Are Children Mature Enough to RP? Why worry about "for all family"?

[lordraleigh]

I decided to pull this question here because PS community have both great roleplayers and also bad roleplayers(that destroys my RP experience) and I fear it may be related to the age of players...

First I will tell me my experiences in RPing with other player characters...

I had some disappointments with bad roleplayers. It seems most of them are around 12 years old by the way they talk and by their bad grammar, and they really spoils the environment(also younger players are usually too impatient to read the player guide or background info first). Because of that I don't see the logic behind making Planeshift a game for "all ages", specially when it is intended to have a serious roleplaying community.

Most good roleplayers I know are 18 years old or more, and they probably have access to lots of coarse language, as one would expect(but they rarely use them in game). It is a question of preferences that I believe that are related to age. Most younger ones prefer fast-paced games just to have fun without serious compromises on things like RP while most mature players like roleplaying.

Now I will try to give more some decent arguments

As I said previously, I don't think roleplaying is a practice common between young teens(that usually prefer less serious MMO(RP?)Gs ) and this game is way too complex for children anyway(there are games for children, but "adapting" PS for it would destroy this project goal).

When one wishes to have a heavily RP-oriented game, one should try to attract more adult and mature gamers as in most cases they are more willing to follow the game universe IC than teenagers and children(if one is smart enough to play this game)

My experiences with a guild shows that older players usually roleplays better than newer ones, and that when the younger players don't totally spoil the experience.

Another point is that this is now a game where gladiators and mercenaries are killed indiscriminatedly, where several ones roleplays assassins, robbers and even drug dealers(mushrooms to be more specific) and thus I don't see any reason on this policy... Of course restraining this behaviors would destroy the possibility of RPing an evil character.

For last, I will try to put down "children will see it with their parents" argument. Well, adults should know when to allow and when to restrict kids on seeing what they are doing. No horror movie is made "for all family" because one may have kids at home. One should know how to filter content.

I think PS devs should try to actually restrict the age for players if they want to improve the quality of the roleplaying on its community. As unlike most MMOGs(where monthly payments matter), this game should focus on having players in quality, not quantity. Not sure if I am the only one that have this opinion and I was willing to post this for a long time.

P.S. : No flames and no trolling. This topic should have rational arguments. And I hope the devs have an good explanation on why they wish to make this a game "for all ages" if they aren't convinced by the opinions of those who agree with this

[Karyuu]

Generally, you are correct when you say the under-18 age group may not have the best roleplayers. I've met some incredible exceptions, but unfortunately they have not been the rule. 12-17 is when you experiment, learn new things, try stuff out, and generally have a hard time settling on something.

I'm not sure however how we can restrict the age of our players - and I'm not sure if we would want to, even with the arguments posted. There are some people in their forties at whose "RP" I cringe, and there are fourteen-year-olds with absolutely enchanting characters. I wouldn't want to limit our game like so, except to say what you have pretty much explained about the game - that we really like having good roleplayers around and look forward to meeting them all. A lot of people can come in with chatspeak breaking in-game speed limits, then leave as one of the most respected members of the community.

Time for Karyuu's favorite quote:

To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly.
--Henri Bergson

[Peacer]

and the next will be restricting it for people with another first language than english because of bad grammar?

* Peacer runs away with a horrified look on his face

anyway, I don't think that an age limit should be set. You can easily teach a 14 year old to be a good roleplayer... specially when you know them in real life.

I think that instead of trying to restrict the age, those good roleplayers would teach the teenagers and kids to roleplay. Adopt a newbie

[Akaye]

To be honest I am torn only because I have a child and I am conflicted with the matter. I can say this, I would let my daughter play ps with my supervision. It is pretty decent, there are only a few who come in and ruin the fun for moments at a time. Gm's usually act fast with those who petition somone with inappropriate behavior and boot the character. For the most part planeshift is ok in my books and child friendly [Agian only with supervised play].

[Gondric]

I am 13 and i admit im not the best RPer. but you wouldnt not be able to restrict the game to over 18s. and underaged people are smart enough to say they are over eighteen when they sign up for things (well i am) it would be damned impossible to do it and WHY! i love this game and its great for kids with very little pocket money who dont have parents wanting to pay for WoW. these days most parents do tho well at mi skool they do. younger people use bad grammar because the dont type too fast well the very young ones dont so they use shortened words (and yeh bad grammar) lol i even met a 10 yr old on PS and i asked him shouldnt u be playing runescape, he said i do

[Quantus]

Are Adults Mature Enough to RP?

I did the experience, that especially children are doing their own well roleplay. Indeed it is another RP than older ones do, cause they are doing their own one, like "hide and seek" and "catch me if you can".

My daughter lives in Yliakum since she's 4 and she is having a lot of fun. Now she's 5 and if you need a pathfinder to show you the way from Ojaveda to Bronce Doors, you may ask her

It's realistic, that there are folks you cannot talk with, cause they are to young to speak ([write]).

* Quantus strongly agrees to let Yliakum open for all from age zero till invinite

[Proglin]

So we got a 10 year old girl in our guild, The Survivors of Vaern, She joined cause her father found it a great way to stimulate her english, she plays without supervision most of the time, and let me tell you, she is one heck of a role-player! She needs some help when it comes to understanding a strange language for her, but she role-plays better then many a 24 year old I NEED WEPZ PLZ! kinda people.

I fully realize it's a special case, and for many young kids it is hard to understand what RP is and how to do it. Yet, I am bothered as much by "kids" as I am by adults.

