Originally posted by Eisdrache

Its not realism I am after. Its fantasy! Realistic fantasy though. And as marty said: Who says a fourlegged being could not have magic? Its shown in several games already. e.g. Winterwolves in AD&D based baldurs gate had a mighty icebreath. Ans i am shure you all know monsters with strong defenses or attacks. Why not play them? Not much different from city of heroes/city of villians, but just fantasy not super hero genre.

Yes I agree, and anothe r idea that works well with the them on non-bipeds; Sci-fi... imagine playing an insectoid preying mantis lifeform, or reptilian, and further an intelligent gelatinous blob as your main character.  What storylines, ideas, spring up for these new archtypes.

Your are right. I am really waiting for Darkfall. Its not much, but it seems to have a wide range of possibilities and although the mahirim are bipeds aswell it might be possible to play the wolf like behaviour aswell.

I really hope they have a good concept for the rest of the game. Its not, what I dream of, but seems to be somewhat different from all this grinding and slaying stuff BECAUSE of open PvP. You will need to build relationsships exceeding that "looking for dungeon party" stuff.

Originally posted by hidden1

Originally posted by Eisdrache

Its not realism I am after. Its fantasy! Realistic fantasy though. And as marty said: Who says a fourlegged being could not have magic? Its shown in several games already. e.g. Winterwolves in AD&D based baldurs gate had a mighty icebreath. Ans i am shure you all know monsters with strong defenses or attacks. Why not play them? Not much different from city of heroes/city of villians, but just fantasy not super hero genre.

 

Yes I agree, and anothe r idea that works well with the them on non-bipeds; Sci-fi... imagine playing an insectoid preying mantis lifeform, or reptilian, and further an intelligent gelatinous blob as your main character.  What storylines, ideas, spring up for these new archtypes.

This.

Basically imagine being able to play all those cool monsters... that have been modeled up for us to kill over the years.  Master of Orion, an old school game reminds me of the various forms of life that could be considered for a true sci-fantasy setting.

I am all down for a spider/human race.  (If you can't handle the animated breasts, I apologize.)

Originally posted by Souvec

Originally posted by hidden1

Originally posted by Eisdrache

Its not realism I am after. Its fantasy! Realistic fantasy though. And as marty said: Who says a fourlegged being could not have magic? Its shown in several games already. e.g. Winterwolves in AD&D based baldurs gate had a mighty icebreath. Ans i am shure you all know monsters with strong defenses or attacks. Why not play them? Not much different from city of heroes/city of villians, but just fantasy not super hero genre.

 

Yes I agree, and anothe r idea that works well with the them on non-bipeds; Sci-fi... imagine playing an insectoid preying mantis lifeform, or reptilian, and further an intelligent gelatinous blob as your main character.  What storylines, ideas, spring up for these new archtypes.

 

This.

Basically imagine being able to play all those cool monsters... that have been modeled up for us to kill over the years.  Master of Orion, an old school game reminds me of the various forms of life that could be considered for a true sci-fantasy setting.

Imagine MOO as a sandbox RvR/PvP game in which each race strives to exterminate all the others... at which point the server would reset. Meaningful PvP.  After your race is eliminated - you either roll a different race or become a pirate with permadeath hanging over the toon... until server reset at least.

Originally posted by Locklain

I am all down for a spider/human race.  (If you can't handle the animated breasts, I apologize.)

See that's what I'm talking about.  The option to play a race that is different than ourselves.  That's fantasy right there!
 

Originally posted by hidden1

See that's what I'm talking about.  The option to play a race that is different than ourselves.  That's fantasy right there!
 

So if that was a human body with a spider head, you wouldn't like it, but because it's a Centaur without the horse half (instead, with a spider half...an Arachnatar...?) you like it?

I'm all for hybrids but I wouldn't really be interested in playing any "fully" animal race, except Dragons.

Originally posted by Ascension08

Originally posted by hidden1

See that's what I'm talking about.  The option to play a race that is different than ourselves.  That's fantasy right there!
 

So if that was a human body with a spider head, you wouldn't like it, but because it's a Centaur without the horse half (instead, with a spider half...an Arachnatar...?) you like it?

I'm all for hybrids but I wouldn't really be interested in playing any "fully" animal race, except Dragons.

I totally agree. It would have to be some form of a hybrid or would be rather boring. Although, there are some exceptions where the creature is completely bestial yet would still make a good playable race. Nagas for example would be relatively neat to play.

Originally posted by Locklain

Originally posted by Ascension08

Originally posted by hidden1

See that's what I'm talking about.  The option to play a race that is different than ourselves.  That's fantasy right there!
 

So if that was a human body with a spider head, you wouldn't like it, but because it's a Centaur without the horse half (instead, with a spider half...an Arachnatar...?) you like it?

I'm all for hybrids but I wouldn't really be interested in playing any "fully" animal race, except Dragons.

I totally agree. It would have to be some form of a hybrid or would be rather boring. Although, there are some exceptions where the creature is completely bestial yet would still make a good playable race. Nagas for example would be relatively neat to play.

 

If you put on a scaly green cloak and a fish mask, you're still human...just look like a fish. Nagas are still half "human" - head, shoulders, arms, with a snake tail. That's what I meant .

Originally posted by Ascension08

Originally posted by hidden1

See that's what I'm talking about.  The option to play a race that is different than ourselves.  That's fantasy right there!
 

So if that was a human body with a spider head, you wouldn't like it, but because it's a Centaur without the horse half (instead, with a spider half...an Arachnatar...?) you like it?

I'm all for hybrids but I wouldn't really be interested in playing any "fully" animal race, except Dragons.

