Matis don't have elf ears 'cause they're not elves. They're neither wise nor magicky enough to be elves. >.>
In seriousness, though, it does bug me when people (not you specifically - loads of people do it) try to find a WoW-esque equivalent to everything in Ryzom. Animals are "monsters", sap is mana, Matis are elves... it misses the beauty of Ryzom by lumping brilliantly original* concepts in with vaguely similar mass-produced ones, and ignoring the subtle but very significant differences that make Ryzom unique.
I totally agree on the ZoraÏ being Hawaiians, though. I'm not sure what the comment about losing skills referred to, though, perhaps that's a new thing that I'm not aware of - either way, it's a good basic explanation for newbies. Hopefully they won't take your advice on how to make a pretty toon, mind. ;)
* I realise that the ideas are not all original individually - Atys is hardly the first world wherein characters draw strength from plant-life substances such as sap, for example. However, it's a hell of a lot more original than mana, and taken as a whole I've never seen anything truly analogous to Ryzom or Atys.
In seriousness, though, it does bug me when people (not you specifically - loads of people do it) try to find a WoW-esque equivalent to everything in Ryzom. Animals are "monsters", sap is mana, Matis are elves... it misses the beauty of Ryzom by lumping brilliantly original* concepts in with vaguely similar mass-produced ones, and ignoring the subtle but very significant differences that make Ryzom unique.
I totally agree on the ZoraÏ being Hawaiians, though. I'm not sure what the comment about losing skills referred to, though, perhaps that's a new thing that I'm not aware of - either way, it's a good basic explanation for newbies. Hopefully they won't take your advice on how to make a pretty toon, mind. ;)
* I realise that the ideas are not all original individually - Atys is hardly the first world wherein characters draw strength from plant-life substances such as sap, for example. However, it's a hell of a lot more original than mana, and taken as a whole I've never seen anything truly analogous to Ryzom or Atys.