Old and young

[Elena 546]

@Sparky Muse, @kita, @RaWolfe: Even when there is an 18+ site, it doesn't mean that child characters shouldn't populate that environment too. Usually 18+ plots happen behind closed doors, so it is not what a child would see anyway 🙂 . As long as children have age-appropriate plots, everything is all right.

 

My site is 2-2-2, so it doesn't apply (and we have some NPC children and a couple played characters), and it makes sense to have ship boys, young apprentices, people who have children in our lives. They learn, they make friends and enemies, play pranks, sometimes get in danger and are saved... As for old people, yes, even on a historical site where one would say it is adventure-focused, an older sailor/ cartographer/ midwife / healer/ innkeeper / etc. make sense, not to mention an Admiral or governor, who weren't young.

 

I am grateful to @Bishop, who runs a 3-3-3 site, and still allowed young ship boys, because they made sense to exist aboard a ship and they offered the opportunity to explore mentorship plots, father figures, play and prank moments.

[RaWolfe 43]

Well I was more leaning in the ethical ways of accepting young children characters on mature writing groups. I have a hard time seeing that work, but again my personal opinion 🙂

[Shades 676]

6 minutes ago, RaWolfe said:

Well I was more leaning in the ethical ways of accepting young children characters on mature writing groups. I have a hard time seeing that work, but again my personal opinion 🙂

 

I feel you there. I'm pretty reluctant accepting younger characters on mature-oriented roleplays as well. I don't mind them as NPC, but as PC, I only accept them if the roleplay is one in which I would accept an actual minor as a member. 

 

Different strokes and all, but my personal preference as well. 🙂

[Morrigan 1,826]

I think most peoples reluctance is the fear of "child pornography". However written works versus videos are actually wholly different wheelhouses when it comes to legality. Additionally, if you are strict on the "elude to it but don't play it out" version of child molestation/abuse you're additionally safe.

 

I know that a lot of people base their views of what is appropriate off of movies. There are plenty of movies, TV shows and more that give you the sense and knowledge of a child predator without explicitly showing you the details. AKA fade to black as the dark figure enters the room etc.

 

People think it is skivvy but most of us RPers don't care for those plots anyways so what is wrong with simply having a young character on a site where mature content CAN happen.

[Huskerdust 625]

I mean kids are the main characters in It and it is horror. There are mature themes expressed in it. And some awful language. I don’t write young kids doing smut or anything. If there’s romance with a 15 year old it stays in the hand holding and kissing phase. But let’s be real. There are 15 year old parents. And teens have sex. If it happens, fade to black. I do that with sex anyway unless I’m writing with my bff. 

[Bishop 172]

I get the feeling really what is happening is people get confused when seeing a 333 rating they forget that mature content “can” happen but not “must” happen. 

 

 

In my rules it states this;

 

All topics that have adult content should include a 'M' rating and while it's mostly allowed, make sure that you follow US laws. And yes...I'm aware that children married young and lived as adults, but no adult themes of sex with characters under age

 

I think that this may be a good time to brush up on those laws and how they extend into lit as well. 

 

 

And remember you can opt out of anything. 

[Shades 676]

Not meaning to argue, just adding this here. People have different preferences and roleplays cater to different characters. For my last roleplay, a child character would have literally nothing to do. For the one I'm working on (which will be 333), a child would have some plots they could be a part of, but the roleplay is a lot less mature-plot centered. 

 

I don't think admins choosing to have only 18+ characters automatically goes into them thinking of child pornography or that they think every thread has to include mature content, but maybe it's just the perspective I come from and the kinds of roleplays I run and participate on, where plots for certain types of characters would be hard/er to come by.

[Morrigan 1,826]

No, argue! But I know this for a fact. I've actually had people report sites for running 3/3/3 sites that have characters that are under 18. Not because they actually having anything wrong going on but they are trying to report child porn. It's the top reason that people report/don't join 3/3/3 sites with child characters.

[Shades 676]

I meant not meaning to argue in an adversarial way. Discussion is a good thing. And I totally get people making whatever choices feel right for their sites, but yeah, reporting a mature site because there is a minor character there at all without being involved in anything they shouldn't be is... well, way over the top.

 

But I'm not surprised, though I've never been on the receiving end.

[Icewolf 258]

I will do threads for my main characters at different ages as sometimes, I'm inspired to write events that happened to them as a child. I'm not a fan of keeping a character at a young age, though because in the rps that I've been in where people have done that, they exaggerate baby-speak in everything they do, so it's kind of jarring and annoying. It's not that easy to find avatars to represent really young characters which is probably why I write my character at different stages of their life. I think that as long as you can have a child as a main/recurring character in a film or tv programme, you should be able to write them in rp. I've not written characters when they are elderly, but I'm not going to rule it out.

[Huskerdust 625]

I used to have an ancient Sam Elliott character a few years back. My mom has a mad crush on the man and I needed an old rancher so why not him? I think it's fun to play crotchety old men but mischievous troll old dudes are hella fun, too. 

 

As for the rating system, I'm starting to think we need something better, then. Because yeah, my site is called a 3/3/3 site on directories but in reality, it's not like... NC-17 crap is happening. People have died, there are romances blossoming, there's been maybe two sex scenes total in the year we've been around, and there's some strong language for sure. But I just don't feel like it's enough to say "NO, you can't play kids!" In fact, I'm so happy about our growing group of kids. ❤️ I really love kid oriented fiction like Stranger Things and Gravity Falls and teen centric stuff like EVERYTHING EVER written by Maggie Stiefvater. 

