Dwarves are absolutely cool, btw. My friend and I were planning to write a novel about the life of a dwarf.

But regardless, those kinds of characters can be a lot of fun if you do them right. A bad role player can screw up a dwarf character just badly as an elf character. o.o

Fun isn't the issue. People wouldn't make them if they weren't fun. But too much of that can do a lot of harm to the quality and reputation of an RP community. Like I said, it's not really the fault of elves in particular, the skill and understanding of the player is what's critical. elves and similar races just lend themselves frustratingly to that sort of tendency, and some times encourage it.

A side note on the elf thing, I have an even more polarized reaction towards Drow in particular. Of all the classic elven races, Drow in particular have strong enough personality flaws that when taken into consideration, they're pretty reasonable in gift/flaw balance. When portrayed right they make excellent villains, and their society is ripe for social commentary on the nature of evil and pettiness, even if they are angstier than a bucket of black paint in hot topic. However, they're subject to the same types of bad portrayal as other elves, and with them it's even worse because so much of the race's flavor is lost when someone decides that their drow is going to be laid-back, easygoing, and generally and alright dude, rather than xenophobic, spiteful, narrow-minded, and cruel. Drow in particular are a point of contention for me, due to the incredible variance in the effect they can have on a story. Can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em.

You have a point. I've seen RP communities degrade in quality and reputation. I'm a Gaia Online Member and I won't touch their RP section with a 50 foot pole at this point, regardless of the fact that's where my RP roots are. o_o I do agree that races like elves are overused. It's kinda discouraging to see like 10 elves in an rp and only one person had the sense to make some one human. But I'm getting to the point where the stigma doesn't matter if I think I have a good character. Granted, I do admit that I am picky on where, when, and with who I'll play a character of that race. I almost have half a mind to challenge some one to see who can make the most unoriginal character ever. xD

Got a specific genre in mind? :P

Since it seems to be relevant to the discussion at hand, elves and drow. :)

I was all prepared to pull out a 23 year old asian martial arts master who's parent(s) were killed by some evil, older martial arts master and is hell-bent on revenge. Considering the number of syndicated commercial movies made about that character (it's gotta be a three-digit number) i figured it was a shoo-in :P

But i have to ask. Is the object just un-original, or un-original-and-un-believable. Do you get extra points for being 1/5th demon?

Un-original-and-un-believable. It's no fun if you can't get as psychotic as possible while you're at it. xD And I've yet to figure out the point system, but I think you could probably fit that 1/5 demon in there some where. :) I'll have my entry up later tomorrow though.

You're on :P While you're thinking, my friend Gwydion has decided that there should be a better example of just how angsty drow are. black paint isn't doing it for him. Therefore, i propose another con-*test*-('") to find a better witty euphemism to represent angstiness. I start the bidding with "Angstier than a stack of red doors that have all been painted black."

"Angstier than the entire cast of Final Fantasy VII, including Zach." xD

Since I'm already on the theme of black paint. Open con-*test*-('"), place your bids!

I just gotta throw this one out there too. "Angstier than a goth girl getting dumped in Hot Topic next to a stand of razor blades while Yesterday by the Beetles plays in the background." I don't know if it should be entered in the competition or not.