Assassin’s Creed 3 lets you pet dogs. Asheron’s Call lets you tip cows (and even added a quest for it). Guild Wars 2 uses some animal and NPC interactions for its hearts, such as feeding cows or watering crops.
Every now and again, it’s nice to have options other than “kill them,” you know? You may not spend much time tipping cows or petting dogs, but just knowing the option is there makes the game a bit less of a murder simulator.
: Zubon
Every time I see the abbreviation for Assassin’s Creed 3, I think, “They’re making Asheron’s Call 3?!?!!”
With the beached whales in Lion’s Arch in Guild Wars 2 some savvy dev put buckets of water nearby. My daughter spent a good 20 minutes pouring water on whales. Reddit created a bukket brigade to ensure that the whales would receive water. There was no effect either. Good times. Games are much better when they have those interaction options.
I specced my Elementalist for shorter water skill cooldowns, just to keep those poor creatures hydrated …