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What Measure Is a Non-Human?/Video Games: Difference between revisions
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* In ''[[Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri]]'', it is against the "rules of war" to use nerve gas on your enemies; doing so will earn you the ire of all the other factions. But in the ''Alien Crossfire'' expansion, nobody bats an eyelash if you use the nerve gas on the Progenitor (non-human) factions (still, the Progenitor factions feel the same way toward humans, so this may explain things).
** The "rules of war" in SMAC are a mutually agreed upon set of regulations that can be disbanded by 67% majority vote. The Progenitors have never signed the treaty, and do therefore not fall under its protection. Additionally, most CPU factions will push to remove the regulations if they ever think it will benefit them.
* Console [[RPG
** On the '''other''' hand, we see a number of more or less unique defeated enemies (only occasionally mini-bosses, like Biggs and Wedge) return to attack the players again (likewise with the Turks in FFVII, though they were all humans). So we can assume that defeated enemies are [[Only Mostly Dead|not quite as dead as they seem]]. This still doesn't make all the enemies you supposedly 'knock out' and leave behind when escaping the inevitable base on a self-destruct countdown any less dead though.
** Possibly purposefully used in Crisis Core ''[[Final Fantasy]] VII'' {{spoiler|by Zack's mentor Angeal, when he purposefully turns himself into a monstrous form in order to force Zack to kill him, after Zack proves reluctant to even fight back against him in his human form. However, he changes back before dying and Zack is completely devastated regardless, so it doesn't exactly suggest that he was worth less because of it}}.
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* [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] in ''[[Tales of Symphonia]]'' in a z-skit between Genis and Regal - because he's hurt and killed dozens, if not hundreds, of humans and half-elves in [[Random Encounters|self-defence]], Genis is unwilling to hate Regal purely for being an admitted murderer.
** It is also played straight numerous times throughout the game. Half-Elves are hated by humans for just not being human, and also by the Elves for not being elves. And then the [[Chosen One|Chosen]] who are treated badly for nothing more than being born with a [[Powered by a Forsaken Child|Cruxis]] [[Green Rocks|Crystal]] in their hand. (Mind you, this is related to the [[Big Bad]]'s plan.)
*** Of particular note, the [[Break the Cutie|treatment of Colette]] [[Humans Are
* ''[[Dragon Quest]]'' games (from ''[[Dragon Quest IV]]'' on) elevate the monsters from dangerous animals to intelligent (sometimes) creatures that can learn human language, work with humans, and in some games form towns, thus making this trope painfully obvious. Retooling the entire game system to avoid it doesn't appear likely, though, especially since it treats the vanishingly rare human enemies the same way.
** One of the worst examples is in ''[[Dragon Quest Monsters]]: Joker'', where the main character and his monster partner hesitate to fight the [[Big Bad]] because he's human. Then, as soon as he goes [[One-Winged Angel]] and transforms into a monster, the main character's partner says something that roughly means "He's not even human anymore! It's okay to kill him now!" It's a bit strange to hear a monster saying that, since it's eventually evoking this trope on ''itself'' by saying it's fine and dandy to kill monsters.
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** Likely the innate human fear of creepy crawly things is why bugs are # 1 bad guys in games.
* The [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|H.A.M. Cult]] ([[Fun with Acronyms|Humans Against Monsters]]) in ''[[Runescape]]'' practically embodies this trope. They believe that all non-humans are savage beasts and must be destroyed. Among their atrocities are trying to {{spoiler|[[Moral Event Horizon|cause the extinction of a benevolent race of cave goblins by flooding their underground city]]}} and creating a race of undead ogres in order to spread disease.<ref>The previous example on this page was moved to "[[What Measure Is a Mook?]]"</ref>
* The [[First-Person Shooter]] ''F.E.A.R.'' has both clone supersoldiers and the occasional normal security guard as enemies. Despite the latter being realistically much weaker and easier to kill... they're inexplicably much harder to [[Ludicrous Gibs|gib]]
** Played with in the sequel, ''Project Origin'', where the disturbing nature of the Replica and the logistics and mentality of them comes into play. The Replica themselves are specifically stated as "disposable" and "easily replaced," and spend most of their lives sealed inside stasis tubes until activated - at which point they emerge, ready for combat, instantly. They are utterly and completely loyal to their missions and won't break even when flat-out terrified, which makes their existence disturbing and, in a way, almost ''sad.''
