Dragon Age isn't d&d.
Genlock = a dwarf who has been tainted by the darkspawn.
Gurlock = a human who has been tainted.
It is part of the lore, man. Every rpg out there doesn't have the same lore as d&d.
Darkspawn have nothing to do with orcs at all.
Vyraexii: in dragon age they are products of taint inflicted on a female of a given race to produce a specific form of darkspawn
elves = shrieks, humans = hurlocks, dwarves = genlocks and qunari = ogres
PeterScott: IMO, Dragon Age enemies are boring compared to D&D/Tolkien.
In DA, it is just a horde of mindless monsters, no personalities, no individuality. You may as well be fighting zombies, robots, or rocks.
In D&D you parley with giants. Tolkien's trolls have conversations about how to cook you.
Even just the undead have more personality in D&D/Tolkien than the Darkspawn. Liches/Vampires talk, reveal their crazy plans, etc...
Darkspawn are just cannon fodder. Endless cannon fodder is just tedious and boring.
There are zombies in d&d too, and mindless skeletons and whatnot.
There are also enemies in DA that you can parley with, have conversations with, and all that. The Werewolves, the various demons, the talking trees, + + +
The Darkspawn are basically just the "zombies" of Thedas.