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Why is Elf-Fantasy the most popular?
Jemcrystal
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Out of all the rp genres mmorpgs can be what makes elf-fantasy (also called Sword-n-Sorcery or Heroic-Fantasy) the highest chosen?
Out of all the rp genres mmorpgs can be what makes elf-fantasy (also called Sword-n-Sorcery or Heroic-Fantasy) the highest chosen?
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Tolkien made elves and orcs popular. Many grabbed those races in their fantasy worlds.
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Star Trek Online / Movie Series there are elves there too?
A ) 99% of all elf are beautiful long living
B ) it easy to design for them just humans with small changes
C ) require no knowledge of lore or desire for fantasy as it easy to grasp an enjoy for anyone
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It's not uncommon in high fantasy (the term I would use) for elves to be the most popular race or edged out slightly by humans.
In many DnD inspired games there is often more than one elf race, and sometimes they are the main theme of the game or story.
Dark elves come to mind, along with high elves, wood elves, half elves just to name a few.
They often have great powers such as seeing in the dark, better magic abilities, longer life spans, portrayed as more noble than common humans, perhaps more insular and elitist, but always superior and above filthy, greedy, materialistic dwarves who grub about in the earth for gold and treasure.
I doubt more than a small number of female players have ever chosen dwarf as their race, largely because female dwarves are often omitted as a choice, or largely unattractive (see WOW) while elves are likely the dominant selection. (Ever see a short, fat, female elf model in games or movies? Nuff said.)
On rare occasion a game or story will offer multiple dwarf races, but normally they are all characteristically similar with variances mostly on what they mine or where they live.
While dwarves often have super human powers they are frequently relegated to roles such as fighter, priest or thief. Rare is the dwarven mage as usually their racial charcteristics (remember when games had those? ) favored strength, piety, poison resistance vs intelligence, agility and magic resistance normally reserved for elves and sometimes elf/human hybrids.
Any who elves are a corner stone of most any high fantasy game, and even if a game does not specifically mention elves (as seems to be case with some Asian titles) usually there's still a racial choice or 3 which look and have the characteristics of elves (though frequently given more child like features which I still find creepy and disturbing, but hey, I'm just out of touch or so I'm told)
Elves are almost damn sexy, and beautiful, even if in the Asian variants males tend to be somewhat feminine looking.
While the OP mentions a dozen other possible worlds for MMOs there's been numerous discussions over the years by both players and devs as to why high fantasy remains the king despite countless iterations and truthfully, is still favorite of mine over the years.
Yes, I have always included at least two elves in all of my parties (remember when RPGs were about controlling parties of 4 to 6 characters, oh how I miss the single player games from the 80s and 90s)
While I'm currently having a great time with Fallout New Vegas (post apocalyptic earth being also a long favorite thanks to this series and Wasteland) I can't help wishing for a similar game in fantasy world, which included a 3rd or 4th companion as well.
If Bethesda ever made such a game, count me in.
Hmm, come to think of it, my character in FNV looks suspiciously like a dark elf...
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I'm a dwarf guy myself. But there's stigmas around everywhere that revolve around what sort of type of a person plays what race and how it reflects them irl. They're mostly just hilarious stereotypes but, you know, whatever we all think em.
I don't think elves popularity is so much Tolkiens fault as Ed Greenwood (the guy who created Forgotten realms). It was Forgotten realms and Dragonlance that really brought elves into computer games and they have become the standard setting to rip off for MMOs.
EQ, Wow and the rest besides LOTRO are way closer to the D&D settings then Middle earth.
Tolkien did not invent elves, they are part of Norse mythology but he did make them popular with fantasy fans but D&D made them insanely popular with gamers.
And I think it is that "look good at all times" that make so many players like them. And the standard type of MMO elves are closer to the sun elves, moon elves and drows of FR then Tolkiens elves that are much closer to the mythological ones which is more demi Gods then mortals.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/276315/distribution-of-world-of-warcraft-characters-by-race/
Edit: WoW has racials though which of course skews this in various ways.
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Fine features, well educated, graceful, a strong sense and love for aesthetics etc.
As far as the genre? I've always preferred fantasy (though I oftentimes think the designers go overboard with it it such as "floating castles and the like") and like the idea of magic along with wielding a sword or a bow or a mace. There's something very primal about that.
"Science Fiction" is rarely about the "science fiction" and is more about being in the future with gadgets. I lose interest in those very quickly unless it's a 4X game.
I could do Steam Punk but it would have to be done "right".
I like super hero movies and that's about it. A Western "might" intrigue me but I wouldn't play that for long.
Not sure what to say but "fantasy" does it for me.
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Gdemami absolutely not being an armchair developer
It also seems to be the oldest,so devs even the crappy ones have enough ideas to copy to build a decent game.
I could go for a Western or a Space mmorpg but nobody out there is coming close to building one i would want to play.The developers need to be reminded of the term ROLE PLAYING.There are a couple Westerns coming out that look kind of cool,i have no idea as of yet if they are a complete game or like so many just a couple lame gimmicks with a cash shop and selling early access.
Something like puzzle solving is again an idea to ADD into a solid game build,not to be a one trick pony gimmick to surround an entire game around it.I have no idea how a developer would draw up the design to make a puzzle game remotely plausible in the scope of role playing.The same goes for Mystery,that is not even a role playing element but more so an idea and again would be an idea that is built into a game not THE GAME design itself,unless and the ONLY idea i can think of would be if you were role playing Sherlock Holmes or something similar.
I guess after having think it over a Mystery rpg is possible,you could be role playing a mystery seeker,who travels the world seeking out mysteries to unravel,like ancient heiroglyphics and hidden treasures that again need to be deciphered from ancient mysteries,sort of like Tomb Raider.
Bottom line is i could go for ANY type genre/game,i just want to see a quality game,not some moba that took 3 months to build,just give me effort and quality.
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Also, for the record, you can roleplay in any game it's up to you. Or are you so unimaginative and lazy you can't be bothered to use your mind to suit the situation to your needs?
Tolkien was the first author to really grab me, he was my gateway Author to DnD and every other fantasy setting. Although I am more into WH40K at this point, Tolkien will always be the one that hooked me.
As far as way Elves are so popular, I have no idea. Elves, much like tree's, make me want to put an axe in them.
If you want a new idea, go read an old book.
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Probably because of her
Really liked Underworld, but hated the twilight series, only watched a bit of the first film, which was more than enough.