This article was very well written. I myself have always liked the idea of playing the "other side" or the "evil races", as they always seem to be the underdogs. While reading this, it brought to mind another parallel.
In most MMOs, it seems that evil races are almost always represented by the so-called "ugly" races (Orcs, Trolls, etc..), and the pretty or beautiful races are always the good guys. This parallels our own society in the way that most unattractive or "ugly" people are often tormented, outcast and despised by the so-called "beautiful" people. Take some examples from literature:
In "The Hunchback of Notre Dame", the hunchback himself was actually a very gentle and kind soul, who was hated and feared by the people because he was "ugly". But in reality, it was actually the master he served who was the truly wicked and evil one.
Or in Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein", he was considered a monster, when in fact he was the creation of a mad scientist who sought to play God. The monster was again another misunderstood soul who simply tried to find out his place in the world like anyone else, but was rejected by society for his "ugliness".
Even Cyrano could not tell the woman he loved how he felt because he feared she would reject him because of his long "ugly" nose.
And in our own real world, Hollywood and the Media create unrealistic images of beauty, and try to make us feel bad about ourselves. This is especially felt by women the most, as they are made to feel that if they are not some skinny, big breasted supermodel type or if they have any weight on em, that they will not be accepted and have to change their appearance to fit the idea of what "beauty" really is. This leads to problems like Anorexia and Bulimia, which are common amongst women, especially teenage girls. And plastic surgery (like Botox and such), is on the rise as more and more people try to maintain their "beauty" (and often these procedures are done in abundance and end up making them look worse). In reality, it is more often that the so-called "beautiful people" are the ugliest on the inside, as they are often shallow, self-involved, self-important egotists who believe they are God's gift to the world and tend to treat anyone else like crap (take Naomi Campbell for example).
A good example of this would be the High Elves (or Blood Elves, or Highborne). They are a race of "beautiful people" who believed themselves to be superior to all others, even their own brothers and sisters the Night Elves. This arrogance led to their self-destructive behavior and use of magic to further their own selfish ambitions...which almost caused the destruction of Azeroth itself. And if you look at this as support of the "Horde is evil" factor, remember that this race of pretty people was only added to the Horde side in an attempt to try and create an even balance of players between the Horde and Alliance. If not for that imbalance, the High Elves could very well have ended up as another "pretty" Alliance race (just take the Highborne in The Hinterlands for an example of this).
So next time you look at an "ugly" race, try to look past the surface and see what they're really about. After all, if you remember the story of Warcraft 3, it was the Humans who came off looking pretty evil there. Blizzard tried to build on this fact more with the ill-fated and ultimately cancelled Warcraft adventure game that had you playing as Thrall during his internment, and showing the nobility of the Orc race and the ugliness that could sometimes be present in the Humans.
Edited, Apr 25th 2009 9:15pm by Graymalkin
Are Humans *Really* The Good Guys?
Sam Maxted speculates about run of the mill baddies in MMO's being anything but the barbarically evil force we've been told about. Are Humans really the good guys? Find out in our hysterical editorial.
Everywhere we look in MMOs, Humans are the good guys. They stand united under a single banner and represent all that is good and right in the world. Standing shoulder to shoulder with their allies (or, in the case of dwarves, shoulder to crotch), they fight valiantly - and successfully - against the forces of evil. However, as I'm sure you're aware, this often isn't the case in the real world. It's at this point that I'd like to ask how accurate Human's portrayal is in MMOs and whether the "evil" races are just victims of propaganda.
Truth be told, we know that Humans are far from noble. Jails are full to bursting, children are bullied at school and bankers have all our money (or at least they did, until they lost it down the back of the sofa or bought another corporate jet). All this points towards one thing: as a species, if we think we can get away with something, we'll probably give it a go. How else can you explain doping in sports events, or kids cheating on their tests? This attitude permeates all levels of our society, from convenience store robberies to political scandals at the highest levels of government.
Continuing along the same lines, we only need to look at the leaders of various countries to see that Humans aren't all good and noble. Whack jobs like Stalin and Idi Amin keep managing to get into power, with the only bonus being that since the Middle Ages, they're stopped short of marrying their cousins. Unlike in MMOs, Humans also don't have a world leader - a single person that we can look up to and aspire to be. We're also unlikely to have one, as anyone managing to get themselves into this position would be at worst another whack job, and at best a reject from Pinky and the Brain. Given that this is the case, I find it unlikely that human monarchs in MMOs are really as noble as we're led to believe.
Only a species obsessed with world domination could've come up with Pinky and the Brain.
People can even become drunk on power in MMOs, given half a chance. After all, how many times have you heard about guild leaders going on power trips, or seen people complaining about ninja looters in the public chat channels? Not only this, but player courtesy's on the decline and publishers need to have strict User Agreements and Rules of Conduct to keep us in check. Without these restrictions, there'd be nothing to prevent the assholes among us from ruining things for everyone else and stealing everything that isn't nailed down. Should this ever happen, it would prove two things: firstly, that bankers like their online games and, secondly that MMOs' portrayals of Humans can't possibly be true. However, it's not just Humans that are the issue here - could the representation of the so-called "evil" races be just as biased?
Traditionally, it has been more difficult to play an evil race in MMOs than it has to play a good one. Travelling in the early days of Everquest was a pain in the butt for Trolls, Dark Elves and Ogres, with all the major ports being under the control of the "good" races. Sure, things have got better since then, but in many ways "evil" races are still treated as second-class citizens. Simply because they're branded as evil, many players don't want to play Orcs and the like, instead opting for races that don't look like they've been hit in the face with a frying pan.
An accurate representation, or anti-Orc propaganda?
Speaking of which, why are Orcs usually portrayed as being stupid, savage and butt ugly? We only have Humans' word for it that they're like this, so can we really trust such a one-sided portrayal? Propaganda has been used to great effect throughout the years and, while there may be the occasional moment of insight into what's really happening, some people become so accustomed to hearing a particular opinion that they start to accept it as their own. Well, I for one am sick of the rampant speciesism in MMOs today. It seems that in this case, racism has gone out of the window: black and white have got together in order to gang up on green.
For all we know, Orcs and the other "evil" races could be peace-loving creatures, forced into war against Humans and their allies, defending themselves with whatever weapons they can cobble together. We only have humans' word for it that Orcs are evil, bloodthirsty and stupid - something designed to make is easier on our consciences while we slaughter them like animals. I put it to you that these races are more intelligent than they've been given credit for and are merely defending their land against foreign invaders.
We don't want to admit it, but Humans are frequently selfish, unpleasant and capable of such atrocities as The Jerry Springer Show, Elf Online and anything involving Simon Cowell. In short, Humans can be real bastards and we're only getting one side of the story in our MMOs. In the absence of any Orc-developed MMOs, we only have Humans' take on what the other races are really like. History is always written by the victors, so it's likely that Orcs, Trolls and the like are victims of a massive smear campaign, designed to make ourselves look better.
The true face of evil?
So the next time you create a character in an MMO, you might want to think again about whether Humans are really the good guys, or if they're cold-hearted bastards bent on world domination. Please spare a thought to the Trolls and Ogres of this world: are they really the monsters they're made out to be, or just misunderstood and misrepresented? I know what I think, so I'll leave you with the following thought:
Go good. Go green.
The editorial you've just read contains views that are the opinion of the author and not necessarily the views of ZAM.com. Also, you might have noticed the above is in fact very silly and the author mainly plays the "good" races in MMOs, like everyone else.
SAM "azerian" Maxted
Editor
ZAM.com