I'm talking about the option to give the player more variety.  Variety being the spice of life an all.
 

Originally posted by Ascension08

If you put on a scaly green cloak and a fish mask, you're still human...just look like a fish. Nagas are still half "human" - head, shoulders, arms, with a snake tail. That's what I meant .

I am not sure about the OP, but myself, I am looking for just a little variance in character design.  I am sick and tired of the same races being used in games.  Someone needs to branch out a little bit and do a little more than paint a human frame with scales and call it a Lizardman.

Thats it guys. I am talking about possibilities! I'd like to play my dragon again much more than anything else, thats a fact. But i'd be glad to only hav the choice to play e.g. that spiderwoman. Its something really different, not 10 times almost the same race, with another shape and stats but not really different.

And yes... maybe i'd like to play a blob. Maybe the sexiest blob ever...LOL

Originally posted by Locklain

Originally posted by Ascension08

If you put on a scaly green cloak and a fish mask, you're still human...just look like a fish. Nagas are still half "human" - head, shoulders, arms, with a snake tail. That's what I meant .

I am not sure about the OP, but myself, I am looking for just a little variance in character design.  I am sick and tired of the same races being used in games.  Someone needs to branch out a little bit and do a little more than paint a human frame with scales and call it a Lizardman.

Well generally I think it's natural for us to enjoy the familiar. Most people couldn't really get into an "ugly" race, such as a spider/human hybrid. That's also one of the reasons for the lack of Dwarfen popularity in most games. People would rather play something "pretty" or "cool", and when you have Elves (pinnacle of the good human qualities like beauty, grace, intelligence) compared to short, smelly, drunk, angry human-like creatures, it's not a very hard choice (for most people).

I keep saying most people because that's what companies care about.

Variety is fine, and if a game offers a race or two that isn't distinctly human-like, that's fine. Unless it was really cool-looking (maybe some type of alien) I think it would never be as popular as your run-of-the-mill humanoid. Another side thing I was thinking is animations and models. There's thousands of easy to make and easy to animate human or humanoid models out there, but if you wanted to start from scratch, that'd take a lot of extra time/effort and I think most companies don't believe it would be worth it.

Just my thoughts on the matter, I understand where you guys are coming from but I'm looking at it from a majority type of perspective.

Originally posted by Locklain

Originally posted by Ascension08

If you put on a scaly green cloak and a fish mask, you're still human...just look like a fish. Nagas are still half "human" - head, shoulders, arms, with a snake tail. That's what I meant .

I am not sure about the OP, but myself, I am looking for just a little variance in character design.  I am sick and tired of the same races being used in games.  Someone needs to branch out a little bit and do a little more than paint a human frame with scales and call it a Lizardman.

To the OP, this is an awesome thread!  Why? Because it's sparked my imagination further.  Check this out.  Cyberpunk style game... u start human, but eventualy as your progress, u can make your body completly cybernetic and chose what you'll be like.  Example, you may come to a cross roads in your characters development where you have a choice to remove your human legs for different cyber legs (could be Bi- tri- or Quadroped.. each with their own uses and disadvantages/advantages... heck how about tank-like wheels for legs instead).  And so make it so your cybercharacter is customizable by a selection of parts, and not just "under-skin" implants.
 

Again, love this thread, so many ideas come to mind.  Thanks OP

You are right Ascencion. Despites that Dwarves are small stinky humans not more. In Horizons most players chose to be a dragon. They are really cool. I think there are many possibilities for non-biped races that are cool aswell. Even a spider race could be cool if equipped with unique features. I think no one ever thought about being ugly while playing an alien in alien vs predator. You are right, its a load of work to develop such things, but it might be neccessary to have something unique to come out of the loads of MMOs all looking the same while claiming to be the "next generation MMO".

I am not shure I you understand my words. I am not native english, and this is getting quite complicated to write. I am sorry for any inconvenience that might cause.

Ahm...whats OP?

Again: There are many possibilities. It would also be possible to be reborn in an animal body, being a rat for the n00bs... But you have to reach a certain goal to be able to get back into your chosen shape, so you become a living and somewhat nasty BOSS-RAT for the n00bs.

I don't really know if it is as much of an animation issue as it would be gearing up something other than a bipedal race with the same basic frame.  In the games now all the devs have to do is make one armor set and scale it differently rather than make something that is race specific.

 Hey Eisdrache, have you ever tried Second Life.  I know there you can find/create/buy almost any type of avatar and there's a bunch of RPers there, too.  Also,  I'm not sure of its capabilities, but theres a bunch of Never WInter Nights (NWN) servers floating around. and those are full of RP.

edited because I left out some of a sentence/

Originally posted by Realedazed

 Hey Eisdrache, have you ever tried Second Life.  I know there you can find/create/buy almost any type of avatar and there's a bunch of RPers there, too.  I'm not sure of its capabilities, but theres a bunch of Never WInter Nights (NWN) servers floating around.

Also have you checked out INSILICO in second life?  As RP-cyberpunk soloution for something a bit different in MMO's.

http://insilico.ning.com/

Originally posted by hidden1

Originally posted by Realedazed

 Hey Eisdrache, have you ever tried Second Life.  I know there you can find/create/buy almost any type of avatar and there's a bunch of RPers there, too.  I'm not sure of its capabilities, but theres a bunch of Never WInter Nights (NWN) servers floating around.

 

Also have you checked out INSILICO in second life?  As RP-cyberpunk soloution for something a bit different in MMO's.

 

http://insilico.ning.com/

Not bad. I may have to reinstall Second Life and try that.

I don't see why an MMO incorporating a Spore Creature Creator can't be done. Why have races at all? Why not let your players make their own?