Warhammer Orcs spring forth from mushrooms does not sever their ties to Elves.  Elves are often associated with mushrooms, probably not in the Warhammer world.  I have always been a fan of the idea that Orcs are corrupted, mutated, or abused Elves.  If a games customization alowded it, I always make an Orc with Elvan traits, skin color, hair, and less tusk.

In my own pencil and paper games, I have often struggled with what to do with orcs.  Over the years, I gave them a detailed backstory and a cultural arc that eventually led to them becoming passive and submissive (an over-compensation of a culture straining to keep its instinctive aggression in check).  The problem was that new players come in with a mass of expectations of what an "orc" should be.  I ended up having to decide between renaming them or having a cultural collapse storyline that returned them to a more traditional behaviour.

(I mention my story, because I think many MMO publishers with orcs face a similar struggle as their lore evolves and their orcs of their IP drift further and further away from the original source material)

No Orcs from Darkfall?

      Sorry but LoTRO should not be on the list...They had the ultimate fail by not allowing players to be orcs in the real game...That game could have been epic if they had but instead we got 4 races (only 2 of them fun at all) and the fun wore out quickly......Even the EQ orcs were more deserving.

For all you Orc fans, these guys are serious!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USn0O2DmWn4

i rarely play orcs in any fantasy mmo, but i like the orcs from Skyrim, War, and WoW.

I wish Skyrim's orcs looked less humanoids. I wish you were able to play a big orc in WoW (like Korm Bonegrind). I also wish WAR's orcs were more serious.

War'ammer Orkz is da best.  WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHH!

I have to agree about Warhammers orcs. They were really the one race that I miss from playing WHO.

Never was a fan of Warcrafts orcs though.

Originally posted by Gorwe
Good list!

You have Blessings of Asuryan, Isha, Kurnuos and Vaul for putting Warhammer in its' deserved first place.

How about Elf list?

Not to mention Gork 'n Mork!

Although I think a blessing from them pretty much consists of a punch in the head, but still, at least they think you're worth hitting!

Originally posted by m0lly

Originally posted by Loke666

Originally posted by Razeekster

I'm sorry but I'm glad orcs aren't playable in Lord of the Rings Online. That would destroy the lore and what Lord of the Rings is even about. Orcs in the Lord of the Rings are the bad guys. I wouldn't have it any other way.

The way LOTRO is made, yes.

For you to be able to play orcs they would have to let people play the "other" side as well. That would be a hugerevamp of the game.¨

Besides, "red is faster"...

im glad someone agrees with me atleast, back in the days when lotro cmae i oviously as huge fan ordered it and was excited about playing it didint read much about how it plays just wanted to login and see myself and whne ORCS or any evil side characters wasnt playable like for example HORDE vs ALLIANCE style i was gutted.

so yet again we set up playing against ai army . wheres the fun in that.

 

as Loke says huge revamp it would been huge success to the wholegame.

 

I was also crushed by the fact that you could only play Orcs through Monster Play in LOTRO.  I was looking forward to being Uruk-Hai, and when I saw the MP system, I was highly disappointed in its implementation.  It would have kept me around a lot longer if Sauron's minions had been the "other" faction.

I have to agree with 1 on the list. The Warhammer orcs were the best thing about that game.

I always roll an orc as my main when it's an option: WoW, Warhammer, Darkfall...

I would have played LOTRO if I could be an orc. I didn't play LOTRO because I couldn't be an orc. I can't believe there wasn't even an option to play for Mordor or Saruman. 

Maybe it's because I have to be "a civilized representative of my people" all day at work and wherever I go in public as a stranger in a strange land, to so like to be barbaric and brutal when I play my mmorpgs.

EDiT: Except for Elder  Scrolls for some reason, because I usually roll a Breton (I think originally it was for Morrowind because I wanted the magic resist to use the Boots of Blinding Speed with Levitate--woot!) or Imperial. 

The orcs in the film Lord of the Rings the orcs look far meaner - proper monsters.

I don't think the orcs in MMORPGs are as effective as these.

Female orcs... does not compute.

No mention of orcs from Allods Online? 

Originally posted by TruthXHurts

Originally posted by Konfess

I always wondered if Klingons counted as a race of Orc?  I thought they did.

I'll agree with you there. They are clearly space orcs.

I think it's rather a case of "Orcs" in a lot of post-Tolkien fantasy owe more to Klingons than to Tolkien's creation. If Warhammer Orks are admittedly "English football Hooligans," Tolkien's orcs, at least in Lord of the Rings, are at least 50% British squaddies.

Oh, and for many, many more examples:

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OurOrcsAreDifferent

Awsome post!

Unless you can put a massively different spin on it, I am tired of elves, dwarves, ORCs, etc in my fantasy games.   Retread City!