It appears that Richard Bartle is still enraging the masses with his thoughts on The Art of Persuasion quest in World of Warcraft. Even a few weeks on from my original post on the matter, I still think he’s right, and other bloggers agree.

To recap. There is an alliance quest in WoW which requires you to zap a character with a cattle prod, in order to gain information regarding another quest. Bartle objected to this, why was an alliance character resorting to torture? Why wasn’t there another means out of the situation.

He’s right, of course, this is really down to poor game design. Why? Read on…

• It breaks canon
  Why are seemingly ‘good’ characters performing ‘evil’ acts? We’d expect this behaviour from a Death Knight, and indeed there is a quest where a Death Knight resorts to torture, but from a Paladin is a different matter entirely.
• There’s no other option
  Most good games give you another way out. Eve Online, Mass Effect, Fallout 3, Ultima VII; all give you the option to say “no thanks” to morally questionable acts. Whilst your character development may suffer, you can still progress in the game.
• It breaks immersion
  Bartle has had some particuarly harsh comments about WoW being ‘only a game’, and that ‘people who torture in WoW wouldn;t totrure in real life’. Well, judging by this and this, I am afraid you’re wrong; some people seem to struggle to grasp the difference between real life and games.

Incidentally, this quest reminds me of the Milgram Experiment.