How important are non-human races to you?

4507

I made a discussion thread about a week ago asking this same question and received a number of thought-provoking responses, and I've decided to now make a formal poll on the matter.

Note: for the sake of the poll, please do not consider races that can be easily confused with humans (namely elves) to be non-human races, and assume that the hypothetical implementation and variety of races is average for an MMORPG

sketocafe

I like variety but honestly I just kind of wish developers would spend all the time they'd work on shorter or larger races and make kickass animations for average sized characters. When you have a bunch of racial options sometimes the whole is not more than the sum of its' parts.

Nilden

Race selection and variety is a major factor for me. EQ, Shadowbane, DAOC and some others had great choices. More the better, and the more variety the better. Everything from lizardmen to centaurs, heck just start going through the humanoid handbook for tons of races.

http://www.nerregatt.de/games/TheCompleteBookofHumanoids.pdf

centkin

Heck, Asheron's call had only humans.  You don't NEED non-human PCs to make a good game. 

Loke666

As I see it is the important thing that the world is well thought, interesting and fun. Choices are always good but if you have a world similar to GoT or Conan you can do well without any other races if the world is good and the human cultures are varied enough.

Just adding elves and goblins to Westeros because people like them would be a disaster. But if you make a high fantasy game similar to FR they work as long as you make them fit in the worlds history.

I can play either as long as I like the race story and style.

cameltosis

Everything has to fit with the game's lore. 

That being said, I prefer high-fantasy with lots of non-human characters and will usually opt to be a non-human race. The only exception is when the non-human races look like humans (e.g. swtor where everything looks human) in which case it usually comes down to which race has the best hair styles!

I've heard many developers claim that the average gamer doesn't like playing non-humans races because they struggle to get attached, but I've never had that difficulty. Orcs and goblins are my favourite races to play, but I also loved my dwarves in lotro along with my spider for pvp. 

Lithuanian

Prefer humans, but if there is cool-looking race with some nice attributes -I can play it as well.
I would play game with Humans only though, it's no problem for me.

waynejr2

cameltosis said:

Everything has to fit with the game's lore. 

That being said, I prefer high-fantasy with lots of non-human characters and will usually opt to be a non-human race. The only exception is when the non-human races look like humans (e.g. swtor where everything looks human) in which case it usually comes down to which race has the best hair styles!

I've heard many developers claim that the average gamer doesn't like playing non-humans races because they struggle to get attached, but I've never had that difficulty. Orcs and goblins are my favourite races to play, but I also loved my dwarves in lotro along with my spider for pvp. 

Agree.  The OP poll is too simple.

anemo

I think that in most MMO's races are a waste of time.   Your experience with NPCs rarely changes for it, your access to certain area's rarely changes, and how the world is laid out for you barely changes(IE: more senses like infra vision, tracking scent, seeing magic, or similar).  

Though even with that thought for a World of Everclone game I do prefer there to be more than one race.  But for a sandbox you don't need to waste your time unless you actually do something with it.

Cleffy

I like the demi-human races. They typically have the better quests. The Orcs in Vanguard had much better quests and animations than any other race. In World of Warcraft I played Taurens who once again had the better writing and animations. Human races in these games tend to be stiff. Much like other posters, if you do other races, do them right. If you do Human race only do them right and there isn't any issues.

H0urg1ass

Like I mentioned in the last one of these posts, it's not important to me at all.  In fact, I find games with just humans as the only playable race to be more enjoyable.

Mostly because game developers cannot seem to come up with any interesting races of their own.  They are all Tolkien derivatives or just plain bad when they break away from Elves and Dwarves.

SavageHorizon

It's very rare I play a human in mmo's. 

Quizzical

Not a big deal, but I'd generally prefer either all human races or at most one human race.  Don't give me three human races plus six non-human races.

H0urg1ass

Quizzical said:

Not a big deal, but I'd generally prefer either all human races or at most one human race.  Don't give me three human races plus six non-human races.

I agree with this as long as you can choose the ethnicity of the one human "race" in the game at character creation.

Octagon7711

It depends on their racial stats and abilities.  But usually it makes little difference. 

Quizzical

H0urg1ass said:

Quizzical said:

Not a big deal, but I'd generally prefer either all human races or at most one human race.  Don't give me three human races plus six non-human races.

I agree with this as long as you can choose the ethnicity of the one human "race" in the game at character creation.

Sure, but if you're going to do that, then give me options to do that with the non-human races, too.

Xarko

I like wierd races if they have at least a bit "realistic" looks and lore background. Charr in Guild Wars universe or Skaven in Warhammer are a good example.

Tintagil

Variety is the spice of life. I love games that allow me to play other alien/animal races so long as it fits the game. For all they did wrong I think Wildstar is an example of a game will very compelling nonhuman races (Draken and Mechari FTW).

Another thing that other have pointed out, I think it is important to provide options for even the human races in games (e.g., gender and ethnicity) because again, variety is the spice of life (and being inclusive is generally rad).

DrDread74

Races are supposed to just add individuality and flavor to your character plus have the skewed attributes towards the type of skills you use. I don't feel MMOs do enough to make the races different or meaningful beyond that though.

nerovergil

i play human and human looking race

immodium

So by non-human you still mean humanoid?

Or do you mean something like:



I don't think I could play non humanoid.

VestigeGamer

H0urg1ass said:

Quizzical said:

Not a big deal, but I'd generally prefer either all human races or at most one human race.  Don't give me three human races plus six non-human races.

I agree with this as long as you can choose the ethnicity of the one human "race" in the game at character creation.

What "ethnicity" would that be?  African?  Persian?  American Indian?  Eskimo?  Oriental?  Mongoloid?  None of these places exist in a fantasy world.

Now, if you're talking an "Earth-like" or "Earth-Alternative" game, sure.  Otherwise, it's not ethnicity, it's solely skin color.  There certainly can be cultural differences, but they may not equate to "Earth Cultures."

Impmon

I've discovered from many years experience playing MMOs the people who tend to pick "attractive" avatars in game tend to look like the trolls in game in real life.

4507

@immodium I meant non-human, whatever that may be (including automatons, amorphous blobs, etc).

rojoArcueid

GW1 is the perfect example for having only playable humans. It made perfect sense within the lore of the first game, just like in GW2 makes sense to have multiple player races after all the events that brought them together.

I love variety in games but it has to make sense.

EDIT: Elder Scrolls is another huge example when different playable races make absolute sense. It just fits the lore.

As for non-humanoids, same idea applies here. It has to fit the lore. I wont play as a donkey just because i chose a countryside starting zone.

Theocritus

It depends on the game and how they incorporate lore....Some games the non human races just feel adeed on...On of the reasons why I like fantasy is the addition of new races