D&D General I really LOVE Stomping Goblins

[Charlaquin]

But but but how else can they be complicated and interesting!?

By not being ok to kill on sight.

 

[Hexmage-EN]

Notice that in BotW they explicitly make these monsters (and all of the others) constructs of the Calamity Ganon rather than a culture that is at war with Hyrule. Every Blood Moon they're brought back to life to ensure that chaos rules the land.

I mean, they kind of have a culture. It's extremely barebones, but they make clothes, weapons, buildings, have to eat, and oftentimes can be found just hanging out around campfires. The ones in Wind Waker also collected various items and knew how to use tools like spyglasses.

I think the biggest differentiator from D&D goblins is that they can't communicate at all, always attack when encountered, and don't reproduce. If they violated any of those three rules then it would be less morally unambiguous to fight them, but they don't because that would be counterproductive to their purpose in the game.

 

[Oofta]

By not being ok to kill on sight.

I play video games. I recently played a Far Cry game where you basically ran around shooting people in the head. I didn't think twice about it because they are not real. Neither are the enemies in D&D.

Sometimes a game is just a game.

 

[Reynard]

Those two things don’t work together. They can be soulless embodiments of chaos, or they can be people. Can’t be both.

The can still have personality. See: orcs in Tolkien.

 

[Charlaquin]

I play video games. I recently played a Far Cry game where you basically ran around shooting people in the head. I didn't think twice about it because they are not real. Neither are the enemies in D&D.

Sometimes a game is just a game.

Absolutely! But I don’t think anyone would call the enemies in Far Cry “complicated and interesting.” Which is fine, complicated and interesting isn’t always what you want out of your games. I’m just saying, they can either be complicated and interesting or be faceless kill-on-sight mooks. They can’t be both.

 

[Reynard]

Absolutely! But I don’t think anyone would call the enemies in Far Cry “complicated and interesting.” Which is fine, complicated and interesting isn’t always what you want out of your games. I’m just saying, they can either be complicated and interesting or be faceless kill-on-sight mooks. They can’t be both.

Well, they can be interesting certainly, and villains can be complicated (but most goblins probably won't be).

 

[Charlaquin]

The can still have personality. See: orcs in Tolkien.

Tolkien himself was iffy on the notion of orcs as irredeemably evil.

 

[Smackpixi]

I find peoples attachment to killing goblins or orcs by the score for no reason somewhat weird, not from any great love of goblins or concern for sentient creatures, but for the insistence that it must always forever be goblins, orc and kobolds. After a couple decades at this, seems like you’d be bored of them and their rather well understood habits and be very accepting of their surrender and integration into the general populace, ready to move on to new, heretofore undiscovered, cave and dungeon dwellers.

 

[CleverNickName]

I play video games. I recently played a Far Cry game where you basically ran around shooting people in the head. I didn't think twice about it because they are not real. Neither are the enemies in D&D.

Sometimes a game is just a game.

 

[Oofta]

Absolutely! But I don’t think anyone would call the enemies in Far Cry “complicated and interesting.” Which is fine, complicated and interesting isn’t always what you want out of your games. I’m just saying, they can either be complicated and interesting or be faceless kill-on-sight mooks. They can’t be both.

The enemies were human soldiers. At times you would overhear their conversations. I assume all humans are complex, making them nameless grunts doesn't change anything. Yet I still killed them without remorse.