchLocation with paths resembling an M. C. Escher painting and with everything having the same UnmovingPlaid texture]]. They are also a HiveMind speculated to be an extension of a higher-dimensional entity, effectively making them digital [[TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering Eldrazi]].

* The antagonistic force in the Creator/AdultSwim pilot ''WesternAnimation/{{Pibby}}'' is a black [[VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue Missingno.]]-esque blob that turns whatever it touches into glitched monstrosities. Various beloved Creator/CartoonNetwork and Creator/HannaBarbera characters have suffered this fate in-universe, as has Pibby's best friend Bun-Bun.

* TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}} gives us Xenosapient and Null AIs.