 

There's some gore mentioned, death and such is rampant, there are magic curses and battles and reapers and vampires. But I don't think it's wrong to have kid characters in the setting. 

 

I understand, though, that it's not for everyone. And that's fine. I like being able to play out the young and the old in one place, though. So that's the environment we've created. It's fine for others to create spaces that they feel comfortable in, too. That's the whole point to having discussions like this and seeing perspectives from various types of people, admin, and members. 

[CovertSphinx 710]

On 7/29/2018 at 9:13 PM, Dragon said:

I think not being a 'kid person' makes me a little better at writing them, honestly. Modern society - specifically in the upper and middle class of wealthier nations -  has taken on this concept of sheltering children, and not treating them to be as capable as they really are. In contrast, I don't view children as really being innocent in any kind of capacity. They're every bit as shitty as adults, just lacking in experience. There are many, many scenarios in which I would be more afraid of a child under the age of 12 than I would an adult. A six year old with any modicum of teaching can survive alone out in the wilderness and they can do some stuff that people would never believe - like cover miles of terrain in a short amount of time. People just shelter and coddle them so much that they don't see what they're capable of. 

 

As for covering the switch from intelligence and wit to sheer dumbassery, I just think about the asinine things I take amusement in but catch myself censoring because of social pressure and expectation. That social filter is the only difference. 

 

That said, I find using children as main characters to be more difficult specifically because of the notions people have about them. People get uncomfortable with it, or the underestimate what I child can experience. No one likes to think about all the youngsters helping to provide for their mothers and younger siblings because their father is off at war or was killed in the last bombing. Or how many children 12 and younger are wielding rifles and bombs in war zones. 

 

My Tiny Terrorist (She'll be 2 the end of August) fully supports your statements. It's outright terrifying the intelligence locked up behind her lack of speech development and small frame. The brain is like, firing at lightning speed but their physical forms are the only thing holding their power in check. At times, they almost have to pull double duty: My daughter clearly understands what I'm saying to her --- she just has to get creative in getting me to understand HER  speech because she's still half baby-talk half hooman-talk. 

 

 

 

I normally don't play very old (not counting immortals/inhuman lifespans) or very young because rarely do I find a real opening for them aside from reoccurring NPCs. I'm not against taking a child or an elderly as a main character though. If the character ends up working, hey - new experience. If not, I'm sure the RPer can decide in their own time to drop the character if it falls flat. 

[Sage 289]

I write very old and very young characters in my personal work, but not so much in rp. Because people seem hesitant to plot with these characters, so I've just stopped trying. Now I usually play 18-40 because those are the characters that get plots and threads. I don't have to try hard with them. And after sitting at a desk for 8+ hours a day writing boring emails and articles that take a lot of focus, I don't want to have to try hard for my rp and do the extra marketing for these "oddly" aged characters. I do wish it was more accepted though. These characters add unique perspectives to the story.

 

Then again, it depends on the community I'm in, too. If I am in a place where young and old characters are welcome, then I will definitely play one. The probably won't be my first character, but I'm definitely open to it.

 

I've encountered the 3-3-3 site problem where there were child characters and it squicked other people out, even though they weren't involved in anything explicit. And these people were very vocal about their squickiness, too. Which I don't get. The 3-3-3 rating doesn't mean that every thread/plot/etc. is mature! That's ridiculous. But the whole rp community got scared about the whole "child pornography" deal years ago and still has not fully recovered. The myth about using face claims under the age of 18 being illegal is still around. A lot of people have a child being involved in anything mature is often listed in their "triggers" or whatever. So it makes sense that there's still a hesitation. I don't know how to fix that other than making your site's rules about underage characters very clear cut about what is and is not allowed. But even then, it weirds people out still. Idk, the rp community and their reaction towards kids as a whole is very strange.

[Lawman 88]

55 minutes ago, Sage said:

I've encountered the 3-3-3 site problem where there were child characters and it squicked other people out, even though they weren't involved in anything explicit. And these people were very vocal about their squickiness, too. Which I don't get. The 3-3-3 rating doesn't mean that every thread/plot/etc. is mature! That's ridiculous. But the whole rp community got scared about the whole "child pornography" deal years ago and still has not fully recovered. The myth about using face claims under the age of 18 being illegal is still around. A lot of people have a child being involved in anything mature is often listed in their "triggers" or whatever. So it makes sense that there's still a hesitation. I don't know how to fix that other than making your site's rules about underage characters very clear cut about what is and is not allowed. But even then, it weirds people out still. Idk, the rp community and their reaction towards kids as a whole is very strange.

 

It may not be child porn, but it seems like for many RPers on 3/3/3 sites one thing that's always on the back of their minds whenever they write anything involving child/adolescent characters seems to be how to depict them in their writing in a way that doesn't come off as exploitative. Or at least that is what it comes off to me observing their behaviour. Aka. "It's not porn but it still comes off as rather exploitative, and I'm looking to avoid that too."

Edited August 2, 2018 by Lawman

[Quell 249]

I mostly play characters in their 30s to 50s. (Do those count as old nowadays?)

 

The youngest I've played as a PC instead of an NPC on a site is 6 (it was on a His Dark Materials site) and the oldest I've ever played (physical appearance wise) was late sixties (it was a supernatural rp). My NPCs are all over the map.