Viewpoint Age of RP Characters

[EpiTome]

Another thread on here is talking about the age of RP community members and all the issues that arise with that. Seeing that thread got me thinking. There's issues in character as well as out of character.

Leading question: how problematic is having OCs (or even playing canon characters) who are various ages?

Back when I was a minor a majority of my OCs were either teens or just barely adults. This was because I didn't want to mess up writing beyond my experience.

Now I have a variety of characters at different ages. Some older than me and some younger.

I haven't been back into the hobby for too long. So there's a number of my old OCs that I have yet to play with again. Partially because they are so young. I'm not sure how to feel about that. I miss these characters. I'd love to write with them again. But is that... Wrong somehow?

It kinda feels wrong. Especially when it comes to writing fluffy puppy love plots I used to... But that's a personal issue. I guess that boils down to either age the characters up or reconsider how I play with them.

Anyways, has anyone had similar experiences?

 

[Cogwork]

Why would it be problematic? I genuinely can't see a single reason for it.

 

[EpiTome]

Well I will give an example. Common concept of playing a young person who's parents are dead or otherwise kinda not really in the picture. This works primarily so the young characters have more freedom with the added benefit of not having to focus on parents as side characters.

How is this problematic?

Well maybe it isn't. That's what I'm asking.

I think it could be potentially. It sets up this idea that parents kinda suck. That they get in the way. There's more to it than that of course but that's an issue I can see being a problem.

There's other examples as well of course

 

[Cogwork]

Common concept of playing a young person who's parents are dead or otherwise kinda not really in the picture. This works primarily so the young characters have more freedom with the added benefit of not having to focus on parents as side characters.

How is this problematic?

Well maybe it isn't. That's what I'm asking.

I think it could be potentially. It sets up this idea that parents kinda suck. That they get in the way. There's more to it than that of course but that's an issue I can see being a problem.

Even if that would be problematic, which I can not stress enough that I do not think it is, then the issue in that example would be the dead parents and not the age of the character.

 

[A Sparkling Zombie]

I agree with Cogwork. I think "parents kinda suck" is the running theme in a lot of backstories. People do kill off relatives for the sake of convenience or melodrama even when the character is the age of the majority. If there is an issue, it's more with that than the age of a character.

For the most part, I personally don't mind what age a person plays - I mean, I'm awkward with kids in general, but that's not related to roleplay. As long as it fits the roleplay and no one is being creepy, no harm done.

 

[nerdy tangents]

I agree the only time age of characters becomes an issue is if your writing something abusive.

Otherwise it’s just a personal preference I think. I mostly play adult characters but have no problem playing teens or tweens if I like the plot.

 

[Daisie]

It might feel wrong to you because some part of it might seem like regression, a little bit?
Like I have a lot of characters that I would feel weird going back to, who also happen to be quite young because they were my self inserts at the time. It might feel "wrong" to go back to those characters because it feels like I'm turning my own clock back to a time that I've already matured past, and have no real interest in revisiting. Not because of the age of the character, but because of the context of my own maturity at the time of playing them.

Granted, I think there can be some value found in revisiting old characters to improve and modernize them with the skill you currently have, but at the same time, that also isn't a necessity. You're allowed to not really want to do that. There are a lot of characters I have that I'm sure I could do better, but right now I'm really more focused on making more investing characters for my future.

Either way, I totally get that feeling that you're talking about. I'm 99% sure that it comes more from a feeling of moving backwards than it does from the actual age itself.

 

[Idea]

To be honest, I think any age you’re capable of writing effectively is one that it’s fine for you to write. There’s limits to that, but most of those include things that go past what’s allowed by RPN rules to begin with, even with adult characters.

I don’t think a story and especially not an RP necessarily needs to be commentary on reality. I think just looking at characters and stories first and foremost as that is not only a valid way to look at things, but most of the time the best way to do so. Even if you do want to do messaging a story and character should work on its own terms, but I’m digressing a bit.

A lot of people do feel uncomfortable when younger characters are involved, is something which must be acknowledged. Sometimes it’s just an inherent thing of the character’s age, sometimes it’s when something bad happens to those characters. I don’t think this is particularly a sign of these things being problematic so much as just another among the interminable list of things that aren’t a problem in of themselves but some people - perhaps due to past experiences, perhaps just due to their own personality or beliefs - have an issue with or feel discomfort with.

I think it’s fine to play any age you can play effectively - and this includes making sense of it in the first place, depending on the RP - with the caveat that you shouldn’t be bringing it where you’ve been asked not to.

 

[Jannah]

Nothing problematic about writing characters of a variety of ages. I've personally done everything from children all the way up to elderly. It only becomes problematic when you're wanting to write, for example, weird romantic stuff with child characters. I'd be suspicious of anyone wanting to write smut with characters that are minors.