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Old 07-26-2003, 03:20 PM   #1
Burr
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What age do you most enjoy roleplaying?
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Old 07-26-2003, 04:12 PM   #2
Kallekins
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I've had the most fun playing youths--annoying, idealistic, and a little bit naive. They have to be old enough that it isn't completely silly to see them wearing adult-sized clothes and swinging a sword. And then young enough to limit the dirty old men hitting on them.
I also like to have a character grow up in game , shaped by what happens to become a mature adult personality. I prefer that to starting as an adult with a backstory.
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Old 07-27-2003, 04:10 PM   #3
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I can't really put my vote into the poll, because my characters are spread out widely over the age range of 20 to 210.

I've started out (as most people do, probably) with characters in my own age range (20-29), but I've found that I like characters in the 35-50 range better. They have a lot of experience under their belt already, have most of the time let off their steam and can now approach life with a more laid-back, mellow attitude. They also can spout vicious cynicism if need be, because of said experience. And the few that have managed to keep their idealism intact over all those years are all the more interesting because of that.
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Old 08-01-2003, 10:00 PM   #4
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Eh...it varies a bit for me.
Most of my chars are young adults (in their race's terms, of course; one of 'em is 50...but her race [Timonae] lives to be around 275, so she hasn't even -reached- the -prime- of her life yet, much less middle-age or old age...)
A few might be older or younger. But I find that the younger they are (and the closer they are to my RL age), the harder it is for me to seperate their emotions from mine.
So I tend to avoid teenaged chars a fair amount. It's not that I don't like that age especially - it's just that I have too much difficulty playing a char who's age is similar to mine in general.
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Old 08-14-2003, 10:47 AM   #5
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I like to start my characters 23-26 if possible and go upward from there. Old enough to know better and young enough... well... young enough not to care that they know better ;-)
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Old 08-14-2003, 12:06 PM   #6
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I personally prefer to play charecters between 25 and 30, but they generally spend about seven years cut off from civilization, so they're generally different (read: weaker) then others of their age.
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Old 08-14-2003, 01:20 PM   #7
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I don't think age is as big a factor in roleplaying as race. Race matters more then age, but nevertheless to drop in my preference, I have played every realistic age. Anything over 80 is pretty lame considering they would not able to think very well (and I would roleplay that if I did play someone that old). However most people wouldn't take that into consideration, and muds that have races that go into that age span of 200+ is silly IMHO, I don't like playing those kind of ages since we humans on earth don't live that long and you have no base to go off of in your roleplaying.

-Delerak
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Old 08-14-2003, 02:02 PM   #8
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Bleh.
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Old 08-14-2003, 04:42 PM   #9
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how about an option for people who roleplay as ancient beings, say in the 2000-10000+ range
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Old 08-15-2003, 12:04 AM   #10
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I wouldn't title that 'ancient beings' as roleplay. Then again my definition of roleplay is a lot higher then other peoples. #### the Logos thinks Archae has roleplay and I've been there, all I saw was a bunch of players running around killing stuff, clueless, mindless machines who want to further their characters levels/power, whatever you want to call it. Without any true awareness of what a real character might act, do, think. Back to my earlier comment about ancient beings, how can you possibly claim to be roleplaying this when you have nothing to go off of, except your imagination which in itself is a powerful thing but can only take you so far in your roleplaying. You need to know the character and how they would act, how can I possibly take on the role of an immortal 1000 year old elf when the only thing I have to study for how the character would act is basically, lord of the rings movies or books. On the other hand take a middle-aged mercenary, with exceptional talent, living a simple life, trying to get by. You know how many movies/books have this type of character in them? I've read and WATCHED characters LIKE this so therefore I at least have something to help my character develop, and something to sway my roleplay, I don't have that with 'ancient beings' because they don't exist, they are figments of imagination so are truly hard to create a character out of. At least for me it would be, I expect myself to take a character and to shape and mold it the way I see fit, and frankly I've never met any ancient beings in my time so I don't know how I would do it on a mud, or on the stage, or in a movie if I ever get that far. After all how many actors ever play 'ancient beings'.

