139 réponses à ce sujet

[DeinonSlayer]

DA:O: three elves (fCity, mDalish, mMage), one dwarf (mCasteless), one human (fMage).

[Lotion Soronarr]

I am a human, therefore I can think like a human.

I am not an elf, dwarf, quanri, a vampire, a spirit or anything similar. I can't think like them.
No one can - although I bet some roleplayers think they can.

So given that elves and dwarves are basicly psychiologicly humans... I might was well play a human. Not to say I don't play elves or dwarves. But human is my default.

[The Flying Grey Warden]

I like having the common man's perspective on things, and in order to get that, you gotta play a human. It helps roleplaying a lot as well since you can act new to the concepts of the dalish, dwarf society, mages, templars, elves, the whole shibang, and not look like an idiot, just a normal person who lived a normal life that didn't involve much traveling abroad and anthropological or geopolitical studies. I can just be a normal person with no extra baggage and a story that everyone can relate to.

[Melca36]

Nefla wrote...

For me, the only appeal to playing human is to see the differences after playing the other races. Humans in DA are the closest to our familiar modern North American and medieval European societies, they are the default, the privileged, basically if there was a racial equivalent of upper middle-upper class straight white male in DA it would be humans. This makes humans uninteresting to me. The other races all have interesting cultures and history, humans have modified versions of real world history/societies.

Some people will only play as what they are in real life. That means only human, only their real gender, only their real world ethnicity, etc...This is boring to me. I play games to get away from my boring reality. I want to experience new perspectives abilities, cultures, and even physical appearance. You see people saying "I play human because I'm human" but no one is a mage or warrior or a hero of any sort in real life. You never see people saying "screw heroism and combat, I want to play as a shopkeeper because I work in retail in real life and I can only be like my real self!"

Humans can't be rogues or warriors or mages in real life so I respectfully disagree.   I can't duel weld daggers in real life. I don't do magic. Being a human in the game is NOT like being a human in real life.

[Nightdragon8]

Melca36 wrote...

Nefla wrote...

For me, the only appeal to playing human is to see the differences after playing the other races. Humans in DA are the closest to our familiar modern North American and medieval European societies, they are the default, the privileged, basically if there was a racial equivalent of upper middle-upper class straight white male in DA it would be humans. This makes humans uninteresting to me. The other races all have interesting cultures and history, humans have modified versions of real world history/societies.

Some people will only play as what they are in real life. That means only human, only their real gender, only their real world ethnicity, etc...This is boring to me. I play games to get away from my boring reality. I want to experience new perspectives abilities, cultures, and even physical appearance. You see people saying "I play human because I'm human" but no one is a mage or warrior or a hero of any sort in real life. You never see people saying "screw heroism and combat, I want to play as a shopkeeper because I work in retail in real life and I can only be like my real self!"

Humans can't be rogues or warriors or mages in real life so I respectfully disagree.   I can't duel weld daggers in real life. I don't do magic. Being a human in the game is NOT like being a human in real life.

you can duel wield daggers... well techniclly "daggers" are illegal, so you can do swords or knvies.

And you can be a warrior, or a "rogue" warroir just join the army or navy or another branch, as for rogue, do something that is outside the norm of your culture and you will be branded by a rogue by someone.

Magic, ehh can always go down the magician granted thats more rogue than mage. so you have a point there...

But in all seriousness its just easier to relate to, cause when you go into a game "How does a dalish elf think" vs city or mage elf.

[dewayne31]

i play mostly humans in sp and mmos with some exceptions. i do have cathar smuggler in tor. and as for da:o i play both human and dalish elf cause i love the outdoors. i trief castless dwarf but wasnt for me cause i was a petty criminial. i did city elf and got off with murder. didnt look for another way. that disturbed me

[Lebanese Dude]

My canon ( and first ) playthroughs are always reflections of myself in the game world. It is only natural for me to play as a human male. Aesthetics have a lot yo do with it too.

Granted, the races in DA are all rather very similar to humans. I suppose the human male body proportions are simply my favorite.

This doesnt mean I dont play other races. My default archer is usually elven and my mages are both human and elven. I rarely play dwarves but any cutthroat rogues I play are dwarves. Qunari are new but I will likely try a female qunari mage. Since I enjoy warrior sword and shield the most, I default to human male.

[Ananka]

I wish people would stop claiming to know how other people reason. Don't try to speak for somebody else, please (referring to some earlier posts).
I enjoy rping and don't need a character who's like me, but I still prefer my human mage over say my city elf.

