Too Human
Posted by Stropp on July 16, 2009I’ve never really been one to pick the Human as my choice of race in any of the role playing games that I’ve played. Unless Human is the only choice available to players, or there’s some other necessity for doing so, I’ve usually chosen a more exotic race. (Digression: It’s actually species, but everyone seems to want to use race for some reason. I blame you Star Trek!)
That doesn’t mean I haven’t chosen the Humans from time to time. I’ve even created a Human male character in WoW, but I really can’t stand the character model. (It looks like he runs with a wand stuck up his bum!) But I always tend to gravitate back to the non-Human.
Lately I’ve noticed that I’m going even further away from the gold standard of anthro-centric gaming. I’ve been playing Everquest 2, and as usual, I’m working on a stable of alts. (I’m really getting into crafting as an adventurer support, and need a few crafters to do this.) But when I’m choosing what I want to be, Human doesn’t even get considered, Elves are just Humans with pointy ears, and Dwarves and Gnomes are just short-people.
And that doesn’t leave much on the Good side of Norrath to choose from. The good-guys there only really have the Froglok, Kerran, and Fae species left to choose from (and Fae really are only short-guys with butterfly wings.) And, Kerran can be played as evil too.
The more bestial choices are on the Evil side. Trolls, Ogres, Sarnak, Ratonga, Iksar and Arasai (evil Fae guys with butterfly wings.) A far more excellent selection. And coupled with the brilliant starter areas of Darklight Wood and Timorous Deep, I’ve been starting most of my guys with a more naughty outlook on life.
Still it’s a little disappointing that game developers still seem to think of ugly as evil. There’s a lot of pretty people in the world willing to do bad. It would be nice to reflect that in our games. There’s a lot of badness in the world simply because folks forgot the rule: You can’t always judge a book by its cover.
There’s another thing. And I’m not really sure why this is, but even the more bestial selections are humanised. Kerran for instance are simply anthropomorphised cats. Aside from feline features, cat faces, fur, and tails, they stand bipedal and move and fight, not like cats, but like people.
And this brings me to another thing I’d like to see. (Forgive the stream-of-consciousness style of this post.)
Completely non-human attributes. World of Warcraft for example has NPC Centaurs (as has EQ2 and many other games.) Is this sort of creature too hard to make playable? And here’s an idea from the blackest parts of my own imagination. Spider people: Spiders with evolved forelimbs and humanoid heads and faces, or with bulbous bodies, eight legs, and human torsos. With the movement abilities that spiders have. (Imagine PvP where you hang on the ceiling above your opponent and drop on him/her 
DFA! )
How about an insect race? Full insect features, six legs, mandibles and the like. But intelligent and capable of forging and using weapons and magic (for a fantasy game.) There are plenty of other shapes in the world to work form, why just human?
In some ways I’m a little surprised game developers haven’t at least looked into this before, or experimented with it. It’s not a WoW idea. Perhaps that’s the problem.
[...] doesn’t like people much. At least, not human-type people. At least, not in MMOs. EQ2 has rats, cats, frogs and lizards, but [...]
I’ll have to agree with you: a menagerie of physically diverse playable characters really enriches a game environment. After playing (and yes, still playing) a Night Elf Druid in WoW for over three years, it was incredibly refreshing to step into EQII and customize a fiendishly grinning Sarnak. I really enjoy the way they scamper and swim, and while they are bi-pedal, there’s very little differentiation between male and female forms (at least, not in the Kerran fashion).
I also really like the centaur idea, and it’s something I think of every time I’m dicking around in the Nexus. WoW has already remodeled the NPCs; why not turn those around and use them? Unfortunately, I don’t really see a mass proliferation of non-human races anytime soon. Part of the Aion beta’s success seems to revolve around how “pretty” the game is, despite the fact that you essentially have one “race” (divided into factions, of course).
I think part of this attraction to “pretty,” or at least humanoid, is relational. While there are those who will be immediately attracted to the strange and/or complex, many folks have a hard time getting into a game if they don’t feel like they’re talking on a more “heroic” version of themselves. The suspension of disbelief, so to speak, doesn’t happen when you move beyond bi-pedal with a tight ass.
“Talking” should be “taking.” I really wish you could edit comments.
Hiya Stropp!
I think I posted about this a while back, but EQ2′s race variety is actually a big selling point for me. I’m just as tired as you are of playing races that were in the Fellowship of the Ring, and my top EQ2 character concepts involve Fae, Sarnak, Ratonga, Erudites (kind of human shaped I guess) and Frogloks.
In terms of non-humanoid (upright, bipedal) races, the issue may hinge on art and animation overhead. How does a Centaur take the auto-Gryphon? Can they equip pants, and, if so, do they have four legs? Or does your spider wear four pairs of pants and no gloves? LOTRO’s Monster Play has this kind of worked out by putting extreme limits on what the monsters can wear, but most recent games want to preserve that avenue for progression.
I would totally love to play a Thri-kreen (mantis man) species/race a la D&D’s Dark Sun world. 4 limbs plus poison bite, no need for sleep, etc.
The “drider” models are in EQ2 (though they call them Drachnids) , and I’d love to play one, especially if I had full spiderclimb-type movement capabilities. I’d also love to be an orc or a goblin.
@Runycat – Yep. I think there is definite leaning towards “prettiness” at the moment, and to an extant that is understandable. But don’t forget that Aion is an Asian game and there is a tendency there to use the anime style which tends to diversify into really pretty characters as well as the opposite form which highlights deformities, ie. big heads, large noses, that sort of thing. There’s a term for it, which I can’t remember…
As for editing comments. I’d love to say it’s coming soon, and I am considering a theme revamp. I looked at a professional job since i have so little time at the moment, but they asked over $1600. So when I get time I’ll look into it.
@Green Armadillo – I agree. It’s a big point for me too. As for the differently shaped ‘species’ and art and animation issues. Yep, that may be the biggest sticking point as to why characters aren’t more bestial. If *I* was the game designer though, I’d probably look at either different forms of armor (Centaur armor for example would effectively be horse armor) or just using a different texture (I think that is what is mostly done now) for simplicity.
And there’s no reason why different species couldn’t use something completely different to armour. A spider or insect species could use some form of magic or alchemy to modify their chitinous exoskeleton. Enhancements could be made directly to the body rather than being an external adornment. Just an idea, not sure how difficult this would be in practice.
@Magson – Definitely a cool option. Some time ago, after WoWs Burning Crusade (or maybe before) I suggested that I’d like to see some of the other NPCs used as playable races. Specifically the Ogres. They fit in with WoW lore as playable, and it would be fun to be that size and (as a mage) have two heads. You could be your own best friend!
Great post! Hey I just wanted to add something.
One thing to think about, is why ARE humans so prevalent in fantasy and science fiction? Why do we always see the same old humans no matter were we look in fiction. It could be an entirely different dimension, universe, 1 million years in the future, and we would still see same ol humans there.
The reason is simple. In order to create a fantasy in which one can identify with, you MUST include humanity. Honestly, I don’t have a great explanation for this. But I’ve read books were there were no humans, and I’ve writtens stories were the characters are all strange alies.
One of the big reasons is the way we think We are designed to reflect upon past memories and experiences to help us understand what is happening and to try and to predict future events. So, when a book is completely removed from SOMETHING resembling humanity, it makes it a lot harder for us to draw upon past experiences and relate them to the story and therefor it’s surprisingly more difficult and definitely less fun to read.
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