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Does racism exist in MMORPG's?
Squirv01
Member Posts: 155
I remember whe Star Wars Galaxies was newly released. I played a Zabrak on the Empire's side. It took alot more faction points to get an AT-AT (forget all the names of Star Wars equipment) pet than a human character needed to get the same pet.. It was plain and obvious that the Empire had a racist agenda.
Barring that it was all in the story line or the Star Wars Universe, my question in the title of this thread is simply that, a question. Has anyone else ran across racism in MMORPG's and if so, what way?
Comments
Like in WoW when my Orc couldn't ride a Raptor in the early days, damn those trolls and their racist ways!
You couldnt have mentioned a better MMO to make your analogy than a Star Wars MMO. Without going into detail, do some research on the similarities between the Star Wars Empire and Nazi Germany and you'll see why your point is so valid
"If you want a picture of the future, imagine a robot foot stomping on a human face -- forever."
Could the reason for your Orc not being able to ride a Raptor was due to the fact that it wasn't graphically developed? The reason I ask this is not to say that it wasn't a racist move on the developers part but to discern the difference between an ability of an MMORPG to support an Orc riding a Raptor verses the deliberate requirement of an Orc to get a Raptor.
For example, if the Raptor was available to all races within the game, did the Orc have to do something "more" to obtain the Raptor than say the undead type character?
I am surpised an MMO hasn't used Aparteid as a story element. I think there was somthing like that in FF12 but it seems like it would make for good story elements. I have always thought a story about Aparteid in America would be good. Aliens come to earth an they treat us as inferiors who have to be ruled.
In almost any faction-based MMO, racism is probably the only argument one could realistically have for why they relentlessly murder others in both PvE and PvP.
Take WOW for example. There's no reason for Horde to ever fight Alliance. We have seem so far in the five or so years that WOW has been running that neither side will NEVER have any impact on the other side. Neither side has any reason to fear loss to the other side. If one side stopped fighting completely they would be at no disadvantage whatsoever.
A display of abusive behaviour towards another race, especially when completely baseless, is racism by definition.
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You couldnt have mentioned a better MMO to make your analogy than a Star Wars MMO. Without going into detail, do some research on the similarities between the Star Wars Empire and Nazi Germany and you'll see why your point is so valid
I've heard of the similarites between the Star Wars story and the history of Nazi Germany but I've never really looked it up. Thanks, where's my google!?!
Humans have a bonus to reputation gains.
BLIZZARD ARE RACIST TOWARDS DRAENEI.
Could the reason for your Orc not being able to ride a Raptor was due to the fact that it wasn't graphically developed? The reason I ask this is not to say that it wasn't a racist move on the developers part but to discern the difference between an ability of an MMORPG to support an Orc riding a Raptor verses the deliberate requirement of an Orc to get a Raptor.
For example, if the Raptor was available to all races within the game, did the Orc have to do something "more" to obtain the Raptor than say the undead type character?
I was being sarcastic and just called it a lazy and/or make races feel unique move.
That is an awesome statement. Would it be fair to say that some MMORPG's that have different races in the game and where the objective of the game is to terminate/hinder the race opposite of your own thus renders that game racist?
This brings me to a new question. If you agree that some MMORPG's are racist do you think that this has an impact on the world as we live in it today?
I always thought the Empire was more based on Rome. A Senate that is disbanded when the Emperor (Ceazar) takes control.
That is an awesome statement. Would it be fair to say that some MMORPG's that have different races in the game and where the objective of the game is to terminate/hinder the race opposite of your own thus renders that game racist?
This brings me to a new question. If you agree that some MMORPG's are racist do you think that this has an impact on the world as we live in it today?
Racism is either a) the belief of one race that they are superior to another race, or b) prejudice/discrimination by one race against other race(s).
Let's say I have a small little kingdom that is being pressured by a race of lizard-men, and I decide to kill them and claim their territory in order to survive. Does that make me racist? You tell me. Try not to succumb to any feelings of "good" or "bad", because I may be maniacally evil and the lizard-men may be the force of order.
Blizzard's case is unique... while there's no direct reason to be fighting each other (and with the introduction of the Scourge and the Burning Legion, there's actually a reason to stand together), all of the races feel a natural distrust for each other because of past events that has led to continued warfare. Blizzard is key to stress that it's not necessarily all-out war; more like small, localized conflicts where Alliance and Horde forces met in the wrong place at the wrong time, or one side tries to claim resources from the other, etc. That's what Battlegrounds are.
I'm curious; when you talk about a game being racist do you mean the background lore and factions system of the game incorporate racist elements as regards imaginary beings all in the name of good fun or do you mean the developers of the game themselves are trying to promote some sort of racist agenda in the real world?
Because I have to say when I've seen arguments in the past that having Dwarfs hate Trolls is wrong or people saying that Elves and Orcs should be bestest buddies because if they aren't it's OMG RACIST it's the sort of thing that makes me shake my head and roll my eyes. This is political correctness taken to crazy-land extremes.