-Delerak
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Old 08-15-2003, 04:15 AM   #11
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And yet movies like Lord of the Rings, Clash of the Titans, and the upcoming movie on the Trojan War get made... Greek mythology, chock full of ancient beings, has long been a source of material for both screen and stage.

--matt
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Old 08-15-2003, 02:28 PM   #12
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Many MUDs track players ages based on the time of character creation. I was checking out one MUD the other day and found that "You are 49 minutes old." Sheesh! Then I had an image of a newborn babe crawling around dirty streets stuck in my head. In other MUDs, you start out at age 18 and age from there, which sort of deflates someone who wants to RP someone older or younger (especially if other players can find out what age you are). Meanwhile, the older players who are 125 year old humans are RPing being sexy young things.

Anyway, don't know what relevance this has, but I'm thinking starting everyone out as a young teen (say, 13 years old), and as the character ages adjust the stats at landmark ages (+1 strength, +1 intelligence upon reaching age 18, etc.). I'm thinking the old D&D system of aging where older folks have high intelligence/wisdom but low dexterity/constitution. You could also implement potions of youth/aging (or something) to help players maintain the age they enjoy to RP (though, admittedly, some will maintain the age where the stats best suit their class). Something like:

Young Adult: +1 str, +1 dex
Mature: +1 str, +1 int, +1 con
Middle Age: +1 str, +1 con, -1 dex
Old: -1 str, -1 con, +1 int
Venerable: -1 str, -1 dex, +1 int
Ancient: -1 con, +1 int

I would envision that most fighters would be no older than middle age, while most magic users would be old to ancient. Not many thieves would survive past mature. Exceptions being those hardcore RPers who want to RP against the norms (the ancient fighter, youthful wizard, etc.) .

Just some random thoughts.
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Old 08-15-2003, 06:58 PM   #13
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At a quality coded mud like Armageddon you -pick- your age, and customize to the extreme. That is what roleplaying is, customizing it to the way you see the character. And a lot of muds just don't allow that. And some who do, have too low standards.
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Old 08-16-2003, 11:34 PM   #14
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Delerak, this is addressed to you:

You are exceedingly negative, hostile, and narrow-minded in your defintion of roleplay, and what constitutes it. For some characters, age DOES matter - you wouldn't have a 12-year-old as a master swordsman in most instances - and for some it does not - a woman well past her prime trying to act like a teenaged wanton. For some characters, race does matter - you usually wouldn't want an Achaean Horkval (big bug-like creature) doing magic, as it has a comparitively low intelligence - and for some, it doesn't - the one person intent on bucking tradition.

Personally, I think Achaea has a great deal of role-playing. My character is highly successful in almost all areas that require real role-playing - guild politics (guildmaster), city politics (Minister) love life (married once for 15 years, divorced, remarried), Order (Order Rank 3). She's even a good basher. But, she also owns an OOC clan. That's the point of many clans - to provide an outlet for OOC. That said, to me, my character's age does NOT matter, due to a little quote from one of Achaea's help files:

Age has no negative effects whatsoever, either on your character's health or appearance.

Some characters have chosen to RP their character's MENTAL decline - my ex-husband turned into something of a drunk, and another old man has gone rather dotty and perverse. I haven't chosen to that yet, as I rather value my sanity.

And I want to know what specifically you think Achaea lacks in RP. That probably doesn't belong in this section, but I'm not sure. (This is my first post.)

You know it's bad when you create an account, just to make a post like this.

To the_logos, thank you for making a game I don't mind spending 96 days, 6 hours, and 44 minutes of my life on. It's well worth it.
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Old 08-17-2003, 10:18 AM   #15
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Since you want to attack my personal image for what I believe in on the digital world of the internet I should do the same to you, but I won't, I even had it all typed up but decided to erase it because I' won't get personal with people on a forum. As for me being exceedingly negative and hostile in my defintion of roleplay, #### yes I am, and if you don't like it, bugger off. I don't care what you think, I have a belief in what roleplaying is, just like IRL, directors, producers, actors, they all have a belief in what acting is, and someone like you wouldn't get past the screening test for a character. You love your little perfect world where everyone is co-op, no danger anywhere because you don't have permdeath therefore you the player have no fear as to your character dying if they screw up during a meeting in your "politics" roleplaying. What I find quite amusing is this statement.


