Racial Stereotypes - What's up with that?

Monrena. wrote:So what if you had a Night Elf raised in human societies for most of their life? They would think differently, yeah?

Of course, it's possible and naturally doable, but still very much unlikely. The Night Elves have lived separated from other humanoid races such as the Humans, Dwarves and Gnomes for a very long time and only recently met them. If it should happen through normal means said Elf would be seen on as a child (according to Kaldorei standards), but there are of course other ways it could've happened, although it's more unlikely than most solutions. But as earlier mentioned, it's entirely up to said person.

How about a Night Elf who lost its memories and has ended up living with the hoomanz?!

I kid. xD I've always been tempted to roll a nelf, but I'm not too good at the whole 'wise' business. So it would have to be an impressionable youngster for me to learn.

I don't have anything more to add to the subject, JP said it best imo. So I will just comment on some offtopics that popped up in the thread:

Monrena. wrote:I kid. xD I've always been tempted to roll a nelf, but I'm not too good at the whole 'wise' business. So it would have to be an impressionable youngster for me to learn.

Well, to be frank, there are very few roleplayers RPing young night elves "realistically". By that I mean that they seek out their elders for mentoring for example, instead of hooking up with whatever non-nelf guild that seems coolest :p

You'd likely be held back from the front lines and any rank above "thero'shan", but if you like taking part in student/mentor RP you could give it a shot.

To the OP:

As I see it, a night elf becoming part of any organisation abroad is akin to an US citizen deciding to become part of the French army. Sure, they are allied, but without any personal reason / connections to the organisation, the choice makes very little sense.

You should also consider that we are fighting a (currently) losing war at home. Why would you abandon that cause if you are an able fighter? If you are an adult warrior, then almost certainly did you fight against the demonic invasion (if not, why?). Also, as most nelf warriors were part of the sentinels (and if you were not, why?); you most likely lost friends and comrades (and family) defending the land. Now with that in mind, what would cause your character to fight for a foreign army, in a foreign land?

I am not trying to be a partypooper. But you might see how a simply act as fighting abroad looks very odd considering the still very recent invasion, as well as the dire troubles the nelves face in Kalimdor.

If people don't want to think long and hard about how their character is affected by the history and culture of their people, then why roleplay that race at all? They are missing out on the part that makes roleplaying said race different from roleplaying the rest, what makes it unique!

This can change serverwise also I think. I can imagine it can be somewhat frustrating if you can just NEVER run into a static night elf or tauren or whatnot. Though I see must servers try to maintain race-based guilds, where you can be pretty sure you will run into whatever you want to.

Azeroth's lore is just so rich. So many things could have happened to our characters, while -or even before- they were actually RP-ed. I say why not use that? Though I do think it helps a lot to have a few static characters as well, I don't think special ones should be denied. As long as they are doable within lore, and they are not trying to be special with being overpowered.

~Just someone who has a very static tauren and an undead elf priestess. :3

Edit: (I never realized how vast this topic is when I posted. )

Also, I completely agree with the elfy above me. For any unusual concept you need to be ready that the question of "Why?" is going to be asked. But if you can answer that with anything but "Cuz that's how I want to RP now." then you should be fine.

Thygore wrote:Also, I completely agree with the elfy above me. For any unusual concept you need to be ready that the question of "Why?" is going to be asked. But if you can answer that with anything but "Cuz that's how I want to RP now." then you should be fine.

I think Elyndis meant that you should answer those questions to yourself in order to make her alive.

If one manages to do that, you actually have a rather interesting character. Loads of stuff to work with.

Resenting her heritage and questioning old truths?
Guilt for "abandoning" her race?
Homesickness?
Longing back?
religious/philosophically/cultural pondering?
and so on, and so on...


If one doesn't they just have a generic medieval/fantasy human with floppy ears.