My reason for choosing humans:
Aesthetically pleasing(as opposed to both dwarves and elves)
Viewed as default race, i.e likely well worked-through and likely to be given much content and lines
Aren't viewed mostly as servants (as opposed to elves)
Can use magic if I choose it (as opposed to dwarves)

I'll try all races, but my preferred character is a human.

Edited for spelling (on tabet, sorry!)

Modifié par Annaka, 24 février 2014 - 09:32 .

[grumpymooselion]

For me?

The closest I've seen a writer get to a truly alien lifeform is the xenomorph, complete with its own birth cycle. It's even particularly original, Ridley Scott was perfectly clear when he said he stole the idea from everywhere. It was not the best example, or the only, but it is one of the very rare occassions when I've felt like a film brought a non-Human intelligence to life.

-

Species and races in sci-fi and fantasy that writers tend to come up with are not, in my eyes, actually new races or species at all. They're Human. Human. The end. No discussion. No argument. No nothing. The Elves, Dwarves, Qunari and anything you else might try and come up with are still Human to me. I should say, they're Human with a variable non-Human to somewhat-Human to near-Human visual thrown over the Human. Putting horns on its head, giving it pointed ears and gray skin doesn't make it any less Human.

And that's just the visual.

Then we get into the real problem. They haven't created something new. Races and Species in writing are typically inspired by something about us. Something Human. Something Humans have done or wanted to do, done in myth or rumor, done ina  whisper or in the paper, done in a history book or depicted on an ancient stone wall. The fictional histories, the accents, the fictional religions, the mannerisms, the personalities, the clothing and weaponry and every single aspect you might bring up. It's Human. It's just Human.

Everything they do to bring Elves or Dwarves or what have you to life, in my eyes, is Human. And it takes away from the Human experience in a game. All those ideas, the very same, could have been explored, as is, using the Human visual - because nothing else has changed. You've created a fictional Human that did Fictional things, that could be interesting, and then you've slapped a non-Human face on it and tried to pass it off as something other than a Human you've slapped a random visual on. The inspirations from our past, myth, religion, imagination and more all so very telling.

The Asari are a point of note, as are the other Mass Effect races. Our imaginations, fears and wonders personified. The Asari are Humans, but a thought on what we might be combined with a fascination with the Female form and what a society might be like without the male presence as commonly understood. Their powers an imagination of what we might one day evolve toward. Krogan sterility a conjuration of our fears of governments, disease or some force beyond our control removing our ability to reproduce, to control us. Their power and emotional status, their massive breeding rate all bundled fears of overpopulation, and misuse of our own power through lacking emotional control, or otherwise. Every one of them represents something about us.

Unless a non-Human race is truly non-Human I have no interest. That's why I only play Humans. Nothing about the Elves, Dwarves or Qunari are convincing to me. They are Humans. Keep everything exactly the same, except the visual, and you lose nothing, absolutely nothing, in my eyes. The only way you would lose something, in my eyes, is if the concept were truly non-Human and the visual were truly non-Human. This happens to rarely, and, worse yet, hardly anyone even bothers to try.

In my eyes the games could only be improved if the Elves, Dwarves and Qunari had been exactly as is, but instead looked Human - because that's all they are to me. Humans with a random visual slapped on them.

So I play as Humans. Not because they're boring. Not because I'm Human. But because all the possible variety you need is already found in the Humans. All the things done with the non-Human races could have been done with Humans. Humans are variety. Humans have variety. The potential and possibility of the Human animal is infinite. Elves, Dwarves and anything else you might mention are just explorations of the Human entity with an unimaginative visual slapped on them. Humans with pointed ears. Short Humans. Humans with horns. Humans with funny skin colors. Humans with weird eyes. Humans animal features. All just Humans, and I find the unimaginative visuals eye rolling, even when Tolkein did it.

They're Humans. So make them look like Humans and realize all the things
that actually might make them interesting were Human anyways.

-

I truly dislike it when Humans are depicted as weak, dumb, average or anything like that. We aren't. We are the apex species on our planet. All possibilities exist within us. We are smart. We are powerful. We are varied. We are interesting. We are downright amazing.

Modifié par Janan Pacha, 24 février 2014 - 09:42 .

[KainD]

ElementalFury106 wrote...
in your opinion what is the appeal of playing as a Human PC?

Whenever I play in a fantasy setting I try to pick a race that is superior. A race that is biologically the most advanced and has advantages over other races, simply because I like to play the strongest, the prettiest, and generaly the best characters. How this race is perceived in the setting is irrelevant to me. 

