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<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 3803404" data-attributes="member: 4937">I think that if gaming designers had more the tastes and backgrounds of anthropolgists, we might get very different sorts of races than we normally get.&nbsp; But they don't, and for the most part neither do gamers.The basic problem with all the D&amp;D races is that they are people with bumps on thier foreheads (see Star Trek), and that in order to meaningfully distinguish them from humans you have to put a hat on thier heads.&nbsp; The net result of this is usually an entire race with basically no personality diversity (distinguishable only by whether they are the good honorable type or the bad dishonorable type, or in other words alignment), and an entire culture which is at most as diverse as a single human subculture (for obvious reasons, often feudal Japan).&nbsp; As race is its biology.&nbsp; So long as the race has basically the same biology as humans, you'll end up with 'planet of hats' syndrome.&nbsp;&nbsp; But generally, gamers aren't interested in exploring subtle human biological alternatives even if they have the imagination for it.&nbsp; For example, the overriding attraction of playing elves has never been to explore what it's like to live as a race that's in biological slow motion, but rather to play a human that's smarter, more graceful, more attractive, and overall sexier than humans.&nbsp; While you might get some lip service to the contrary when you bring the topic up, most gamers don't look at elves and say, 'Wow.&nbsp; I can explore the concept of mortality from the perspective of someone who has concrete evidence of the transientness of existance.'&nbsp; Rather, what you get is, 'Look, Grey Elves have a +2 bonus to Int, Dex, and Comliness.&nbsp; That's kewl.'</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 3803404, member: 4937"] I think that if gaming designers had more the tastes and backgrounds of anthropolgists, we might get very different sorts of races than we normally get. But they don't, and for the most part neither do gamers. The basic problem with all the D&D races is that they are people with bumps on thier foreheads (see Star Trek), and that in order to meaningfully distinguish them from humans you have to put a hat on thier heads. The net result of this is usually an entire race with basically no personality diversity (distinguishable only by whether they are the good honorable type or the bad dishonorable type, or in other words alignment), and an entire culture which is at most as diverse as a single human subculture (for obvious reasons, often feudal Japan). As race is its biology. So long as the race has basically the same biology as humans, you'll end up with 'planet of hats' syndrome. But generally, gamers aren't interested in exploring subtle human biological alternatives even if they have the imagination for it. For example, the overriding attraction of playing elves has never been to explore what it's like to live as a race that's in biological slow motion, but rather to play a human that's smarter, more graceful, more attractive, and overall sexier than humans. While you might get some lip service to the contrary when you bring the topic up, most gamers don't look at elves and say, 'Wow. I can explore the concept of mortality from the perspective of someone who has concrete evidence of the transientness of existance.' Rather, what you get is, 'Look, Grey Elves have a +2 bonus to Int, Dex, and Comliness. That's kewl.' [/QUOTE]

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