Viewpoint Age in RP

[Solivagante]

this is actually a great point!

i think it's a complicated web of different dynamics, e.g. minors being paranoid about this sort of thing is a very different thing from adults doing the same. i think on the minors side it is in part the lack of specific child spaces - since minors have to build their own communities, being vigilant becomes especially important for the minors themselves. i'm much more sympathetic to a paranoid minor than to an adult who simply doesn't care about the simple courtesy of being nice to a kid on the internet. i totally get that minors sticking their nose into things they shouldn't is a real thing, and it is annoying and can be dangerous, but i also think there's a concerning rise in the "i hate kids they're stupid and snotty" attitude that just. is kind of disgusting honestly.

like the important thing about the whole "protecting minors" scare happening on the right is that they're not actually concerned about minors. they're concerned about preserving the nuclear family, a structure in which children are posed as property of the parents. the whole thing is actually about the rights of parents if you dig into it - they hate to see minors have autonomy, they hate to see minors having multiple support structures, they hate to see a minor being able to be a person outside of their parents. what actually, provably protects children is having multiple trusted, not heavily related adults in their life they can confide in, because that ensures that if one support pillar fails them, they can fall back on someone else. this whole culture scare is about creating a boogeyman nobody would look good defending, i.e. predators, and using it as a scapegoat. they do not think about children, about the actual safety of actual children, and instead focus on getting themselves the moral high ground.

[trimmed for length]

Oh, I 100% agree with everything you're saying here - the politicization is not by or for minors themselves, and it's a political weapon. Thing is, I'm a queer adult, and that means that my existence is treated as a corrupting, sexualized influence (despite the fact that I'm ace, which is ironic), and for my own safety and comfort I find it necessary to put up guardrails in how I interact with minors, especially online where interactions can be a little more... fluid.

My big one is that I'd like my conversations with folks who are underage to take place in a public forum, IE not in DMs. GrumpySwallow mentioned this too; it feels like a way to reduce the risk of being accused of impropriety. How rational that feeling is, I'm frankly not sure, but that's where my comfort level is personally. And since DMs are usually the venue for planning 1x1 RPs, this means no 1x1s with minors for me. If I ever get around to running a group RP, it will be age-blind, but that is also a different interpersonal dynamic.

The point you've made about the importance of minors having other adults to turn to is an important one, though I think the ideal would be for those other adults to be present IRL, rather than just words on a screen. That said, we don't live in an ideal world, and some people can only find community online, so... there is no neat and tidy solution. More dedicated spaces for minors is an interesting concept, and would be a step in the right direction, but poses some challenges - EG, how do you ensure everyone in that space actually is a minor? Identity verification poses privacy issues which are compounded by the folks involved being underage, but could a site truly be a safe space without something like that? Etc. (Plus the fact that 'minor' encompasses such a wide range of ages and therefore maturity levels, interests, writing skills... you'd have to set a lower age cutoff as well, or cater to everything from Webkinz and Minecraft on up to... I don't actually know what's popular with teens, I am out of touch with The Youths.)

On a smaller scale, I could see a site like RPN setting up a dedicated forum for minors, or at least a dedicated 1x1 recruitment, with a simple checkbox 'are you under 18' as part of profile creation to qualify for entry? That doesn't tackle the larger issue, but it might be useful for some folks at least.


P.S. I saw someone above mention an 18+ HP thread? That's absurd. First off, we as a society have progressed past the need to give JKR attention - but second, way to just miss ALL the points of the books. At that stage, just pick a random liberal arts school for inspo pics and create your own wizard college.