In Dragon age this race is called mage ( this is my opinion - both the fact that I think mages are superior to mundanes and the fact that I consider them a race ). Mages are the most advanced race no matter to which subrace they belong to. Whether it be Qunari, Humans or Elves, none of these races have any real biological advantage when it comes to magic. The only race I consider the weakest are the dwarves. And so in Dragon age specifically the appeal of playing a human PC to me are pure aesthetics, all other races look less attractive to me. 

Now if we looked at Mass Effect universe for example, if given a choice I would play an Asari, as I consider Asari to be superior to humans on many different levels, as I also believe they are superior to all other races presented in Mass Effect. So yeah. 

[Hanako Ikezawa]

KainD wrote...

Now if we looked at Mass Effect universe for example, if given a choice I would play an Asari, as I consider Asari to be superior to humans on many different levels, as I also believe they are superior to all other races presented in Mass Effect. So yeah. 

Well, aside from the Reapers obviously. We saw which of those two races were superior firsthand. 

Modifié par LDS Darth Revan, 24 février 2014 - 09:38 .

[KainD]

LDS Darth Revan wrote...
Well, aside from the Reapers obviously. We saw which of those two races were superior firsthand. 

Well, reapears as a whole aren't really a race, or more specifically every reaper is a different race. I bet an asari reaper would kick butt though. 
I can hear that chilling reaper voice: ''Embrace eternity.''

Modifié par KainD, 24 février 2014 - 09:45 .

[ManOfSteel]

I like playing as Humans. Elves and Dwarves just don't appeal to me from a protagonist standpoint. Glad the Qunari are playable now, though. Finally another race for me to enjoy playing.

[thepringle]

Well, the whole reason that I played as a human is because I wanted my Warden to be happy as the queen of Ferelden with Alistair, and I couldn't do that with anyone else.

In DAI, however, I'm Qunari through and through. I've longed to be an Oxman/woman for years and can't wait to save or conquer Thedas as one

[Hanako Ikezawa]

KainD wrote...

LDS Darth Revan wrote...
Well, aside from the Reapers obviously. We saw which of those two races were superior firsthand. 

Well, reapears as a whole aren't really a race, or more specifically every reaper is a different race. I bet an asari reaper would kick butt though. 
I can hear that chilling reaper voice: ''Embrace eternity.''

True. The Reapers are less a race and more a collective.

And yeah, hearing "Embrace Eternity" with a Reaper's voice would be chilling.

[Blackrising]

Honestly?
It's mostly a superficial choice for me. I'm hella short in real life, so I play the tallest female I can in RPGs. Obviously, that means dwarves and elves are out.
I also like playing buff females, so I'm really damn excited to play a (hopefully) tall and muscular Qunari character.

[The Elder King]

@KainD: Krogans are obviously superior to asari .

[Xilizhra]

I am not an elf, dwarf, quanri, a vampire, a spirit or anything similar. I can't think like them.
No one can - although I bet some roleplayers think they can.

This strikes me as a bit strange, given that their societies were invented by human designers. Just try thinking like them.

I like having the common man's perspective on things, and in order to get that, you gotta play a human. It helps roleplaying a lot as well since you can act new to the concepts of the dalish, dwarf society, mages, templars, elves, the whole shibang, and not look like an idiot, just a normal person who lived a normal life that didn't involve much traveling abroad and anthropological or geopolitical studies. I can just be a normal person with no extra baggage and a story that everyone can relate to.

Not entirely, it seems to me. Being human means that you have to know about Chantry doctrine and probably the general idea of mages and templars if you don't want to be an idiot, and as a dwarf, you can be completely new to the entire surface. I personally think that, in DAO, the dwarf commoner is the class that requires the least foreknowledge, with the Dalish elf coming in second.

Then we get into the real problem. They haven't created something new. Races and Species in writing are typically inspired by something about us. Something Human. Something Humans have done or wanted to do, done in myth or rumor, done ina whisper or in the paper, done in a history book or depicted on an ancient stone wall. The fictional histories, the accents, the fictional religions, the mannerisms, the personalities, the clothing and weaponry and every single aspect you might bring up. It's Human. It's just Human.

Well, given that fantasy is kinda based on a lot of that, this isn't terribly surprising, although I disagree that they have nothing that separates them from humans.

Everything they do to bring Elves or Dwarves or what have you to life, in my eyes, is Human. And it takes away from the Human experience in a game. All those ideas, the very same, could have been explored, as is, using the Human visual - because nothing else has changed. You've created a fictional Human that did Fictional things, that could be interesting, and then you've slapped a non-Human face on it and tried to pass it off as something other than a Human you've slapped a random visual on. The inspirations from our past, myth, religion, imagination and more all so very telling.

