Does roleplaying a kid in a rp bring down a roleplay?

[Cosmosis]

Not many roleplays allow small kids into them. I don't see why not usually. i stress usually because some rp's are not ment for persay, a 2-7 year old kid.


Am i the only one who wants to rp a child following a person like a hen-chick relationship? Understand where i'm going with this cause it's hard to explain right now.

 

[Vasey105]

If it's relevant for the scenario it would be okay, don't see why not.


But, for example, if it's a band of adventures on a quest, it wouldn't be appropriate, because why would they take a child into danger? All they'd be doing is hindering themselves and the child.

 

[Cosmosis]

If it's relevant for the scenario it would be okay, don't see why not.
But, for example, if it's a band of adventures on a quest, it wouldn't be appropriate, because why would they take a child into danger? All they'd be doing is hindering themselves and the child.

Holy shit you're fast. o-o


And yea, i agree. I mean, you can leave the kid at the place you got the request for the mission and return to him/her later.

 

[welian]

Nothing wrong with RPing a child in a roleplay, especially if it's a family life roleplay, or it's the kid of story that revolves around kids (like a Pokemon RP that's more true to the anime).


But, like Vasey said, there's a time and a place for any kind of character.

 

[Cosmosis]

Agreed wel!


@welian

 

[Dusky]

I rather like roleplaying younger folks, but if you're thinking toddler age, then yes, there's a time and a place. It works out best if you pair with another roleplayer to give your characters a connection - and hence your toddler a reason to be there.

 

[Cosmosis]

I rather like roleplaying younger folks, but if you're thinking toddler age, then yes, there's a time and a place. It works out best if you pair with another roleplayer to give your characters a connection - and hence your toddler a reason to be there.

agreed agreed.


I have a 5 year old oc. He has brothers but i don't always place them in the rp xD


i wanna rp the good (or sad) version of my oc so bad right now but i can't find a rp for him! EH!

 

[call me rae]

Well I'm gonna take a shot at answering why most people don't like youngsters in their roleplay. Simply put most roleplays are revolving around issues that would be inappropriate or unrealistic for kids to take part in.


Those million and one romance pairing roleplays where the premise is basically Person A falls in love with Person B.


It's not that kids don't fit the setting but they don't fit the purpose of the roleplay. Which is usually something like a Rom Com with two singles hooking up or one person and their harem or however you end up breaking down that trope.


Number two it's not that the toddler wouldn't fit to the purpose but like the people said above they wouldn't fit the setting. If your doing like a superhero roleplay with people hunting down some intergalatic/all powerful baddy than having a kid along is irresponsible.


If your doing some kind of epic quest to save humanity a kid might fit but they wouldn't really have a purpose in the group other than to just follow everyone around.


So that could also be it - people don't see child characters as holding up their end of the plot or story.


All this to say personally I don't care. I can do adoption stories or fluffy kiddy things as easily as anything else. It's my anime magical girl fangirl side. I like me fluff and sparkles.


But I can see why most people would be like - ewwww no ankle biters kthnx bai.

 

[Cosmosis]

Well I'm gonna take a shot at answering why most people don't like youngsters in their roleplay. Simply put most roleplays are revolving around issues that would be inappropriate or unrealistic for kids to take part in.
Those million and one romance pairing roleplays where the premise is basically Person A falls in love with Person B.


It's not that kids don't fit the setting but they don't fit the purpose of the roleplay. Which is usually something like a Rom Com with two singles hooking up or one person and their harem or however you end up breaking down that trope.


Number two it's not that the toddler wouldn't fit to the purpose but like the people said above they wouldn't fit the setting. If your doing like a superhero roleplay with people hunting down some intergalatic/all powerful baddy than having a kid along is irresponsible.


If your doing some kind of epic quest to save humanity a kid might fit but they wouldn't really have a purpose in the group other than to just follow everyone around.


So that could also be it - people don't see child characters as holding up their end of the plot or story.


All this to say personally I don't care. I can do adoption stories or fluffy kiddy things as easily as anything else. It's my anime magical girl fangirl side. I like me fluff and sparkles.


But I can see why most people would be like - ewwww no ankle biters kthnx bai.

So true...


The child does not always need to tag along though! Plus, a person a fall in love with person b could be BECAUSE OF a kid entering one or both of the character(s) life(s)


And comic relief!


you agree on this side too?

 

[call me rae]

agreed agreed.
I have a 5 year old oc. He has brothers but i don't always place them in the rp xD


i wanna rp the good (or sad) version of my oc so bad right now but i can't find a rp for him! EH!

You might try posting in the 1x1s and just building a plot around that five year old specifically. That way your guaranteed to get partners that want younger kids in their story. Or at least open to playing with a youngster.

 

[Lotusy]

While roleplaying children may be fun, as the people before me said, there is certainly a time and place for it. While I wouldn't say it could destroy an RP, sometimes, it may make the RP unconfortable for others. I mean, most of the time, child characters are meant to be coddled, cared for, or showered with affection, and some roleplayers don't want to do that, or simply aren't comfortable in doing so.


