10 Bad Things Video Game Heroes Do
10 Bad Things Video Game Heroes Do
Top 10 Worst Things Done by Video Game Heroes
Wait, this is the good guy? Welcome to Mojoplays! Today we’ll be looking at the bad things Video Game Heroes do. In this video, we’ll be looking at the worst actions that video game protagonists often commit. We’re not talking about flippant psychopathic criminals like the ones found in “GTA.” No, these are the good guys - the characters that games specifically portray as the hero.
Not Listening to People
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Let’s start slow with an easy, “not so bad” personality trait - complete selfishness and a general dislike for the people around you. This often occurs in open world games wherein NPCs go on long, expository tangents about lore, history, characters, your objective - whatever. After a while, all this dialogue becomes gobbledygook (especially if it’s written in an uninteresting way), and you just walk away from them not taking anything in. What’s worse is when you start just skipping through the dialogue entirely as quickly as possible, completely interrupting the NPC. Talk about rude!
Generally Being a Nuisance
Open world games are glorious - it allows you to do whatever you want to do, even if the character is portrayed as this noble, heroic figure. Even the most quote-unquote harmless actions aren’t exactly harmless. Think the “Assassin’s Creed” series. Despite being the hero, there you are physically pushing through crowds of people who were just having a nice chat, climbing all over these gorgeous, historic buildings, and jumping into bales of hay from hundreds of feet in the air (likely sending hay flying in all directions in the process). Even when you’re not being a bad guy, you’re kind of being a bad guy.
Thieving
And if you’re not covering people in hay from your little stunt, you’re outright ruining livelihoods. Again, the beauty of open world games is allowing the player to do whatever it is they want to do. Including stealing. Despite being the Dragonborn - the saviour of all humanity - he’s not above taking items from some poor man trying to make an honest living. This is a really bad problem in loot-based games, as the “hero” can hog all the good loot, leaving the literal rusty scraps for everyone else. Maybe someone else needs one of those fifteen level-fifty swords!
Rile the Authorities
We can excuse this with “Grand Theft Auto,” where the entire point of the game is to be as psychopathic and remorseless as possible. We can even excuse it in story-based missions that force you to confront the authorities in some way. But what about any other time? Does the Dragonborn really need to slaughter every single one of the town’s guards because he stole someone’s wheel of cheese? No, not really. And aside from a little slap on the wrist and a miniscule fine, nothing typically comes of this behavior, either. It’s like the hero knows they can get away with it.
Turning NPCs Into Guinea Pigs
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So you just got some cool ability, like shooting lightning from your fingertips. What is there to do? Figure out how to use it in a safe and controlled manner? Of course not. You go to the first person you find and zap the literal life out of them. Bonus points for doing it around water to see if the game is “realistic” or whatever. Think of games like “BioShock” or “Infamous,” which utilize superhero-like powers. Within ten minutes of the first “BioShock” game, you’re zapping enemies with lightning and turning their heads to mushy pulp with a wrench. Talk about making an unwelcome entrance.
Animal Fighting
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It’s no secret that the “Pokémon” games are essentially allegories for animal fighting. OK, not really, but still, much has been written regarding the series’ problematic portrayal of animal abuse. Even PETA has directly gone after “Pokémon.” While this series is primarily meant for children, the heroic protagonists keep animals locked in a tiny little ball and force them to do battle. Yeah, they choose to live in the ball and fight or whatever, but at the end of the day, they’re still living in a ball and fighting. Choosing to live a crappy life doesn’t make that life any less crappy. At least it’s better than “Red Dead Redemption,” which allows you to literally set horses on fire.
Severely Injuring & Maiming People
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OK, maybe open world games allow you to craft antiheroes, even though the character is portrayed as a hero in the story. But what about games involving straight-laced, goody-two-shoes heroes like Batman and Spider-Man? These games are arguably just as brutal, but in a completely different way. Even though you never kill the bad guys, you still horrifically maim them by snapping bones clean in half, throwing them from ten story buildings, and shooting metal sewer grates at their heads at fifty miles an hour. Yeah, as if they don’t actually die from that. And the punishment doesn’t often fit the crime, either. Does a purse snatcher really deserve to be turned into a vegetable via flying manhole cover?
Invading Worlds
A surprising amount of video games sees the “hero” showing up and completely wrecking the status quo of a given location - even if the status quo deserves to be shaken up. We’ve already gone over “BioShock,” where you’re shooting lightning at the citizens of Rapture within ten minutes of being there. But what about the “Mario” games that see Mario literally invading worlds, stealing all their coins, and stomping on all the inhabitants? Or “Shadow of the Colossus,” which makes a point and a theme over Wander’s saviour complex. Or “Uncharted,” where Nathan just utterly destroys entire cities. Speaking of which…
Wanton Acts of Destruction
This applies not just to video games, but any action story - the good guy comes in, destroys an entire city and thousands of livelihoods, and walks away the hero. Sorry, what? Many games employ “environmental destruction,” ensuring that the heroes do as much damage as is humanly possible. Games like “Battlefield” and “Mercenaries” sell themselves on environmental destruction. “Uncharted 4” sees Nathan driving through a city, smashing cars, breaking fences, and using people’s houses as a launch pad. “Life Is Strange” takes this trope to the extreme, as Max sacrifices an entire city and every single one of its inhabitants to save her girlfriend. And she’s supposed to be the hero!?
Slaughter Hundreds of People
Jason from “Far Cry 3.” The protagonists of “BioShock.” Max Payne. Lara Croft. Nathan Drake. What do these characters have in common? For one, they are portrayed as the good guys of their respective stories. For another, they mercilessly slaughter hundreds, if not thousands, of people throughout the game. Yeah, the people they kill are technically the “bad guys,” but their body counts are still monumentally disturbing. The best part is when a game and character moralizes over killing a certain person, even though said character slaughtered their way through 563 goons to get there. So just remember - this man cutely playing video games with his wife has left behind a body count that puts any murderer to shame.
