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General: The List: Five Non-Traditional Elves
Dana
Member Posts: 2,415
MMORPG.com contributor Shannon Drake writes this week's list, providing some examples of non-traditional versions of everyone's favorite Fantasy humanoid race, the elves that could be used in future MMOs.
Making a fantasy MMO without elves is absurdism at its highest.
Okay, maybe those are some strong words, exaggerating for the sake of it, but people do love their elves. They are the perfect fantasy race for roleplaying games, because Elves are just different enough to be interesting, pointy-eared and maybe immortal, while still being recognizably or almost human. And, most importantly, they are an exotic race without being too odd or weird for players to identify with. While EverQuest II's Frogloks are hilarious; giant, playable frogs don't seem to have quite the cultural impact of the other traditional fantasy races, possibly because it's easier to figure out how to inherit a quasi-humanoid's skin than to figure out what motivates a frog. Besides flies and sitting around on lily pads and avoiding lusty pigs, of course.
Read it all here.
Dana Massey
Formerly of MMORPG.com
Currently Lead Designer for Bit Trap Studios
Comments
I would also add the Minbari from Babylon 5 to a list like this. The similarities between B5 and Lord of the Rings are remarkable, and when you draw parallels there is no doubt that Minbari are the elves of space.
If you want to talk about interesting Non Traditional Elves then I suggest people read The First Two Books of the Elven Ways series by Jenna Rhodes "The Four Forges" and "The Dark Ferryman".
In this series The Elves are on the world because of a Catyclismic worldwind that took them from there Original World and sent them to where they are. But what makes them interesting was that as soon as they got this world they realized they were more powerful the the world's gods and immediately enslaved the world.
The story takes place a couple of thousands years later and the Elves caled Vaeilnor are the ruling class of the world but live in a world where they try to appease the the other races and rule them fairly. Slavery of the other races has been outlawed and the Vaelinor are not allowed to have any acts of war on other Vaelinor houses or other races.
To me these elves were the coolest re iteration of the classic fantasy elves I have ever read.
I tell you that's probably one of the main reasons I'm fairly burnt out on Fantasy MMOs and most Fantasy RPGs. I am playing Dragon Age, though, and enjoying it. If a company wants my MMO subscription fee for a fantasy MMO they have to get away from the stereotypes of elves, dwarves, orcs and a few other fantasy races.
How about a game where elves were the master crafters and shapers of metal through magic. And Dwarves were a collection of barbaric tribes. And orcs were educated and civilized warrior poets.
Yeah, this ties into my other post about being a Game Designer. Creativity and imagination are frozen in the MMO industry. Any RP minded table-top GM or DM could create a more "fantastic" and unique world that what's being pushed out today.
"Many nights, my friend... Many nights I've put a blade to your throat while you were sleeping. Glad I never killed you, Steve. You're alright..."
Chavez y Chavez
Personally I always like Dark Elves more, because they are less ethereal and more hands on than the classic Wood Elves. I just don't like the Drow, the D&D depiction of Dark Elves, because esentially an evil society is absurd. It could not exist. I like the version of the Tamriel Dark Elves from Elder Scrolls. I still wait for the ideal Dark Elves in some story, a race which is a mix of Romulans and Klingons in Elvish, if you like. Warriors and moody beings, but not evil. (I am just a bit pissed about the racism in the idea all good Elves are blond and white skinned and dark skinned Elves are evil. Thats just rubbish.)
I like the Silmarillion age Tolkien Elves. They still had fire and power and will, they were great warriors and not whimsish Woodelves who pick flowers and hug treees, but deadly and dangerous foes.
What most authors and games fail to depict is that an Elf is something much different than merely a human with odd habits and pointy ears. An Elf is essentially an alien, a very powerful being who lives very long, and the only reason they are not perceived as dangerous is because they acquired some wisdom through the length of their lives. An Elf should always be something potentially very very dangerous and very good to have on your side, and not some mockey of tree-huggers and flower pickers.
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
Well in EQ2 my Warlock is a Dark Elf the reason is they were set to be the casting type great for wis, lock and healing.
My SK however is Keran my favorite big cat, but I still love my Dark Elf Warlock and play it every day.
I would add, however, that novelty != creativity. One shouldn't be different for the sake of being different, but for the sake of enhancing the existing archetype, keeping its conceptual evolution in motion. I think that Dragon Age is a great modern example of the latter.
In my opinion, elves, dwarves and orcs have settled into their respective stereotypes with very good reason: they form an equilateral triangle of the fundamental facets of humanity. It has been a design philosophy for many fantasy worlds, regardless of the races they contain: if you were to hypothetically merge one average member of each race, the result should approximate an average human.
Tolkien elves get a bad rap.
If you've read the Silmarillion, then you know that there were all sorts of elves and the splintered and fractured into different groups over time. They weren't perfect etc.
Also, Tolkien took the name elf and totally changed what they were. Pretolkien, elves were little magic sprites and such. Think gnomes and leprachauns and such.
