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Er...your world might be different, I suppose, but I'm not sure Orcs in most worlds really do orphanages...It seems quite likely that some neutral orcs could escape their community, that some young orcs might end up in an orphanage instead of getting murdered by paladins.
Did you mean to say "shouldn't" in that last sentence? Otherwise you're undermining your own stance.From the external perspective, the problem is defining those things that are trying to eat humans in the setting as being ugly and inhuman. D&D 5 is a lot better in this, in that the available races aren't all demihumans. There's also the difference in expectations; if a Good culture tolerates some diversity, then they should glare at kobolds trying to trade gems, or a trade caravan having a couple of orcish staffers.
You're sitting here arguing with me. If you're so concerned about solving things, go solve them. I'm discussing why 5E's racial selection is better than humans, elves, halflings and dwarves versus "monsters", why that old-school selection is known to be problematic.
Er...your world might be different, I suppose, but I'm not sure Orcs in most worlds really do orphanages...
That said, a Paladin who kills Orcs just because they're Orcs without bothering to use her 'Detect Evil' ability* first is not what I'd call Goodly.
* - please tell me Paladins still get this in 5e...if they don't, they should.
Did you mean to say "shouldn't" in that last sentence? Otherwise you're undermining your own stance.
Orcs are inhuman, ugly, and eat people.From the external perspective, the problem is defining those things that are trying to eat humans in the setting as being ugly and inhuman.
Orcs are inhuman, ugly, and eat people.
Real-world non-white humans are not inhuman, not ugly, and don't eat people.
I'm afraid I don't see the resemblance you find "problematic".
I do see the resemblance between orcs and past and present racist caricatures of non-white humans. But the problem with those caricatures is precisely that they're distorting the images of these humans to make them look like horrifying fantasy monsters. To interpret portrayals of actual horrifying fantasy monsters as reflecting on these humans seems to be running the logic bass-ackwards.
If I don't like Bob, maybe I draw a caricature of him with horns and a goatee to make him look like the Devil.
But it wouldn't make any sense to interpret other pictures of the Devil as portrayals of Bob.
And if you think Bob is a good guy, you're probably not going to say, "Hey, maybe the Devil is a good guy, and therefore Bob is a good guy!" You're going to say, "Hey, don't draw Bob looking like the Devil!"
It's very relevant if you want to be inclusive and expand your player base. So, it' is, to be blunt, within WotC`s interest to realize this, which directly breathes more life into the game for everyoneI just don't get why it matters. Seems rather irrelevant to real world problems. If we're just comparing setting preferences, world created from humans, real world animals, and crazy unique monsters (not a medusa, the Medusa) are mine. Other humans always make the best monsters.
As for solving actually world problems, that's my day job; these are my off hours.
the difference is that racists, even modern ones, call their targets inhuman, ugly and accuse them cannibalism and worse. We have physical documents to prove it.Orcs are inhuman, ugly, and eat people.
Real-world non-white humans are not inhuman, not ugly, and don't eat people.
I'm afraid I don't see the resemblance you find "problematic".
It's very relevant if you want to be inclusive and expand your player base. So, it' is, to be blunt, within WotC`s interest to realize this, which directly breathes more life into the game for everyone
If someone else feels that they identify with an orc then they must have major mental issues.