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Sick of the human race...

Sanctuary

Member
We're resourceful, expanding at a rapid rate, and have a thirst for knowledge that supposedly outranks every other species in the universe.

More like ego.

I find it strange how human is often referred to as "race" when really it is "species".

Race has been swapped with species so much over the last few decades (especially in gaming) that I'm not sure it even matters anymore, regardless of which is technically correct.
 

Springy

Member
I still remember an Arthur C. Clarke short story I read as a kid where aliens came to Earth after we'd fucked it up too bad to try and save our species but found it desolate. They figured they were too late and blasted back into space, where a little further away (cosmically speaking) they found the entirety of humanity, having managed to pull together, advance technology and create a huge space-faring armada way more rapidly than any of the aliens could have predicted.

I was all like "hell yeah," but the story, told from the view of the aliens, was like, these dudes are probably BAD NEWS
 

emag

Member
I still remember an Arthur C. Clarke short story I read as a kid where aliens came to Earth after we'd fucked it up too bad to try and save our species but found it desolate. They figured they were too late and blasted back into space, where a little further away (cosmically speaking) they found the entirety of humanity, having managed to pull together, advance technology and create a huge space-faring armada way more rapidly than any of the aliens could have predicted.

I was all like "hell yeah," but the story, told from the view of the aliens, was like, these dudes are probably BAD NEWS

I like Harry Turtledove's The Road Not Taken. All these alien races have FTL and assume that Earth is ripe for conquest because humans still haven't figured it out. Well, turns out that in every other respect the alien conquerors are technologically backwards, including weaponry. Once their invasion spectacularly fails, humans reverse-engineer FTL and the civilizations of the galaxy weep.
 

Taruranto

Member
hqdefault.jpg

This reminds me that in BG2 the only romances were an half-elf, a winged elf and a dark elf.

Bioware has been into this secret elven propaganda since 1999.
 
Race has been swapped with species so much over the last few decades (especially in gaming) that I'm not sure it even matters anymore, regardless of which is technically correct.
it's also been done in movies (avatar) and mostly in fiction. doing so doesn't make it technically correct imo. it's not a big deal, just sharing my viewpoint.
 

nkarafo

Member
Hmm, i haven't finished the Witcher 3 yet but it looks pretty cruel to humans and your character is a "non-human" because he is a Witcher, somekind of a different species.
 

BouncyFrag

Member
This reminds me that in BG2 the only romances were an half-elf, a winged elf and a dark elf.

Bioware has been into this secret elven propaganda since 1999.
I wouldn't be surprised if they kept tracking data on people who did horrible things to the elves in their games,
like me
.
 
I find it strange how human is often referred to as "race" when really it is "species".

What's even worse is they still use it to designate different ethnicities, while many modern biologists consider that incorrect.


At the OP, as a species we basically suffer from anthropocentrism that's why for example speciesism is also still a thing.

When it comes to games, there are quite a lot of games that have anthropomorphized protagonists. So I suppose those count. Okami is one that comes to mind.

EDIT: I don't really know examples where humans fail at the final moments though, especially vs. extraterrestrial beings. Since you seem to be asking this largely in the context of the intergalactic theater
 
What's even worse is they still use it to designate different ethnicities, while many modern biologists consider that incorrect.
i thought that was the definition we were referring to here. if that's incorrect, then there is no meaning to the word (this version of it anyway)
 
i thought that was the definition we were referring to here. if that's incorrect, then there is no meaning to the word (this version of it anyway)

It has relevance when it comes to biology in general, but not when it comes to the human race/species. An inconvenient truth of course for the many segregated societies of the world and the tribal mentalities they promote.
 
See how much better Avatar would've been if the humans won?
The humans in Avatar will win when they return in 40 years and raze the entire planet from orbit. The movie itself admits the humans only played nice, out of some moral outrage back on Earth.

The Half Life series does a decent job of portraying a weak humanity, Gordon being the exception.
 

AmFreak

Member
Humans represent the biggest market for games so the hero is human and the human race wins.
It's the same for games happening on earth just replace human with american.
 
It has relevance when it comes to biology in general, but not when it comes to the human race/species. An inconvenient truth of course for the many segregated societies of the world and the tribal mentalities they promote.
well using race to denote different races shouldn't be a way to promote segregation. all men are created equal, but there's a whole lot of diversity in mankind.
 
