Warcraft is European

[Puupi]

Tolkien was heavily inspired by Europe dude.

Tolkien was heavily influenced by Kalevala, the Finnish national epic.

Also, WoW is more influenced by Finnish and Nordic things generally than it is about influenced by Slavic things.

But that's completely besides the point because the game isn't "European" as you say. It's a fiction influenced by things. Lots of things. Not Slavic things, however.

[Deleted]

Not my fault you get triggered.

Apparently this is all so NOT European.

You really went out of your way to find the Stormwind music and edit your response?

[Sky High]

People said WC draws from Tolkien (not for Orcs specifically, but overall theme), to which I reply that Tolkien took his inspiration from Europe.

WC is only based on Tolkien in the sense ALL high fantasy is more or less inspired by his work. I can tell you for a fact WC got most of its ideas from Warhammer.

[Nightwatch]

This is the best I've read in some time....

[Deleted]

Humans are represented as medieval europeans.
The tribal/shamanic roots of the Orcs make them close to African culture.
Tauren are native Americans.
Trolls from the Mayan/aztec culture.
Dwarfs from Scotland.
Vrykuls Scandinavia.
Blood elfs have certain arabic influences.
Etc..
The european medieval fantasy is usually the core for these kinds of games, but for Warcraft, id say its very diverse.

Blood Elves are European, although their architecture I cannot say much about.

Most of those are European, so nice try!

[Macaquerie]

WC is only based on Tolkien in the sense ALL high fantasy is more or less inspired by his work. I can tell you for a fact WC got most of its ideas from Warhammer.

Ironically, being a European game, Warhammer actually goes out of its way to make the different factions representative of specific European countries, so that the Empire is Germany, Bretonnia is France, Kislev is Russia, etc. Warcraft was made by Americans with no understanding of these distinctions other than vague notions of knights in shining armor, priests with magic powers, and downtrodden peasants.

[Deleted]

Tolkien was heavily influenced by Kalevala, the Finnish national epic.

Also, WoW is more influenced by Finnish and Nordic things generally than it is about influenced by Slavic things.

But that's completely besides the point because the game isn't "European" as you say. It's a fiction influenced by things. Lots of things. Not Slavic things, however.

What are the Finnish elements, lol?

[Belize]

Ironically, being a European game, Warhammer actually goes out of its way to make the different factions representative of specific European countries, so that the Empire is Germany, Bretonnia is France, Kislev is Russia, etc. Warcraft was made by Americans with no understanding of these distinctions other than vague notions of knights in shining armor, priests with magic powers, and downtrodden peasants.

It's a damn shame GW never really expanded out of Bretonnia (barely had anything for them too) and Teh Sigmar Empire.

Kislev would have been fun and "Skaven fucked out everything to the East" is a cheap way of going about things.

[Deleted]

You really went out of your way to find the Stormwind music and edit your response?

You said I was trolling/stupid. I really want to know why. Will you deny that the video is not European in its elements? xD

[Techno-Druid]

You know I've always thought Stormwind was pretty reminiscent of Medieval France. Not neccessarily in culture, but the architecture and overall design really give off that vibe imo.

Gilneas is pretty obviously Gothic in design with Gilneans themselves being based on the culture of Victorian England. Architecturally, Dalaran is definitely Persian, but logically that's probably because the human mages that built Dalaran were likely influenced by the quel'dorei which have some architectural and cultural (i.e. hookahs) nods to Persia.

Ironforge/Mountain dwarves seem to be based on Norse culture, while Wildhammer/Hill dwarves have a Scottish Highlander feel.

Aside from that though, trolls are definitely an amalgamation of Afro-Caribbean, West African and Mesoamerican cultures. Night elves are mostly based on Celtic and Japanese culture with nods to Greco-Roman, Norse and Korean culture. Orcs seem to be an amalgamation of various "barbarian cultures"; Huns, Mongols, Germanic tribes, Turks, Gauls, etc.

[Macaquerie]

It's a damn shame GW never really expanded out of Bretonnia (barely had anything for them too) and Teh Sigmar Empire.

Kislev would have been fun and "Skaven fucked out everything to the East" is a cheap way of going about things.

Well GW isn't really known for their imagination, hence why you have supposedly fictional place names like Albion, Araby, Cathay, and fucking NIPPON in the game. Gee I wonder what those are supposed to represent.....

Also, they went full retard on this annoying concept that white people are the standard human, whereas other cultures are represented by various monstrous races. I personally love the visual presentation they do for Lizardmen, but if I was from Mexico I wouldn't be thrilled that a bunch of British people thought that my civilization was built by fucking dinosaurs.

[Aggrophobic]

I had people complaining that I called Warcraft a European game.

I sincerely wish to know what your problems are. Warcraft is European at its core. The major themes and the cultures involved at European. The Human race is European. Their architecture, music, clothing and more is perfectly European. Same goes for many other parts. Naturally, there are non-European elements, such as neutral fantasy elements, or that taken from cultures such as Uldum from Egypt or Pandaria from China, but none of those are part of the core narrative of Warcraft. You have Warcraft without Uldum and Pandaria or other minor areas, but you don't have Warcraft without Stormwind, the European humans, most of the music, to name a few things.

Exactly wherein lies the issue?

Well, the culture evolved in africa, if you want to go way back.
What is the point of this?

[Deleted]

There's nothing about Warcraft that is European but not American, which is no shock because America was settled by Europeans. It's also developed by an American studio with American voice actors using an American accent.

So if I had to pick I'd say American. Or alternately, this is a silly argument because they take influences from wherever they want. Never in history has a WoW story guy came up with an idea and said, "Nah, that strikes me as Australian and we're European."

Most American and Australian culture is indeed European. It was produced by Europe initially, of course, then because the European world is ever-connected they continued a similar path.

[wholol]

Nice thread, good laugh.

Seriously hard to understand how people would spend their time opening redundant topics like these though.

[Deleted]

Nice thread, good laugh.

Seriously hard to understand how people would spend their time opening redundant topics like these though.

I love providing free education.

[Derpleton]

It's an American game based on Western European Culture /thread

[Deleted]

It's an American game based on Western European Culture /thread

It isn't based on Western Europe.

[Dezerte]

Games have ethnicities now?

[wholol]

I love providing free education.

Well I do hope the next educational post will be about how humans originated from Africa before they migrated north several thousands of years ago, and how that fits into your free educational European warcraft story, I'm quite hyped.

[Deleted]

Well I do hope the next educational post will be about how humans originated from Africa before they migrated north several thousands of years ago, and how that fits into your free educational European warcraft story, I'm quite hyped.

Who says they originated in Africa?

People never originated. We were all atoms and energy in a singularity that re-arranged itself after the Big Bang. Just because human-shaped atomic structures got shaped that way in Africa doesn't mean humans came from Africa, but rather the singularity.