I have a character I've designed and intend to play as on the server, and he is 16 years old, namesake being Riku Arakida. My reasoning for him being under 18 is pretty decent, and you know me well enough that I won't pull any stunts. Now, he is a Hylotl. More importantly, the son of a hylotl noble. Born with a silver spoon in his mouth, always got his way, anything he wanted... Until recently. His father has been forcing him to stop going out. No more parties, no more fun. It's time to study. To LEARN. He's forcing him into the study of business. A drab, dull life that may keep him rich, but also make him miserable. His father knows nothing. So, he simply takes a "vacation" with some money to Council Space's fringe, as he hears the place is "free and wild." He's posh. He's full of himself. He's ignorant... And he's naive. And his ignorance and naivety are pretty hinged on his low age. I won't be vocal about it of course, I never even intended to present him as 16 unless specifically asked an age. I just wanted to ask permission of staff before doing anything for the sake of posterity. If you have any questions or concerns I'll gladly answer or address them.
To be quite honest, naivety has no real different between 16-18 if one has had the life described. Think of it like any other college party kid in Harvard that has their parents paying for their education. We have to be strict on the age thing because it can set a bad precedent even if the player doing it has permission and has good credentials. It's very possible to play a naive character that's wistfully young and spoiled without going below the age restriction. So the main question to ask is if the age of 16 is so important a number that it's needed for the character to work? My thinking is that if he's 18, this gives the father a reason to kick him out to be a man and get a life.
Well the major thing here is he is NOT kicked out, as I said he flees from his father due to his teenage angst and having no real understanding of life whatsoever. The thing here is, when you're 16, you still carry a lot of that angst and lack of respect for authority figures, that tends to change around 18-19 years of age. But around 13-16/17 you're still rather un-witting of many factors of life, you haven't learned yet. His age is a rather defining factor in his naivety and his lack of respect for his father and the attempts to make him into a better person, when someone who's an adult may more appreciate those actions rather than hold them with disdain. So in short, yes, the age is rather important to this character due to people around the age of 16 still being grossly emotional in decision-making and rational. An 18 year old who still developed "normally," even when spoiled rotten, would at least have a level of rational thinking to their decisions, and so the decision to basically pack up and run away would never even cross their mind.
I agree with Smoke somewhat, but to be honest I really don't care if the character is 16 or 18. I'd be fine either way, and I trust Doc not to break any rules if the lower age gets a pass. That said, " We have to be strict on the age thing because it can set a bad precedent even if the player doing it has permission and has good credentials. " is a good point. We start letting people play characters below the age-limit we'll have requests for child characters soon enough. It's a tricky situation. Point is, I'm fine with it. I don't see much problem beyond what has been highlighted, but I do think it would be possible to play the character the same way as intended even if they were 18, and them being older may even be better for their development.
The major issue here is, an 18 year old would realistically not make the same emotionally fueled, rash decisions as a 16 year old would. I dunno about you, but when I was 16 I did unbelievably stupid and rash things I would have never done now or a few months ago. You grow up and learn a lot between 15-16 and 18. His maturity, emotionally fueled decisions due to his undeveloped decisionmaking, and general behavior are rather dictated by his age due to the chemistry of his brain.
There's also the fact that you aren't playing a human, and therefore the age of maturity and overall life expectancy of hylotl are very different, so he could be 6 years old but be mature in hylotl culture.
Of course, I'm just speaking relatively. This begs the question of if it's OK to play "under-18" characters of different races since they may mature at a different rate. However, due to the rules I still have to ask obviously.
Sadly, my answer will have to be no. The precedent set will lead to some confusion and possible playing of child characters. However, it's possible to be 16 but aged by space travel 2 years. *shrug* That's if you're really insistent on the age.
I have to agree with Smoke on no, on principle of age alone. If we let you bend the rules, we'll get others who want to. Besides, I know plenty of immature 18 year olds. Some people don't change much in two years.
Fair enough. I'll wait on input from the others to see how it is taken. I, again, feel like the server is mature enough to handle characters under the age of 18, but I won't press.
Side note, I've been asking other players of their opinions on having characters on the server of the 16+ age-range, and I've gotten a surprising amount of approval of the idea, be it them not having much of an issue with the concept to full on agreement with it. Here is my list, feel free to ask these people if they've spoken to/agreed with me on the idea. zkkzz Dodec1 Oleksandra Awe ( I discussed the idea with him in detail before posting this thread, putting his name here for posterity) Garmfield Exo Aero Rainy Days and Mondays WrongEndOfTheRainbow DeadHarold FingerPainTing ScarletSongbird
None of us have expressed outright disgust or disapproval of the idea. It's just that as staff, we have to enforce the age rule and prevent possible precedent from being set. Look at androids. People have to get those approved. And because a few get approved, a large amount of people play without approval. It's not the same situation with this, but we have to enforce the rules.
Of course, I'm simply going through the motions and trying to show that people don't see this as a big deal. I understand your position however, trust me I do. Hence why I asked permission instead of just doing it without. I'd like to think this won't be the same case however since there are much less ways to pitch a low age as a "special snowflake" situation.
I've proposed an idea to Angre in DMs, and he told me it would be best to post it here. Since it seems thoughts on this are rather divided I've come up with a decent compromise that works to both sides. Quite simply, I launch the character on the server as intended, at the age of 16, as a sort of "test drive" phase for him, to basically see if it really would result in people copying the idea, causing problems, etc. If such problems do arise, I retcon the age to 18 and adjust the character accordingly, but if there are no issues things continue as normal. Angre said himself that he feels it's an idea worth considering, that shouldn't be turned down immediately before proper thought has been given to it, so please give it some consideration.
Sorry for the wait. The final definitive answer is that this idea is rejected. The idea is rejected for the age, but not the character. The character is playable if played 18 and older.
