[MUD-Dev] Multiple Character Races

[the_logos at www.achaea.com]

On Mon, 26 Feb 2001, John Buehler wrote:

> So the question is, what does having multiple races buy me?  Here's
> what I've heard:

I find that a) it adds to variety (we're a class-based game, and you
might meet, say, a Xorani monk, a Rajamalan monk, a Troll monk,
etc). Each one's combat strengths and weaknesses will differ. It just
adds another dimension.


>   2. Differences in race history.  This permits players to latch
>   onto the rich history of one race versus another, again affording
>   roleplaying opportunities.  My counter to this is that different
>   human groups can have a rich history as well, permitting the same
>   roleplaying interactions.

It's just flavour. Some people like different races *shrug*. Some
people like playing the stereotypical burly ale-drinking dwarf or the
thuggish ogre or whatever.

 
> All I see races providing as a feature is gross visual cues to let
> players know what advantages and disadvantages each character has
> for various skills.  The big races are stronger, the little races
> are weaker - or whatever.  I don't see a roleplaying gain because
> roleplayers will do their roleplaying with a smelly human or an ogre
> equally well.  Non-roleplayers might be encouraged to do a little
> more (bad) roleplaying because they are running some stereotyped
> character, but the majority of their play will be in their 'normal'
> style of gameplay.

Why not eliminate sex from characters too, using the same logic?

 
> 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?

Well, my answer is just largely because players like it. Myself, I
would probably tend to agree with you personally, as I always play a
human it is an available race. But, I know at least some of our
players really love being different races.

Racism is also a very amusing and logical source of conflict within
games.

 
> I'm beginning to think that races are like sex, violence and
> EverQuest magic.  It's flashing, it's glitzy and it gets customers.
> Why would I want anything less?

I could say the same thing about community features: They're flashy,
they are glitzy, and they get customers. I'm don't really see those
things as bad.

--matt

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