Just out of curiosity (okay a bet), we have a lot of human players. For those of you who do play a human, did you choose a human mainly for the XP bonus or for the RP of playing a human in a fantasy realm? Curious minds want to know!

You know you're going to lose this bet.

Although I chose Viscanti, I changeself myself to Human all the time. There's a big RP reason behind it that I'm probably not going to get into right now (it's late, I'm sleepy, and the explanation will be long and few will care). The image of a human simply appeals to me because of their appearance I suppose. To me, Viscantis are kind of a mix of all races coated with monstrosity and gloominess. I wanted my character to portray something a little more elegent and noble, and humans in my opinion fit that role well.

I decided not to vote cause there is no "Cause Estarra brought them into the Basin so of course they rock" option

IE, they are teh sux0r and I'd never play that crap.

Can't it be both? I personally take both the RP and the PvP/bashing aspects into account when I decide on a race in these games.

I despise humans . . . er, you are talking about in the game aren't you? Never mind.

I don't think there's anyone who plays a human without saying both "hey, level 2 faster exp is nice" and "I wonder what I can do as a human with all these whacky mothers running around"

I picked humans during open beta, with the means to gain levels alot faster. When I was at a suitable level, I picked merian then Dracnari for the rp.

The only reason I ever choose human races (Imperian has three) in an IRE realm is because I'm too lazy to think of a real character or it suits their history. Usually the former, with two main exceptions. (long story)

When I did this in Aetolia it was for the RP. Frankly, I've done just as well in terms of XP with a level one penalty here as with a level two bonus there (part of that is I have access to things like Autumn, Harmony, and Harvest here though).

Those two words don't fit in the same sentance... unless there is a lack of put between them.

Aetolia and RP?

You must not know Gwylifar well. He could come up with a solid, good roleplay for a character in a world that DISCOURAGED roleplay....and pull it off.

But who would care? It's Aetolia.

I have no idea why anyone would want to play a human compared to another race. They're so boring! What's the point?!

Aetolia resists RP the way Choke resists action. But at times when certain notable persons (some of them Divine) were too distracted, you could get a lot done before someone noticed and came down to crush it. I got a hell of a lot of RP done in Aetolia simply because I didn't know better -- but eventually I decided to try doing it somewhere where the whole fabric of the world around me wasn't resisting it.

Some of the time I think I found that. Some of the time I think I have to keep looking.

In answer to your question, Shiri, it fit into what I was doing. I was playing with contrasts. Everyone in the world was beautiful or handsome, so I wasn't. Everyone was strong and powerful, so I wasn't. Everyone was exotic or strange, so I wasn't. My character was humble, self-effacing, even timid, but also patient and dedicated and quietly unfailingly loyal. I planned a fixed lifespan (and almost made it to the end I had planned, before it got intolerable and I couldn't see the last few years out). And the character's triumph was rising from such humble origins to become something of some import, respected and even admired by many, learning confidence but still being humble, surprising everyone, especially herself. Being human played into the humbleness, the self-image of not being anyone important, and thus the scale of her achievements.

One of the best consequences of this was the fact that my character became best known for being a cook, which was a source of endless amusement for her. Back where she came from, all the women could cook, it was expected, and she was fairly good but nothing exceptional. Here in the larger world, she could fly, tear apart grizzly bears with her bare hands, see halfway across the world, lead troops into war, coordinate schemes to unseat governments, and no one even blinked. But she makes a cookie that says "Thank You" in icing, and the world swoons. You'd be surprised how much RP you can get out of things like that.

I'd have to agree, the only reason I would make a human character is to quickly gain levels before reincarnating into something interesting.

Hear hear. Flat crappy stats don't make the xp bonus worth it.

I don't know, I've always considered humans to be the best starter pack in the set. Level fast, then upon hitting level 50... reincarnate? The only reason I'd choose Human would be for the xp benefit, nothing more. I don't even care about what RP opportunity may playing human may provide, being a human (perhaps a bit too human) and seeing human crawl into everywhere... simply makes me consider humans to be bland all over in fantasy worlds, no matter how marvelous their origins are or whatever.