When in a good RP, and an underaged player appears and comes across as imature, it can be anoying and make the RP less immersive, it would be so wonderful if you can find out his or her age, then ignore hm/her for the rest of the event, and contact him/her later, see if it's worth the trouble to educate him/her in the ways of basic RP.

Kids start of wrong, but  learn faster then any adult, the latter is a fact, keep that in mind.  It might be well worth it to teach them, imagine what great role-players will come out of that ey? How many of us can say they started RP when they were 4 years old

[Idoru]

I cant disagree more with the original poster, I have met people in game who are obviously adults and their RP if appauling. I have met people who are under 16 and their RP is fantastic. If a player is not willing to RP they will soon get bored of PS because frankly there isnt a great deal to do except RP.

As for you Gondric, I must say your RP skills are signifigantly better than mine (mine are poor IMO) and im 24, personally I dont think age comes into the RP side of things, and even if it did it would seem odd for the whole of Yliakum to have no-one who acts imaturely (RPed ofcourse).

I had never RPed at all before coming to this game and as such have no background of RP and find it most difficult (although I try my best), in my youth I would attend a gaming centre very rarely but when I did I would see 13/14/15 year olds with the most vivid imaginations coming up with the most engrosing RP even though they only had pen, paper and a few (thousand) dice to play with.

[Arka]

This is one of the few online RP games I feel comfortable recommending to younger teens - as I feel it is a really safe environment - and on the whole friendly. Personally I would want to supervise under 11s myself, but I wouldn't say the game was unsuitable for them. I recently introduced my 12 year old niece to the game, let a few close friends know and asked them to look out for her. No problems at all - she seems to have settled in with no problems at all.

[lanser]

My son started playing PS when 11 and I initially supervised him but he soon got the hang of how to behave and once he had maxed out his char I started to encourage him to rp, he joined the Crystal Warriors and was starting to develop a story when he unfortunately got caught up with the Dwarvesbane and received some fairly agressive tells he thought they were real and that scared him and he hasn't played since. I did explain what was going on and he understands now.

But back to second part of the topic, if the game was 18+ why should our behaviour be any different? In normal company we don't walk around swearing or using explicit language, we may do so in private but that is what /tell /group is for and any for acts that may be considered indecent.

In my opinion we have a pretty good balance atm and see no reason to change

[zanzibar]

I'm not sure it matters since young people will play the game anyway.  I would say there's a difference betwen sophisticated and simple roleplaying:  You could have a simple character with goals such as "get strong" and "make money and friends".  Or you could have a more indepth character with his or her own particular mannerisms, history, long term goals, and fatal flaws.

I think that both are valid roleplaying.  As far as "adult content" stuff, I think that people understand that playing an assassin or warrior is make believe and that in real life, such things are simply immoral.  The one danger I see is with things such as drug dealing, smoking, and drinking.  I do think that an impressionable young person could have their views changed by what they're exposed to in the media, and Planeshift is one form of media.  However, I don't think that in game drug dealers would be viewed as savoury individuals.  So as long as players aren't saying that what these characters do is "good", I'm not sure there's a problem.  Kids are exposed to that side of life as early as 10-12 these days anyway, and Planeshift is rated PG.


Edit: Ultimately, it's up to the parents.

[drah]

I'd just suggest targeting the 12+ crowd... and that's only 'cuz some teenagers can be quite mature... and they're probably already at an age where they get to see mild-violence and hear mild-expletives on TV, etc.

As for anyone younger than that.. sure... you could have them play... but unless they're RPing a child... is their character going to be plausible?

[eldoth_terevan]

From what I can see it is almost impossible to accurately judge someone's age based upon their behavior in game. I know older players that act like children, and younger players who play like they have been doing it a long time. And on the subject of the content of the game, words, names, scenarios and characters: In America, people often hold completely contradictory beliefs. What I mean by that is I know parents that will not blink if their children are playing a game where they are murdering innocent people with terrible weapons, but would suddenly freak out totally if they saw a cigarette in the game. So, there is only so much that can be done to begin with. Even if there is some content that is questionable, it is not being used in that *context* within Planeshift itself.

[Cyl]

It may sound stupid, but if you are not allowed to roleplay up to the age of 18 you won't instantly be a genius at roleplaying once you reach that age either. It is pretty clear to me that the increased ammount of bad roleplay under younger players is not caused by the fact that they are younger, but by the fact that they are more likely to be unexperienced. Any unexperienced player will make mistakes, and sometimes make himself look like a bad roleplayer, no matter whether he is eight, 18 or 75. When I started playing Planeshift I might as well have been "to young" for it, and to a degree I still am, and I am pretty aware that my RP was abbysmal, in the beginning, being mostly dominated by twisted images of my famous roleplay characters, at that point. Nowadays I consider myself a decent enough RPer, but I can only speak for myself, when saying that this was not caused by the sudden enlightement of coming off age, but rather by a lot of trial and error and quite an ammount of hard earned experience. I am pretty sure that my roleplaying would not be any better at all at this moment than when I started playing PS, if I would not have earned this experience. Of course, you might say that Planeshift should be a place only for those who have already got through their first years of RPing, but I do think it might not appeal to fully fledged profi-RPers who already found their place in the vast world of roleplaying.

Edit: Typos :X

[zanzibar]

What I mean by that is I know parents that will not blink if their children are playing a game where they are murdering innocent people with terrible weapons, but would suddenly freak out totally if they saw a cigarette in the game.

What's more common is for parents to be fine with violent games, but they freak out about games which have references to anything sexual.