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Torture in Games

Posted by Soulskill on from the ok-torture's-bad-but-killing's-fine-right dept.

Recent comments from Richard Bartle, one of the developers for the first Multi-User Dungeon (MUD), stirred up discussion about whether virtual torture is acceptable as part of modern games. Bartle was referring to a quest in the latest World of Warcraft expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, in which players are instructed to extract information from an NPC. He drew criticism for his view from a variety of sources, but Wired is now running a piece provocatively titled, "Why We Need More Torture in Games." The author makes the case that the failure of most media to properly portray how horrible torture actually is (for example, on the TV show 24), and the increased focus on real-world topics like Guantanamo Bay, Abu Ghraib and waterboarding, could make games the perfect venue for demonstrating the "devastating repercussions" of torture.

8 of 249 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Because its not part of the game play by Opportunist · · Score: 3, Funny

    Not to mention the whining. Imagine that you could decide and somewhere in the future it turns out that the item you could have gotten if you ate the baby had a bonus of +1240 instead of the measly +1230 that you got because you brought him a teddy bear. Not to mention that getting that teddy bear took much, much longer than just eating the little screamer.

    What? No, nobody will discuss whether eating the baby would be wrong or bad, why're you asking?

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  2. Re:Asheron's Call already had this quest... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I have a COMMUNCATIONS degree

    oh the irony

  3. Torture in games? by Antony-Kyre · · Score: 4, Funny

    It's virtually painless!

  4. Re:Torture IS a game by jonadab · · Score: 3, Funny

    > Tools such as the La Susana and the Iron Maiden make it much more interesting.

    You can also use car dealership commercials. After about eighty hours of nonstop back-to-back car dealership commercials, the subject begins to lose mental control. That's when you send in the whining children...

    --
    Cut that out, or I will ship you to Norilsk in a box.
  5. Re:Does it always produce true responses? by Hognoxious · · Score: 2, Funny

    I mean, we're already at slaughtering animals, people, undead, ghosts

    Strictly speaking, is it possible to slaughter undead and ghosts?

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  6. Re:Asheron's Call already had this quest... by YouWantFriesWithThat · · Score: 3, Funny

    what?

  7. Re:Asheron's Call already had this quest... by chromeshadow · · Score: 5, Funny

    What do you think happens to the squares in complete rows, you insensitive clod? Oh, sure, they just 'disappear'. Murderer.

  8. Re:Does it always produce true responses? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    >and tell you where their secret base is

    All right! All Right!! -sob- I'll talk...

    Dantooine. They're on Dantooine.