Strawman Has a Point/Video Games: Difference between revisions

 

* Dr. Breen's speech in the early levels of ''[[Half-Life]] 2'' raises an interesting point about the nature of immortality and the responsibilities it brings. This may actually have been the writers' intention, as it's common for villains to [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|use reasonable arguments to justify unreasonable actions]], even in [[Real Life]]. All is moot on the ground that he's working for an interdimensional empire that has killed and enslaved countless billions and drain Earth (and many other worlds) of much of its natural resources, oh yeah and suppressed breeding. On the other hand, it's hinted that if Breen hadn't arranged for Earth's surrender, the Combine would have completely wiped out humanity. Whether Breen is a sycophantic power-hungry [[The Quisling|quisling]] or a deluded guy who honestly believes his propaganda about the "Universal Union" that the Combine bring is [[Alternative Character Interpretation|a subject of much debate]].

* ''[[Mass Effect]]'':

** Cerberus is a [[Fantastic Racism|human-centric]] organization which employs [[Utopia Justifies the Means|"whatever it takes" methods]] for their vision of a [[Humanity Is Superior|human-dominant galaxy]]. Throughout the entire series, players encounter many Cerberus installations which conduct brutal, horrific experiments that have [[Gone Horribly Wrong]] (or [[Gone Horribly Right]]). However, some of these experiments, such as the "Lazarus Project", leads to the [[Back From the Dead|revival]] of series protagonist, Commander Shepard. Also, other cases of these experiments, such as Project Overlord, the Reaper IFF survey group, and many others, are all done with the intention of stopping a fleet of [[Cosmic Horror]]s from invading the galaxy and causing an [[Apocalypse How|X-3 Class extinction]]. While there are ''plenty'' of instances where Cerberus crosses the line (they ''are'' [[Straw Evil]] in many ways), no one can deny that many of their insane actions cross into [[Crazy Prepared]] and [[Properly Paranoid]] territory and that the galaxy would have been doomed if they hadn't been around.

** Even a Paragon Shepard doesn't disagree with Cerberus's specific goal of stopping the Reapers, s/he simply disagrees with the ''brutal'' utilitarianism with which they try to achieve it. Paragon Shepard doesn't even try to deny that the {{spoiler|Collector Base will help in the fight against the Reapers,}} but that to use it would be unethical:

{{quote|'''Shepard''': [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|We'll fight and win without it.]] [[Shut UP, Hannibal|I won't let fear compromise who I am.]]}}

*** And, Mass Effect 3 reveals that their work in attempting to reverse-engineer Reaper components did indeed only lead to Cerberus becoming indoctrinated and serving as a pawn of the Reapers. Paragon Shepard was right.

** Even though the [[Mad Scientist]] responsible for the disaster in the "Overlord" DLC tries to make a point, his treatment of {{spoiler|his autistic brother is so monstrous that the ''Paragon'' option is to smash him in the face, and very few players will have anything but hatred for the bastard.}} However, his statement that if his work spares "a million mothers from mourning a million sons" he'll be content is never actually addressed. While this is by no means a solid argument, his point is rejected out of hand rather than argued against, leaving open the possibility that he might be proven right. {{spoiler|The game actually spares us from this moral conundrum by having Legion show us that the Geth are not actually hostile, and that if you want to understand them, you only need to ask. Consequently, the experiments and torture were all for nothing, but there is no way Dr Archer could have known that.}}

* ''[[Bully (video game)|Bully]]'' features a feud between the Math and English teachers. Mr. Hattrick, the Math teacher, is a tyrannical monster who uses his wealth and connections to bully both the students and the other teachers with impunity, whereas Mr. Galloway, the English teacher, is kind and mild mannered, and has been bullied by Hattrick for so long that he's turned to alcoholism. The problem here is that Galloway actually shows up to class hung over and even drinks during school hours. Hattrick catches him at it and tries to get him fired. The game itself presents it as [[Black and White Morality|Hattrick Wrong Galloway Right]] because it fits in with its themes (In particular, that people in positions of authority are oblivious to what is and isn't actually [[Harmful to Minors]]; the students are aware that Galloway drinks, but it doesn't offend them or encourage them to drink themselves, while Hattrick is a classist bully who maintains a clear-cut appearance to keep anyone from suspecting him). But, regardless of the reason he's drinking, firing a teacher who shows up to teach drunk makes more sense than just brushing it off as "a chap can have a drink when he bloody well wants". In [[Real Life]], any teacher who did that would be in serious trouble.

* As time goes on in the ''[[Mega Man X]]'' series, the games start leaning heavily on the idea that it's far more the mistrust of the humans and the trigger-happiness of the Maverick Hunters that are causing everything to go wrong than it is because of the Mavericks themselves. But considering that Mavericks, both infected and free-willed, have started multiple genocidal wars because they have a gross misunderstanding on [[The Social Darwinist|how evolution works]] or are [[Axe Crazy|flat-out insane]], or [[Be as Unhelpful as Possible|find the act of provoking a shooting war to be preferable to clearing their own names]] for the sake of [[Honor Before Reason|honor]], is it really any wonder that the population at large doesn't trust them?

* Used deliberately in ''[[Pokémon Black and White]]'', since the plot is a [[Decon Recon Switch]] of the "cute monster pitfighting" premise. The enemy Team is a [[Animal Wrongs Group|Pokemon rights group]] trying to have said pitfighting activity banned as abuse. By, you know, [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|mugging Trainers]]. Some members are portrayed as ''extremely'' sympathetic, along with their {{spoiler|figurehead}} leader, who is recognized as a hero by the [[Powers That Be]] for his efforts in Pokemon liberation. The others [[Kick the Dog|kick wild Munna]].

** Team Plasma's perspective on things is even more understandable if you play by a [[Self-Imposed Challenge]] whose rules dictate your Pokemon are ''[[Killed Off for Real]]'' if they get KO'd, such as the Nuzlocke Challenge.