Well, how many times has elves, dwarfs and aliens won in real life? I listened to Dan Carlins hardcore history quite a bit, and it's not many as far as I can tell.
 
That's crazy how humans like playing as their own species

It's not crazy. It just shows that in general we haven't evolved too much. We are still very much preoccupied with ourselves. However if you look at history you can see that education/civilization has caused humans to self identify with ever expanding groups over time. We can see and understand now that we are one human race, while a couple of thousand years ago nearly every country, or region even, was at war with it's neighbor every decade or so.

In a sense it's like how some guys can't play games with female avatars, because they have trouble moving beyond their standard frame of reference. While I would argue it's one of gaming's virtues, it gives you the opportunity to take different viewpoints, become a part of different narratives. In essence it helps you to broaden your horizon.

well using race to denote different races shouldn't be a way to promote segregation. all men are created equal, but there's a whole lot of diversity in mankind.

It's using an outdated concept (the idea of multiple human races) to denote something that has no biological foundation. Even two brothers are diverse, genetic variety explains that just fine and the whole human race is simply a continuum of genetic populations. The human species is however not diverse enough to justify the concept of different human races.
 

Walpurgis

Banned
Why do humans always have to fucking win? Why is our potential always beyond that of other species? Why do we constantly find a way to best opponents we have no real chance of doing so? Are we really such a simple audience that we can't enjoy playing the other guys for once?
I wouldn't mind playing as purple aliens (and I almost never choose human in RPGs with a choice) but a lot of game developers seem to like to create characters that look like themselves. This is why most video game characters are white and male. I think that the two issues are connected.
 

fedexpeon

Banned
It is also crazy how other alien/species are basically fictional creations that are based on human experience and knowledge from their human writers.
If an alien wins, it just means human also wins.
 
It's not crazy. It just shows that in general we haven't evolved too much. We are still very much preoccupied with ourselves. However if you look at history you can see that education/civilization has caused humans to self identify with ever expanding groups over time. We can see and understand now that we are one human race, while a couple of thousand years ago nearly every country, or region even, was at war with it's neighbor every decade or so.

In a sense it's like how some guys can't play games with female avatars, because they have trouble moving beyond their standard frame of reference. While I would argue it's one of gaming's virtues, it gives you the opportunity to take different viewpoints, become a part of different narratives. In essence it helps you to broaden your horizon.

I was being sarcastic
 

Griss

Member
The turn towards Cerebrus and human politics and messiah-hood really was the worst thing about the last two Mass Effects. I can't disagree there. I guess it's easier to sell.

I find it strange how human is often referred to as "race" when really it is "species".

Yeah this bugs the hell out of me. And being anti a certain alien spieces is not racism and nothing like racism and falls woefully flat as a racism analogy or allegory. The whole reason why racism is bad is because we're all human. Same minds, same emotions, same life experiences. Equal beings. That doesn't apply cross-species, whether they be sentient or not.

I'm not a fan of treating other sentient species poorly (see: dolphins, a passion of mine), but I don't call it racism.
 
The turn towards Cerebrus and human politics and messiah-hood really was the worst thing about the last two Mass Effects. I can't disagree there. I guess it's easier to sell.



Yeah this bugs the hell out of me. And being anti a certain alien spieces is not racism and nothing like racism and falls woefully flat as a racism analogy or allegory. The whole reason why racism is bad is because we're all human. Same minds, same emotions, same life experiences. Equal beings. That doesn't apply cross-species, whether they be sentient or not.

I'm not a fan of treating other sentient species poorly (see: dolphins, a passion of mine), but I don't call it racism.
this was sarcasm wasn't it.
It's using an outdated concept (the idea of multiple human races) to denote something that has no biological foundation. Even two brothers are diverse, genetic variety explains that just fine and the whole human race is simply a continuum of genetic populations. The human species is however not diverse enough to justify the concept of different human races.
i'm not sure I agree. two brothers are genetically diverse but someone unrelated is much more diverse and genetically different.
 
I was being sarcastic

Doesn't really matter, it's still an understandable viewpoint that I wanted to comment on.

The turn towards Cerebrus and human politics and messiah-hood really was the worst thing about the last two Mass Effects. I can't disagree there. I guess it's easier to sell.



Yeah this bugs the hell out of me. And being anti a certain alien spieces is not racism and nothing like racism and falls woefully flat as a racism analogy or allegory. The whole reason why racism is bad is because we're all human. Same minds, same emotions, same life experiences. Equal beings. That doesn't apply cross-species, whether they be sentient or not.

