Why do people hate the humans?

[Coldman42]

Humans are boring... And more often then not they tend to be the ass-holes of a story now a days.

Besides, games are all about delving into a fantasy. Humans are far to reality based to be fun in a fantasy setting, some exceptions pending of course. After all, Commander Shepard wouldn't work as anything other then a human.

 

[AtticusSP]

Humans are the boring ones man.
It's like, why pick Space Marines over Orks? That just ain't right.

 

[Kruxxor]

It might just be my experience, but it seems that a lot of people I know, whenever they play an FPS, they never play as the humans, and usually I'm left as the only guy playing as a Human. Or when we're talking about some new game, I'm the only guy who thinks that the Humans are cool.

Am I insane, or is there something going on where humans are taboo?

It's mostly the "talking about a game" aspect. As a few people have already pointed out, few games do allow not-human players. But, like I said, friends of mine say "It'd be so much cooler to play as ___________ than as the Humans."

I'd prefer to play as an Alien or Monster, why would I want to be a Human? I am a human, the human race sucks, we are weak and can die easily. Usually in games monsters and aliens are tougher, stronger and in general, more fun to play.

Would you rather play as a human, or something that can jump over buildings and climb walls?

 

[Mr. In-between]

The name of this site is The Escapist. People don't play humans probably because they are, and they are trying to escape from that.

EDIT: spelling

 

[Absimilliard]

A) higher level of general escapism
B) a lot of other races are more awesome than humies (except elves, they suck. See the anti-elf anthem...)
C) seriously, if I've watched the news that day (and I usually have, I'm online quite a lot), I often have a desire to feel like something non-human. (Specific escapism might be a good term.)

...are the reasons I can think of.

 

[Mr. In-between]

C) seriously, if I've watched the news that day (and I usually have, I'm online quite a lot), I often have a desire to feel like something non-human. (Specific escapism might be a good term.)

This

 

[Layz92]

It's been a long time since I played a game that had multiple races - not because I think your choice of subject is stupid but because I think most multiplayer shooters with aliens vs. humans in them tend to be average.

I suppose the last one I played was UT2K4... I always played Malcolm, who was a human, I suppose it was because I like the idea of a badass human more than I like the idea of an alien.

Man, UT2K4 was excellent~

Back when I played UT2004 I always used Corrosion. He was the most badass of the robots. But then, I couldn't play as Malcolm because I never managed to beat him in the tournament mode. Even on Novice difficulty. =(

I always went Xan Kriegor, just cos I love the look of the old school battleworn armour.

OT: Like so many said it is simply because people play games to do something they probably never will do. So you may as well go the whole hog and be a creature you obviously will never be.

 

[ethaninja]

When it comes to an RPG I will play as a human, because I try to make it as me as possible, and then.. ya know.. make me awesome

I think the reason people dont is because.. they prefer to kill humans Hmmm....

 

[sephiroth1991]

Well humans suck

OT:I guess people like to be somthin' that can play diffrent than a human, who just plays like genric shooter.

 

[Entropyutd]

It might just be my experience, but it seems that a lot of people I know, whenever they play an FPS, they never play as the humans, and usually I'm left as the only guy playing as a Human. Or when we're talking about some new game, I'm the only guy who thinks that the Humans are cool.

Am I insane, or is there something going on where humans are taboo?

It's mostly the "talking about a game" aspect. As a few people have already pointed out, few games do allow not-human players. But, like I said, friends of mine say "It'd be so much cooler to play as ___________ than as the Humans."

No sure exactly what you are talking about, BUT!
My theory would be that most games force you to play through single player as the Humans, therefore controlling the opposition provides something different.

 

[Skobvs]

That always happens in Left 4 Dead. I prefer to play as humans first, you can figure out if the other team is good together if they co-ordinate their attacks. But no one else sees this advantage and instead just wants to play as zombies first.

 

[ScruffyTheJanitor]

There are more spartans than elites in halo. I suppose you could say there are various forms in unreal tournament 3 but the humans are like the gears of war characters gone overkill on cliche, and done badly at that.

But overall, most people I know end up human even when given the choice.

 

[SeanTheSheep]

I act like a human all day.
Gimmie some fangs or scales or something, and let me eat somebody.

This is also true for me.
And I like to play games sometimes too.

OT: Essentially, people like to play as the aliens because alien races are different.
People play games to escape from reality, and so they choose the thing furthest removed from their own reality as possible.

 

[DuX1112]

I like playing as the Humans most of the time. I played as the Alliance in Warcraft 3, then as Space Marines or Imperial Guard, etc. What can I do, some of the "alien" or fantasy races just seem comical to me. :/

 

[Vrex360]

Well for me there are few FPS games where you can play as something other than a human (Halo 2 and 3 being the most obvious exceptions to this rule) and in the games that you can play as either one I usually see people go for humans. Plus, people still hold onto the humanity hell yeah, even if movies like District 9 and Avatar have weakened that a little bit it's still present.
Plus some shooters like Gears of War have a human/locust multiplayer set up where there has to be even teams and there's only two choices and you have to be one or the other. So it's probably not taboo.

In any case, for me at least, especially in Halo I just like playing as a Sangheili over a Spartan because it just feels right and I can't really explain it.
I don't loathe the lowly, filthy, disgusting, pitiful ungodly humans persay, I just happen to prefer being a non human.