Don't be racist

Yes, I'm talking about WoW races, more specifically the cultures they are based on. Ever notice how different races talk and what they believe? So let's introduce each race and what culture they are loosely based on.

Human - Well I suppose this is an easy one to start out with. The humans are your generic knights in shining armor with castles and little towns, being threatened by the outlaws (Defias), and with a young boy as the king. I guess you could compare this to a King Arthur type of culture, standing for justice and chivalry before all else.

Orc - These guys are loud, obnoxious, mean, strong, and violent. Their entire culture is based on a survival of the fittest mindset, with the strongest fighters at the top of the food chain, and honor being important over all else. To compare them to a historical human culture they would probably be the barbarians that roamed Europe in the times of the Roman Empire, or maybe the Mongolians led by Genghis Khan. For the nerds out there, I would more closely relate the orcs to the Klingons from Star Trek.

Dwarves - This one is pretty obvious. The dwarves like to drink lots of beer and live life to the fullest without worrying about what tomorrow will bring. And guess what, they have accents that give it away. These guys are based on the Irish, and thats pretty much all I have to say about them.

Trolls - Look out for these crazy guys, there's no telling what they're gonna do. Another pretty obvious race, what with the witchdoctors and voodoo, and you can even grab one of their crazy masks to wear if you manage to find one. And once again they have accents, which gives away their Jamaican roots.

Night Elves - Well let's see, they are a culture that coexists with nature, most prominently with trees, and guess what, one of the classes you can play as with one is the culture they are based on. No, not hunters, they would relate to the druids of ancient Celtic society, although those druids were never able to shapeshift. I would call them more of a cult than an actual culture, or you can just call them hippies, your choice.

Tauren - Not unlike the Night Elves, the Tauren also appreciate nature, although it isn't quite the same for them. Their homeland is comprised of vast plains with they make sure never to waste resources. The shamanistic aspect of the culture is also very obvious, and if you actually play a Horde shaman you know they give you something special to consume in order to induce your visions and talk to the spirits (what I wouldn't give to smoke some of that stuff before I log on). If you haven't guessed by now, I'll tell you that they share qualities with the Native Americans...that is, before the Europeans came over, but they have aspects of the native people of Greenland and northern Scandinavia as well.

Gnomes - This is a little bit of a stretch, but follow along anyway. With their superior knowledge of anything mechanical, it's hard to find a culture that we can base these guys on, as I don't think any culture is lacking in dumb people, but I have yet to find a gnome NPC that had trouble explaining how a gyrocoptor works, even though most of it was way over my head. I suppose these guys are just nerds, plain and simple, but if anybody else has a better description I would love to hear it.

Undead - You may be thinking it is pretty obvious that they are undead and it's as simple as that, but let's look a little deeper, shall we? I would say the Scourge is more based on your traditional undead, mindless zombie types that come to mind when we think of undead. The Forsaken on the other hand have towns and culture, even though it's a little scary. I would compare these guys to Europe in the Dark Ages, with their depressing little towns and the constant struggle to survive it seems like a pretty close match.

Draenei - Another race that isn't so easy to figure out, but a little discussion might help. They travelled to a new planet to escape what had become of their old one, and now that they are here they are taking on the burden of worldly affairs that they don't necessarily have a direct responsibility for. Who does this remind you of? If you were thinking Americans you would be correct, and who better to represent us than blue-skinned space goats? Oh well.

Blood Elves - Last but not least, the race with magical brooms endlessly cleaning their floors. Their buildings are of an interesting architecture and they seem to have the most brightly decorated capital city out of anyone. Their mystic culture and inability to fully trust the rest of their Horde allies leads me to believe they are a sort of mixture of Middle Eastern cultures, sort of like Arabian Nights, but surrounded by grass instead of sand.

These are all my interpretations and are in no way official, but they seem to be pretty accurate for the most part. What do you think?