I'm not a fan of treating other sentient species poorly (see: dolphins, a passion of mine), but I don't call it racism.

It's called speciesism. But since the concept of 'race' isn't really valid beyond it's social construct the issue of racism extends beyond the validity of the specifics of race. Even if human races don't exist, racism still is very real. So on that note, the exact same principles that go by the name racism could be extended to other highly conscious species we interact with. In that regard there is definite overlap between racism and speciesism.

i'm not sure I agree. two brothers are genetically diverse but someone unrelated is much more diverse and genetically different.

Yes, but even at it's most extreme the genetic differences within the human species aren't enough to warrant the conceptualization of various human races. My point is that the genetic variety of a single family is a microcosm of the genetic diversity of the entire human race. Modern humans have only existed for 200 thousand years or so, genetically we are all very similar.
 
The turn towards Cerebrus and human politics and messiah-hood really was the worst thing about the last two Mass Effects. I can't disagree there. I guess it's easier to sell.



Yeah this bugs the hell out of me. And being anti a certain alien spieces is not racism and nothing like racism and falls woefully flat as a racism analogy or allegory. The whole reason why racism is bad is because we're all human. Same minds, same emotions, same life experiences. Equal beings. That doesn't apply cross-species, whether they be sentient or not.

I'm not a fan of treating other sentient species poorly (see: dolphins, a passion of mine), but I don't call it racism.

It isn't racism, but it's definitely xenophobia.
 

Dazza

Member

Walpurgis

Banned
Yeah this bugs the hell out of me. And being anti a certain alien spieces is not racism and nothing like racism and falls woefully flat as a racism analogy or allegory. The whole reason why racism is bad is because we're all human. Same minds, same emotions, same life experiences. Equal beings. That doesn't apply cross-species, whether they be sentient or not.

I'm not a fan of treating other sentient species poorly (see: dolphins, a passion of mine), but I don't call it racism.

It's the same thing with a different label.
 
Yes, but even at it's most extreme the genetic differences within the human species aren't enough to warrant the conceptualization of various human races. My point is that the genetic variety of a single family is a microcosm of the genetic diversity of the entire human race. Modern humans have only existed for 200 thousand years or so, genetically we are all very similar.
yes, that's what makes us all part of the same species. but within this species there are sooo many cultural diversities. that's what i'm saying race denotes.
 

Markoman

Member
Haha, yes I remember how Independence Day was completely ruined for me, because of the "we humans will overcome everything"-pathos BS.

Of course, it was plausible back then to infest the alien's mohership with a computer-virus....NOT!
I'm not a misantrop in any way, but man this is a movie where I expected that we get our asses beaten.
 
yes, that's what makes us all part of the same species. but within this species there are sooo many cultural diversities. that's what i'm saying race denotes.

But that isn't what race technically means. Most humans have been raised with and still live with an understanding of 'race' that is factually incorrect.
 

RexNovis

Banned
As far as books go the entirety of Lord of the Rings results from the failing of men (specifically Isildur being tempted by the one ring). The books are particularly interesting because they show men as potential for great good or great evil and they are by far the least powerful of the major races (except hobbits) in all but numbers.

I'd also recommend R.A Salvatore's work. The Dark Elf trilogy is all about a dark elf who despises the evil ways of his people and sets out to separate himself from them. They're not quite as well written as Tolkein but Salabatore has a gift for action scenes so I found them incredibly entertaining.
 

Booshka

Member
Fall of Reach novel or Halo: Reach are decent for video game references.

As for the grander scope of Humans sucking fat dick and needing to die. Just wait it out, geologic and cosmic time will take care of us, we're not sustainable.
 

Renekton

Member
Humans in RPGs tend to get extra skill/perk which puts them way ahead of other races. Also human PvP racial ability in WoW.

Are we really that smart and adaptable?
 

Accoun

Member
Speaking of, the series isn't known for its story, but IIRC in Unreal Tournament 2003 humanity is enslaved by some alien race with the tournament being a mean to control us. Both as entertainment to keep us occupied and as an example of what happens to the disobedient ones.
 
The belief that there are distinct biological human races.
what the hell? what do you mean? the difference between me and a white person is that we are of different races. that alone doesn't make one of us better than the other, but it is something different about us, among probably several other things. unless you mean something more with "distinct biological" in your description, I don't know what you're talking about.
 
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