He borrowed from lots of legends and myths and made his own. Nothing wrong with doing it again...but for it to stick, its gotta be meaningful etc. Tolkien was so thorough in his work that he included millenia of history for every race, and even creation stories, languages, etc.
Currently not playing any MMOrpg --
Lvl 80 paladin WoW
Keebler Elves: Basically dwarves that live in trees and bake cookies. Loved by all players craving chef-like crafting professions.
Santa's Elves: Basically dwarves that live in cold climates and make toys. Another loved race by the crafting wannabes. A rare profession for these guys is Dentistry. Always helpful to have a good dentist along in your party for when your humie gets his teeth punched out by the nasty minotaur.
Here's a quote from China Mieville, the British fantasy and sci-fi writer (as well as activist and politician!). Not to be taken too seriously or get aggravated on, but he does have a point:
"If you have a world in which Orcs are evil, and you depict them as evil, I don't know how that maps onto the question of "political correctness." However, the point is not that you're misrepresenting Orcs (if you invented this world, that's how Orcs are), but that you have replicated the logic of racism, which is that large groups of people are "defined" by an abstract supposedly essential element called "race," whatever else you were doing or intended. And that's not an innocent thing to do."
EDIT: Oh, and, by the way, on topic: Terry Pratchett's Discworld elves take the cake as far as how different they are from your run-of-the-mill MMO elves. Heck, they're practically anti-MMO-elves!
That's not entirely accurate. Tolkien didn't change what they were -- rather he returned them to their roots in Norse mythology. Tolkien disliked how the Elven myth had been warped into what you called magic sprites. He wanted to return them to the stature they once had: human-like, noble, magical, perhaps one could even describe them as lesser deities.
Now having said that, another elf made popular are the house elves of Harry Potter.
_____________________________
Currently Playing: LOTRO; DDO
Played: AC2, AO, Auto Assault, CoX, DAoC, DDO, Earth&Beyond, EQ1, EQ2, EVE, Fallen Earth, Jumpgate, Roma Victor, Second Life, SWG, V:SoH, WoW, World War II Online.
Games I'm watching: Infinity: The Quest for Earth, Force of Arms.
Find the Truth: http://www.factcheck.org/
Probably going to get flamed for this, but... Would the Vulcans and Romulans be considered the elves and dark elves, respectively, of Star Trek? Am I the only person that has ever thought about this?
My soul brother! YES!! I thought so for years and years myself!
Alas we WILL get flamed, teh.
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
Yes and the Klingons can be considered to be the orcs.
So you basically have elves and orcs in Star Trek.
I always thought that Tolkien took his Elves from the Tuatha de Danaan among others.
Personally I always (and for the most part, solely) play elves though in my mind I always play elves along the lines of the Elves in the Simarillion.
No wood elf hanging in trees for me. Advanced haughty powerful god like race with exceptionally beautiful and fine features. Masters of Magic and Battle.
edit: now that I've read the article some of it resonates with me as I also think of Elven Characters along the lines of the sith and in the Tad William's books but also the Elf Quest elves.
However..... ; )
What the article does not mention is that there is another group of Elves in Elfquest. These are the Elves who have the power of the old ways and who live more like demented sorcerors than Native Americans. Whenver I think of Elves, the character of Winnowill comes into mind.
http://media.comicvine.com/uploads/1/10135/247549-64349-winnowill_large.jpg
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Iy-QvX1qv0E/SNJnMX_yAvI/AAAAAAAAC98/a-dC0_e8Rf8/s320/Winnowill.jpg
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
YES! ABSOLUTELY. I agree 100%.
Local Hobby GMs / DMs are FAR MORE SKILLED in creating immersive scenarios and campaigns than the so-called professionals today.
With the exception of Bioware and a cuople indies, the phony commercial rpg "designers" today are not worth a DAMN.
The so-called professional game designers today aren't fit to stoop down and untie the sandals of the hobby designers.
YES! ABSOLUTELY. I agree 100%.
Local Hobby GMs / DMs are FAR MORE SKILLED in creating immersive scenarios and campaigns than the so-called professionals today.
With the exception of Bioware and a cuople indies, the phony commercial rpg "designers" today are not worth a DAMN.
The so-called professional game designers today aren't fit to stoop down and untie the sandals of the hobby designers.
That can be true...but because I'm anonymous here I can tell you that my GM has become real lazy with the introduction of 4e D&D. It's as though he's on autopilot.
But yeah...maybe someday Game developers will hire actual writers and game theorists, and not simply programmers who happened to have gotten a few good grades in English, or who taught themselves game design through MUDS (Nothing wrong with MUDS, mind you).
_____________________________
Currently Playing: LOTRO; DDO
Played: AC2, AO, Auto Assault, CoX, DAoC, DDO, Earth&Beyond, EQ1, EQ2, EVE, Fallen Earth, Jumpgate, Roma Victor, Second Life, SWG, V:SoH, WoW, World War II Online.
Games I'm watching: Infinity: The Quest for Earth, Force of Arms.
