Times where somebody is punished for not picking a side in Video Games.
- In Civilization 4, if you try to remain neutral and not ally with other countries involved in a war with each other, they'll get mad at you, causing your reputation with both countries to go down and making it more likely that either of them (or worse, both) will attack you in the future.
- Played for Laughs in Disco Elysium, where repeatedly stating you have no opinion or take no side in the ideological frictions between Revanchol's communists, neoliberals and nationalists grants the player the achievement "world's most laughable centrist".
- Played with in Dragon Age II, in that one of these technically kicks off a war rather than occurring afterwards. Grand Cleric Elthina is seen by some as a voice of moderation in Mage-Templar tensions, and by others as an enabler who refuses to actually do anything about abuses committed by people under her authority. In the game's climax, one of the latter camp vaporizes the entire Chantry with her inside it.
- The Elder Scrolls:
- The Hist, a race of ancient, sentient, and possibly omniscient trees chose to be neutral during the Dawn Era "War of the Ehlnofey". Despite their neutrality, much of their realm was destroyed in the conflict. Their modern home of Black Marsh is said to be a fragment of their realm which survived.
- In the backstory, after using Numidium to complete his conquest of Tamriel, Emperor Tiber Septim began using it to destroy the neutral ruling families of the provinces in order to enthrone those he knew to be be loyal. The mysterious figure known as the Underking took action and attempted to reclaim the power source of Numidium (the Mantella) to stop Septim, but caused an explosion which badly damaged Numidium and flung the Mantella into Aetherius. Part of the main quest of Daggerfall involves getting it back.
- In Skyrim Jarl Balgruuf attempts to remain neutral in the conflict between the Imperials and the Stormcloaks, but the city winds up subject to a siege regardless and, depending on which side you pick, Balgruuf may wind up losing his position.
- Played with in EndWar. Britain... Uh, sorry, the "New Commonwealth", had pretensions to be neutral in the outbreak of World War III, but then allowed European Federation troops to garrison the ICBM-shield Uplink clusters on British soil. After that, all bets are off, and Britain is now fighting for survival alongside the other European nations. Averted by Israel, who manage to remain neutral throughout the war with no lasting repercussions.
- Final Fantasy:
- This happens to Narshe in Final Fantasy VI. The snowy town insists on remaining neutral early in the game, which results in an invasion from The Empire. After that point they side with the Returners.
- In Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, when the Empire finally goes on the offensive and the Grand Alliance is forced to mobilize, Ul'dah, Limsa Lominsa, and Gridania call for aid from the fellow Eorzean city-state of Ishgard. The Ishgardians, however, are occupied in a holy war against all of dragonkind, and the city's theocratic rulers refuse to help. This created much ill will, with Ul'dah's representative being particularly bitter that Ishgard's crusade takes precedence over The Empire bearing down on the whole of Eorzea. At one point in 2.4, one of your allies insists to the alliance that they must assist Ishgard, only for him to be told that the alliance has their own problems with the empire and the beastmen and they can't spare any more soldiers (making this an Ironic Echo). Ishgard slowly comes to terms that they need to aid their allies and they becomes the player character's greatest ally when they slay a monstrous dragon threatening their city and granting them asylum after the player is falsely accused of murdering a political figure. Throughout the story in the 3.0 series, Ishgard reunites itself with the Grand Alliance, finally joining their cause instead of sitting by the sidelines, and the other city-states are very happy to welcome them back.
- Fire Emblem:
- In Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, Dragon King Dheginsea stubbornly tries to have the country of Goldoa remain neutral for 1,000 years to satisfy the terms of the covenant with the goddess Ashera. He ends up having one of his children killed and another one forced into exile because of his insistence on neutrality.
- Subverted in Fire Emblem Fates. The Revelation path, where the protagonist refuses to side with either kingdom, ultimately results in the happiest ending of all three routes and is the only one where all the royal siblings live, and the only one where the real Big Bad is fought. However, it does start out with both families angry and confused about Corrin's choice. In fact, Xander, crown prince of Nohr, is even more upset about Corrin staying neutral than joining with Hoshido, since while he could understand Corrin going back to their birth family, he doesn't understand why Corrin would fight both nations.
