I remember Toady saying once (I think in a DF talk but I'm not sure) that goblins are basically just sociopaths...[snipped]...It's just not something a real sociopath would do, you know?
Well, they are naturally prone to anger and easily moved to hatred, violent, immoderate, thrill-seeking, naturally deceitful and immodest, and quite cruel. I wouldn't trust one to be in my adventuring party, even if its only their culture that requires them to kill everyone on sight and considers torture entertainment.
So... you think there should be more racism? I love this forum.
This is speciesism. Totally different, and something you do every single day, every time you eat.
I don't think he has the EAT_SENTIENT tag though.
It's as foolish to draw comparisons to iRL racism as to declare segregation in this fantasy world normative; there are always going to be outliers and exceptions, and Goblins are indeed it would seem cowed by few strong rulers who follow a mandate of might making right.
Artificial segregation of races smacks of "generic fantasy," and while to some degree the race selection leaves us in that category regardless, Dorf Fortress should be able to transcend tropes in some ways.
Maybe what we need is a civ-by-civ racism metric, determine how much they dis\Like other races based on past interactions (their degree of race-based thinking determining whether to blame it on the civ or the race as a whole)?
Goblins appear to have a similar genetic predisposition to evil as elves do to smug artsyness and dwarves to drunkenness and greed. Dwarves are also bashful (hahaha Toady) and singleminded. And vulnerable to stress but...uh...we knew that.
I don't think there's anything wrong with the "generic" fantasy consideration that certain species are psychologically disposed to certain behaviors. Dogs are outgoing, cats are reserved, mice are skittish. Goblins are like....wolverines. Or tasmanian devils. Their ecological niche has been to expand at any cost, and to exploit the resources of other sentients wherever possible, and their entire society as been built around it and dedicated to it. I can certainly see the possibility of finding an orphan or what have you, but Goblin-kind is the universal enemy of all free people. Their civic duty is to Always Be Attacking. Their culture demands that they attack anyone who isn't actively giving them things, or possibly another goblin. Even if you found a goblin you educated and taught to understand the basics of ethics and moral responsibility, everyone else in your entire city/realm/civilization has only ever seen one, or maybe two kinds of goblins before.
If they're very lucky, and very humble, they've only seen the ones who come to steal their children.