I Love My Pink Gay Elf

This is Chris Chiaki, my pink, canon gay, high elf archer. He’s one of my alt characters in the massive multiplayer RPG, Tera Online. He is fucking fabulous.

A lot has been said about the character designs in Tera Online—thankfully most of it positive. Reading complaints about the designs, I’ve never seen the word “sexist” used, which gives me hope that people do in fact know the difference.

Tera is a gigantic ball of smut. Characters are designed on the principle of maximum fanservice. Most of the females don’t usually wear pants, nor much of anything, especially at higher levels. Male Castanics look like Korean boy band members with their chests and abs always showing. High Elves are pretty as all fuck and get ultra-gay outfits. For guys who aren’t secure enough to RP a gay man or a woman, there’s also the Aman and Human males, who look more like what you’d expect male characters in games to look like (Devilman and Chris Redfield, respectively).

I love this about the game. A year ago, when my friend showed me videos of the Korean version, I saw that there was an all-loli race that didn’t wear pants, and had animal ears and tails (i.e. they’re Strike Witches), and I was sold. Elins actually wear pants in the Western version of the game, but I don’t mind because it’s part of why Elins get the most adorable and fashionable outfits.

I’ve seen complaints here and there about the flashiness of the armor and that’s fair. You can’t please everyone. Some of those people seem like stuck-up douchebags snobbing their nose at what they deem themselves too good for, but there really are genuinely some people aesthetically opposed to the game. Whatever. I don’t like how the characters look in WoW, which is why I always played Undead. Finally I have a game where I feel good playing all of the races (except Popori, fuck them).

Top-rated comment in a Reddit discussion about the female designs.

I’ve been playing the ever-loving shit out of this game for a few weeks, which means I’ve got a laundry-list of complaints about it. However, I only whine because I care, and I genuinely love the game. If I didn’t, the shitty stuff would make me stop playing. But the one thing I never have a problem with is its visual presentation. A huge part of what makes Tera captivating is its gorgeously designed world and epic sense of scale. For instance, the experiences of flying into each of the three major cities for the first time were among my favorite moments in video games, because the city designs floored me in ways no other game has accomplished.

That I get to explore those cities as a glorious gay elf and an adorably badass Elin is the icing on the cake.