History Main / VideoGameCrueltyPotential

* Deconstructively parodied by ''Website/CollegeHumor'' in "[[http://www.collegehumor.com/video/5665288/the-sims-horror-movie The Sims Horror Movie]]" trailer. The characters are plagued the same way as is possible in the game: drowning them by removing the pool ladder, keeping the police out with a waist-high fence, blocking the exits with furniture, and keeping them deprived of food and sleep.

* When the ''VideoGame/{{Walker}}'' does enough damage to an enemy helicopter, he may choose to stop firing and watch the pilot desperately struggle with his crippled machine. Eventually, the helicopter will come down and explode, sending the screaming pilot in the air.

'''Aeris:''' You’re a '''monster''' and you’re going straight to Hell.

* In the original ''VideoGame/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.

* In ''VideoGame/GoldenEye1997'', killing scientists or civilians will result in mission failue.

* Yahtzee of ''WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation'' is a big fan of this, and believes firmly that it's a normal part of gaming to take the most damaging possible action. He credits it simply to subversiveness -- if a game is trying to make the character out to be TheMessiah or a ReluctantHero, then having them instead [[ForTheEvulz shoot their friends and run over old women]] is inherently hilarious. Examples he's given include drowning VideoGame/TheSims, [[WreakingHavok shoving physics objects into faces]] during scripted cutscenes in ''VideoGame/HalfLife'', and eating people's spouses before murdering them in ''VideoGame/{{Prototype}}''. Ironically, he's usually bored by games that try to ''encourage'' this, such as ''VideoGame/{{Overlord}}'', simply because it's not fun to do it when the game demands you do it.

* Josh from ''LetsPlay/LetsGameItOut'' 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.

* ''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.

** One ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' episode features Tuvok strangling a hologram of Neelix to death.

*** Another episode centers around a HolodeckMalfunction with a ''Film/JamesBond'' theme. In order to buy time so they can rescue the crew, Bashir pushes the "submerge the world" button, drowning all but the highest mountaintops. Everyone is just shocked at this, including the villain who was planning on doing it.
** ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': After Data inexplicably experiences anger during a fight with a Borg drone, he creates a Holodeck program where he kills the drone repeatedly in an attempt to replicate the emotion.
** In a very intentional case, Seska sabotages the Holodeck into a death trap that reprogrammed itself to torture its occupants.

* ''ComicStrip/FoxTrot''

* 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.
* PlayedForLaughs in Chapter 4/Episode 2 of ''LightNovel/{{Haganai}}''. While playing "Tokimeite Memorial Days", Yozora and Sena agreed -- [[SitcomArchnemesis for once]] -- to court shy Yukiko Nagata, while they keep shooting down overtures by Akari Fujibayashi, whom they deem a BitchInSheepsClothing just because she's proactive, with the most cruel options. [[GenreSavvy Kodaka]] is none too amused. Their choices come back to [[LaserGuidedKarma bite them in the ass]] when VideoGameCrueltyPunishment kicks in and rumors that their protagonist, "Semoponume Kashiwazaki", was a HeManWomanHater became so widespread -- whose spread [[ComicallyMissingThePoint Yozora and Sena directly attribute to Akari]] -- Yukiko eventually shot him down. They ultimately got a DownerEnding so depressing [[SeriousBusiness Sena breaks down crying, while Yozora storms out of the clubroom threatening to kill Akari]].

* ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnline'':
** The Laughing Coffin guild build up a reputation as [[PlayerKilling Player Killers]]. Despite full knowledge that [[TheMostDangerousVideoGame killing players in the game also kills them in real life]], they do so anyway, and revel in it.
** Sugou Nobuyuki is even worse. He sees being in the virtual world of ALO as the perfect excuse to be a sadistic bastard, conducting inhumane MindControl experiments on players and making numerous attempts to sexually assault Asuna, before going for full-on AttemptedRape. All in all, Sugou is every bit a CardCarryingVillain, and revels in being able to do all the things in ALO that would see him ostracized in real life.

* In ''VideoGame/TheIncredibles'', the first few levels have Mr. Incredible fighting jewel thieves on the rooftops of the city. It's quite possible to grab the jewel thieves and throw them off the roof to [[DisneyVillainDeath fall to a horrible death]]. Keep in mind that this is a Pixar movie.

* The original ''VideoGame/JakAndDaxter'' game went so far as to make ''all the [=NPCs=] invulnerable'' to avoid this. Of course, this was before ''[[VideoGame/JakIIRenegade Renegade]]'' sent it DarkerAndEdgier.
* The third ''VideoGame/SpyroTheDragon'' game allows the player to attack the natives they talk to and most of them will get a reaction to physical impact.