History Main / CondemnedContestant

* The ''{{Tron}}'' universe has the Game Grid. Both movies, [[{{Tron20}} Tron 2.0]], the Betrayal comic...it's a nasty way to de-rez for the twisted entertainment of one's fellow Programs. The only time it ''wasn't'' lethal was when Flynn was running things.

* The [[RedShirt D-class personnel]] at the ''SCPFoundation''. Tested, experimented on, used as cannon fodder in as many ways as there are in the book (and making up a few new ones as it goes along), and (ex)terminated after a month. That is, until they run out of crooks and start bringing in fresh RedShirts from ''[[ParanoiaFuel the average populace]]''.

<<|CrimeAndPunishmentTropes|>>

* The gladiator games in AncientRome. Unlike in fiction, the Gladiators were [=POWs=], slaves, or criminals. Very few were actual willing contestants or Romans, though the Gladiators were probably really good at fighting if they lived past a week, fiction got that part right.
** Except that they only fought a few times a year. If they survived 3-5 years, they were let go.
*** They only ''fought'' a few times a year, they ''trained'' all year long.
**** There were also a few examples of gladiators who reached super-stardom, much like modern day footballers, and gained wealth and fame fighting men and beasts for (other people's) fun and profit. Definitely not the norm, but not unheard of either.
**** Which is why, incredibly enough, there are examples of men actually '''choosing''' this career.
**** And why showmanship was just as important than the killing. The more popular you were, the better chance you had to be spared when you were eventually defeated by someone. Emperors like Caligula actually lost popularity when they refused to spare the people's favorites.
**** According to a documentary I saw, that might have been unreliable, at least some gladiators started training in a gladiator school at a young age. After years of training they'd fight their first fight. Having spend so much time and money on the training (and the food and such), they were valuable and often didn't battle to the death. Of course you also got your share of convicted criminals that were expected to die in their first battle, death by animals usually. All in all it could be a relatively safe career for some of the gladiators, but by the time you're old enough to decide whether you want to be one or not, you're pretty much too old to start the training. According to the documentary, those that did the training were usually slaves from distant exotic lands to increase the spectacle. If you spend money importing a guy from hundreds or thousands of miles away and then spend years training him, you're not going to send him to the slaughter on his first battle. You let him slaughter others for a few years, make a nice profit and buy new ones. It's a business.

* A significant number of people in ''UnrealTournament'' are criminals trying to earn their freedom. It's outright stated that [[MegaCorp Liandri]] prefers using convicts in the matches because they already have combat experience and are willing to go to any length in order to win which makes the match [[BloodSport even more interesting to the spectators]].

* In ''KillerInstinct'', Cinder is a convict who is transformed into a flame-being by Ultratech and is promised freedom if he destroys [[AnIcePerson Glacius]].

* The {{Tron}} universe has the Game Grid. Both movies, [[{{Tron20}} Tron 2.0]], the Betrayal comic...it's a nasty way to de-rez for the twisted entertainment of one's fellow Programs. The only time it ''wasn't'' lethal was when Flynn was running things.

* ''TheOuterLimits'' episode "Judgment Day", where the criminals are hunted down by the families of those they murdered. [[spoiler: The protagonist manages to prove that the show's producer had framed him to get ratings. The episode ends with to producer sentenced to be hunted.]]

* It is not done by any official authority, but in C.R.Jahn's ''Underground,'' junkies and such are kidnapped by the mob, and forced to fight in gladiator battles.

*** To be fair, ''some'' of the criminals brainwashed are some of the worst scum in the galaxy. One female soldier remarks that she would lure men back to her house with the promise of sex, then lock them in her basement and torture them for days before [[NightmareFuel skinning them alive]]. And these are the Marines. The reapers mentioned above are the criminals that are so violent that they can resist the process, and are sent to a remote ice-planet for an even more intense (and lethal) brainwashing curriculum. That said, the 'criminal scum' in the Marines include such scum as non-violent political dissidents and protestors, and, at least during the Confederacy, kidnapped Fringe Worlders.

* A significant number of people in ''UnrealTournament'' are criminals trying to earn their freedom.

* ''TheRunningMan'', here the cons were all political dissidents. Naturally Arnie and his love interest are framed innocents; Arnold for refusing to open fire on innocent civilians (which is ironically what he is then framed for doing) and the girl for trying to expose the coverup. It also turns out that [[spoiler: no-one ever wins, the three winners were killed secretly and their appearances faked using video editing.]]