Find the Truth: http://www.factcheck.org/
I would LOVE an Elfquest MMO. Or any sort of Elfquest game. Aside from the old board game.
I was up to number 2 when I though "They should put in Elfquest" and then BAM! Number 1 baby!!!! Read those as a teen in their original release. Good stuff.
Vulcans and Romulans too....
One of these days i should post my notes form my game elves the "leute"
YES! ABSOLUTELY. I agree 100%.
Local Hobby GMs / DMs are FAR MORE SKILLED in creating immersive scenarios and campaigns than the so-called professionals today.
With the exception of Bioware and a cuople indies, the phony commercial rpg "designers" today are not worth a DAMN.
The so-called professional game designers today aren't fit to stoop down and untie the sandals of the hobby designers.
My friend actually made a DnD Campaign that was nearly Identical to Dragon Age's Storyline about a month before it was announced. :P
YES! ABSOLUTELY. I agree 100%.
Local Hobby GMs / DMs are FAR MORE SKILLED in creating immersive scenarios and campaigns than the so-called professionals today.
With the exception of Bioware and a cuople indies, the phony commercial rpg "designers" today are not worth a DAMN.
The so-called professional game designers today aren't fit to stoop down and untie the sandals of the hobby designers.
I'm sorry, but you're absolutely, 100% wrong.
Most professional storytellers are not lacking in imagination or creativity whatsoever. This is only argued by people who have no insight into how the professional creative industries work. First of all, what's being put out there is not determined by the writers' degree of creativity, but by demand. You can come up with some wild stuff nobody's even dreamt of before, and if the money decides there's not enough audience for it, tough luck... It's not going to reach the masses.
Even more importantly, concepts being "fantastic" or "unique" does not mean much in and of themselves. The secret to good storytelling is implementation, not innovation. Originality is volatile, not to mention for the most part insubstantial - if you've read enough and seen enough, almost anything seems like a re-run anyway. Look at the greatest works of film and literature and you'll see most aren't at all original in concept - they're just deep and strong in implementation. Actually, coming up with catchy concepts is the Hollywood way of doing things.
I've been exposed to a lot of amateur stuff, and I've read a lot of pro stuff... and while there's some crossover where a few amateur stories are well implemented and compelling and some of the pros are amateurish, trust me, on the whole, there's absolutely no competition. Most amateurs come up with ideas they think are original (again, most aren't), but cannot make a story get under your skin. So even when interesting, their stuff is usually quite forgettable (Hey, but then this is true for the majority of pro stories, too).
As a last pointer, fantasy literature as a rule is made of familiars... It's how the genre works. If you try to detach it from its archetypes and thousands of years of structure, it's just going to end up as a sorry attempt at literature (See some of the clueless D&D books). There are tons of books on the structure of fairy tales and epics, anyone going "OMG, it's always the same stuff!!!" would do well to read up on the subject.
I admit that I have an extremely soft spot for Tolkien's Mirkwood elves. I love the fact that they were strong fighters and extremely protective of their own territory, as well as the fact that they too had a weakness; they too loved gold. And, Thranduil was a perfect example of that.
That being said, this article has made me all the more eager to try Dragon Age. I recently bought Torchlight and resubbed to EVE, so I'm a little short of money at the moment. However, after hearing about how the traditional proud, wise elves being enslaved by humans has made me very keen to see what it's like. I'm definitely rolling an Elf when I get that game.
Main characters:
Jinn Gone Quiet (Guild Wars)
Princess Pudding (Guild Wars)
YES! ABSOLUTELY. I agree 100%.
Yeah, thats what killed DDO and CO for me. They couldn't hold a candle to the table-top ver we played. The rules and books were a launching point for our GM.
YES! ABSOLUTELY. I agree 100%.
Local Hobby GMs / DMs are FAR MORE SKILLED in creating immersive scenarios and campaigns than the so-called professionals today.
With the exception of Bioware and a cuople indies, the phony commercial rpg "designers" today are not worth a DAMN.
The so-called professional game designers today aren't fit to stoop down and untie the sandals of the hobby designers.
That can be true...but because I'm anonymous here I can tell you that my GM has become real lazy with the introduction of 4e D&D. It's as though he's on autopilot.
But yeah...maybe someday Game developers will hire actual writers and game theorists, and not simply programmers who happened to have gotten a few good grades in English, or who taught themselves game design through MUDS (Nothing wrong with MUDS, mind you).
Which is why none of the 3 GM/DM in our group, me being one, will touch 4th ed D&D. A big part of the reason anyway. A nicely complicated system helps foster the imagination. I got my first bad feeling when to-hit-armour-class-0 (THAC0) went the way of the dodo.
"Many nights, my friend... Many nights I've put a blade to your throat while you were sleeping. Glad I never killed you, Steve. You're alright..."
Chavez y Chavez
Personally my favorite elves are the elves from The Dark Sun campaign setting of D&D. Haughty xenophobes who hate all outsiders even other elves. Also had my favorite Halflings: primitive canabls (real ankle biters)