One day, Blizzard is helping kids with brain tumors, the next day, they are apparently torturing prisoners into submission.

Here’s a quick summary of the issue: Apparently, in the quest The Art of Persuasion, which you can do to gain access to the Nexus, you have to use a cattle prod and zap a prisoner until he gives up information to you. You aren’t given a choice NOT to torture him at any point during the quest.

People have been playing this game for awhile now, and no one has publicly raised issue…but now MMO pioneer Richard Bartle is speaking up.

I’m not at all happy with this. I was expecting for there to be some way to tell the guy who gave you the quest that no, actually I don’t want to torture a prisoner, but there didn’t seem to be any way to do that. Worse, the quest is part of a chain you need to complete to gain access to the Nexus, which is the first instance you encounter (if you start on the west of the continent, as I did). So, either you play along and zap the guy, or you don’t get to go to the Nexus.

I did zap him, pretty well in disbelief — I thought that surely the quest-giver would step in and stop it at some point? It didn’t happen, though. Unless there’s some kind of awful consequence further down the line, it would seem that Blizzard’s designers are OK with breaking the Geneva convention.

I just want to raise three points here. No disrespect to Bartle, but this is a little silly in my opinion.

POINT #1: Cattle-prodding someone for information is not that big of a deal.

I have a confession to make. I’ve never been cattle-prodding. Growing up on a farm, though, I know someone who has. Yes, it hurts, but you’re not going to kill or maim someone. It isn’t like the game is asking you to cut off the guy’s hand or gouge out his eyes. I’d just like to point out, also, that you…um…KILL people in this game. In fact, half of the people playing are on the “evil” side…and you’re worried about the ethics of cattle prods?

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t think we should cattle-prod people to get what we want. I’m just saying, in terms of torture, this is pretty light.

POINT #2: Torturing wasn’t always internationally illegal.

Today, many countries have signed the referred-to agreement, promising not to torture prisoners of war. That wasn’t always the case. The Romans crucified people. In Salem, they burned people alive. And have you heard of the iron maiden? Yes, people really did use those in the 18th and early 19th centuries.

WoW doesn’t exactly take place in modern times. It might be a fantasy place in a fantasy time, but call me crazy, I don’t think that it is strange to imagine torture as still being legal in this world. In fact, it is part of the role play. There are a lot of things you’ll do in WoW that you couldn’t…wouldn’t…do in real life.

POINT #3: This is a…video game.

To me, the argument that the torture in the quest should be taken out is just as ridiculous as the argument that GTA IV is too violent or that Mortal Kombat should be rated for teens (oh wait…). The point is this: anyone with half a brain knows the difference between a video game and real life. It is understandable that having to torture someone in a game might make you uneasy, but that’s part of the RPG experience.

In fact, I’d argue that developers are doing their job if you care so much about the game that it upsets you with something you have to do. You shouldn’t want to torture the prisoner, but your CHARACTER (ie, not you) in the game is willing to do it to move on with a quest. Disagree with me if you will, but I think this is being blown out of proportion.

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