Also, there's the problem of a scenario where it's totally unrealistic for a kid to be there, but they exist simply because "he/she is cute." A zombie apocalypse, survival, or epic fantasy quest RP may put the kid in danger, but instead, they would be able to Deus-ex-machina their way out of unrealistic situations where others would die, again, because they're a child.


Now, I have nothing against child characters, so you do you, but there's an opinion, as you wanted one.

 

[call me rae]

So true...
The child does not always need to tag along though! Plus, a person a fall in love with person b could be BECAUSE OF a kid entering one or both of the character(s) life(s)


And comic relief!


you agree on this side too?

Well again in most romance roleplays the whole point of the roleplay is the romance itself. People aren't really as interested in how their characters fall in love as the fact that their characters fall in love in the first place.


You might be able to bring in a child as a plot point but in that case they wouldn't be a focal point of the roleplay - just a tool used to get the two mains A & B to fall in love.


So your still stuck playing at best a periphery character which isn't fair to you.


As for comic relief - again same thing as above. Your basically playing a side character that is there to enhance the main plot not contribute their own growth or arc to the story. They are there to make funny things happen and that's it.


Now that's not to say they serve no purpose in all roleplays, it's just that in the vast majority of roleplays they would be relegated to essentially useless sidekick status or plot mcguffin.


I.e. Child is reason characters fall in love. In that case what happens once they fall in love? ( and the kind of roleplays that I'm talking about the falling in love happens within the first few posts ). After that they would be shunted to the side to make up for more time for the gooey romance parts.


Or Child Comic Relief - they follow the main characters around and get into over the top situations that they must be rescued from. Again they are used as a plot device not an actual character.


So most likely that's the reasoning people don't want them. They don't see the child as a contributing member to the plot. Now whether that's necessarily true of all child characters OR even all roleplayers is debatable. I'm just talking broad stroke generalizations here.


You make a search and they shall come. This is a big site so chances are there are people that share the same interests you just have to find them.

 

[Cosmosis]

While roleplaying children may be fun, as the people before me said, there is certainly a time and place for it. While I wouldn't say it could destroy an RP, sometimes, it may make the RP unconfortable for others. I mean, most of the time, child characters are meant to be coddled, cared for, or showered with affection, and some roleplayers don't want to do that, or simply aren't comfortable in doing so.
Also, there's the problem of a scenario where it's totally unrealistic for a kid to be there, but they exist simply because "he/she is cute." A zombie apocalypse, survival, or epic fantasy quest RP may put the kid in danger, but instead, they would be able to Deus-ex-machina their way out of unrealistic situations where others would die, again, because they're a child.


Now, I have nothing against child characters, so you do you, but there's an opinion, as you wanted one.

Lotusy, you're rping with my old character Marth Manders in pokemon gjinka zombie apocalypse. i dun wanna hear you dissin him cause blaze is rping him diffrently, but really good.


And usually, yes. They are ment to be showered with affection but in the event of the kid being tortured, the child only needs to re-trust others and relize not everyone they get close to is evil.


Age of the child, backstory and settings influence EVERYTHING about how they act in a rp. agreed?

 

[Cosmosis]

You my friend (are we friends?) are absolutely right.

Well again in most romance roleplays the whole point of the roleplay is the romance itself. People aren't really as interested in how their characters fall in love as the fact that their characters fall in love in the first place.


You might be able to bring in a child as a plot point but in that case they wouldn't be a focal point of the roleplay - just a tool used to get the two mains A & B to fall in love.


So your still stuck playing at best a periphery character which isn't fair to you.


As for comic relief - again same thing as above. Your basically playing a side character that is there to enhance the main plot not contribute their own growth or arc to the story. They are there to make funny things happen and that's it.


Now that's not to say they serve no purpose in all roleplays, it's just that in the vast majority of roleplays they would be relegated to essentially useless sidekick status or plot mcguffin.


I.e. Child is reason characters fall in love. In that case what happens once they fall in love? ( and the kind of roleplays that I'm talking about the falling in love happens within the first few posts ). After that they would be shunted to the side to make up for more time for the gooey romance parts.


Or Child Comic Relief - they follow the main characters around and get into over the top situations that they must be rescued from. Again they are used as a plot device not an actual character.


So most likely that's the reasoning people don't want them. They don't see the child as a contributing member to the plot. Now whether that's necessarily true of all child characters OR even all roleplayers is debatable. I'm just talking broad stroke generalizations here.


You make a search and they shall come. This is a big site so chances are there are people that share the same interests you just have to find them.

 

[Lotusy]

Lotusy, you're rping with my old character Marth Manders in pokemon gjinka zombie apocalypse. i dun wanna hear you dissin him cause blaze is rping him diffrently, but really good.
And usually, yes. They are ment to be showered with affection but in the event of the kid being tortured, the child only needs to re-trust others and relize not everyone they get close to is evil.


Age of the child, backstory and settings influence EVERYTHING about how they act in a rp. agreed?

I'm not dissing him. Though I forgot to say it earlier, a well played child character is good. Not to mention, Blaze actually has the balls to kill off a child character. That's mad respect for him, and it makes for a well played child character.


