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Perception of races? - Printable Version

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Perception of races? - Zerokku - 11-06-2013

I should preface this by saying I do not currently have an RP character, though I have made a character on Balmung to watch some of the public rp I could find, just to get a feel for the server/find out if I want to transfer.

...Anyways. Does it seem like there are preconceived notions towards certain races when it comes to RP? My viewpoint comes solely from observance but in particular from watching people I almost get the feeling Lalafells are not taken all that seriously. In my brief experience a lot of people treated them like well... a child, despite the fact that many lalafell characters would presumably be just as capable/intelligent/etc. as many others. I understand some of this is probably a result of their design, their emotes, etc. But I worry that I won't be taken (as) seriously trying to RP a lalafell, at least in comparison to Miqo'te, Elezen, and Hyur (I never saw any IC Roegadyns, so not sure if this would extend to them in any way).

Just something I was curious about and wanted to hear the general consensus on.

RE: Perception of races? - Khuja'to - 11-06-2013

Speaking personally, I would say it all comes down to your own characters perception of each individual race and clan. My Hyur, for example, would probably not worry too much about picking a fight with a Lalafell because of their appearance, even if they were more powerful. My miqo'te, on the other hand, would be cautious in battle with any of the races. OOCly, my general rule of thumb is, "If they can do it in-game, they can do it with the best of 'em in character". Hopefully that makes sense...hahaha.

RE: Perception of races? - cuideag - 11-06-2013

(11-06-2013, 12:51 AM)Zerokku Wrote: ...I almost get the feeling Lalafells are not taken all that seriously. In my brief experience a lot of people treated them like well... a child, despite the fact that many lalafell characters would presumably be just as capable/intelligent/etc. as many others. I understand some of this is probably a result of their design, their emotes, etc. But I worry that I won't be taken (as) seriously trying to RP a lalafell, at least in comparison to Miqo'te, Elezen, and Hyur (I never saw any IC Roegadyns, so not sure if this would extend to them in any way).

I think it depends on the character. My lala does get coddled by some people still and for the most part it irritates her, but there are plenty of others who do treat her just like they might any other person.

RE: Perception of races? - Rosekitten - 11-06-2013

As already stated it depends on the character I think. My character personally has a bit of a distaste or distrust towards Lalafell's after a few incidents so he hardly treats them like children. 

On the note of other races I have seen where some Wildwood and Duskwights seems to disagree or not get along with the other but could at least compromise if they had to get together for a group. 

Hrm.. trying to think of some other things I've seen personally... I know sometimes I made a few ooc jokes towards my friends Roe though its jokes that ic I think would earn a good sock to the face but thats besides the point...

I've also seen where Mi'qote are not really taken as serious as some other races are or kind of treated as if they are uneducated. Granted some do play out the whole tribal thing but others their characters are just as educated about the city life as the next.

RE: Perception of races? - KitKat - 11-06-2013

I see a LOT of miqo'te that act like kittens and whores. This saddens me.

RE: Perception of races? - Clover - 11-06-2013

(11-06-2013, 02:14 AM)TheCurls Wrote: I see a LOT of miqo'te that act like kittens and whores. This saddens me.
I have yet to see that, truth be told @_@
And I've seen quite a lot of Miqo'tes, especially being in a tribe myself.

RE: Perception of races? - Sigyn Shieldbreaker - 11-06-2013

My boyfriend has a very serious, smarmy Lalafell character and he has an issue with how people treat that character as weak or childish because of his size. I think that you have to take into consideration that the race belongs in that world, they're not new to the other races at this point. In many places, especially Ul'dah, the characters don't have a whole lot of reason to doubt how powerful, threatening, or even evil some Lalafell can be.

RE: Perception of races? - Dromwald - 11-06-2013

There's a saying that goes something like if one wants to be taken seriously one must first learn to laugh at oneself. If another character doesn't take your lalafell seriously that says a lot about them whether it's IC or OOC. My lalafell would always use this underestimation to his advantage in any case. And in a fight being underestimated is a decided advantage^^

RE: Perception of races? - Kheni'to - 11-06-2013

It's called racial stereotypes and it brings some realism to the RP imho. My character likes Lalafells because he sees them as an honest and good-natured people. But even a positive racial stereotype is a stereotype. The Lalafells are going to be seen as cute little child-like people, the Miqo'te are going to be seen as the "kitty-cat people" and the  Roegadyns are going to be seen as the meat-headed brutes. Breaking these stereotypes (or not), or coping with them in our own IC way can be maybe part of the fun. 

The only thing that bothers me is all the Miqo'te with improper names! Uhg it drives me crazy. I am not talking about the non-traditional names that a player may have an RP explanation for; I'm talking about the names like "Sir Purrrrzalot", "Kat Muffins", "Hello Kittyz", "Meowz Mixz", ect. Other races have funny-named characters running around too, but the Miqo'te have it BAD. I just have to keep trying to ignore them and not let it get to me.

That is what playing as a Lalafell will be like. You'll have to ignore the cute comments and people who do baby talk at you, and try not to let it get to you. Or, if you're good at it, give them an earful that can knock their preconceptions on their backsides.

RE: Perception of races? - Folken - 11-06-2013

(11-06-2013, 03:24 AM)Kheni Wrote: It's called racial stereotypes and it brings some realism to the RP imho. My character likes Lalafells because he sees them as an honest and good-natured people. But even a positive racial stereotype is a stereotype. The Lalafells are going to be seen as cute little child-like people, the Miqo'te are going to be seen as the "kitty-cat people" and the  Roegadyns are going to be seen as the meat-headed brutes. Breaking these stereotypes (or not), or coping with them in our own IC way can be maybe part of the fun. 

