So it feels sort of like The Crayonster is arguing against a straw-man version of RPGs that doesn't really represent a majority sampling of the games played.
I always figured that most people think of orcs as basically green-skinned humans and they're used as mooks more often than humans in order to emphasize that this is a fantasy setting. Also, I guess orcs are just cooler than humans or something? According to google, outside of Tolkien movies the fantasy artists generally seem to depict orcs as supermodels.
Whenever people went into detail on orcish culture, it was typically the official books like D&D and Pathfinder that went out of their way to paint orcs as being all evil all the time. All the fan-made cultures I remember reading simply treated them like humans, capable of both good and evil. Probably because writing evil cultures gets boring? IDK.
I see the SJW talking point that depicting orcs (or any fictional race) as inherently evil will somehow promote racist attitudes, but I don't see any evidence for that. In fact, I see far more evidence that as people mature they will reject the standard depiction of evil orcs as shallow and unrealistic.
I never really internalized that orcs were inherently evil. I grew up playing Warcraft 3.
Sure, orcs work fine as evil mooks for a generic evil overlord. But real life is complicated. Killing mooks is cathartic, but it doesn't satisfy the more complex tastes of the human mind.
Whenever I see people writing more morally agent orcs, the justification is always that alignment is unrealistic and not that writing evil cultures promotes racist thinking.
I'm sorry if I come across as an evil SJW who wants to take away your fun. I'm sorry for offending you and I will try to be more conscientious in the future.
Just don’t be a self-righteous prick filled with fake moral superiority and you’ll be fine.
As far as Orcs go, depends on the world. In Greyhawk, my Orcs wage war for the vengeance of Gruumsh, based on the Roger Moore origin story in Dragon. Some tribes have come to worship Hextor or Iuz and follow the dictates of those gods. Orc culture is Lawful/Evil and Orcs have been bred for conflict, violence and physical superiority. Can a smart Orc learn to behave oneself in human society? Sure, but that’s not going to change what they are.
40k Orks are a fungoid bio-weapon species created by the Old Ones/Slann a billion years ago in their war against the Necrons. They have an incredible amount of genetically coded knowledge, but it’s all related to warfare. Some Orks roam as mercenaries and pirates, so are capable of working with other races, but most follow the biggest warboss in fights against other orks until a warboss collects a large enough army to start invading planets.
Warcraft Orcs are...Warcraft Orcs, basically just another race like humans, dwarves and elves, unless they have been corrupted and serve the demons.
Shadowrun Orcs are different still, as are Middle-Earth orcs, etc.
None of them are racist stand-in bullshit.