Why are people so opposed to non human game characters?

[alen456645]

they make the main character a human so that it can be a little bit easier to connect with your character for some games, such as rpg's lets make an ugly ass walrus be out main character and he shoots lazer beams out of his eyes.

i know that this sounds like the best game ever but i don't think that the majority of rpg fans would like anything other then a human protagonist.

 

[Drake the Dragonheart]

For some strange reason in my D&D group, with exception of one guy, everyone else in my group always play humans. Probably because of the extra starting feat.
I personally like playing non-human characters just as much as human characters. Heck, in D&D, lizardfolk are one of my favorite races to play as.
As to why it is easier to relate to human protaganists, well as many have already said, we are human ourselves. As to why you don't see non-human protaganists vs human antagonists very often, Indigo nailed it on the head. We really don't like being reminded just the kind of pricks we are capable of being.

 

[Ventuquies]

Monsters remember humans to deformed animals where there is no problem of killing (caue they are just animals)... With humans on the other hand.. killing == not soo good and its easier to believe and attach in a caracter

 

[Dr.Sean]

When will people realize my brilliant idea to make a game where you play a monkey that escapes from a zoo and leads a band of monkeys to free other monkeys to conquer the world?!

 

[maddawg IAJI]

Lord of the Rings conquest: Evil campiegn. Hands down the best part of the game plus whats better then killing a hobbit.

 

[Vrex360]

Lord of the Rings conquest: Evil campiegn. Hands down the best part of the game plus whats better then killing a hobbit.

...killing two hobbits?

 

[Katherine Kerensky]

It's because of humanity's widespread xenophobia.
and xenophilia is practically non-existant (as far as I know. and -philia on the end might not mean what you think it does.). You just don't see many people wholike and support the alien characters in... pretty much anything.
Most people are just afraid, so game develpoers use that to make a human who kills aliens. (what's new? thats been the way it happens in sci-fi since it started, few exceptions)

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

Personally, its because as a human I can readily identify with a human character. If you want to make me identify with a non-human character then we essentially have to humanize said character and as a result I am given a human in all but form, which begs the question of why bother in the first place.

 

[maddawg IAJI]

Lord of the Rings conquest: Evil campiegn. Hands down the best part of the game plus whats better then killing a hobbit.

...killing two hobbits?

The last level of that campiegn places you in the Shire. There one of the objectives is to kill 50 Hobbits and there is a Achievment where you have to kill 150 more. So to one up your anwser I say 200 hobbits.

 

[Palindromemordnilap_v1legacy]

I would have suggested Ratchet (and Clank, for that matter) but they'd probably come under those cartoony protagonists you mention

 

[IHaveNoCoolness]

I don't know if anthropomorphic animals should really count.

Also, second player plays as The Arbiter in Halo.

Yeah Arby's awesome and is actually a prime example when I think about it. That's more what I'm talking about by the way... actual 'serious' characters like the Arbiter.. not things like Spiro and that guy from destroy all humans.

From what I understand, most Halo fans were pissed off with having to play as Arby in Halo 2.
Strange how everyone loves him now, huh.

"Real" Halo fans (people who care about the story), loved the Arbiter and still do. The "most" you're talking about are the racist fratboys, and they still hate him.

Also, second player plays as The Arbiter in Halo.

Arbiter was soooo shit. hated playing as him, was just so boring.

What? Stealth is boring?

Or do you hate playing as him in Halo 3?

Spoiler: image

Yup.

I think this guy has it best.

The entire thread is asking why every game protagonist must be human, when clearly they aren't.

Crypto isn't a protagonist. The audience is meant to sympathize with a protagonist.

Although there are many non-human protagonists, like Zeratul or Garrus Valkarian. I think a better question is why so many people are strongly opposed to non-human characters.

pro⋅tag⋅o⋅nist  /proʊˈtægənɪst/ ?noun
1. the leading character, hero, or heroine of a drama or other literary work.
2. a proponent for or advocate of a political cause, social program, etc.
3. the leader or principal person in a movement, cause, etc.
4. the first actor in ancient Greek drama, who played not only the main role, but also other roles when the main character was offstage. Compare deuteragonist, tritagonist.
5. Physiology. agonist.


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Where does it say that you need to sympathize with a character for them to be the protagonist? You can definitley have a protagonist that you're not meant to sympathize with. MacBeth is a pretty prominent literary protagonist that you aren't really meant to sympathize with. He allows himself to be manipulated and ultimately undoes himself. At no point did I find myself going "Poor MacBeth, awww shucks!"

 

[Russian_Assassin]

DESTROY ALL HUMANS!


Yup.

/Thread

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.

Yeah, but it could be the other way around, no? But I guess the game devs like to keep the plot as simple as possible to

Not scare off those emotionally fragile retards that make up 75% of the world's consumer base

. Man I hate those people

 

[t_rexaur]

Does Conker from Conker's Bad Fur Day count? Technically he looks cute like the other cartoony characters... but anyone who's played the game will know he's anything but.

 

[BolognaBaloney]

Lord of the Rings conquest: Evil campiegn. Hands down the best part of the game plus whats better then killing a hobbit.

...killing two hobbits?

and why stop there? So come on down and sign up for Chaos Tour 09' with Sauron and the Orc's headlining!

 

[ConnorCool]

a lizard guy fighting humans

Oblivion much?

 

[UltimatheChosen]

I don't have much of a problem with humans usually being the protagonists. But it's irritating that so often an entire race is depicted as the antagonist, and it's very rarely humanity.

 

[Rickyvantof]

Wait, what?
Ratchet & Clank must be one of my favorite games D:

 

[MasterSqueak]

Aliens suck, robots are better. Why are there no robot protagonists?

 

[branalvere]

no one like the elites in halo muti-player

That's because they have big heads and are easy to snipe

 

[Yossarian90]

Its a survival instinct, we don't like the idea of us being killed and destroyed

However if any good story game with an alien (or another thing thats not human) protagonist is worth it's salt, then it will make the character relatable. I can't really think of any games like this but it's the way I would go about it.

Also theres this whole macho thing in the gaming industry about humans being the best, particularly American humans.