Able to select age

[pnadion]

it would prob be much work cause it will depend on origin like man and elf they differ much but what i thought is the following:
you can select you age by char creation and in-game you age over a long time (maybe 1 or 2 months is 1 year in-game) and when you think you getting to old you can drink a special something that makes you younger (these must be cheap or free) and maybe  like in LotR you can have an amulet that makes you age lesser or totely not (these may have a good price)
with that drinking thing you can chose how much you drink (the more you drink=the younger you get)

[Xanaroth]

altough it sounds good, it will bring up new probs, like making sure you dont drink too much making you get a negative age and thus disapearing your char for a couple of months.

[Quwaar]

hehe, back to being a baby

Its a good idea, but damn, there are a few races and everything needs to be different with every race. And what about when you reach an old age and you die naturally. Then you would get in the after realm and when you get outta that one you get reborn?? But what about your skills, I have never seen a child be a uber mage or a king of a caslte.

[Karyuu]

Personally, I think in-game aging has too many complications to be of any use. Everyone\'s screaming for more realism, but I get enough of that in... real life. So me, I\'m against the idea.

But whatever floats your goat ;)

[SnowWolf]

Lets just say it would be *insanely* complicated for it to add to the game - not impossible - but still....

I think choosing your age is a good idea though (choose when you create your character and it stays that way) - it looks weird with all young people walking around!

edit: Also, by this I mean no advantages/disadvantages - figuring out what age gets what is WAY more complicated than one might think - if one was to implement this idea in any other way than its most simple form the system would  have to be much deeper than it is now to add to the game.....

[Xanaroth]

that\'s a bit how i think of it as well. In the beginning you choose a age with advantages/disvantages ( could also be without) and then just like your race, sex etc. you cannot change it anymore when you start the game.

[aineko]

argh, that thing with aging was just a though.

the main point of my post was:

do not limit age on 3 stages. kid, adult, old

Growing up is a progress with many shades.

use some formula like:

wise = exp * age
learn = exp / age
strenght = abs(30-age)

ok, ok, these formulas are only to show the concept. don\'t tell me that a 90 years old man would be twice as strong as a 30 years old

to display the sprite in game: 10-16, 16-25, 25-40, 40-60, >60

ps: sorry for repeating myself, but it looks like the main point of my former posting got lost

[Xanaroth]

euhmm.... just 1 question.  What would be the others then? i only know kig adult and old people as stage, what were you thinking of then?

[Deddarus]

i believe he was thinking of age as a number (eg between 1 and 500)

and that number would act as a multiplier on player stats

ie

age would be proportional to stamina loss rate and inteligence

[aineko]

Xanaroth:

> What would be the others then?

well, there are kids, there are teenagers, jung adults, mid-aged adults and elder ones.

It\'s not like *poof*, your 18 now, your an adult. One day ago you were a child, now your a full grown adult...


Deddarus:

> age as a number

That\'s exactly what I meant. But more like 10-90 or so
It doesn\'t matter if other races age faster or slower, it\'s just like .... proportional to their life.

now to display a sprite for the different age, you\'d have to set several key ages. in which ppl look similar.

I thought of these 5 ages: 10-16, 16-25, 25-40, 40-60, >60

[Xanaroth]

owww.... i get your point now yeah.

[Dalec]

I think people should just be able to choose how they look. They can go with an older face and whiter hair for example, but it should not limit gameplay. Also, I don\'t think young kids should be included because your character should be a believable person. I don\'t want to see ultimate champion kids with super weapons and high lvls, it is just ridiculous. Your character has already grown up by the time you play him. If you want to be a kid, well tough just make a background

[SnowWolf]

What if you\'re older and just look like a kid?

Also, age doesn\'t work as a simple multiplier because it does not directly affect stats. The things most people associate with age are actually habits and personality traits - age in most cases is only indirectly responsible.

[Karyuu]

Aye, it\'s basically only about appearance (to the comment of it\'s ridiculous to have a \"super kid\"). And some races age slower than others, so you may have a young-lookin\' elf that has already lived nearly a human lifetime.

[Xanaroth]

why wont it be possible to have a super-human kid? you can just create one and then act as if it is a liliputter. a grown up person that remains verry small.