* ''[[Professor Layton and the Curious Village]]'' brings up this trope a small bit, right near the very end. {{spoiler|If the Golden Apple - the treasure, that is - is taken out of the village, all of the villagers will stop working and, effectively, die. Of course, Luke, Flora, and Layton don't lay a hand on it}}.
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* ''[[Persona 3]]'' uses it twice, with {{spoiler|Aegis and once with Ryoji.}} In the first example, it's an inversion, since {{spoiler|Aegis is questioning her life's worth as it compares to the humans on the team, who all consider her to be just as important as they are. This is driven home when she's repaired near the end of the game, and it's clear that the other members of the team wanted her back not just for her power in combat, but so that she would be back.}} The second may also be an inversion, {{spoiler|as it's a non-human character begging to be killed in order to spare the rest of the main characters from suffering. Doing so nets you a Nonstandard Game Over.}}
** Also in ''[[Persona 4]]'', one of your party members {{spoiler|(Teddie).}} is {{spoiler|A lonely shadow who took a more family friendly form and learned to speak so that he could be friends with humans (despite being a shadow he has to face his own shadow and later summons a persona).}}. After getting his persona he {{spoiler|gets a human form.}}.
** And don't forget you can avert combat with everyone in previous installments (the creatures of myth and legend and some just completely random looking) by talking to them. Well, except the humans in some installments,<ref>
* In ''[[Mega Man Battle Network]]'' the first game says Navis are not really sentient, they just follow their programing (that happens to be the same reason [[Chobits]] gives) {{spoiler|Megaman, being a [[Replacement Goldfish]] made from a human}} is, as is Bass, being [[Instant AI, Just Add Water|being born of the collective information on the internet]]. But latter games are not entirely consistent in the regard, treating them more and more human each game. In addition mentions of back up copies disappear after the 2nd game, making deletion a permanent ordeal, an obvious move to humanizing them.
** In ''[[Mega Man Star Force]]'', Geo deletes a Jammer with impunity until he finds out that he's a human merged with a virus. (He actually saved him from said virus, and he's just knocked out.)
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** [[Discussed Trope|Discussed]] in [[The Shattering Prelude to Cataclysm]]. Thrall becomes concerned that many of the up and coming warriors of the Horde their start fighting undead, and became desensitized to fighting so that they don't consider the consequences of fighting living opponents.
* This becomes one of the central issues in the ''[[Geneforge]]'' series. The Shapers treat their creations as living weapons, tools, or at best servants. Creatures who show too much intelligence or willfulness are frequently killed. Even the human Rebels who are supposedly fighting for the rights of creations are willing to use the less-intelligent creations as [[Mooks]].
* A bizarre application of this occurs in ''[[Avalon Code]]''. You can use the Judgment Link on mook-level monster enemies to juggle them in the
* In the Good ending of ''[[Phantasy Star]]'' Portable, {{spoiler|the only reason Vivienne isn't scrapped is because nobody knows what to label her as.}}
* This is the central theme of the ''[[Mega Man Zero]] series''. However, even it is guilty of using human aesthetics to garner sympathy for the key players. Like the X series before it, every reploid that isn't a mook looks almost indistinguishable from a human, with animal/more machine-like reploids attaining [[Mauve Shirt]] status at most.
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* The Space Pirates in the ''[[Metroid]]'' series were originally random space aliens with little backstory. The Prime trilogy, however, includes hundreds of pieces of flavor text on computers in their various research stations, explaining their hierarchy, society, and culture, and giving them a sense of purpose. In the third installment, Samus even {{spoiler|visits their homeworld}}.
