Operator Incompatibility: Difference between revisions

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* In the [[Liaden Universe]], Val Con, a guy who's around 5'5, tries to operate a spaceship designed for a larger species of human. He gets seriously injured from this.

* One of the characters in [[Harry Turtledove]]'s [[Worldwar]] books is Kassquit, a human woman raised by the alien, lizardlike Race. She must wear artificial "fingerclaws" to be able to use the Race's computers.

* The ''[[My Teacher Is an Alien]]'' series involves thousands of alien species living peacefully on one massive space station. This leads to some rather complex issues--for example, when the human protagonist first needs to use a bathroom he has to answer a series of rather personal questions to the computer, causing serious discomfort before he finds a toilet that will actually work for his anatomy.

* Similar to the situation in ''The Colors of Space'', the Tyr in C S Friedman's ''The Madness Season'' claim that FTL travel can only be performed by them because the method that they use causes a state of absolute terror for any other living thing in hyperspace. {{spoiler|It is later uncovered that there is more than one method of FTL travel, but the Tyr suppressed those in order to maintain control of the galaxy.}}

* In Anne Mason's ''The Stolen Law'', Vallusians have six fingers on each hand. This leaves our human protagonist unable to work the gun they want her to train with; more seriously, when an important piece of technology is sabotaged, it reveals the existence of a Vallusian traitor, as none of the other known races would have been capable of manipulating the necessary controls.

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== [[Tabletop RPG]] ==

* ''[[Call of Cthulhu]]'' supplement ''Terror from the Stars''. The Mi-Go have a [[Lightning Gun]] which they fire by grasping it and altering its electrical resistance. Humans who want to fire it have to clip one of its wires.

* ''[[Call of Cthulhu (tabletop game)]]'' supplement ''Terror from the Stars''. The Mi-Go have a [[Lightning Gun]] which they fire by grasping it and altering its electrical resistance. Humans who want to fire it have to clip one of its wires.

* ''The Mechanoids'' from Palladium Books features telekinetic aliens. Their devices usually have the activation switches on the inside of the casing for a cleaner look. Human intruders who want to, say, use the elevator have to saw a hole and flip the switch manually.