I feel the need to point out that thats only orks (note the k) in Warhammer 40k and not the plain warhammer orcs. Unless there has been a shake up in their lore in the years since I stopped playing.

It kind of depends on the setting, in many fantasy settings you can get half elves and half orcs, so they must be more closely related than the previous example of badgers and weasels (which as far as I'm aware can't inter breed). Admittedly that's assuming real world genetics apply.

I get that the portrayal of orcs or other species/races may often be effected by the racism of their creator but it's harder to draw comparisons between real world racism and the tensions between orcs and humans in a fantasy setting. It's demonstrable by science (and logic) that humans are all the same regardless of things like skin colour. That's not so much the case in fantasy. Orcs are geniunely different (and possibly inferior, depending on the setting) and how humans treat or perceive them might be better compared with how humans treat intelligent animals like dogs, or not. Not having a separate truly intelligent (in the same way as humans) species in the real world its hard to know how we would treat them. I'm not sure any of that makes sense XD

It's true that it's an imaginary world, and orcs can be literally more evil or stupid in a setting where they're created that way. The problem a lot of us have is that the whole premise feels contrived, and the reason it's contrived that way seems to be fundamental racist principles that are part of human nature. Basically, orcs are portrayed in most fantasy the way Europeans portrayed Native Americans while they were busy wiping them out, or the way they portrayed Africans to justify enslaving them. It kind of just feels like an excuse for genocide, even if the genocide is fictitious. I think that's why a lot of people want to see more human portrayals of orcs--it brings ethics into the equation.

Yeah, I get that. But the question is then is it ever acceptable to have a race so opposed to humanity that the only option is the destruction of one or the other? Or is that portrayal inherently racist and should be avoided?
Many books portray orcs or demons in such terms. Many sci fi movies portray aliens in the same way.
I think the question is do the same morals and ethics apply in those circumstances? It's easy to say that those portrayals are some kind of expression of the creator's prejudice, but I think if we ever (in real life) encountered an alien species with a similar mind set to humans we could be faced with the choice of wipe them out before they can do the same to us. So is it inherently wrong to portray that conflict in a fantasy setting?
I like stories that make orcs more than mindless killing machines but saying that doing so is always down to some kind of mirroring of racist attitudes from hundreds of years ago is some what detrimental to creativity.

Edit: Also, the real historical instances mentioned were where the propaganda was created by technologically and militarily superior civilisations whose targets had no hope of ever fighting back or defeating them. Whereas orcs tend to be more than capable of defending themselves no matter how 'stupid' they may be, if not actually holding the upper hand over humans. It's still probably a kind of prejudice, but more akin to how the Nazis are viewed or how history portrayed the Huns and Mongols (i.e. propaganda spread by a side badly damaged in the conflict)

I don't mind orcs being a somewhat more sophisticated race in some settings, but it does get aggravating when games get soaked in some kind of political "why can't we all just get along" sauce and take every possible opportunity to explain how orcs are just misunderstood and that racism is bad.

Racism (and valid causes for racial hatred) in games can create meaningful conflict between groups of characters and be a useful tool in storytelling, so it shouldn't be discarded. I like my orcs brutal, although not completely unreasonable when it comes to their own survival as a species. And their principles of honour shouldn't be any kind of chivalric courteousness, but something more along the line of viking culture philosophies. Like if you die of old age in a bed instead of in battle, you're a disgrace to your race. And where successful raiding and pillaging makes you a hero to your people. That sort of thing.

All great points. No, I think it's perfectly reasonable to portray a racial conflict that simply can't be avoided due to the cultures or resource needs of one or both races. There are plenty of those throughout history. I just don't care for the idea that orcs are bad because they're *orcs*.

Fair enough :)

I do definitely prefer a more in depth characterization that explains why they are bad (or perceived as bad by other races), and why they come into conflict with humans.

I will also just leave this here. ;)

So as this discussion went this far, the question should be:

How different should Orcs in contrast to Humans?

I think they should just generally be more savage and be more inclined towards a might makes right attitude. But depending on the setting in question, they might also possess certain moral qualities that are lacking among humans. A might makes right attitude may easily leave room for gender equality for example, whereas humanity might be subjected to laws that favour men (especially in medieval fantasy settings). And human society might be more individualistic and ambitious whereas the majority of the orcs is content sticking with what they know and following their leader.