Last Week on Massively: WoW-related stories

Bartle calls Blizzard out on torture quest in Wrath of the Lich King
Richard Bartle, co-creator of the first multi-user dungeon MUD, has expressed his displeasure with Blizzard over a Wrath of the Lich King quest -- titled, "The Art of Persuasion" -- that involves the torture of a character for information.

Richard Bartle responds to "torture quest" issue
A few days ago we ran a report on Richard Bartle's take on a torture quest in World of Warcraft, the Art of Persuasion. Since then, the discussion has exploded and some have taken Bartle's quotes out of context. Because of this, Bartle has created a follow-up post to clarify some of the points that may have been misinterpreted.

World of Warcraft Molten Core raid for ATARI becomes reality
Earlier this year, Blizzard won the prank wars with Molten Core, a faux ATARI game based on World of Warcraft's Molten Core raid complete with eight directions of movement, glorious 2D graphics and, yes, sound. We bet you thought that was just a joke, and that everyone would have forgotten about it after a week had gone by, but guess what? It's back, and this time it's real!

The Digital Continuum: Moria or Wrath?
Standing in the tiny store, I found myself at a crossroads. I'd put a lot of thought into this, but now that the decision was starting back at me, it seemed much more daunting. The question kept repeating in my head, "Do I buy Wrath, or Moria?"

Comparing the expansion launches for WoW, EQ2, and LotRO
GamerDNA is doing its level best to answer these sort of weighty questions by datamining the heck out of their userbase. We have some hard-and-fast metrics, as a result, exploring these exact issues.

Felicia Day talks WoW addiction, characters, oldschool PC gaming
G4TV's X-Play interviewed the lovely Felicia Day on video about her soon-to-return web video series The Guild and her past gaming experience. Fans of Ms. Day and her show will eat it up no matter what we say, of course, but we will note that she reveals what her main World of Warcraft character was and what games she played when she was a kid.

Raiding: Learning by fear and humiliation
You may have never thought of it, but each and every day of the week, America's teachers walk into a 25 man raid and attempt to take them to new heights. Raids and learning actually do have more in common than one would initially believe.

Behind the Curtain: Too much emotion
So, the rantings of an out-of-touch academic, desperate to grab attention, or astute observations from a true pioneer of MMOs and virtual worlds? I'll go with the latter – partly because it's true, and partly because I'm scared Dr Bartle might hunt me down and shout at me.

Know Your LotRO Lore: Khazad-dum and the origins of Moria
Long ago, the Dwarves were numerous and mighty. This was an age when the Elves, Men and Dwarves lived in harmony, the mithril was plentiful and the Orcs were driven back to Sauron's lair. This was the end of the Second Age: the age of Khazad-dûm. To first understand Khazad-dûm, we must start at the very beginning.

Anti-Aliased: You've been Auto-Assaulted
So, NCsoft, how does it feel to absolutely lie through your teeth to players and staff about Tabula Rasa?