Humans in rpgs

Recommended Videos

number4096

New member
Jan 26, 2010
249
0
0
a few things bug me with the way humans are shown in rpgs:

-first,humans are shown as a balanced species,when in reality they are probably the most heavily specialised of all animals.

-Humans are shown as more diversified than everyone else,when in reality,animals are just as diversified as humans are from an individual to the other.Any species that reproduce sexually will have this sort of diversity.And as can be seen outside,people tend to copy each other and do the same things,with those behaving differently from the mass being called exceptions,for a reason.

-Humans are oftenly shown as magic users,which kind of breaks any forms of resemblance with real humans.They should be called something else at least.

-Humans are too oftenly shown as english europeans rather than other ethnicities or at least other europeans than english europeans.This is not so bad until other ethnicities are shown as different species altogether(Redguards,anyone?).Or when the very first humans to born are shown as caucasians rather than africans.It is not racist,but it is inaccurate in relation to reality.They should at least be called something else.

-Humans are oftenly shown as the good guys.Look at human history for three seconds.You will see on how many levels this is wrong(Humans should be shown as worthy,powerful villains who make other species tremble in fear if anything.With demons and other evil species being hunted down for sport.).

-The fixation on swords is impractical and inaccurate.The only useful swords to ever appear were the roman gladius and the japanese katana,and even these had to be paired with a shield or a wakizashi to be useful.Spears and polearms in general were always better than any other melee weapons(Case in point:Honda Tadakatsu and Tomoe Gozen.).Why the fixation on swords?Or England?Or goody-two-shoes?Villainous and powerful humans would be both more authentic and more interesting to play than goody-two-shoes.

Sorry,that was long,what do you think?
 

Julianking93

New member
May 16, 2009
14,715
0
0
Really?

I've noticed most humans are the asshole race in RPGs and the most unbalanced of all.
 

SamuelT

Elite Member
Apr 14, 2009
3,324
0
41
Country
Nederland
No, that was not long. And I think it's just the glorification of tales of old, of noble soldiers marching with longswords and epic battles being fought against horrible creatures.

That, or everyone's just lazy and grabs the default option.
 

Vigilantis

New member
Jan 14, 2010
613
0
0
Julianking93 said:
Really?

I've noticed most humans are the asshole race in RPGs and the most unbalanced of all.
^This and the reason why I am always a Human =)
 

Jark212

Certified Deviant
Jul 17, 2008
4,455
0
0
Humans are usually the balanced race in most games, a good combination between speed and toughness.

Elves are usually fast but physically weak.
Dwarfs are usually Tough but slow...
 

Jaranja

New member
Jul 16, 2009
3,275
0
0
Julianking93 said:
Really?

I've noticed most humans are the asshole race in RPGs and the most unbalanced of all.
That's exactly what I thought when reading this. Just look at Dragon Age, Humans are cunts.
 

Mcupobob

New member
Jun 29, 2009
3,449
0
0
Julianking93 said:
Really?

I've noticed most humans are the asshole race in RPGs and the most unbalanced of all.
This, I have no Idea what your talking about Humans being the kind caring magical race. Most RPS show them as greedy fuckholes, who either try mess every thing up or just blantant idiots.
 

Ironic Pirate

New member
May 21, 2009
5,544
0
0
Well, considering the standard rpg character archetypes they can branch out fairly well. Can any one else not see an ork archer, or elven knight? And fantasy games usually have strong, cheap, light, and maleable metals, and talking trees, so swords seem rather more practical in that light.
 

number4096

New member
Jan 26, 2010
249
0
0
I know that it is a fantastic setting,but at least elves are a fantastic species which explains why they use magic.

Humans are a real species,If you are going to use the name of a real species you should at least make it resemble the real thing.

Final Fantasy xi had humes and Final Fantasy Chrystal Chronicles had the clavats.So at least the differences were explained by the fact that they were not called humans and were different species altogether.

I say either you show humans as humans,or call them something else.
 

Xanadeas

New member
Oct 19, 2008
689
0
0
Humans are the balanced race because when paired with the other typical fantasy races the /are/ about average at everything. And if you've played DA:O you'll know the humans in that game /aren't/ nice at all. Most of them are quite bigoted and one of the main villains is a human. An arrogant one at that.

And when these fantasy time lines are compared with our own it's usually around the same time when European whites were the most prolific. There weren't a whole lot of black people seen everywhere during the middle ages. Most of them were still in Africa because they hadn't been abducted and turned into slaves yet.
 

number4096

New member
Jan 26, 2010
249
0
0
If anyone sees something wrong or inaccurate in waht i said,please,pretty please with chocolate on top,explain it to me so that i can correct myself.

I dislike saying inaccurate things without knowing it.
 

Pyro Paul

New member
Dec 7, 2007
842
0
0
humans being the balance is to represent human determination and enginuity. we are determained little buggers, and there is little to nothing which can stop us. if you don't believe this, simply look at a city. we are the only race which makes our surroundings accomidate to us. every other species in the planet accomidates to its surroundings.

redguards where not a diffrent speicies, they where a diffrent race. however usually humans embody the most deversivied group out of the lot of the species presented in game, although it is true that commonly games will shoe horn diffrent species as a specific race.

