Why Did You Choose Your Character's Race?

[Jerciex]

Multiple reasons... and they are

• I love Gridania, and wanted to be native of Gridania
  
• Elezens are sort of arrogant (there is little bit arrogance in Jerciex. He talks always about "outsiders" if someone isn't local. Not trying to be rude.. but that is who they are!)
  
• I tried hyur male first, but didn't like emotes... Then I used fantasia, tried emotions.. And found out.. this is for me!
  
• Wanted to be tall character, but not skyscraper!
  
• Elezen women.. I like them.. There is something in them.. Oh.. nevermind!
  
• I guess I liked ears too (I do love miqo'te ears too, that why I made Delni first.. before I started RP.. And I might like Au Ra's horns too. they are interesting..)
  

There is some points I am sure there is more behind but can't remember anything else.

[Altitis Acquired]

I have always loved dark themes and demonic beings. And the Au Ra, though not demons, do have the look of a demonic being, especially the Xaela with the dark scales and horns.

 

Along with dark themes and demonic beings, I have a thing for the goth-punk-emo style, I have a thing for vampires and blood, and love crimson red hair...

 

Putting all that into a bowl and knead it together, and voila! Vachir was born!

 

And no, he's not a vampire or a demon/voidsent. Don't worry. 

[Virella]

Started the game as a hyur, found elezen ugly as hell.

 

However then I saw the majestic nation of Ishgard, and that elezen actually looked good outside no clothes and their horrendous starter gear. So elezen all the way from there on!

[Darien Cadell]

I like cats.

 

I actually originally went with Hyur because eeeeverybody was being a cat.

 

Then I had a crisis and decided to blow that character up, and then thought, hey, who cares if everyone's a cat, I wanted to be a cat, I should be able to be what I wanted to be, so I made the cat I'd made in the beta and hugged her and loved her as she should have been all along. Sort of. But I did decide not to let everyone else's decisions influence mine anymore.

[Kismet]

I definitely didn't want to be an Elezen because I hate their tiny little pea heads and elongated bodies. They just look so derpy to me. I have seen a few exceptions to the rule in terms of attractiveness. But for the most part? It's like Legolas decided to have a threesome with the Pale Man and a random giraffe, and Elezen were the result of that horrifying union.

 

Uh, anyway... Highlander women have such badass poses, but their 'white girl wasted' animations piss me off. Their general standing pose and running animation are also kind of weird. Despite trying a bunch of times, I can NOT make a female Roe I like the look of. (Basically, if it's not Merlywb, I can't play it. Sorry.)

 

I had a Lalafell once and I enjoyed how bitchy she looked, but I had a hard time writing a backstory for her. I just couldn't get into the character, so I abandoned it. Not to mention how I kind of abhor their child-like animations.

 

 

I often play at least one human in every MMO, so Astrid was easily Midlander for that purpose. Back in 1.0, I never planned on RPing, so I chose Miqo'te because it was cute. Once ARR rolled around, I said why deviate? And I shifted the character into Y'raja. I had fun crafting her family tree and backstory, something that Seeker lore lended itself to.

 

As for my Au Ra... They're shiny and new, don't get on my nerves, and have brought plenty of potential for interesting RP developments. So I said why not?

[Amielle]

Actually, what I tend to do when I start an MMO is create one of every race, come up with a vague background and then play them, and see if the character resonates with me.

 

Ami did, so I stuck with her! I do also like tall characters.

[Threndual]

Because when I started playing, just 2 weeks ago,  thought Au Ra would be a really rare race in RP since people wouldn't want to abandon their pre-existing characters. 

 

I was mistaken.

[Delilah Scythewood]

Lili is almost always an elf given her original race was a Sin'dorei in WoW. I nearly made her a miqo'te here but unfortunately I couldn't make her look old enough for my tastes so it never stuck. Went with Hyur instead!

[TheLastCandle]

Heavy armor looks best on Elezen and Highlanders, IMO. I don't get the hate. But mostly I chose Elezen back in 1.0 because my brother, who got me into the game, chose it for his race and we usually choose the same last name in games that allow for it even though he doesn't actually RP.

[Hali]

Corelyn is a highlander because she is technically Garlean and that's the closest to a Garlean pure-blood you can get with player models.Why Garlean? Corelyn is a character I have in all universes, in all games. She's my baby and I love seeing how her story will go in different worlds and settings. She's always the super tech-oriented genius, and where better to be from than the nation built on tech? I also like the dynamic of playing a character who is a race that is generally hated and viewed as "bad." For that little bit of "don't judge a person by their people" kind of thing.

 

Dail'a is a bit simpler than that. I just wanted a miqo. =-B

[Askier]

Every time I play a game that let's me pick a race clearly not human, I pick it. My thinking is, why look like something I look at everyday.

 

Since Realm doesn't have a completely not human looking  race, went with miqo'te cause their tails and ears make them as un-rl world human as I could get.

 

Plus tails. Things I can do with that tail.

 

Oooooh mmmaiii.

 

. . .

