Playable elves seem a bit... meh to me. I mean, they'd need some really out there gimmick to seperate them from the other races seeing as most of them are nicking all of the good hats;
Dwarf - Crazy bastards
Orc - noble warrior/feral savage
Kobold - earnest survivor/WE HAVE RESERVES
Warlock - tons of magic/the dead walk
Succubi - corruption
Gnomes - friends of nature/kings of automation
The insects and plump helmet men sound a lot more interesting. The insects especially; I so want my Tyranid fix.
This is somewhat of a misapprehension of how players experience games. Designers can argue mechanics as much as they want with the hope of creating interesting dynamics, but players approach games from the opposite side (Aesthetics > Dynamics > Mechanics).
People might want to play elves for reasons entirely apart from having unique gameplay. Dwarf Fortress is kind of a rare game that appeals to more than two or three aesthetics. I could make an argument for fantasy, narrative, challenge, expression, and maybe even discovery and fellowship if the community around it is any indication. What that means is that different players will play the game for different reasons, and will want different things out of it. It's easy for the designer to take the logical approach and argue that something would be redundant mechanically, but players experience the game emotionally for the most part, and you can't logic away someone's emotional experience.
Maybe some of us just don't want to play hideous orcs or raisin people gnomes, etc.
That said, I think there's plenty of room for some unique 'gimmicks' as you call them. I would expand on Meph's initial suggestion of a tie in to the seelie and borrow lots from fairy lore for elves. You could even go a step further and create a dualistic race. I.e., the race is quite different in spring+summer than autumn+winter when the unseelie take over. Elves eat people, so they aren't entirely goody goody.
Ideally you would want elves to build tree top cities. Instead of farms they convince branches to take grafts of other plants. Grow wooden things from trees instead of making them. This is all just stuff I cooked up in 30 minutes, so I don't see it as a solid idea, but I wouldn't dismiss the potential for some unique gameplay out of hand.
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