** Which may well have been relegated into [[Canon Discontinuity]] after Other M, which specifically showed the Space Pirates as a mindless race that require a higher intellect (namely Mother Brain) to direct them, though this might only strictly apply to the Zebesian space pirates and not to others. Given that Sakamoto does not acknowledge the Prime series, this is a question that may never be resolved.
* ''[[Puzzle Quest]]: Galactrix'' has a mission in which you must obtain a present for a member of the Jahrwoxi leadership. The Jahrwoxi, being a scavenger race, have something of a blood feud with the Keck, an avian merchant race. The present suggested by the Jahrwoxi member of your crew is a Keck egg. First, you request one at their home planet, which your crew member laughs at you for, then tells you to go look at the trade station. The quest ends with you abducting a Keck egg, since none were for sale, and then delivering it personally, meaning you either just orphaned a kid and sold him into slavery, or just destroyed an entire family and fed Jahrwoxi leadership some [[Soylent Green]]. The notable parts are that nobody on your crew bats an eyelash, and it's a required quest to get to ANY end of the
* In ''[[Neverwinter Nights]]'' for Windows and Mac, you can go ahead and slaughter countless Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Halflings, Half-Elves, Orcs, Goblins, and other races in their hundreds. And that's not just the community created modules.
** Although the Big Bad of Chapters 1,2, and 3 are all human, the BIG Big Bad is a creepy Lizard-Woman.
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* Inverted in ''[[Cadillacs and Dinosaurs]]'' the arcade game. Humans can be blown up violently and gorily and the death of the one innocent human shown in the game doesn't get the same dramatic reaction from the hero(es) as does the death and imprisonment of several dinosaurs, who, for unknown reasons, will always simply return to their previous calm colors and walk away from any and all punishment you throw their way, up to and including firing an RPG directly at them. It's almost as if PETA had a hand in the game....
* This trope is the ''heart and soul'' of ''[[Nie R]]''. Massive spoilers ahead:
** On the one hand, you have the Shades: roughly humanoid (for the most part) creatures that look like darkness made solid, whose [[Black Speech]] sounds venomous and demonic, and which tend to attack travelers and are one of the many causes of the dwindling population of the world. However, {{spoiler|Shades are, in reality, the fragmented souls of the ''true'' humans that once inhabited Earth, and are actually called "Gestalts." They're sentient, they bleed and cry and feel pain and grief like any other person, and are human in every way except for their appearance and the abilities they possess due to their disembodied state. In fact, only "relapsed" Shades --those whose Gestalt process failed and ended up losing their sentience and memories-- turn hostile at all, and are pitied by both intelligent Gestalts as well as their caretakers. The only reason most Shades attack Nier and his party is because of ''self defense'' or the defense ''of their loved ones''}}. The player doesn't find any of this out until {{spoiler|[[New Game+]], where the ability to understand Shade-speech turns many "heroic" moments of the game into vicious [[Player Punch
** And on the other, we have the people of Nier's world, who {{spoiler|are actually mere replicas (actually named Replicants) of the bodies of those same humans that underwent the Gestalt process. In ancient times (read: our modern age) humans created Replicants as soulless vessels to be inhabited by Gestalts in the future, once the disease ravaging Earth had disappeared. Conveniently, since they were mindless ''things'', humans used Replicants as footsoldiers to exterminate their own enemies. And even long after all true humans had vanished or perished, specialized caretakers would continue to create Replicants to take care of menial tasks. Eventually, Replicants started developing their ''own'' sentience, and with it, culture and civilization. None of which matters to the caretakers, because when matters come to a head, they plan to forcefully reunite Gestalts and Replicants so the former take over the latter, which would either erase the Replicant's personality or "just" [[And I Must Scream|imprison it deep in their subconscious, with no chance of release]]}}.
** And on the other ''other'' hand, robots. Most of which ''are'' mindless security drones, but [[AI Is a Crapshoot|others...]] ''[[Robot Buddy|weren't]]''. You Bastard.
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