Character Age

[Collapsible Myth]

What are your feelings towards characters that either yourself or others have created that are younger than 18? Do you tend to offer a chance to the people that play them or simply flat out refuse any and all kind of communication to that character based upon the age?

Would really like to see what the community thinks on this subject.

 

[Collapsible Myth]

No one has any thoughts about this subject? Surprising as it comes up a bit in other circles.

 

[Collapsible Myth]

Since no one has decided to swing by to offer their outlook and views, I'll be the first.

Character age seems to be a point of contention with some people within the TSW community. Most people that are asked about this topic flatly come out and say that if a character is under a certain age they would have no contact with said character no matter what. To me this is sad as yes, there are a few bad apples out there that feel the need to portray an underage character in an overly view of certain aspects. The people who flat out ignore any and all underage characters are simply shutting someone’s work out of any potential role play. Leaving that person to view the role play community in a very negative light in which role play is pigeon holed into one direction.

To the people who venture in creating a character that is below this perceived line, their work is immensely harder in having a viable role play experience. I've been in some other games that actually embraced the younger characters into a very welcoming group or in situations that made the role play experienced believable to all involved without worrying about the skeevy undertones so many believe will take place just on the characters age.

Underage characters can work and even one NPC is part of the world's lore, all I can ask is to give someone a chance and if things are not to your liking simply do what you do to countless others. Ignore them and move on with your role play life.

 

[Leastwise]

I think age is one of the hardest things to roleplay effectively. Whenever I try to do a character that's either older or younger than my current age, I can feel the slip almost immediately.

I'm not sure why that is, but I think so much of what defines my view of the world is wrapped into how old I am. I'm light-years different from the person I was five years ago, and informs the way my characters behave.

I think playing a young character, particularly a teenager, is especially hard (when you aren't one). Just because that experience becomes so trope-filled and alien the further you move away from it.

 

[Chorcai]

Well, my character happens to be 16 years young.

Sure, people may say that TSW universe is not a place for young people. But aren't a lot younger -children- tied up in conflict zones throughout the real world? Don't children die from bombs and starvation? The very world we live in can be a much more horrid place than the virtual one in which we play our characters. Underage people are bound to get tangled up in the evils released by the Tokyo disaster, so nobody will convince me that it's anyhow wrong to play a young person in this universe. I don't see it as a valid argument.

Roleplay is not unlike acting. You take a character, get under their skin, and act. You don't have to -be- your character. After all, haven't male actors played female roles in ancient Greek theaters? Haven't young-looking but adult actors played teenagers in numerous movies? Of course they did. It doesn't matter how old the actor is, what's his gender, beliefs, orientation. All that matters is their acting skill, their charisma and ability to make their character believable. Some people are good actors, some are bad. Same goes for roleplayers. If a lot of male players can play female characters, why is it an issue that an older player plays a young character? Again, not a valid argument. True, some roleplayers shouldn't play characters that are very different from themselves, simply because they don't have the skill to make them convincing enough.

A lot of people might just assume that some make their characters younger to play out some sexual fantasies. Sure, it will happen. Some people will do it, but it doesn't mean everyone does. Don't judge until you took your time to interact with the character. There will always be bad apples, but dumping everyone into the same corner is not unlike racism. Would you hate all black people just because one happened to wrong you in the past? If you would, there's something very wrong with you. After all, there are bad people of all colors and ages.

My last point - sure, TSW is marked as an 18+ game. Can't argue with that. There are some pretty grimdark, bloody and scary themes in the game which are simply not for young eyes. But then, we're all older than that, aren't we? Despite the fact we live in 21st century and kids really did see it all these days, I would still be worried if an under-18 snuck into the rp community and was exposed to some of the stuff that happens there.

The game rating, however, doesn't mean that the characters living within the game world must all be adults. We have Cassandra King and Danny in Kingsmouth, both of them appear underage. And how about Carter inside innsmouth Academy? Just one look at her and you can see she's been through hell. If the game lore has blood-splattered teenagers who go around and kill stuff, I see no reason why players can't. We should all be old and responsible enough to tell right from wrong.

All I'd ask - keep the quality of your acting as high as you can, and think before you make an underage character just for the sake of it. If you want it to toy around - just don't. If you think you can do it right - go for it, do it good, and just keep scenes which the public would not appreciate to places where the public won't see them.

Irish wisdom, this.

 

[Collapsible Myth]

Agree while heartily to every part of that.