 

I mean rping emotions like happiness and sadness through it. >.< lol

[Berrod Armstrong]

*shifty eyes*

*PROFUSE SWEATING*

 

I usually go 'human' in games that allow me to select them among different races, and Hyur was closest to that. I also like 'em swole, so Highlander was the clan of choice.

[Nero]

I originally chose Midlander as a flex pick because I had no idea what kind of character I was going to write when I joined.

 

Then things happened.

 

Au Ra, on the other hand, I chose for a few reasons. They were visually appealing with good animation, and were more exotic than a normal human (and are now more prevalent in-game than Miqo'te if anecdotal experiences, my own include, manage to substitute for statistics). Lore wise, I wanted to write a character with an innate foreign-ness so as to explore certain themes while I roleplayed. So Xaela naturally fit into that quite well; also because writing my own tribe has been terrific fun as far as filling in the details went.

 

actually i just wanted to play a horny character don't tell anyone

heh it's a pun

[Hammersmith]

Hammer is a very large person.

 

So?

 

Roe master race.  

 

Because Huge. HUGE. HUGE.

 

 

[Flashhelix]

I've never liked elves in any MMO I've played, c@s have a lot of lore I don't care for, Roe was my first choice as in most MMOs I do play a big guy character, but I came to like Midlander's character creation options the most.

[Dravus]

I role-played a blood elf back in WoW for years and absolutely loved playing this guy:

 

 

Yet the closest thing to that in FFXIV would be either an au ra or an elezen and I actually like both quite a bit...but the weird necks put me off playing an elezen and the weird hips/general awkwardness of the horns put me off playing an au ra.

 

I also generally avoided playing a human in other MMO's but GW1/GW2 and FFXIV are the exception to this rule since I can play a realistically proportioned classically handsome human which wasn't possible in the likes of WoW.

 

I do quite like miqo'te, mind you, but very few role-players seem to portray them as anything other than 'hyur-with-cat-ears' and so the tribal lore is either ignored or becomes very difficult to indulge in.

 

Ideally I'd be playing a full-blooded Garlean but since that's unlikely to ever be something available I'm content to play a half-breed instead. I'd like to think that I've designed Graeham in such a way as to capture the 'half-Garlean' look quite well. A lot of people use the highlander model to reflect it instead but I don't find them nearly as expressive or aesthetically appealing (outside of their physique) as midlanders.

 

Roegadyn and lalafell just don't interest me in the slightest. I've never been fond of the 'very small' or 'very big' races though. At least not enough to play one myself.

[ZoktaiKhor]

When i first play this game I like having my main character being tall with horns or scales. So unfrotnatly i had to settle on the elzen because the roegyan were to large for my taste. THEN THE AURA CAME OUT HALLEJUAH!

[Aaron]

Midlander master race.

That is all.

[Berrod Armstrong]

Midlander master race.

That is all.

Midlander is a clan! So I suppose you'd be saying 'Hyur' instead.

[Hammersmith]

Midlander master race.

That is all.

[-no longer matters-]

Honestly I started as a Highlander Hyur, then after the last Race poll and some lore research decided to switch out to Hellsguard Roegadyn, and I'm happy with the change she looks fierce and I like that!

[Aaron]

Midlander master race.

That is all.

It's OK to hate my friend 8-)

[Gegenji]

I mentioned way earlier when this thread was made that I went with Lalafell Master Race because of my love of the David and Goliath situation - little guy doing big things. Either tanking things ten times their size or pulling massive plots not unlike some of the stuff you see happening in Ul'dah. Adorable and accomplished in one dumpy little package.

 

With Judge, though, I specifically designed him with the new race in mind. I had a couple character concepts I had wanted to try and I was able to meld them into what resulted in Jredthys. I likely could have just as easily had him as a Highlander (as I had him as his "placeholder" form as I leveled him prior to the expansion drop) or even a Roegadyn. However, the Au Ra best fits the plan I had in mind.

[-no longer matters-]

I mentioned way earlier when this thread was made that I went with Lalafell Master Race because of my love of the David and Goliath situation - little guy doing big things. Either tanking things ten times their size or pulling massive plots not unlike some of the stuff you see happening in Ul'dah. Adorable and accomplished in one dumpy little package.

 

With Judge, though, I specifically designed him with the new race in mind. I had a couple character concepts I had wanted to try and I was able to meld them into what resulted in Jredthys. I likely could have just as easily had him as a Highlander (as I had him as his "placeholder" form as I leveled him prior to the expansion drop) or even a Roegadyn. However, the Au Ra best fits the plan I had in mind.

Usually this is how I go too! I do love Lalafel's but they're so darn cute I have a hard time personally RPing as one properly. I adore RPing with people who play them though.

 

If there were a small rugged fierce race like say Dwarves I would have been all over that! (I almost always play Dawrves when an option.)

[Lilia Lia]

I love this question!

 

My reason is similar to Gegengi's.  I love the idea of playing a small person in a big world, especially one who has a larger-than-life personality and fearlessly stands up to the big guys.  It suits her bossy attitude really well.

 

I also think there's something delightfully goofy about the way lalafells look.  They remind me of the sprite models in the very old Final Fantasy games, with their big heads and wide builds.