And what the hell is his about a kid being tortured? Like seriously, what the hell? Chari, you know children are very, very malleable, right? It's not that easy for a child to just "re-trust" others. Ever heard of child abuse victims? They don't forget it. Children can be impacted very hewvily, they're not just these innocent, forgiving creatures. And if a child gets tortured (God help me), they'll be scarred for life. Even then, that's just not cool to do it in the first place. I have no idea where that thought came from, Chari.


Also, I'm not sure what that last part was, because I never talked about it.

 

[call me rae]

I'm not dissing him. Though I forgot to say it earlier, a well played child character is good. Not to mention, Blaze actually has the balls to kill off a child character. That's mad respect for him, and it makes for a well played child character.
And what the hell is his about a kid being tortured? Like seriously, what the hell? Chari, you know children are very, very malleable, right? It's not that easy for a child to just "re-trust" others. Ever heard of child abuse victims? They don't forget it. Children can be impacted very hewvily, they're not just these innocent, forgiving creatures. And if a child gets tortured (God help me), they'll be scarred for life. Even then, that's just not cool to do it in the first place. I have no idea where that thought came from, Chari.

Speaking from real life experience ( not personally but from people I know ) that bit about trauma in childhood sticking to people is very true. People who had stuff happen to them as kids don't typically get over it. They learn to live with it and not let it control their lives but it's not a matter of just oh not everyone is evil and I can forget about it.


Plus as @Lotusy said very few people are going to be comfortable portraying blatant child abuse. Take the Harry Potter franchise just from the bits that JK Rowling wrote in her books that character was heavily abused as a kid.


He was forced to do chores, live in a tiny closet space, and treated like garbage by everyone around him. And yet most people just gloss over it when doing fanfiction. Or it's "The Dursley's were awful to Harry" not so much getting into specifics. Because when you do it's very sad and very horrible to think about anyone treating another human being in that manner.


Now that said I do think you can make characters that contribute to a plot and happen to be children. You just have to pay attention to the focus of the roleplay, the setting, and think about how your character contributes to those two things.

 

[Cosmosis]

ikr? GO BLAZE! Dude even kept Marth's speech impairment. He's flawless in it. *claps for blaze*


actually, i have a character who was severly abused and he is a child. I have had him for a long time, back a few years before my days here on rpn. He forgave after spells reversed him a bit. He's never in a realistic rp for the reason of, he wouldn't ever become a child again. He was made during one of my big depression spouts and i can't let him go.

 

[Cosmosis]

Speaking from real life experience ( not personally but from people I know ) that bit about trauma in childhood sticking to people is very true. People who had stuff happen to them as kids don't typically get over it. They learn to live with it and not let it control their lives but it's not a matter of just oh not everyone is evil and I can forget about it.
Plus as @Lotusy said very few people are going to be comfortable portraying blatant child abuse. Take the Harry Potter franchise just from the bits that JK Rowling wrote in her books that character was heavily abused as a kid.


He was forced to do chores, live in a tiny closet space, and treated like garbage by everyone around him. And yet most people just gloss over it when doing fanfiction. Or it's "The Dursley's were awful to Harry" not so much getting into specifics. Because when you do it's very sad and very horrible to think about anyone treating another human being in that manner.


Now that said I do think you can make characters that contribute to a plot and happen to be children. You just have to pay attention to the focus of the roleplay, the setting, and think about how your character contributes to those two things.

yepers.


Still, if the rp's vocal point is the child, then what? as i explained, he's never in a straight up relistic rp. even i get angry writeing the kid's backstory.

 

[call me rae]

yepers.
Still, if the rp's vocal point is the child, then what? as i explained, he's never in a straight up relistic rp. even i get angry writeing the kid's backstory.

Yes but even still some people are just not comfortable with child abuse in general and don't want to roleplay it. But the same can be said for any character who has an overly tragic backstory and uses this as either a plot point or a plea for sympathy. That's not exactly something that is specific to kids.


Also if your talking about a plot revolving around your specific character than it's more a matter of finding people who like your plot. If your talking about adding a character to an existing roleplay than it becomes more about if your character fits the setting.


So say making an abused kid and putting him in a realistic setting is different than making one the center of some kind of stylized magical plot where he can be cured through magic.


In one the stakes are very high and the character is someone who will most likely make people very uncomfortable. In the other it's just your typical trope-filled adventure and the stakes are lower because there is a higher suspension of disbelief.

 

[Cosmosis]

Yes but even still some people are just not comfortable with child abuse in general and don't want to roleplay it. But the same can be said for any character who has an overly tragic backstory and uses this as either a plot point or a plea for sympathy. That's not exactly something that is specific to kids.
Also if your talking about a plot revolving around your specific character than it's more a matter of finding people who like your plot. If your talking about adding a character to an existing roleplay than it becomes more about if your character fits the setting.


So say making an abused kid and putting him in a realistic setting is different than making one the center of some kind of stylized magical plot where he can be cured through magic.


In one the stakes are very high and the character is someone who will most likely make people very uncomfortable. In the other it's just your typical trope-filled adventure and the stakes are lower because there is a higher suspension of disbelief.

Well said. Well said.