NPCS reactions to your race?

[LittleFighter]

Stormcloaks: Skyrim is for the nords!

Khajiit PC: Hey guys can I join you?

Stormcloaks: Sure

[Beelzibubbles]

My Khajiit character gets "Next, the cat" at the start, "You'll make a fine rug, cat" and "You remind me of my cousin's cat, killed that one too!"

My Nord male gets "Oh great, another Nord" when in the Grey Quarter,

Argonian, "I'm gonna wear that tail as a belt".

Orsimer: "Die Orc filth".

Bosmer: "You should have stayed in your precious forests, elf!"

When the enemy is a Nord they'll shout "Skyrim is for the Nords!" even with my Nord character. Though I will get "You're a disgrace to your own kind!"

That's all I can think of, just comments I think.

 

Bethesda bowed out of putting in serious racial and sexual discrimination probably due to a combination of laziness and not having the balls to do it. It's so rare in Skyrim that it reallys sticks out when it happens, because it's so damn rare.

 

It really stood out to me the few times they put it in, I wondered at first why the women in Whiterun kept thinking I was a rapist or something "don't get any ideas" or some other derogatory comment, whereas if you play as female they think you're going to steal their husbands. Whiterun women are really rather confrontational.

There's actual segregation in Windhelm, the Dunmer being treated as the dialogue suggests, it's about the only physical example of racism I could find though.

 

i dont know why discrimination on virtual races existing only in a video game would create a backlash.

 

I don't know, people can be very sensitive about things like that, other companies have had to change their gameplay due to complaints, God of War were forced to change because feminists complained that some of the enemies you kill are female (because equality) which, as a woman and a soldier, I find damned insulting and pathetic, I thought we were supposed to go against the "woman=weak" stereotype, not encourage and exploit it. No one cares when literally every single person killed is a man so why should we care if it's more even? Then there are some who will complain that the hatred of dark elves is encouraging racism in the real world, I see it as more of a parallel than a statement. In the end it is just a game and we've been fighting against the "game=reality" lot for decades.

[NorthHare]

I'd guess the lack of comments on the player's race was simply down to the time and cost. An NPC making a race-specific comment means there needs to be nine versions of a line of dialogue. The developers need to write all those variations - meaning less time to work on everthing else - and Bethesda would have had to add a zero to their voice acting budget. Then everyone would complain that there aren't enough quests, unique NPCs, locations or whatever and accuse the developers of being too lazy or stupid to make more.

 

I really don't think it was because of a secret organisation of liberals that dictate game content or Bethesda being scared of angering people by making derogatory comments about elves.

 

NPCs being more aware of my character's race would have been great and it's something I'm trying to include in my current modding project, which means I have to write extra dialogue and cross my fingers that I'll be able to find voice actors that are willing to record it all. If I had time and monetary constraints put on my mod, this'd be one of the first things I'd drop.

[calfurius]

Saying that the Dunmer of Windhelm live in poverty because they are lazy freeloaders it the same thing as saying blacks during Jim Crow lived in poverty because they were lazy.

 

Their are ZERO signs that the Dunmer are a bunch of lazy freeloaders. They just want to the same respect and rights that the Nords get in Windhelm. There is very little reason the Dark Elves should be treated less then the Nords, their citizens of Windhelm as well.

 

I love Skyrim, I play it all the time. But lets not kid ourselves, Bethesda DID drop the ball when it came to racism to the player. There is nothing wrong with pointing out the flaws in the game, there are bound to be some.

[mewmew34]

I've played most races in the game, I think Imperial and Dark Elf are the only ones I haven't done. There's not a lot of difference at all in how you're treated, even though the Stormcloaks/Nords are supposed to be racist and not like other races. If you play as a Khajiit it's no harder to get into a town than any other race, even though they're supposed to be banned from entering city walls. If you play as a High Elf there's nobody who cares if you walk right into Jarl Ulfric's place for a chat. The most difference I've ever noticed is that if you play a beast race, some characters will make comments, usually during battle. As a Khajiit I've had bandits and such say they'll turn me into a rug, and people often refer to my Argonian as boots or whatever. That's about the extent of it, which is a little sad. It would make the game more interesting to have different races treated differently.

[ValisValero]

You can pass as a Thalmor agent during Diplomatic Immunity if you are an Altmer and wear Thalmor Wizard Robes. You hear two foot soldiers talking about the influx of new "robes" among their ranks. You'll encounter special dialogue from the Thalmor posted in front of the courtyard door of Elenwen's building and face a persuasion check, I believe. Maybe someone can verify this? I remember encountering it, but I never verified if this was due to Cutting Room Floor, or if it was in the vanilla game.