Elven ethics

[NinjaFruitSalad]

I do think saying something like, "Elf and Dwarf logic is completely and utterly alien to humans and incomprehensible!" is a copout. As it has been pointed out, we players are humans, and not only do those of us who choose to play such races need to understand how these races think, but the admins of Arm are also human. They also need to understand how these races think, but even more completely because they judge players on how they roleplay these races. So we need to get away from this notion that Elf and Dwarf logic is unfathomable, and we need to find ways to relate to the way humans think, otherwise it's more like a guessing game, playing with unknown contents of a black box.

I feel I should also point out that even individuals among the human species think differently, and often times we don't understand how another person thinks. I wouldn't say it's impossible.. but I do believe there are some who are harder to understand than others. There are some who only care about themselves and lack empathy, and either can't comprehend or don't care how other people think. There are some people who maybe think they can relate to others, and not everyone. And there are also very gifted people who understand how other people think. This last group of people would have quite an advantage and be able to act certain ways without drawing suspicion, and they could also easily manipulate other people.

I might be going off on a tangent there, so let's reign it back. I guess the point is, while other races might be difficult to understand, and some players might not be able to understand them, that doesn't mean all players will not be able to grasp how another race thinks.

Now then, something else I'd like to say is that logic is logic. I don't believe there is a such thing as "dwarf logic" or "elf logic" in the literal sense of the phrases. And I apologize if I'm being needlessly semantic. But just to emphasize the point, I think what people mean is: there's certain engrained ways dwarves tend to think, and there's certain engrained ways elves tend to think. When I say logic is logic, I mean just that. Things like 1+1=2. Facts, and logical statements related to those facts: for example, if all people born in Allanak are from Allanak, and the Labyrinth is in Allanak, then therefore, all people born in the Labyrinth are from Allanak. You can try to dispute the nuances of what citizenship means, but in this scenario, it's more like an "All squares are rectangles" argument.

I guess the point to that spiel is, despite differences in outlook between all races, if they got a chance to sort their thoughts out, they should be able to come to logical conclusions. This all is a fundamental aspect of sapience. It's identity, pattern recognition, reasoning, intelligence, etc. I do think that help files may be too restrictive. When describing how these races think I think it better serves to think of them as generalities and how they typically react and subconsciously think. But at the end of the day, all "logic" should arrive to the same conclusions.