Choices in the virtual world.

Dr. Richard Bartle is upset that a quest in Wrath of the Lich King requires the player to torture a prisoner.

I'm not going to become morally outraged over virtual torture no matter how blithely it is implemented. After all WoW has virtual genocide too. How many quests require exterminating entire populations of intelligent beings? If you think I'm nuts ask yourself how many mines full of kobolds, and settlements of murlocs you've killed. Anyway I'm pretty sure the Geneva convention doesn't apply to Azeroth.

I'm not trying to mock Dr. Bartle. I think he makes a good point, and I don't think he is morally outraged about the inclusion of torture. He doesn't like the fact it is required. The quest offers no option to refuse, which exposes a fundamental flaw in the gameplay of World of Warcraft, and MMOs in general; lack of choices.

Back in the 90s during the golden age of PC gaming I played a lot of Diablo, and after that I went on to Baldur's Gate. What impressed me the most about Baldur's Gate when I made this transition was the size of the world, and the possibilities it offered. Diablo was a straightforward hack and slash (or click and click) affair. It had a linear story, and one multilevel dungeon under a single town. Baldur's Gate seemed like an entire continent to explore in comparison. There were a lot of other difference as well, but this expansion of possibilities was the key factor for me. So when I discovered Ultima Online, and the new genre called MMORPGs I became even more excited at the possibilities that would open up in such an expanded world.

To this day UO remains my favorite MMO of all time simply because there were so many things to do in between running for your life from player killers. There was a world filled with people to explore, and tons of skills to figure out how to use effectively. There weren't any scripted moral choices that are so popular in games today, but there was a ton of perceived freedom.

For a lot of people, however, Everquest kick started the MMO genre, and it set forth a lot of rules that are obeyed to this day. When I think of Everquest I think of grinding. The eternal pursuit of the next level. The freedom vanished. Pick your class, and start killing things.

Fast forward to World of Warcraft. For all of the open world possibilities I hoped MMOs would bring to video games the most successful one is like Diablo; a straightforward hack and slash affair. All of your choices are made at character creation except for choosing which abilities to improve. Your quests are laid out before you in an orderly fashion, and you simply climb the ladder, moving on to another area when you are finished with the current one. If Ultima Online was like making your way through a pathless jungle WoW is the guided tour conducted from a tram.

Don't get me wrong. Linearity isn't inherently a bad thing. Half Life 2 is completely linear, but it sucks you in, and doesn't let go. MMO marketing usually bangs on about how immersive the game world is. Really? I can't think of a less immersive genre. It all comes down to the numbers. Exploration is gone. Freedom is gone. What is the point of this gigantic world if everyone walks exactly the same path through it?

In Ultima Online I explored dungeons to see what was in there. In WoW I explored them because at the bottom was something I had to kill to get a reward from some guy who always stood in the same place in town.

So back to this whole torture bit. Dr. Bartle wants the choice to refuse something he finds morally objectionable. I say the player could use a choice in every quest, or at least some latitude in how to go about them. Linearity is fine, but it isn't what I wanted from MMOs.

My second favorite MMO? Star Wars Galaxies. Yeah. I'm weird like that, but for all of its glaring flaws it offered a hell of a lot of freedom.