Swords where always useful in melee combat as Spears and Polearms quickly became more of a burden the closer the enemy got. further more, all spear weapons where quiet easily breakable being mostly wood. even for pole arms and spear men up Always carried a short sword.

further more the sword is always the rounded weapon giving supurb offencive and defencive capability while in close combat which is why it was a weapon of choice amongst knights.
 

number4096

New member
Jan 26, 2010
249
0
0
-Determination and ingenuity are specialised attributes.

-Any species that reproduces sexually should be just as diversified as humans are,since the goal of sexual reproduction is to diversify genes.Yet most of these species all behave the same(Dwarves being the biggest offenders here.).

-Anyone who has a seen a chinese martial artist using a spear will know that spears can be used up close and that the handle is just as useful as the metal point when it comes to attacking.

-By evil humans i was much more talking about cannibalistic psychos who raid everyone around them for sports.mere selfish people were the least of your worries back then.
 

More Fun To Compute

New member
Nov 18, 2008
4,061
0
0
I'm not sure that any RPGs have actually gone with a theme of being strongly rooted in English history. Not so that they convinced me they did their homework or cared about getting anything right. They might go with English actors and certain stylised speech because of Shakespeare.

The balancing different races things is a bit odd. The whole Dwarves are Scottish people thing is annoying. Firstly, if Dwarves are any British group then they are Welsh or West Midlanders. Secondly, Dwarves are just Dwarves, relating them to any nationality is trying too hard to find meaning where there shouldn't be any. What differences they have to humans should be down to the fiction but normally they seen as being good at metalwork.
 

Grand_Arcana

New member
Aug 5, 2009
489
0
0
number4096 said:
a few things bug me with the way humans are shown in rpgs:

-first,humans are shown as a balanced species,when in reality they are probably the most heavily specialised of all animals.
Can't argue with that; IRL we're the squishy mage. In Tolken based fiction we're fairly balenced in physical abilities as compared to Elves and Dwarves.
-Humans are shown as more diversified than everyone else,when in reality,animals are just as diversified as humans are from an individual to the other.Any species that reproduce sexually will have this sort of diversity.And as can be seen outside,people tend to copy each other and do the same things,with those behaving differently from the mass being called exceptions,for a reason.
I think the word diversified is referring to having more allegiances and cultures compared to Dwarves and Elves. The context also is dependent on the RPG in question.
-Humans are oftenly shown as magic users,which kind of breaks any forms of resemblance with real humans.They should be called something else at least.
Again, this depends on the sort of world that the RPG takes place in. In LotR (I know it's not an RPG) the only true humans who could use "magic" were the Nazgul iirc, and at a horrible price.
-Humans are too oftenly shown as english europeans rather than other ethnicities or at least other europeans than english europeans.This is not so bad until other ethnicities are shown as different species altogether(Redguards,anyone?).Or when the very first humans to born are shown as caucasians rather than africans.It is not racist,but it is inaccurate in relation to reality.They should at least be called something else.
I agree with you whole-heartedly. It's a real shame they do this too, because human-to-human conflict can be a great backdrop in a fictional world.
-Humans are oftenly shown as the good guys.Look at human history for three seconds.You will see on how many levels this is wrong(Humans should be shown as worthy,powerful villains who make other species tremble in fear if anything.With demons and other evil species being hunted down for sport.).
Again I agree with you, but humans aren't always the force of good. In some RPGs, humans are responsible for some of the worse crimes, and I'm glad; Humans are Bastards is one of my favorite tropes.
-The fixation on swords is impractical and inaccurate.The only useful swords to ever appear were the roman gladius and the japanese katana,and even these had to be paired with a shield or a wakizashi to be useful.Spears and polearms in general were always better than any other melee weapons(Case in point:Honda Tadakatsu and Tomoe Gozen.).Why the fixation on swords?Or England?Or goody-two-shoes?Villainous and powerful humans would be both more authentic and more interesting to play than goody-two-shoes.
First of all, the katana was not the be-all-end-all sword. (Search "langen schwert" on youtube. Yes, I know the costumes are stupid). Second, Dual wielding IRL was inefficient. Third, spears and polearms are better suited to large-scale battles in formation, not as personal defense arms which is why a sword is more handy for a traveling hero.
 

number4096

New member
Jan 26, 2010
249
0
0
Even though most games fixate on english culture(You oftenly play a knight,which is specific to england.),They almost never get it right.

you carry armor even when drinking at a tavern,you never take care of it or make sure it doesn't rust,knights are shown as well washed and cultured while in reality they were uneducated mercenaries who pooped in their own armors(The squires had to clean it up.),and you carry all that armor on foot,while in reality this much armor was useful only on horseback,since you could barely even move with a full plate armor.

They could at least call the knights something else or use a different culture altogether.