[MUD-Dev] Multiple Character Races

[Koster]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: mud-dev-admin at kanga.nu 
> [mailto:mud-dev-admin at kanga.nu]On Behalf Of
> John Buehler
> Sent: Monday, February 26, 2001 6:38 PM
> To: MUD-Dev
> Subject: [MUD-Dev] Multiple Character Races
 
> Note that if different races do *not* have an impact on gameplay and
> they are truly only visual effects, why bother?  Why not go with all
> humans and put the graphics team on the problem of human body types
> and facial structures, permitting greater depth of the human
> experience instead of the breadth of the multi-race experience?

Why not do both? ;)

Seriously--avatars are modes of expression, character classes are
modes of expression, professions and pursuits within the game are
modes of expression. So are races. Some people feel more comfortable
playing a specific racial type within a game because that's the mode
of expression they prefer in online games period. Rick Delashmit has
been playing strong silent dumb types like trolls for as long as I
have known him. That's just his mode of expression.

If your game doesn't provide some adequate mapping to a mode of
expression players want, then they will not play there, because they
will not feel welcome--or they will try to create said mode of
expression within the game.  That's why you get vampires in games that
don't support it, why orcs and elves popped up in UO despite its
supporting only humans, and why Atriarch (which has only newly
invented alien species) will have problems. It's why Furry games are
popular (Furries are easily mapped to personality traits) and why
people demand a thief class in muds that clearly don't support the
traditional thief class worth a damn (eg, all of them).

They're all trying to build a mask that presents what they want as
their virtual self-image.

Can you map all this onto human? Sure. We do in the real world, after
all.  :)

-Raph
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