Race in games, or lack there of

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Lunar Templar

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before i get into the meat of it. no, this is not about how minority's are represented in video games, I'm SO not qualified to even go there.

no, this is about the lack of races in a fantasy setting, beyond the human/elf/dwarf standards.
why am i bringing this up? something odd struck me last night when i was playing a texted based flash game last night, here, in this humble indy adult game, there is more creativity in playable races then then i've seen anywhere else. likely for fetish reasons but hey it's a start.

to give an example, i have, a Shark Girl, a Succubus, and a Centaur on 3 different saves.
and there's a laundry list of other races and hybrids you can become through to use of items
(IE shark teeth = shark girl, pure honey = bee girl, or combine the to for a shark girl with ether a stinger or bee wings)

so ... what every one elses excuse? is it really THAT hard to come up with new races? and i mean NEW races, not stand in's cause your want dwarves and elves but with a different model type. now i know some MMO's have kinda branched out, EQ2 has a crap ton of different races, WoW has a few unconventional ones, but every where else its human/dwarf/elf, and with nothing on the horizon to indicate any ones thinking out side the box like this

its not a big complainant or one that effects much of what i play or buy, just me wondering
 

Illesdan

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Sep 15, 2008
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Since I used to be a fantasy writer, I can probably answer this the most logically. Creating a fantasy race isn't merely about how the race looks (okay, my character looks like a big housecat, but, as a twist, they have wings they fly upon!) All good and fine, yes, but you have to work out the physics and evolution behind how/why your giant winged housecat shouldn't be laughed out of the known universe for simply being too impossible to exist.

My giant winged housecat that can fly is a graceful, yet delicate creature since their bones are hollow.

Now you need race history to go with the profile. Do these creatures dwell in caves, in the forests, or live among the clouds on majestic sky islands? What do they do there? What do they care about? Do they believe in a god/godess/possessed Oster toaster from the 1940s? How do they view technology, use tools, eat, live? And then the dreaded 'differences between the sexes' issues that need to be worked out.

As you see, it can all get elaborate and complicated in a very short time.

Although I'm not throughly unsympathetic. I blame Tolkien for alot of the writer laziness we now have when it comes to the hack/slash fantasy genre. Make it stout if you want a fighter, make it pointy-eared if you want to cast a fireball, if you want it all; just roll human.

I call bullshit.

Pretty much why I write my own RP games and storylines.
 

Lunar Templar

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Sep 20, 2009
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Illesdan said:
Since I used to be a fantasy writer, I can probably answer this the most logically. Creating a fantasy race isn't merely about how the race looks (okay, my character looks like a big housecat, but, as a twist, they have wings they fly upon!) All good and fine, yes, but you have to work out the physics and evolution behind how/why your giant winged housecat shouldn't be laughed out of the known universe for simply being too impossible to exist.

My giant winged housecat that can fly is a graceful, yet delicate creature since their bones are hollow.
that sounds kinda neat actually

Now you need race history to go with the profile. Do these creatures dwell in caves, in the forests, or live among the clouds on majestic sky islands? What do they do there? What do they care about? Do they believe in a god/godess/possessed Oster toaster from the 1940s? How do they view technology, use tools, eat, live? And then the dreaded 'differences between the sexes' issues that need to be worked out.

As you see, it can all get elaborate and complicated in a very short time.
hehe, i hear ya, i do a little writing as a hobby, usually something not normally seen or used cause, the standard is boring (ironic cause, ya know, fantasy >.>)

Although I'm not throughly unsympathetic. I blame Tolkien for alot of the writer laziness we now have when it comes to the hack/slash fantasy genre. Make it stout if you want a fighter, make it pointy-eared if you want to cast a fireball, if you want it all; just roll human.

I call bullshit.

Pretty much why I write my own RP games and storylines.
ppff!!!
i roll a pointy ear for my tanks :D, if I'm stuck with the 'big three' i roll against the norm, but yeah -.- can't wait till some one grows a pair and tries something different, the norm isn't bad purse, but fantasy isn't 'limited' just because one old dead guy wrote 3 + books
 

Veylon

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The Elf/Dwarf/etc paradigm is used because it's familiar and thus easy for a new player/reader to enter without having to think. We already know these races and their characteristics and can get on with the story without having to have anything explained to us. It's shoddy and lazy, but that's why it's done.

I can plop down a Dwarven mine or an Elven treehouse and everyone knows what that is. A Rasklid creche or Myrlin covert? Not so much.
 

Wintermoot

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Aug 20, 2009
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Argonian,s? but if you look at the mod community for FONV they did add a succubus a robot and a Japanese robot race.
 

Extraintrovert

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Jul 28, 2010
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Humans are lazy. Honestly, that answer is applicable to almost everything, but if you're asking why people don't add more factions/species/whatever into a work when a few, well established species is adequate for the task, then sloth is by far the most probable answer. Sturgeon's Law wouldn't help matters either, but sloth would still remain the top cause.

Also, if you want examples of exceptions to the trend, then TV Tropes, as always, has you covered. [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LoadsAndLoadsOfRaces]