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Maia · **10-06-2017, 12:36 PM**

I think that no matter which race you choose to play, there will always be inherent assumptions about that race.

If you play a Lalafell, you'll probably encounter potato or punting jokes, but if you play an Elezen, you'll probably encounter giraffe / long neck jokes. Granted, most of these jokes don't hold any true maliciousness from the vast majority of people who say them, so I don't think they're really fueled by a particular hatred.

There will be a minority in any RP community that is incomprehensibly bias against a particular race/trait on an OoC level, but I think you can encounter these sorts no matter what you play. I wouldn't let the judgmental opinion of an outspoken few keep you from playing what you want to play! As many others have said before me, so long as you play your character in a convincing/thoughtful way, you shouldn't have much trouble. And if someone does hassle you over the race of your character in a malicious or uncomfortable way, those aren't the people you'd want to RP with anyway.

Best of luck with bringing your ideas to life!

Varinh · **10-06-2017, 02:16 PM**

There's a bad rap for just about every race, honestly - some are just more prevalent than others. Something to keep in mind is that these are strictly prejudices and harsh stereotypes; they serve as poorly in an online roleplaying setting as they do in real life. Roleplay what you want, do what you believe is your best, and you won't have anything to worry about. Anyone who chooses to discriminate against your character's race is just cheating themselves out of a potentially fantastic roleplaying partner, and a whole fraction of the game's interesting universe.

Faye · **10-06-2017, 04:07 PM**

(10-06-2017, 09:02 AM)ExAtomos Wrote: Alright... while I fully agree on the "play what you want, good folks will RP with you", OP's concern about certain races and encountering problems with RP is not unfounded and has been discussed at length here on the RPC.

I wasn't meaning in any regards that there are no stigmas against Lalafell or Miqo'te or that playing them doesn't sometimes come with certain hurdles (as does playing just about any other race), but personally I've never seen it to the degree that I'd refer to it as "all the hate" or that it would give me pause in deciding to play either race, hence I was wondering where OP was seeing these things (because people in non-RP spaces like FB groups, /shout chat, and official forums can get pretty vitriolic in their opinions on different races, in which case I was going to mention these people aren't typically role-players anyhow).

ArmachiA · **10-06-2017, 06:44 PM**

There's no hate, but there is a Stigma. To some, Miqote players are seen as ERP alts (Especially female) and Lalafell are considered too child-like to take seriously (It doesn't help some play Lalafell as actual Hyur children). Also with Lalafell their chance at romantic RP is GREATLY diminished, as many can't get over the child-like appearance (Which is fair, but just so you know).

HOWEVER, it's not as bad as people will say it is. Like, no where near as bad. You'll def. get some judgy people but it's not everyone, or even most everyone.

V'raht · **10-06-2017, 08:34 PM**

Sorry it was a very poor choice of words I ment to say stigma but at the time I couldn't think of the word I was looking for to describe what I was trying to ask about.

Caspar · **10-06-2017, 09:08 PM**

Generally this question gets downplayed a lot on the RPC, as some of the older threads have shown. The example used earlier here is a discussion I was in, which did a good job showcasing the open or extreme form of bias, which is pretty uncommon, but what I mentioned there I think is still useful.

Basically, Lalafell and Miqo'te suffer from two different issues as RP choices, namely one is extremely unpopular as a RP character, and the other is exceptionally popular. This makes broad statements about bias or stereotypes within roleplaying somewhat difficult to pin down, and leads to people downplaying them. In particular Lalafell are so unpopular outside of JP servers that the sample size of players actually RPing is minuscule (Ha ha.) and therefore a single player can generate a disproportionately large impression of RPers who pick the race overall. Among PVE only players, Lalafell have a slightly higher representation, and this can lead to the misperception we're common.Â

The number of Lalafell RP mains that are actually active RPers that come to mind, I can count on two hands. The rest are alts, barely, if ever, played. Putting confirmation bias aside can be difficult, which is why I usually don't put tremendous stock in my own experiences with RP. I've met a lot of people willing to work with me, and a few people not willing to work with me. Therefore it becomes difficult to say whether this sample actually means anything; I'm generating a giant portion of people's Lalafell exposure every time I RP because there's just few alternatives. (I've never been in an FC where there was more than maybe 2-3 Lalafell mains active at most.) It could be the two or three Lalas a person runs into were trolls or creeps, and that would permanently and irrevocably damage their impression of those RPers.Â

So the short version of the story is to not take any particular statement about the presence or lack thereof of an overall trend of bias on the server as unassailable truth and simply ask yourself the question "Is it easier to punch down on a small group of people, or a large group of people?" That should tell you everything you need to know about how RPers are liable to treat Lalafell RPers, depending on their innate personality. There could be any number of reasons behind it, but thinking about intent is tricky as there's no real way to gauge it effectively en mass. Maybe they are put off by the lack of sexual attractiveness, maybe they're afraid of being seen as a comedy character, but small numbers are poor defense.Â

The Miqo'te have a different issue. It may be that simply because of the sheer numbers of the race among RPers specifically, rather than PVE players, it can be difficult simply to tell one from another because it's likely there's a cat with a tongue-twister name out there who looks very similar to yours. Again confirmation bias rules the day; a player who encounters a large number of Miqo'te who are similar may attribute behavior of one player or more to many others due to basically not being able to tell them apart. While this might seem uncharitable to the Miqo'te RPers, how easy your character is to recognize can positively or negatively dispose people towards your writing, and it's not always easy to recognize individual players within a greater trend. This has absolutely no meaning as to whether they can write an interesting story. Au Ra haven't had the time nor the ability to get established that Miqo'te have, and in this alone they are saved from the same problem.Â

Again, you can ask yourself a question instead of trying to solve the impossible puzzle of determining the dominant attitude towards Miqo'te as a character choice; "Is it popular to hate what's popular?" That should tell you everything you need to know about how RPers are liable to treat Miqo'te RPers, depending on their innate personality. Simply the fact that they're common is enough reason to consider the possibility of players broad-brushing cats, or just hating them out of spite, a pretty unfair reaction.Â

The takeaway from this might be "pick a race that's common, but not common enough to be hated, nor rare enough to struggle to make a positive impression," but ultimately, I'll stick with the more generic message. Basically, as meandering as all of this is, I'm more or less encouraging you to play what you can feel a sense of investment in, without regard for the trends among other players, and focus on what you personally enjoy. Whether or not the dominant stereotypes are *actually* dominant or not, they exist, and the difference is mainly in how people engage with them. Since you can't control their actions, I think the best approach is probably writing a character you're satisfied with. Using the race you choose, the one you're personally happiest with, will lead to the best RP experience because it contributes to your own personal investment first, and that of others second. Being aware of the stereotypes and not allowing yourself to be bothered by them has helped me continue to find RP and build close connections that make the experience worthwhile; I don't let people downplay the difficulties of playing an unpopular choice, nor do I assume being part of a popular choice is necessarily any easier. They have their own respective stigma and challenges, but they're not insignificant nor are they insurmountable.

V'aleera · **10-06-2017, 09:32 PM**

Anyone who doesn't take Lalafell seriously is either ignorant of the lore or is playing a very poorly socialized character.

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[Discussion] Is the hate really that bad?

RPC has moved! These pages have been kept for historical purposes