Re: Racial Stereotypes - What's up with that?

by **Kristeas Sunbinder** Mon Apr 16, 2012 10:13 am

Jeanpierre/Ragnilde wrote:When Aragorn & co were chasing the Uruk'hai across the fields, they didn't tumble past a Dwarven travestite theatre. (Not that there's a lot of work for a Dwarf to dress up as a female. They can even keep the beard.)

Do female dwarves lack beards in the LOTR setting? There are other places that have beard wearing female dwarves.

by **erwtenpeller** Mon Apr 16, 2012 10:15 am

LOTR Dwarf girls have beards, yub.

by **Yarnaat** Mon Apr 16, 2012 10:17 am

I agree wholeheartedly with what JP said.

by **Magaskawee/Anaei** Mon Apr 16, 2012 11:28 am

Lovely mixed batch of advice, and I thankee for it!

Although i'll say what I said to the hoe who annoyed me.. She's not a pirate! She's essentially an Alliance Privateer. She's not a criminal. But yes.. I have the backstory, I have the reasons. I've thought about the who, why, where and how.

I'm happy in essentially saying get bent to people who complain to me without giving it a chance. Danke thread!

by **Morinth** Mon Apr 16, 2012 12:43 pm

Emrys wrote:
Monrena. wrote:Suck it up darling! I got exactly the same (and still get it) 'cause my blood elf is a pirate god of some sort. "BLOOD ELVES SHOULDN'T DO THAT BLAHBLAHBLAH". I don't give a fuck. If they want to RP their characters with no diversity, let them. They may be elves, but they're quite capable of making their own choices and having their own minds and personalities. It's not just humans who can be badasses. They're so racist.

My bitch is still quite capable of being a superior cow to everyone. She just prefers not to, it's so much hassle only relying on other elves. Especially when they're all holed up in Sillyspoon braiding each others hair.

Really, RP a pirate all you like, as long as you make it believable and have a good backstory for it I am the last to complain. But I do loathe this attitude that people that want to play a more normal character are 'characters with no diversity'. I can make a character that is not generic but still fits certain elven standards just fine without making her a pirate. There is this thing called subtlety. I am willing to give anyone with a highly unusual character-concept a chance, but I cannot see why you feel the need to bring others down if you are happy with your character. If you don't give a fuck, show it.

Secondly, there is a difference between feeling a character has to fit a stereotype, or judging other characters (you do not know) ICly based on your stereotype of that race. An Orc that has never met that parricular elf before, will have the stuck-up sterotype in mind at first, an elf meeting an Orc for the first time, will probably view him as a brutish warrior. It is through RP that we define ourselves and that we break free from the stereotype or not. Make your character believable through their actions and their reasons. As Drustai said, knowing a stereotype is even quite benificial if you wish to break free from it.

When you get constantly harrassed by people saying I MUST RP the stereotype, it really puts me off RP'ing them. I have two other belves who are everything a belf should be proud of, but I also have my pirate. And I get a lot of whispers from people trying to tell me how I should do it. So it gets me really defensive over my characters.

by **erwtenpeller** Mon Apr 16, 2012 12:48 pm

Same here. Haters gonna hate. I get a lot of love for my characters too. *shrug*

by **Vaell** Mon Apr 16, 2012 2:01 pm

I was on the team of "Go non-stereotypes!"...
JP changed my mind.

I play semi-stereotypes (Whore loving warrior, Knowledge-seeking well spoken Mage, Angry Angry Death Knight, Manipulative plot-weaving BElf) and they sort of work with the general theme of WoW.

If I was to play Vaell as a Mage who wants to become a tree, I'm not sure it would work.

by **erwtenpeller** Mon Apr 16, 2012 2:04 pm

Vaell wrote:If I was to play Vaell as a Mage who wants to become a tree, I'm not sure it would work.

Hilarity would ensue.

by **Kristeas Sunbinder** Mon Apr 16, 2012 2:09 pm

erwtenpeller wrote:
Vaell wrote:If I was to play Vaell as a Mage who wants to become a tree, I'm not sure it would work.
Hilarity would ensue.

Mad Mage is Mad.

by **Seranita** Mon Apr 16, 2012 2:11 pm

Kristeas Sunbinder wrote:
erwtenpeller wrote:
Vaell wrote:If I was to play Vaell as a Mage who wants to become a tree, I'm not sure it would work.
Hilarity would ensue.

