Carbine Studios continues to reveal bits and pieces about its upcoming MMORPG, WildStar. This week we discovered the final races that will be available for
players at launch, bringing the total number to eight. There are two factions, and each side has four races. The Dominion represents order, military might,
and a ruthless disregard for others. The Exiles represent hope, freedom, and unity.

Fighting for the Dominion, we have four races – the Cassians, the Drakken, the Chua, and the Mechari. The Cassians appear human, but were chosen by ancient
aliens called the Eldan to create the Dominion. They view the other Dominion races as tools and every other race in the galaxy as vermin that needs to be
eradicated. The Drakken are fearsome warriors famous for their brutality and savage efficiency. The Chua are cute little teddy bear-like beings that can
build or fix any piece of machinery in existence. Unfortunately they also happen to be complete and total psychotic sociopaths. And finally, we have the
Mechari – mechanical killing machines engineered by the Eldan themselves, they are not to be trifled with.

Choosing the Dominion has the appeal of working for the “winning side”, at least at the moment since they appear to have either taken over most worlds or
are the process of blockading them. It presents an opportunity to work within a strict and structured hierarchy and will obviously allow for some pretty
intense destruction. There’s a certain attraction to using the biggest hammer you can find to fixing any and all of your problems. It may not work out for
them in the end, but it definitely sounds like an entertaining place to start.

Fighting for the Exiles, we also have four races – the Humans, the Granok, The Aurin, and the Mordesh. The Humans should be pretty self-explanatory since,
if you’re reading this, you are one. The Granok are walking boulders that love nothing more than kicking ass and taking names. The Aurin are small
creatures that look like a cross between a human, a rabbit, and a fox. Even though they’re self-professed tree-hugging hippies, they’re ready to fight. And
finally, we have the Mordesh. These twisted beings are cursed with a degenerative disease and are looking for a cure. In the meantime, they’re like walking
zombies.

Choosing the Exiles has a certain appeal to it as well. Who doesn’t want to work for the good guys sometimes? With the Exiles, you’ll have the chance to
make a new home, protect it from the evil Empire (I mean Dominion), and make the galaxy a better place for all races to live equally. If you want to play
the part of a renegade, rebel, or just someone that insists on bucking the current authority in power, then the Exiles may be the choice for you.

If you read my Gamer Psychology piece last week, it’s not too hard to guess that
I’ll end up on the side of the Dominion. Everything that has been revealed about them appears to be right up my alley, as if they were custom created just
for my personal entertainment. I love having the option to pick a side that is all about ruling with an iron fist and damn the rest of the galaxy for not
wanting to be a part of it.

That being said though, the Exiles have two races that I will be highly tempted to play just because of the way they look and their back stories. The
Granok remind me of my troll in Dark Age of Camelot. I loved playing that big brutish chunk of rock. I don’t know why they’re so appealing, but “all rock”
characters are seriously cool in my book. The Mordesh also look pretty cool, almost like evil anti-heroes that are just temporarily aligned with the Exiles . It was smart of Carbine to add a “non-good” option on the good side. It looks like they have people in the company that don’t want
to play goody-two shoes characters, even if they are on the “good” side. Kudos!

So my question to you then becomes this – which faction will you choose and do the race choices of each make a difference? Will the races themselves be the
deciding factor for you rather than the faction choice between good and evil?