- In Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Claude attempts to stay neutral after the timeskip, orchestrating internal struggles in the Leicester Alliance in order to maintain the facade of being too busy to join in the war between the Adrestian Empire and the Kingdom of Faerghus/Church of Seiros. This works for a little while but backfires on him when the Empire decides to attempt to steamroll the Alliance to get to the Kingdom as Edelgard by her own admittance doesn't trust Claude due to her knowledge of his duplicitous nature to not backstab her while she's at her most vulnerable trying to take out the Kingdom/Church, resulting in Claude joining the war, leaving Fódlan, or dying depending on the choices you make.
- Knights of the Old Republic features the planet Manaan, which declared neutrality in the war between the Sith Empire and the Republic because their world is the only one in the galaxy that can manufacture kolto, the primary healing solution that both sides use to treat their wounded. Neither side is happy about this, but the Selkath defend their neutrality aggressively (a fight between groups of soldiers is once defused because if anyone takes a swing they'll all be arrested, and at one point a court case is decided that both sides will pay reparations after a fight breaks out). This turns out badly for them after the war, when bacta is discovered to be better than kolto, so the Selkath's economy collapses since they aren't needed anymore.
- Upgraded in Star Wars: The Old Republic, where they are neutral on paper, but due to the Empire carpet-bombing their planet, entered into the Rift Alliance, which allied with the Republic due to the actions of the Jedi Consular. Their representative, and possibly other members of their government, are actually aligned with the Star Cabal, which would just as soon see both superpowers destroyed.
- In a Vision Quest in Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, Atton and the rest of your party confronts Kreia, a Manipulative Bastard. You can either take the side of Atton or Kreia, or say you won't defend nor attack Kreia. Both Kreia and the party react badly, each saying "Apathy is death" before attacking you.Kreia: "So you will do nothing? Apathy is death. Worse than death, because at least a rotting corpse feeds the beasts and insects."
- In Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire, the player can reach the endgame by siding with one of four morally dubious factions, or upgrade their ship and go it alone. While all four of the factions have flaws and ask the player to stain their conscience, the chaos that's left in the wake of the player ignoring the other factions and going it alone is greater still.
- Another very bitter part of Shin Megami Tensei games. The Order Versus Chaos war that forms the core conflict of every game and the Vicious Cycles of Full Circle Revolutions mean both sides are going to be baying for your blood should you refuse to outright ally with them. This especially hits the Neutral heroes of the series. The Heroine of Shin Megami Tensei I ends up suffering a Trauma Conga Line and only really gets closure in the Neutral ending. And the less said of Isabeau from IV if you pick the Chaos or Law sides, the better. On the other hand, surviving the backlash usually nets you the closest thing to a happy ending you can get.
- In Devil Survivor 2 Daichi insists against using Brainwashing for the Greater Good, but gets (rightly) criticised for not having an alternative plan. If you choose Daichi's Way, he ends up with an Esoteric Happy Ending. But if you play your cards right, you can get the closest thing to a Golden Ending instead, playing into the series wide idea that neutrality is hard.
- In Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne, the Demi-fiend has the option to reject all the Reasons and not gather the menorahs for The Old Gentleman. However, if he doesn't play his cards right, then he'll "create" a stillborn world ruled by demons. The final boss won't even look his way if he doesn't back a Reason or gather the menorahs.
- In Star Trek Online, this is the fate of the Romulan player - he/she refuses to get involved with everything going on and live a peaceful life in another world away from the wars going on. Then, the Elachi and the Tal Shiar descend on his planet and ravage it.
- Telltale Games, particularly with their The Walking Dead series, utterly loves to rub this in the face of players who try to always take the neutral ground. When two sides are arguing you always have the option to try and take the middle ground or at least remain silent, and you will be called out on it if you keep it up. Not to mention, doing this tends to result in the most deaths and the least number of people on your side, since you're never willing to stick your neck out or stand up for anyone else. For one final coffin in the nail, players who think they can get away with always taking the neutral ground tend to get a cruel Player Punch when one of the life-or-death "pick one of two choices with equally bad consequences" pops up.
- Total War: Shogun 2 has your daimyo get points detracted from their honor if you refuse to come to an allies aid in a war (declaring war on the faction they are against).
- Warcraft: Genn Greymane, the king of Gilneas, refused to help the Alliance retake Azeroth/Stormwind from the Horde, though they did second-line actions in the campaign against the rogue human nation of Alterac. When Lordaeron was overrun by the undead, he bricked up his entire city behind a giant wall. Then the werewolves came...
