WORLD DOMINATION! A UTOPIA! FREE ICE CREAM FOR EVERYONE! All could be valid excuses for the myriad mad scientists within videogames. From the outset, these power & control hungry men & women of science have been standard villains. Many of these villains also frame our term of "classic" videogames and are the foundation for popular games today. My question here is why do they make such great villains to begin with & how madness (in relation to villains) affects the story & player.
One of the great things about Mad scientists is that they truly believe what they are doing (whether it be destroy the world or to turn everyone into robots), so they can have noble intentions that for whatever reason goes askew. Sometimes, the plan is benign as well & it's simply an accident that almost dooms the world that makes the scientist "mad" for simply attempting something. These lovable characters like Lucca are on the low end of the scale. Usually they might be protagonists or friends of the protagonists and they try to right the wrongs they've created. Sometimes you get such characters as villains as they either change their mind & go along with such mistakes or they attempt to solve the problem but makes matters worse.
A little crazy, but a loyal friend to the group. She even sets up an orphanage later on!
In other instances though, the scientist has either lost touch with their faith in humanity, their empathy, or are seeking revenge that they believe to be retribution for the grievances done to them. Dr. Neo Cortex would be a great example of this. He's seeking revenge in the form of world domination by creating a chimera like army with animals. After creating & rejecting Crash the protagonist (who is linked greatly with Cortex as he wouldn't have such a persona otherwise), he turns his attention on eliminating Crash, who keeps foiling him.
This Blood feud only escalates every games, making the mad scientist who can try world domination with another invention ( and thus letting the same antagonist live throughout the games) be a great commodity for sequels. By creating a bond with the same villain, it saves on the developers end for roughly the type of relationship between characters and give a sense of familiarity between games. This works for most games as long as they are not too similar in plot and/or mechanics and can even lead to creating a villain gone friend trope by having them both band together against a common enemy.
Pew Pew guns are cool don't you know?
For many games that only intend to due a limited number of sequels or one shot games (usually, but not in all cases of course) the disconnect of the mad scientist to the rest of the world & the reasons why a "crazy" person has been put in charge of something that can change or destroy the world are possible is the main focus. Ideologies such as alturism, hubris, or playing god; issues that are fragile to begin with that much more dangerous when they become warped or rationalized to the point that everything is going to hell. The brilliant denizens of Rapture from the Bioshock series are great examples of this, not realizing that even though they think they are above scrubbing the toilets, that such jobs are integral functions to society. Andrew Ryan & Sofia Lamb are on opposite ends of schools of thought, but both beliefs are taken out of control, igniting a civil war that turned the city into a dystopia.
You look errr lovely...dear, that glowing around the eyes really suits you
At other times, the scientist needs to lose their empathy specifically to gain the ability to save the world. I was talking to someone earlier about how someone pressing a button to bomb a city that has a plague for making zombies is in a tight position if they are trying to be simply a humanist. Do you go the altruistic route & knowingly kill people to potentially save the world, or do you quarantine the place with the potential of not being able to stop the plague/virus in the hope that it won't get out of hand? I had previously thought that both would be just as bad because you were unable to save everyone, so you should try & quarantine them, based on the fact that you don't have facts, you have assumptions (that you can't find another way, or a cure, or that this plague won't spread regardless of killing the city). Having the issue be based on logic however, the altruistic choice of killing the city "for the greater good" seems the best of a worst situation scenario. But that also means that you just commited murder as well (you monster!). Or are you? By doing such a thing, you could be labled as "mad" & "monstrous" couldn't you? You lose your reputation & agency at that point unless you continue to act out to keep your power, which could then verify people of such "insanity on your part". And then you have an "us against them" mentality, or a pesky hero trying to stop you from destroying more cities, or coming your way to put an end to you. You see where this is going?
Ultimately such a fine line of labeling is largely based on ethics & perceptions then, which is so interesting to see such a humanized (and thus identifiable) story from a different angle. Some games use this to their advantage having you pick sides that both seem to be "right" to them. In the area of the mad scientist trope however, the "other side" is usually explained as it sets the rules and goals that the protagonist must reside within to resolve an issue or meet a goal.
Cave Johnson here!
In games where mad scientists themselves but the effects they have on a game play a more important role such as the people of Chronopolis in Chrono Trigger & Chrono Cross the Portal series their failures are seen as hamartia of the human race and warnings to future generations. These lasting effects are usually big plot points in a story and play an active role in how a game plays. Because the Scientist trope is all about inventing & imagination, these instances become great little experiments to further explore human nature with things we are believing we can invent (or at least want to invent) & the ramifications of each. And while things may go terribly wrong in the games, the issues being dealt with are all great things to think about as our world is constantly upgrading itself.
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