Why so Young?

[Sean]

I have noticed that most characters are very young. I think that the average of all ages would be around 19. I have to wonder why does everyone make soo young characters?

[Loyal]

Sean, you are so right. All the ppl are like, 14 - 20 yrs old!

[tyr]

The answer is obvious. Being old is yucky. Yes, I said it.

Actually, it's probably mostly because people from the ages of 14-20 are in their prime. They're strong, fast, don't have arthritis... It's usually a win-win physically. Next is probably for drama. Young people usually are still trying to figure themselves out, add in being dead and having powers... Interesting psychological experience. Generally, young people are more foolish, arrogant, take themselves way too seriously, etc. It's more fun that way. It would be pretty boring if everyone always acted maturely and confidently. Next of course is because they're prettier. Nothing further on that.

And last would be, all in all, would you really like to be 30 or older forever? I'm not looking forward to being 30 EVER. I guess that goes back to being old is yucky...

[Sean]

Its much better than being 12 or 14 forever. At least most of my characters are at a good age.

[tyr]

Yeah, but you're skipping my most important points. When you're 30, you're still okay, but you're slowing down. You can't quite keep up with the perky 15 year old anymore, unless you're in good shape. Plus, a 30 year old is less prone to stupid mistakes, which make for drama. Mind you, I say LESS prone. Age doesn't equal maturity. As for 12 or 14 year olds, most people on this site are anywhere between grade school and university. They probably don't feel much like being old either.

[Sean]

That is very true but if you are at 14 or 16 relationships don't get much more than kissing. The older the characters the more. . . interesting the relationships get.

[Winter]

I'd agree with Tyr on the count that our age probably plays a role, as far as I know we don't have any members who are through University yet, though some are close, and therefore we probably can't imagine too much how to successfully play someone older, or to feel that we're playing them in a way that does justice. Although I'm not sure I'd agree that 30 is old.

[tyr]

@ Sean: I dunno what the 14-16 year olds you know are like, but many of the ones I know are... To be frank, sluts and man-whores. And again, people that are a certain age are more likely to pick the same general age for their characters. Take that further, a character that's on the younger side, is probably younger themselves, and do we really want this site to be full of 13 year olds cybering? To put it plainly, anyway.

And I have to add, that young people are just generally prettier, and many people go for aesthetics. That's all there is to that point.

Next point, let's go closer to home and look at your characters' relationships. Would Talent and Detachment be an interesting couple without Tach being playful and, to a certain extent naïve? Would Equanimity find Loyalty as interesting as he does if she weren't a little bit irrational, and full of youthful pride? Even the age gaps themselves are a point of controversy, and whether everyone agrees or not, they do make the relationships memorable and interesting. To that end, I definitely would not say that the relationships between 30 year olds are "more interesting."

@winter: I didn't really state that very well, I realize. No, I don't think 30 is old, either. If I did, I think that my mom would probably come after me with a knife, and I would cry because I'm almost 2/3 of the way to being 30 myself. I just used 30 as an example of an age that's kind of beyond the ages that we have here. The average being mostly teens, 30 is a bit farther than most people go, and I just used it as a point of reference. But all the stuff I said about maturity and stuff stands.

[Sean]

I will agree with you on the point of Talent. As for Equanimity. . . I have made him a complicated character socialy. You can have Sadness go after him and he would still be the same. All he cares about is that he remains interested in the person. But other than that I agree with everything you are saying.

[tyr]

That's really all I'm going for. My point with E is that, he does find Loyalty interesting. That's really the only thing there is to that. I've read your threads, E is pretty evasive, so I do know that interest is as far as he's going. All I'm referring to is the fact that there is some form of relationship, and that the interest is there. I don't think it would be there if Loyalty's personality wasn't the way it is, and her personality wouldn't be the same if she were older.

That being said, those are just the psychological reasons for the ages of a lot of characters. I'm sure there are other reasons. I myself modeled my character Altruism off of a character in a story that I have myself. There are specific reasons for him to be 21. He's pretty much part of the crowd of young people now, but there's a reason for it.

Also, I think that the best originality can come from stepping outside the box for our characters' ages. Look at Happiness, on one end of the scale, being 7. There's no other character like her. Next look at Time, he's really old, and he's unique too (although, I couldn't really imagine Time being young. He's freakin' Time.)

This has been a nice discussion. Thanks for listening (or reading, I guess).

[Kal Skirata]

I have to agree tyr most of the people on the site do seem to choose an age that is often sub 20. There are one or two of us though that have characters that are older, but there still are not many that are still within a human lifespan (which lets say is 80-100).

Most people seem to make their characters either relative to their actual age or on the other hand are far beyond normal human lifespan completely ignoring an eighty year chunk of the average human life. This serves to really show how young most of our users are. When one is under 20 they do not often show an appreciation for any age beyond that and thus do not often make characters older than their own age.

The ages of our characters can really be an interesting thing to study when you know the people involved. Just seems to give us some interesting things to think about.

[Zee ♥]

I'm 18. I made Gea when I was 15 (or rather, 14, I haven't hit my birthday yet that year). I thought, 'Well now, I don't want to roleplay a character faaaaaaar too old for me to be able to comprehend the workings of an adult mind (a.k.a I know I'm immature, and am not mature enough to pull that off), and I don't want to roleplay a character waaaay too young because I am a stuck up teenager and I like being a teenager. (because I'm still a teenager as well.)'

Plus, I support whatever tyr had said, cause its true. Tragic teenagers makes for more drama. I like my characters near my age cause I can relate better. If I roleplayed a 30 year old, it wouldn't be convincing enough just because I am not 30. Hey, I'm 18 and all, but everyone tells me, the way I behave? I'm stuck somewhere between 13-16. Can't expect me to roleplay a 30 year old, can you?

There. My two-cents. From my precious angpau collection. I shall now go reply to threads before I get brick'd.

[Mimi]

Well, for one, ZOMGTEENDRAMA tends to be fascinating, or something. Also some people can't really entirely click with playing a character too young or too old, and make one closer to their age where they can actually click and understand easier, and thus roleplay better with.

Tragic pasts also work so much better with little kiddies. To adults you'd prolly just tell them to grow a pair and go away. XD

ah, the innocence of little children and the tragedy of innocence lost..

+ as always, romance and stuff is always being tossed about between characters in roleplay sites. The relationship between Tach and Talent already rose uproar and it wasn't even a sexual relationship, just because of age difference (and hellsa, it was more of mental age difference than anything) ...around here it seems platonic love is still what's mostly accepted, and is easier to imagine among teenagers who still get hung up over first kisses, hugs, and whatever not.
(of course, I have no qualms about Motel Blynde reopening... )

okay so whatever else I'd want to say probably has been said a billion times, so I stop nao lolol.

[Sean]

tyr: Your logic is undiniable.

Kal: 2 of my characters are above 20. But I consider Equanimity to be older than both of them.

Zee: I rp a 36 year old and I am not even half that age.

Mimi: Well it wasn't sexualy back then. . .

[Zee ♥]

Exactly my point. Don't question my warped logic