The thing about racial stereotypes is that they're often created upon a real world basis, which in this particular setting, goes against the established in game racial stereotypes quite a bit.

This issue is quite strongly seen towards lalafell. Within the game's setting the inhabitants do not portray the same kind of racial stereotypes towards lalafell as player characters often do and this leads to quite honestly a lore defying image of how lalafell are.

RE: Perception of races? - LiadansWhisper - 11-06-2013

(11-06-2013, 02:55 AM)Clover Wrote:
(11-06-2013, 02:14 AM)TheCurls Wrote: I see a LOT of miqo'te that act like kittens and whores. This saddens me.
I have yet to see that, truth be told @_@
And I've seen quite a lot of Miqo'tes, especially being in a tribe myself.

None of the ones I've seen have been in tribes that I know of (i.e. the tribal guilds, I mean), but there seems to be a contingent of players who believe that "tribal" equates to speaking in third person, overtly/extremely animalistic behavior (curling up at someone's feet, requesting to strangers that they be petted, using broken "pidgen" language, behaving as a pet, etc), and basically not being a functional adult.

It's a bit strange.

So far as the hooker angle, goes, considering how I think I've found a grand total of 3 female Miqo NPCs who aren't hookers or dancing girls, I think playing either would fit right in the setting.

Note: There's nothing wrong with having a unique character that has a more simplistic language structure or "feral" set of behaviors. The problem, for me anyway, is when there are large groups of these characters claiming that their behavior is "standard" and anyone who behaves like a rational, semi-educated adult is "breaking lore."

RE: Perception of races? - LandStander - 11-06-2013

(11-06-2013, 03:23 AM)Dromwald Wrote: There's a saying that goes something like if one wants to be taken seriously one must first learn to laugh at oneself. If another character doesn't take your lalafell seriously that says a lot about them whether it's IC or OOC. My lalafell would always use this underestimation to his advantage in any case. And in a fight being underestimated is a decided advantage^^

Yeah, I saw a fight at the Bismark one day with two pirates and a group of people. One of the pirates was a Lalafell (the other a Hyur) and used his small height to run between his buddies legs while the Hyur was fighting a man, and punch the guy in the junk. It was such a dirty move >.> These two guys were some bad ass pirates. 

They are described as being the most agile of the races. 

I have had very little interaction with Lalafells IC. But Denn treats all races that are not Roegadyn as lessers anyways, so it wouldn't matter.

RE: Perception of races? - K'nahli - 11-06-2013

I can respect IC racism or ignorance to a point but I must admit I cannot agree to there being too much of it. I haven't seen any in-game coddling(from NPCs) towards Lalafels so I'd tend to imagine that such a trait was rather rare. This is coming in to the point where people are mixing reality's perceptions with game perceptions once again. I'm not a FF veteran nor am I very knowledgeable on the lore being that this is my first game, but I assume Lalafel are not new additions. If they have been around almost as long, if not as long, as the more typical fantasy faces then they should hardly be perceived with a connection to children. They are not an unusual sight or absurdity in eyes of Eorzeans so you cannot bring your own mindset into the equation. It doesn't work.

RE: Perception of races? - C'kayah Polaali - 11-06-2013

(11-06-2013, 05:44 AM)LiadansWhisper Wrote:
(11-06-2013, 02:55 AM)Clover Wrote:
(11-06-2013, 02:14 AM)TheCurls Wrote: I see a LOT of miqo'te that act like kittens and whores. This saddens me.
I have yet to see that, truth be told @_@
And I've seen quite a lot of Miqo'tes, especially being in a tribe myself.

So far as the hooker angle, goes, considering how I think I've found a grand total of 3 female Miqo NPCs who aren't hookers or dancing girls, I think playing either would fit right in the setting.

I, personally, haven't come across any female Miqo hookers or dancing girls - though I have run into a decent number of female Hyurs who RP those professions. I'm not surprised, though. Fire up the character creator and look at what female Miqo'te start out wearing. If you came to the game with the desire to RP a prostitute or dancing girl, you'd be drawn to the Miqo. Someone mentioned on this board the hypersexualization of Miqo'te women. I think there's definitely some of that just in the imagery within the game.

I would be so amused to see someone playing a Lalafell chippendale, though.

Which, I suppose, just goes to point out my own bias in the perception of the races here...Big Grin

RE: Perception of races? - Magellan - 11-06-2013

Lalas OOCly, Lalas just really push my awwwww cute buttons. ICly, it really depends on my character, though I have yet to play a character that doesn't take them seriously.

I think Lalas can be limiting in that a lot of people feel uncomfortable bringing any sexualization or romantic plots into their rp, b/c they are childlike. Additionally, when they do bring that into play, it can make outsiders uncomfortable.

I've seen a large increase in Lala's being rp'd lately though, which can only help educate ppl OOCly and ICly :p

Miqo's The plain honest truth is that Seekers play into a lot of adult fantasies and lore only seems to enhance this. First off, their catgirls (or boys). Secondly, their tribe arrangement is pretty harem-like. Thirdly, as Lidia already pointed out, Seeker npcs and quests have a LOT to do with sexualization. I believe there 's even an npc that rrrolls his rrrr's as I've seen other Miqo's do.

In the end, there's no wrong way to play your cat if you have justifications of it, but lore seems to strongly support a sexual culture for tribal kitties, whereas those who grew up in cities would probably be more conservative.