Why are people so opposed to non human game characters?

[Tharwen]

That Warhammer game for the Xbox(I think) a while back had you playing as a Tou named Cais.
Also, second player plays as The Arbiter in Halo.

The game would be Dawn of War, of the Warhammer 40 000 universe. And the name was Shas'o Kais is Dark Crusade and Shas'o Or'es'Ka is the Soulstorm. In addition to them, there were the eldar, dark eldar, orcs, chaos, necron...

Actually the game would be Warhammer 40,000: Fire Warrior, in which you play as a Tau called Kais (It wasn't just for Xbox; I have it for PS2).

Also, everyone who has been posting lists of games made up of cartoon characters, have a look at the original post:

(for the record I am NOT talking about 'cartoony characters' like Spiro, Sonic, Crash Bandicoot or any of them fella's. So overlook all the cartoony ones, instead I am talking about games with a 'serious' tone to them. Also certainly not one of those 'fake non humans' who still looks very, very human. That doesn't count either.)

The point that I would like to raise is that we can't easily make characters out of different creatures because we don't know anything about them and creating enough backstory to rival a human would be very difficult.

 

[Sev72]

Ummm... I don't know about you but the only character I sympathized with in fable was the dog. In Starcraft humans are evil as hell. My favorite character in Halo was the Arbiter who I felt was a much better character then....any of the rest. In most Star Wars games the humans tend to be the bad guys...Also Destroy All Humans

 

[BlackJack47]

Whoever doesnt enjoy playing as someone other than a human has some escapism issues...I suppose you could say they aren't a very good escapist ..thanx I'll be here forever

 

[Evertw]

Wasn't there a game called destroy all humans or alien invasion?

Or was it Destroy Earth?

 

[Kiutu]

No cartoony ones like sonic, no humany ones (aka furries aka athromorphic), no aliens. So...you mean like. A realistic dog?
There are other flaws but everyone else pointed them out.

 

[Slash Dementia]

Need I say more?

 

[samsprinkle]

Halo 3 comes to mind...but who cares what I think?

 

[samsprinkle]

Need I say more?

...I hate you...I could never beat that game...

 

[Slash Dementia]

Need I say more?

...I hate you...I could never beat that game...

I have no idea why we had this game when I was little. I guess my dad would just buy some random Sega games for us (Hell, we even had Where's Waldo).
The weird part is that I remember loving this game and I think I beat it.

 

[quiet_samurai]

Need I say more?

...I hate you...I could never beat that game...

I have no idea why we had this game when I was little. I guess my dad would just buy some random Sega games for us (Hell, we even had Where's Waldo).
The weird part is that I remember loving this game and I think I beat it.

Heh i had that game too, I remember I liked making him fall a really long ways because he'd flatten out into a kind of nose dive.

 

[MrSnugglesworth]

Destroy all Humans?

 

[crypt-creature]

PC games are where the aliens are, or at least where you can find more non-human protagonists.

As for why that is, it could be that people can't relate to a species that doesn't exist in real life. They have no attachment to it what-so-ever, while a human is more familiar to them and something they can admire or strive to be like in some way. It might also be easier for them to use a human for behavioral reasons, instead of coming up with a race and making up a profile for the species. A human can act a certain way just because it's human, but with an alien players usually want something different.
I don't know. Possibly just a different marketing audience that are more open to 'alien' races. I mean, the PC has some big titles;

Black and White
Starcraft
Guild Wars
Warcraft
WoW (yeah, had to put i in there)
Various Star Wars games
Alien and Predator games
Everquest

And some not-so-popular titles:

Spore
Shabowbane
Hunter Hunted
Drakan
etc...

There are more, but I don't feel like listing too many. Plus, there are tons of games that aren't commercial and run on a site (Gamestorm, I think the site was, used to have a good deal of games like that...oh how I miss Darkness Falls) that have non-human races as options. Are they the main character? No, not usually, but at least they are an option and you don't have to be a human.

 

[Koeryn]

That Warhammer game for the Xbox(I think) a while back had you playing as a Tou named Kais.
Also, second player plays as The Arbiter in Halo.

The reason why it's so underdone is because it's a lot easer to relate to someone(or something) that looks like you.
How do you think Eminem got so popular so fast?

I thought it was because he was writing about actual events in his life, the love he holds for his daughter, and the fact that just about everyone can relate to getting kicked in the face every once in awhile?

...Or maybe I'm just weird. I like cheese, do you like cheese?

I want to play a serious game where you're a ball of cheese. That would be the best game ever.

 

[DracheLehre]

mostly because this aversion was implanted into our minds in which many of these "species" are highly demonized

We are don't like trolls due to the "Billy Goats Gruff"

Orcs are feared due to works like the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy

The many sci fi films make us wary that aliens may easily conquer our planet (let's face it... our tech sucks against theirs)

 

[Avatar Roku]

Vrex, I know what you mean, although it does happen rarely. The first example I can think of, playing as The Arbiter in Halo 2, was something I really enjoyed. It gave the enemies more depth, and we got to see the conflict from another angle, see the Covies' motives. True, they still turned out to be evil, dogmatic bastards, but we can at least see enough flaws in their faith to allow the Schism. I don't know why we don't see more of that.

 

[Schnippshly]

THIS THREAD IS A LIE.
LOTS OF GAMES HAVE NON-HUMAN PLAYER CHARACTERS!
Obviously, if the game is realistic and full of nothing but humans, then you're going to get humans!
And if it's humans vs aliens, you generally don't play as the aliens because the humans are the GOODGUYS and the aliens are the BADGUYS! It's the same reason you don't play as Germans in Call of Duty.

 

[crypt-creature]

THIS THREAD IS A LIE.
LOTS OF GAMES HAVE NON-HUMAN PLAYER CHARACTERS!
Obviously, if the game is realistic and full of nothing but humans, then you're going to get humans!
And if it's humans vs aliens, you generally don't play as the aliens because the humans are the GOODGUYS and the aliens are the BADGUYS! It's the same reason you don't play as Germans in Call of Duty.

And you're missing the point of what the OP asked. Read his post, not just the title of the topic.

 

[Worgen]

I preffer playing a nonhuman, Im a human irl, in games I dont mind being something else