Being found guilty of a crime grave enough to merit imprisonment, a life sentence or death row tends to make people less sympathetic to your situation in life, such as is left. This is why cons are on a ''very'' short list of AcceptableTargets for a whole slew of not nice things; and in fiction, there are ''plenty'' of these not nice things. Military conscription, medical experiments, {{Blood Sport}}s, {{Deadly Game}}s, HumanSacrifice, the list goes on and on.

* DeadmanWonderland is this trope personified.

* In ''{{Virtuosity}}'' convicts are used to test the new (and inadvertently deadly) VR police training system. The hero is an ex-cop who in a break from the norm is actually guilty of the crime he was imprisoned for, although there were some pretty mitigating circumstances.

* In {{Halo}}, the disgraced Covenant commander, is given the title of The Arbiter as punishment for [[YouHaveFailedMe allowing]] the Halo ring to be destroyed. The Arbiter, like his predecessors who held the dubious title, is sent to suicide missions, although, being a protagonist, he actually survives them.
* [[StarCraft Starcraft 2]] has Terran Marines and Reapers, who are convicts given pardons for their military service.

* The X-Box game ''{{Toxic Grind}}'' takes place in future where x-treme sports are outlawed and anyone caught is put on a game show where they must ride BMXs through deadly obstacles. If that wasn't bad enough, the "contestants" are pumped with a toxin that can only be counteracted through adrenaline. The hero of the story isn't even a criminal, its an unlucky BMX rider who got plucked from the past just because the sadistic host of the show was running out of contestants.
* A significant number of people in UnrealTournament are criminals trying to earn their freedom.
* In KillerInstinct, Cinder is a convict who is transformed into a flame-being by Ultratech and is promised freedom if he destroys [[AnIcePerson Glacius]].

* ''LastRes0rt''. Just to give it a twist, there's volunteers -- i.e. people on the show WILLINGLY!

**** According to a documentary i saw, that might have been unreliable, at least some gladiators started training in a gladiator school at a young age. After years of training they'd fight their first fight. Having spend so much time and money on the training (and the food and such), they were valuable and often didnt battle to the death. Ofcourse you also got your share of convicted criminals that were expected to die in their first battle, death by animals usually. All in all it could be a relativly safe career for some of the gladiators, but by the time you're old enough to decide wether you want to be one or not, you're pretty much too old to start the training. According to the documentary, those that did the training were usually slaves from distant exotic lands to increase the spectacle. If you spend money importing a guy from hundreds or thousands of miles away and then spend years training him, you're not going to send him to the slaughter on his first battle. You let him slaughter others for a few years, make a nice profit and buy new ones. It's a business.

** In addition, [[spoiler: many of the NPCs on Greed Island are actually convicts, including Razor, one of the Game Masters.]]

* The X-Box game ''{{Toxic Grind}}}'' takes place in future where x-treme sports are outlawed and anyone caught is put on a game show where they must ride BMXs through deadly obstacles. If that wasn't bad enough, the "contestants" are pumped with a toxin that can only be counteracted through adrenaline. The hero of the story isn't even a criminal, its an unlucky BMX rider who got plucked from the past just because the sadistic host of the show was running out of contestants.

* The "game" variation is used in Mike Judge's film "Idiocracy".

Compare BoxedCrook.

The cons aren't shipped off to a sub-human prison, that would be... [[HumanResources wasting resources]]. Instead the government uses them in a "contest" of one of the above in order to get some use or money out of them. Usually they're "kidnapped" and officially were "ReleasedToElsewhere", but there's plenty of distressingly legal ways to whitewash the whole bloody affair. The government may declare that AllCrimesAreEqual, and as un-persons the prisoners can be used for basically whatever. If there are those who want to maintain a semblance of humanity and legality, the cons will be offered to participate in the contest as an "option" to serving their full sentence. For some reason, the general public is rarely upset by the possibility of a battle hardened ex-con who is in no way rehabilitated being released onto the street... or they would be, if it were public knowledge and '''if''' any actually survived. When this trope is used in conjunction with BloodSport, the reverse seems to be the case. The most successful cons will develop a fan base clamoring for them.