But the nonhuman races do have tangible things that set them apart. Elves have their magically self-defeating genetics, dwarves live in an underground oven and have a cultural perspective that humans cannot have because I really can't see them living terribly long or comfortably in such an environment, and qunari live in a society that's literally impossible for humans to replicate, which very possibly indicates a major difference in the way they think.

I truly dislike it when Humans are depicted as weak, dumb, average or anything like that. We aren't. We are the apex species on our planet. All possibilities exist within us. We are smart. We are powerful. We are varied. We are interesting. We are downright amazing.

We're the apex species only because everything else is dumber. In comparison to other species, I wouldn't be terribly surprised if we were unimpressive on average.

[Fast Jimmy]

Lotion Soronnar wrote...

I am a human, therefore I can think like a human.

I am not an elf, dwarf, quanri, a vampire, a spirit or anything similar. I can't think like them.
No one can - although I bet some roleplayers think they can.

What kind of backwards logic is this? This isn't a historical reenactment, where the player is trying to exactly replicate the culture, mindset and behavioral patterns of a typical <insert race here>.

First off, the hero is always exceptional, so the norms never apply, even (and especially with) humans. Secondly, this is about ENTERTAINMENT. Does it matter if the player can roleplay a dwarf character with 100% accuracy (whatever that means for a fictional race)? If they enjoy themselves while doing so, I'd say it doesn't. It doesn't matter in the least. 

[CybAnt1]

Like I keep saying, RPing is about fun. Really. In a multiplayer game, people are doing it because it's fun. Why not occasionally address your fellow players in odd archaisms and weird speech patterns? You can or cannot invoke the typical fantasy tropes that every dwarf speaks in a drunken Scottish accent.

In a SRPG - nobody's grading you and nobody's watching you. How well did you portray a dwarf? A+! A-! C+! Some people have fun pretending to be something they're not - which means not just a wizard (which does not exist), but also an elf (which also does not exist). "Hardcore" RPers honestly just feel some fun in trying. That's it. There's nothing more to it than that.

If you don't find it fun trying to see the world from some different eyes (belonging to a race some fantasy world designers either invented or based on very typical fantasy tropes), then don't do it. It really is that simple. "Hardcore" RPers are not some strange ascetic purist cult, grading each other on the accuracy of their portrayals, they just want to be able to try to be different.

Modifié par CybAnt1, 24 février 2014 - 01:02 .

[iOnlySignIn]

hhh89 wrote...

@KainD: Krogans are obviously superior to asari .

Irrelevant, because they are all primitives.

Modifié par iOnlySignIn, 24 février 2014 - 01:02 .

[General TSAR]

KainD wrote...

Now if we looked at Mass Effect universe for example, if given a choice I would play an Asari, as I consider Asari to be superior to humans on many different levels, as I also believe they are superior to all other races presented in Mass Effect. So yeah.

Too bad their military sucks.

[Loghain Mac-Tir]

General TSAR wrote...

KainD wrote...

Now if we looked at Mass Effect universe for example, if given a choice I would play an Asari, as I consider Asari to be superior to humans on many different levels, as I also believe they are superior to all other races presented in Mass Effect. So yeah.

Too bad their military sucks.

Amen to that.

I don't know why the Asari are considered the apex organic race of that cycle, 
They do not ace at anything

Salarians own in Technology
Humans or Turians own Militaristically
Krogans for their brute strength

I know they are bilogically superior being, living for 1000+ years and getting stronger with age

but really, when an angry krogan is charging at you, your huge lifespan is not gonna save you.

Modifié par Loghain Mac-Tir, 24 février 2014 - 02:42 .

[KaiserShep]

Lotion Soronnar wrote...

I am a human, therefore I can think like a human.

I am not an elf, dwarf, quanri, a vampire, a spirit or anything similar. I can't think like them.
No one can - although I bet some roleplayers think they can.

Steadfast as I am to playing a human in these games, it should be noted that no matter what race or class or gender you pick, this all requires a bit of imagination to immerse yourself in the story. I'm not a soldier in real life, and I've never handled a blade of any kind in combat, unless preparing Thanksgiving dinner counts. Since magic isn't real, there's no way to truly relate to being a mage, even with some basic principles of discrimination coming into play.

It makes me think of all those times I was a kid, pretended to be something like an alien, or a robot, or some other nonsense that was clearly non-human. I'd like to think that my imagination now outstrips my imagination when I was 12. Growing up is for suckers anyway.

[BallaZs]

I'll go with a human as my Inquisitor. Playing other races just feels weird to me.