Over at Broken Toys. our friend Lum has had an assist from Richard Bartle in generating a discussion on the Torture quests in Wrath of the Lich King.

Dr. Bartle appears to be taking a definite stand in the “Games are not Art” camp by failing to accept the inclusion of the quests as a writer’s tool to either a) speak out against torture or b) show how fundamentally flawed the demand for victory at all costs is. Is he making assumptions?  Probably?  is he wrong to be disturbed by torture?  Not at all! Should this be a huge issue for World of Warcraft?  Only if it is to bring rational thought and well thought arguments to the table, otherwise, no.

Before you all (all three of you) descend on me like a pack of wolves, allow me to explain why I don’t think this is something that should be altered or removed from the game.

The Death Knight starting quest line has a number of questionable acts being performed by your character while under the thrall of Arthas.  You slaughter innocents, kill a friend, and torture an opponent to get information. These are all done in the context of illustrating your being a pawn of the morally bankrupt, patricidal, Lich King, and also give you an idea of what the razing of a town is like in an effective manner.

For the record, the quests did make me uncomfortable and reinforced my insistence that war is a terrible things and never should be undertaken lightly.  I found myself fairly unhappy at the behaviors I had to partake and was made uncomfortable, with my consent.  People that know me in my real life know that I write LARP and enjoy presenting a character driven drama in a theatre style environment to invoke feelings.  I have written uncomfortable scenes, with characters who were incredibly evil, (not in the Snidley Wiplash mode but more on par with Mengele,) and had people simulate acts that they never would condone in a real life situation.  Yet they consented and were able to explore this without long term repercussions and developed an understanding of the thought processes that go into such acts.  Usually this makes them more abhorrent to the act.

Judging by what I have read about the questline, and the Kirin Tor, I really do not feel that they are not above torturing people when they can get someone else to do it.

This seems very much like a comment on the weakness of the human spirit in that it is easy to justify savage acts when one of two conditions are fulfilled: 1) You do not have to do it yourself and are insulated from it, or 2) You are given permission by an authority figure.    When you create a situation like this one that fills both criteria, it becomes easy to justify for the characters involved.  Now, here is the part that should be making everyone who encounters this quest (whether they choose to do it or not,) sit up and think.  You have the tools, you have the permission, do you make a naked dwarf pyramid and let the dogs in or do you say no?  Ideally, this should make you feel uncomfortable.  It should make you want to walk away.  You should be given pause by the thought of taking this step.

This is a good opportunity to use recreation as a lens by which to view a serious matter that is present in our world today.  Bartle seems to want to remove that lens and take the focus off of what we can learn from each other about ourselves as people.  I hate to say it about a smart guy, but Dr. Bartle has possibly entered the phase of his life where he is incapable of embracing ideas outside of his own.  To create a tempest in a teapot over a matter of artistic choice in an industry that is artistic in nature.  It is along time past the days of text based MUDs where a lot of us cut our teeth.  When we chose to start viewing games as art, we chose to also allow room for social commentary and dissertation.

My personal hope is that people who play World of Warcraft are socially mature enough to recognize a sandbox when they see one, and are conscious enough to understand that they have an opportunity to place themselves in a pair of shoes that they (I hope) will never have  to wear and can make a decision to go forward, choosing the path that makes the most sense for their character.