Of Guild Wars 2's five playable races, humans are by far the most popular according to data that ArenaNet put out last month . The Norn take a distant second place and the Asura, Sylvari and Charr linger even further behind. Each race has their own distinct storyline and starting zone, so it's unsurprising that the creators of Guild Wars 2's races feel a bit disappointed that players are opting for traditional human toons.
"GW2 race popularity makes me sad," says Arenanet writer Peter Fries on Twitter . "People avoiding charr & asura are missing the strongest story stuff in our game, IMO."
I'll jump at any chance to be a three foot tall Necromancer, so I was fated to play an Asura the moment they were revealed. For those jumping into the game fresh, it might seem more natural to jump in as a human and get to know the weirder races a bit before starting alts.
As Kotaku indicate, strong human bias isn't unusual in games that offer a choice of races. The different ways that players construct and empathise with their in-game avatars is an interesting, though. Do you try to recreate your looks in-game? Are you creating a new character entirely? What are you thinking when you design a character?
Here's the race stat graph. From left to right: Norn, Charr, Asura, Sylvari and Human.
