Originally Posted by BuckettMonkey

And in fact it is.
But most gamers (well, tabletop game players) and video game creators ignore this, making elves just extraordinarily handsome people.
It's funny, but even in the 5th D&D rulebooks, there are significant sections dedicated to various races (even monster races that the player is unlikely to be able to play), but, again, many people ignore this.

I don't consider differences that are similar to what you can find among human cultures as such. Consider the drow: in BG2 you get to visit a drow city. And what do you see: a city market, a temple, a tavern and houses in-between. Same for the elven city you get to visit. How does it really differ from human cities except for the architectural style?

So unless in 5e drow cities don't copy the human city template (same as the elven bodies are based on the human body) anymore, that's a potato/potatoe difference to me.