Should Ailor Have Something More Unique About Them?

[indyfan98]

So, there are a wide host of races on Massivecraft. Each have unique about them, for the most part... I, personally, feel that one race is lacking. The race I speak of is the Ailor Many of the races in the past have suffered from what, in Marty's own words, has been dubbed "basic-bitch"-ism. Many races are unique. Allar, Varrans, each elven variety...

No race really seems to correlate entierly to the real world. They have real inspirations, but are not just, say, Africans brought into Massivecraft. In that instance, I refer to the Songaskia, a race, which, according to Marty, suffered from the "basic-bitch"-ism, but has since been given new life. However, I find one real exception to this rule: the Ailor. I have found that this race has become extremely reliant on the idea of "you can play an idealized version of yourself". Feel like you were born in the wrong body? You can play whatever you wished you looked like. This is fine, on course, but the Ailor are then just left as nothing really special. Sure, they have a TON of cultures (which I find kinda unfair to other races, as in the real world, there are many cultures for places like India, with just their dominant culture being portrayed on Massivecraft somewhat through the Allar. The same idea applies to other cultures.), but they are mostly just white people.

However, despite their many cultures, leaving them as the most fair representation of their real-world counterparts, they are just kinda... boring (at least to me). They are literally just Europeans. Their cultures almost perfectly mirror their real-world counterparts. Now, this IS getting somewhat better with new cultures, but this still leaves them as standard humans.

Now, I hear the argument that it allows people to play as themselves through their roleplay. Yet, many other groups are then not able to play as themselves. What about someone of African descent? They are left with the Songaskia, who are dragon-people. Yes, they have Elder shift, but they still aren't just normal black people. Their appearance is somewhat different, even while shifted. People of indigenous descent? They are left with pretty much nobody to be a standard representation of themselves.

My question is this: why are the Ailor just basic white people, when other races are not just basic (insert culture here) people? My solution to this problem is to either expand Ailors to encompass more of humanity, or to give them a unique appearance. This could be a simple as unique hair colors, eye colors and skin tone, or as complex as special powers. Maybe not magical powers, but something to call their own. As it stands, I know I have never had any desire to play an Ailor since returning to Massivecraft. Even before my break, I rarely played them. If we want a server that is dominated by Ailor cultures, we need to give players wanting something unique a reason to pick them.

Maybe give some unique, otherworldly cultures. Cultures we don't see on Earth. Yes, this requires a lot of thought, time, and effort, but I feel it'll be worth it. Should current Ailor disappear? No. Some people don't like playing something exotic. But should the race have something more unique for themselves? I think so. And maybe you do too!

Let me know what you think below. Do you find the Ailor dominance kind of hard to believe considering their fairly mundane abilities? Are the Ailor a little too normal? Should the other people of the world have the ability to play as themselves through their roleplay character, appearence and all? Could the Ailor use more things to make them stand out in the world of magic, beastmen, and elves?

Anyways, keep it civil, and have a Massive day!

 

[Wumpatron]

A brief skim but upbringing and desire make for interest, not ability or anything of that nature. If Ailor appear like they're missing something it can fall back on how people percieve played Ailor in which case they are able to break the mold based on how the character formed.

Ailor are unique in that they are able to break a mold due to not being constrained to a forced mental upbringing. They are able to shift and mold into virtually anything

 

[MippyMoo]

Simply the knowledge of the title and a lack of will to read the entire thing (I'm so sorry I still respect your opinions and arguments I'm just really tired rn) lead one thought to pop into my head. I remember bringing this up briefly to a friend who I've forgotten exactly was, and their response was that Ailor don't really need anything special because they're the supremacy. They don't require anything special because they're already on top of everything. Depending on the day you ask me I'll probably have a different opinion on this, but I generally both agree and disagree with said statement. They could use something more interesting, but in some ways, I feel that they're meant to be the basic-bitch race--though I could use the exact opposite argument and say that they need more abilities. However, using said opposite argument of that they need new abilities is hard to actually answer or put action to, as I have no idea what they could gain that wouldn't make them even stronger in Regalian society than they already are--which I personally feel is too damn strong as is, but maybe that's the Empire's design's purpose.

I hope that made a semblance of sense, lol. Tag me for further conversation!

 

[indyfan98]

Simply the knowledge of the title and a lack of will to read the entire thing (I'm so sorry I still respect your opinions and arguments I'm just really tired rn) lead one thought to pop into my head. I remember bringing this up briefly to a friend who I've forgotten exactly was, and their response was that Ailor don't really need anything special because they're the supremacy. They don't require anything special because they're already on top of everything. Depending on the day you ask me I'll probably have a different opinion on this, but I generally both agree and disagree with said statement. They could use something more interesting, but in some ways, I feel that they're meant to be the basic-bitch race--though I could use the exact opposite argument and say that they need more abilities. However, using said opposite argument of that they need new abilities is hard to actually answer or put action to, as I have no idea what they could gain that wouldn't make them even stronger in Regalian society than they already are--which I personally feel is too damn strong as is, but maybe that's the Empire's design's purpose.

I hope that made a semblance of sense, lol. Tag me for further conversation!

Click to shrink...

That is a fair point, in that they don't need anything to make them special. However, then why do other races need to be any different from their real-world counterpart? Character development is the #1 thing. But in a world of might and magic, why do normal humans get the shaft? The answer is that people won't play a character that doesn't look like them unless they're cool looking. Most people on this server are either American, Canadian, Australian, or European. Many of them are, naturally, drawn to the Ailor, since they look like them. Yet, should Ailor not at least encompass all of humanity, so everyone can play as someone like themselves? Leave the other races for unique cultures that are unparalleled in the real world.

 

[Rochelle_]

The point of Ailor is the fact that they're normal, for the people who like normal roleplay, as Ailor as the easiest race to be involved in something with. Noble Roleplay is easiest with Ailor, seeing as how they're the 'cis white male' sort of niche, it's for more low-fantasy stuff, also. Just.. run of the mill 'people'. The fact that they're normal makes them special in our universe.

 

[FireFan96]

Ailor work really well as a beginner race for the server. They can do anything a player wants them to do, but they are never the best at any one thing as a race. Except for adaptation. There are dozens of cultures for Ailor (and now Humans in general with the Qadir subculture) because in lore Ailor were the chosen race to travel to the far reaches of Aloria.

In my opinion, subrace and culture are identical. The only difference is that subraces are able to work with one another very well, while cultures actually have a hurdle to overcome. Allar have "cultures" in the sense that their caste system creates specialization for the success of the race, as do Varran. But at the end of the day all of the subraces identify as Allar or Varran.

Ailor can do this as well with cultures. But they also can differentiate because cultural identity is stronger than racial identity. Qadir as a race is the same, but the isolation of a few of their people creates cultures that have personal pride over that of their race as a whole.

To end off, from a gameplay perspective having Ailor serve as the super adaptive race is good for helping players learn the ropes and find a niche. It's a beginner class, with cultures creating specialization that can lead to more advanced aspects of lore such as the nobility.