Having been a member of this and other forums for a while now, I have come to realise that in the usual "Which race will you choose" threads, Orcs and Imperials are rarely mentioned. I can understand the Beast races being popular, people normally don't play with humans in RPG's. Nords, Atlmers, Bretons and Redguards are good, whilst Dunmers and Bosmers are badass. But come on, Orcs and Imperials are just as good, especially Imperials with their super money making skills.

I know people have their personal favourites, but why are the Orcs and Imperials not included in these circles, I'm dumbfounded about the Orcs not being popular, their just as badass as Dunmers in my opinion, and yes, before anyone asks, my favourite race is the Imperials, but I just want to know.

Once again, proper and mature discussion please.

My viewpoint is that Imperials are just a bit dull. As you say, people like to play as unusual characters - like the beast races - in RPGs. For that reason Imperials are less liked. They're normal white people, the likes of which you see every day on the street. They are the plainest race in the Elder Scrolls, and for that reason they hold my interest the least. Even Bretons have the draw of being more magical. Imperials don't excel at anything and are generally bland.

Orcs, on the other hand, are very much an acquired taste. They look ferocious, burly and frankly quite ugly. Some people like that - generally the people that like to make a character "badass" rather than realistic or likeable - and some people don't, generally the people that like to use a character more in line with general aesthetic values.

All the above is personal taste, of course. I really like Orcs, and I don't really like Imperials.

Actually I like Imperials and in Skyrim and Civilized guy in a Barbarian nation thing I think will appeal to me. I think part of the problem with imperials is that they are the establishment or "the man". They also aren't quite as over the top defined as some of the other races and seem less exotic. There is also an arrogance often assumed to them being psuedo Romans that people don't like..


Orcs for me will always be a villain race. I prefer a race that is at least theoretically attractive myself. I like having them around but don't want to play them. That being said, I think Orcs are more popular than you perceive.

Imperials are okay i just don't like them because they seem a bit bland plus most of the NPC's are a bit snobby
As for Orcs i've never really got round to using them but they look a bit more intimidating this time round.

Orc smash stuff!!!

(Seriously, I play an Orc in Oblivion and Morrowind as we speak, so no Orc hate from me, I reallly like them, Orc Warrior (custom class) plus The Lady birthsign = 80 endurance and 50 personality from level 1!)

Elves. That's the reason. Despite Bethesda's best efforts to reign them in, there's just no to controlling the fanwank for Elves. The Orcs, I realize are Elves, but that's besides the point.

And it is rather strange in regards to the Imperials. They conquer via diplomacy and bring with them guarantees of civil and personality liberties, protection of private property, etc. while still allowing the provinces a great degree of governmental and cultural autonomy - and still, you have these Elf-lovers who deride them in favor or racist, haughty, eugenicist, slave-taking, cannibal Elves.

If only we'd gotten those Nibenese face-tattoos in OB :shakehead:.

One reason for it: Both are new races which came playable on Morrowind. Most of TES fans (I believe so) started playing with Daggerfall and are not pleased with the newer races.

Orcs are usually displayed as creatures that are evil, dull and need to be killed. That′s probably the reason why people don′t like them that much.

I tend to prefer Nords or Wood/High Elves but Imperials and Orcs are more familiar to me than some of the other choices. A friend of mine does play an Imperial and since I've never been keen on the Speechcraft wheel game, I can see how that could be useful in Oblivion at least. I did start an Orc character at one point to try a more aggressive and charging into trouble style of play, but I just never got around to doing enough with the character and concentrated on my main one more. But quite a few of the other races, I've never even tried. Not so much dislike as I just haven't felt the need and they maybe just don't interest me enough in my own game.

I like them both, first im probably gonna play as Nord though but after that Orc or Khajit

Orcs have a pretty cool background, beatiful elves turned into orcs when a god ate their god
pay attention to their ears,obviously elven

TBH, I think people don't like orcs because they're SO overdone. Pig-faced, green people who are obsessed with smashing stuff into peices? How original. Some people like them though.

Imperials? Methinks its because they're just typical humans who are good with swords and managed to build an empire suspiciousy similar to the Roman Empire. Bretons have the advantage of being somewhat magical. Nords? Badass people who live in the mountains.

What?! I am imperial!

I generally play an Imperial on my first playthrough as my character resembles myself. And well an Imperial is the most logical one, especially as I usually play a melee character.
But as said before, Imperials are really dull.

Orcs looked horrible in Oblivion and are the only race I have never played. I loved them in Morrowind though, and they look incredibly badass in Skyrim too.

I think orcs are fairly popular, but I dunno for a fact. Perhaps it's because they are primarily a hack and slash race and most players choose to play a more hybrid magic/weapon kind of player?

The imperials have always been a bit too.... Pretentious.... for me

Don't get me wrong, I love Imperials. My first character in Oblivion was an Imperial.

I agree with some reasons people said up there, but here are my reasons:

orcs - I never play aggressive barbarians that look ugly and tough ... If I wanna play a barbarian, I'd go with a nord, especially in Skyrim, cus its their homeland...

imperials - They are just too plain ... I could only play them in Oblivion, cus Cyrodiil is their homeland and I wanted to RP a noble, good, rich person.

I currently play an orc in my D&D game and my main toon in WoW was an orc, before I called in quits. I love the way they look in Skyrim. They looked awful in Oblivion. My first character will definitely be an orc. Gonna play him like an orc shaman named Aznog.

Orcs are awesome, My first play on skyrim will be orcs.

Hmm, I havent surfed these forums enough to determine why people dont like orcs or imperials, but i can give my two cents.
I have always liked the Imperials since i started playing morrowind. They are the standard human with nothing really special about them. Every roleplaying game has this standard race and I tend to always play them. Its like starting with a blank sheet of paper, you can be anything. Theres nothing that directs them towards certain behavior or the like. Also when i play RPG′s i tend ro really roleplay alot and sometimes I have a hard time to really get in character if its not a human. Dont really know why, maybe because i can relate more.
So therefore i have always played "human" type characters. I have never in my 8 years in elder scrolls played a serious character that wasnt "human" (Nord, breton, imperial, redguard).
The above is the reason i dont like Orcs. I cant relate and roleplay them as i would like to.

Imperials are the establishment so they gotta go. Orcs look great now whereas before they looked radioactivepotatohead.

SteamTeck hit the nail on the head. Imperials are associated with "the man" and lots of players, including myself, are anti-establishment in TES. To me, Imperials seem like politicians :sick: .

As for Orcs, they don't appear to be very unpopular from my point of view. I see lots of people who play Orcs as their main character. The reason I personally don't have a huge interest in Orcs is simple...too many other interesting classes. The other elf races seem to be more appealing to many people.

For starters, a lot of it has to do with the game it's set in. A lot of people played Dunmer in Morrowind, Imperials in OB, and will play Nords in Skyrim. If they made a game with a large Orcish area, you'd probably see a lot of Orcs.

Orcs will see a resurgence now they actually look badass in Skyrim.

I like Orcs for warrior builds. I don't mind playing as Imperials but they are a bit dull compared to the other races.