We're talking about imaginary magical creatures here (or in the case of sci/fi imaginary aliens). And think for a second: If we forbade our imaginary creatures from having any sorts of conflicts what would we do in these games? Because you could easily extend this "racism" argument to include all NPCs as well. So who would be left to fight? Animals maybe? But then the politically correct brigade would jump in and tell us it's wrong to kill all the innocent little animals.
So without conflict and combat what sort of games would we have? Everybody standing around singing campfire songs?
Yes it does, I can't stand them damn elves...does that count?
That Guild Wars 2 login screen knocked up my wife. Must be the second coming!
I'm curious; when you talk about a game being racist do you mean the background lore and factions system of the game incorporate racist elements as regards imaginary beings all in the name of good fun or do you mean the developers of the game themselves are trying to promote some sort of racist agenda in the real world?
Because I have to say when I've seen arguments in the past that having Dwarfs hate Trolls is wrong or people saying that Elves and Orcs should be bestest buddies because if they aren't it's OMG RACIST it's the sort of thing that makes me shake my head and roll my eyes. This is political correctness taken to crazy-land extremes.
We're talking about imaginary magical creatures here (or in the case of sci/fi imaginary aliens). And think for a second: If we forbade our imaginary creatures from having any sorts of conflicts what would we do in these games? Because you could easily extend this "racism" argument to include all NPCs as well. So who would be left to fight? Animals maybe? But then the politically correct brigade would jump in and tell us it's wrong to kill all the innocent little animals.
So without conflict and combat what sort of games would we have? Everybody standing around singing campfire songs?
I don't believe that I stated that games should not have conflict and combat. Do you think I said this?
I don't believe that I stated that it is wrong to create a game where Dwarfs hate Trolls or Elves hate Orcs. Do you believe this is wrong? I personally am not in that environment and have no opinion on fictional love/hate relationships.
In no way did I bring up said politically correctness of killing innocent animals.
What I do believe is that my post is a question about racism. Do you have any constructive comments on racism in MMORPG's and how said racism may effect the lives of real people?
Does racism exist in MMORPG's? » Reply
I've played a gnome tank. Nobody took me seriously and few would listen.
Then I played a tauren tank. Everyone listened to what I said.
Racism
Well shave my back and call me an elf! -- Oghren
Sure. We were a small 12 person raid to kill a epic boss in EQ2, and waiting for the last dude to show up. I asked: "Who's tanking?" and a gnome paladin said "I will", I replied "no, seriously, who will tank?"... He got so upset
But races are treated differently in many games. Dark elves and those pesky surface elves don't like each other and so on.
And racism is a hard thing, if the lore is right it works fine but it can really upset people and real racism is another matter.
Of course a Cimmerian wont be popular in Stygia or Drizzt wont be able to vist silvery moon because he is a drow. But it should be threaded carefully.
Lol, I didn't saw that post until after I written the stuff above
Age of Conan.
/thread.
EQ troll, dark elf, ogre needed to grind faction to get in freeport and humans wood elf gnomes needed to do same to get in "evil" race city all normal for the world they lived in so yes there should be racist views in a world where there is conflict that is a driving force for it so a game with none would be boring
I can't imagine how it could affect the lives of real people unless those people were real idiots.
And yes, I do have a constructive comment on racism in MMORPGs: The more the better!
Does anyone remember the old arguments about ARAC guilds and towns in games? ARAC means all-races-all-classes. I was one of the people who used to argue against it. No, elves and orcs should not be buddies. Evil necromancers and good clerics should NOT be hanging out with each other.
Dwarfs should think of goblins as vermin to be exterminated. That's right! There should be a little Dwarf bastard with a little mustach plotting the genocide of goblins and he should be a heroic figure for all dwarfs. Let unabashed, unashamed racism run rampant in our games and let us glory and revel in it.
Because, for God's sake, they're just games. Just steer clear of racism among human races in the games and I think we'll all be just fine and I doubt if it will cause an upsurge in KKK membership.
Hell ya racism exists in MMOs, and not even a trace of the RL kind, a new kind where people simply hate the look of Night Elves and decide to hate on them. This happens in every game and says a lot about how these people must react to this in RL as well.
Writer / Musician / Game Designer
Now Playing: Skyrim, Wurm Online, Tropico 4
Waiting On: GW2, TSW, Archeage, The Rapture
They call it **FACTION**
And yes it exists. I wish there was more of it. If one race dislikes another race then you should not be able to buy their mounts/weapons/gear unless you jump thorugh a crap load of hoops to get it.
So sure, Racism exists in MMORPG's, and when it's done right it's fantastic!
BoB
I once had a neighbour that was a elf,so I phoned the Mr. T hotline for some help. A week later I received a Mohawk grenade and threw it at my neighbour,just like magic he turned into a awesome mohawk that kept saying :"You can't deny,it's been prooven by science fool!".
Mr. T. once defeated Chuck Norris in a game of Tic-Tac-Toe, in retaliation, Chuck Norris invented Racism. I would suspect that this is even moreso in MMORPG's, at least that's what I heard in Barrens chat.
"There is only one thing of which I am certain, and that's nothing is certain."
They often overlooked, or looked down upon
Dragon age certainly had a few interesting concepts when it came to racialism too...