Mad Mage is Mad.

thats delidah.. mad mad mage XD

by Guest Mon Apr 16, 2012 3:39 pm

What Yarnaat and JP said.

by **Dorik Thunderbelly** Mon Apr 16, 2012 10:52 pm

Been playing the stereotypical ale-drinking, gut-toting and mine-loving dwarf for years and I am having a blast *because* of it. In the end it comes down how you play it, if a Night Elf priate goes running around town and yelling "Yarr! I be a pirate!" then I doubt anyone will take that character seriously.

by **Morinth** Mon Apr 16, 2012 11:27 pm

Dorik Thunderbelly wrote:Been playing the stereotypical ale-drinking, gut-toting and mine-loving dwarf for years and I am having a blast *because* of it. In the end it comes down how you play it, if a Night Elf priate goes running around town and yelling "Yarr! I be a pirate!" then I doubt anyone will take that character seriously.

The problem I have is people who dislike the choices OOC tend to bring it up ICly, despite my criminal characters not openly flaunting the topic. Razz

All our business is private, etc. So they mention it ICly, intentionally ruining RP for me as people take it seriously and I have to pull out.

by **Lexgrad** Tue Apr 17, 2012 2:05 am

Too many break the OOC//IC rule.

by **Jeanpierre** Tue Apr 17, 2012 8:16 am

Lexgrad wrote:Too many break the OOC//IC rule.

True, but it's not always easy. If by your Lore knowledge a certain kind of character simply couldn't exist, then having that character bump into you and try to interact with you places you in a difficult spot. No... I won't make buddies with the "Son of Arthas, the new Lich King". Or a DK pretending to be a Paladin... (just kidding Very Happy

, I couldn't resist)
But it depends on the kind of interaction and character. Still.. I would rather define the characters discussed here as "unlikely". And that is a big difference. It's not Lore -breaking-. It's just unlikely.

by **Shaelyssa** Tue Apr 17, 2012 11:02 am

Night elves are a very ancient people. Most of them are 1000+ plus years, I really don't think 10 years of contact with the Alliance will suddenly mean they're fully integrated in human culture and society and that they're now going to start walking around Stormwind, talking about how nice the prince's new haircut is and wondering how big his dick is with all their little cute blonde human BFFs or something ... they're a very very old people, deeply set in their ways and I really doubt it's that easy for them to just change their habits.

With that being said, of course it's fine and very possible for a night elf to want to live in the EKs and become a privateer or whatever. Non-stereotypical characters are usually the most interesting as long as both you and your character realize you're breaking the mold. Like with Vezullia ... she wasn't a fun-sized human but a gnome who adored human society.

I remember this one time though when my dwarf went to Darnassus dressed up as Tyrande for Hallow's End ... most people were fine with that but this one person gave me this huge long rant about how I'm a horrible roleplayer and how the guild I was in was full with bad roleplayers too blahblahblah lol

by **Frostfeather** Tue Apr 17, 2012 2:36 pm

I think you really just can't generalize about a thing like this.

Nelfs living with humans can naturally be played well. It really depends on how you do it. There is actually quite a lot you could do with a character like that.

by **Magaskawee/Anaei** Tue Apr 17, 2012 3:23 pm

Shaelyssa wrote:Like with Vezullia ... she wasn't a fun-sized human but a gnome who adored human society.

Good god I just realized i've made a Night Elf Vezullia.

I just god damn LOVE Human culture.. xD

by Guest Tue Apr 17, 2012 5:18 pm

So make humans?

by **Magaskawee/Anaei** Tue Apr 17, 2012 5:32 pm

Perturbo wrote:So make humans?

I have humans. Besides, I like the challenge of getting the society to accept something that isn't the norm. Vezullia is accepted by Stormwind now, when she re-applied to the council, half the room jeered at Jarric who told her that it was a 'Stormwind Council for Stormwind Citizens'. I prefer a challenge! Very Happy

by **Lexgrad** Tue Apr 17, 2012 5:37 pm

It is an interesting theme to RP with too. I did concider Making a Gilnean who wasnt cursed once. No time for it tho :p

by **Shaelyssa** Tue Apr 17, 2012 6:09 pm

Anaei/Vezullia wrote:
Perturbo wrote:So make humans?
I like the challenge of getting the society to accept something that isn't the norm.

Totally agree with you there :) my dwarf is actually very much like Vezullia in a sense that she identifies more with humans than she does with dwarves heh

Have fun with your nelf :p

by **Morinth** Tue Apr 17, 2012 6:36 pm

So what if you had a Night Elf raised in human societies for most of their life? Razz

They would think differently, yeah?

by **Shaelyssa** Tue Apr 17, 2012 6:42 pm

Well ya Mori I'd guess so, but that'd mean that said night elf would be like 15 years old or something at the oldest?

by **Magnir** Tue Apr 17, 2012 6:57 pm

What's so "Human" about being a sailor on a Privateer vessel?

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