(01-27-2015, 03:42 PM)allgivenover Wrote: What I'm on about with "Hyur in cat ears and a tail" is that for the vast majority of Miqo'te RPers you could retcon their character into a Hyur and absolutely nothing would be different other than them no longer having ears and a tail. This holds true for a lot of long time veterans around here who are otherwise great roleplayers.
It's things like never emoting the expressiveness of these aforementioned ears, or the tail, failing to ever use the sensitive nose to emote picking up scents, ignoring the Keeper diurnal tendency entirely, and (although it's fine to have a non-traditional Miqo'te) outright ignoring the lore because many find it distasteful - at least have the character acknowledge that lore with an IC rejection, don't pretend it doesn't exist at all or be outright hostile to those who acknowledge Keeper promiscuity or the political correctness nightmare that is Seeker harems.
Most Miqo'te RPers are just Hyur in catboy/girl cosplay. And let's not spend any more time than we need too talking about the fetish crowd that permeates Miqo'te. I used to doubt how widespread some claimed it to be, but considering how often I run into Miqo'te who are just a vehicle for fetish, I had to rescind that view.
To address the first paragraph, let's take things a step further. Both miqo'te and hyur are 'races of man'. So rather than a miqo'te being a 'hyur with cat ears and a tail', a miqo'te is actually a MAN with cat ears and a tail -- similarly in a fashion of a hyur being a MAN without cat ears and a tail. There is absolutely zero pressing need to emphasize the differences; that is entirely on the discretion and style of the roleplayer and SHOULD NEVER be judged as 'right or wrong'. They're standing right in front of you wagging the damned tail, use your imagination! If roleplayers were made to adhere to this as a standard, then my Roegadyn would forever be heaving his barrel chest, my elezen would always have to draw emphasis to his neck and I would end up lacing every one of my lalafell emotes with popoto allegory.Â
For those who are accused of 'ignoring' the lore. I take that with a grain of salt. I have seen many Seeker characters who are city-born and raised, and therefore completely oblivious to the tribal culture of their race. Nothing wrong with that at all. In addition, it is entirely up to the roleplayer to decide how their character feels about the miqo'te social structures. If they decide to give them active disdain for it because they can't really take to it OOC -- that is their right. It's pretty awful to expect other people to play their characters exactly to those expectations.Â
That third point of yours is more or less a rehashing of the first. Miqo'te aren't so much a 'hyur in cosplay' as they are men with 'this and that feature'. They're men. That's the core of it. Anything else is just dressing that a roleplayer can either choose to elaborate on or not. As much as I side-eye at some of the catboy/catgirl fetishists, I've run through the MMO scene long enough (and it doesn't have to be that long!) to know that THAT GROUP of roleplayers who fetishize the race are in no way near representative of the whole. Man, every game with a hot body is gonna have someone playing the body to get off on it. It's a fact of life -- and not AT ALL in any way representative of the majority of Miqo'te roleplayers.Â
Hell, I play a highlander because GODDAMN THAT BODY -- but that's not the only reason, and it certainly doesn't define me as a roleplayer, writer or person.
I think when someone looks through the lens of expectations -- especially awfully specific ones -- they are bound to be disappointed when -- hey! Different people have different ideas, and approach things in various ways! I've been around the roleplaying block in this game a few times and seen a LOT. The things you're complaining about are not as widespread as you think. They're just very visible because they stand out -- and two out of three of them aren't really an issue at all, just a matter of player preference.Â
In conclusion: Different strokes for different folks, but don't expect the strokes to all suit you.
To clarify: 'Men' is used in the context of 'mankind' here.
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