How can you be highly successful in all areas that require real roleplaying? Define roleplaying first. You obviously have no sense of the world around you because your character is a Minster, a guildmaster, a married, divorced, remarried (oh the vanity). You think your character could accomplish all that in a real world? No, you are living a fantasy life in a fantasy world that has no true sense of a real world, it has a sense of co-op play with other players and to tell you the truth I would hate to play an assassin on Achaea because I would never be able to kill anyone since you don't have permadeath, again, I can define what I think roleplaying is, can you? I think you can try but it will always be skewed with some bull **** that I have seen, heard, and played myself in the past, and none of it compares to a real character, that you can truly play out. ####, tabletop is better then those muds out there that claim to be rp-enforced but are stock rom muds. I think I am done for now, I await a pathetic reply.

-Delerak
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Old 08-18-2003, 09:01 AM   #16
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roleplaying as an ancient being (2000+ years old) is good for people who stay at the same mud for half a decade: in essence, they ARE like the immortal elves, who are always suffering because they outlive anyone they meet... play a mud for 5 years and on the 5th maybe 1/100th of the people you knew 5 years ago will still be around. To have this sort of demographic and still consider yourself "a 40 year old merchant from venice"... belittles the hundreds of generations who have come and gone in your lifetime.
I'd like to point out that Elrond is several thousand years old, Galadriel is several TENS of thousands of years old, and the valar (for example Iluvatar, a common poster here) several hundreds of thousands/several millions of years old. And if you say "yeah well, thats just one series", might I remind you Tolkien is one of the fundamental influences on the entire fantasy genre? without him at the very least elves, dwarves, halflings would most probably never have developed, as well as fantasy's semi-human "Race of Man" (which is subtly different than real life humans).
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Old 08-18-2003, 12:08 PM   #17
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I don't think you can make that claim Erdos. Tolkien wrote a book that wasn't even published and recognized by the public until the 50's, and still people knew about fantasy before him, he isn't as influential as you think. Sure he wrote a good book for that day in age, but lots of people wrote good fantasy books back then just like Tolkien:
More then human by Theodore Sturgen
To your scattered bodies go by Philip Jose Farmer
The voices of time buy J.G. Ballard.
The jewel-hinged jaw by Samuel Delany.

These are all science fiction and included things like mutations and odd creatures just like elves, dwarves and different races in Tolkiens book which was influential in the success of the fantasy genre nowadays but isn't the main factor in it, it succeeded because of our generation and our need to satiate our imaginations with something and this was it.

-Delerak
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Old 08-20-2003, 05:21 PM   #18
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I enjoy playing late teens, early twentys. It seems to be when most people are in their best condition, so when I'm playing a soldier, it makes it easier to excel at what you are doing
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Old 08-21-2003, 12:49 AM   #19
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I'm sure it doesn't really matter to you, but I agree with Caralyn, Delerak. You appear (note the word "appear") to be very narrow minded, and it's frightening to be in a room full of people that can only go in one direction or stop.


Tolkien, R. Jordan, Phillip Jose Farmer, or any other writers, none of them matter. The key to imagination is setting everything you know to the back of your mind, where it can influence your ideas but not rule them. In many ways, everyone who has an imagination is a writer. Not everyone has sold a book, but what does that matter? Not everyone wants to. Does that make them better or worse than the almighty Tolkien? Heck no. It makes them either less lucky (because luck has much to do with professional writing), uninterested, or just plain different.

Don't have any idea how a character with a certain trait would act? Make something up. It all starts that way. Then people after you say, "Wait, this doesn't make sense, why would a <blah> act this way?", and gradually, it changes for the better. What you make up may be horribly inaccurate in the eyes of other people. But at least you attempted it, and now that you have, other people will. Intelligent, non-hominid species have never graced our presence in "reality", but people have still made up personalities for dragons.


Now I understand the whole stubborness thing. It's useful to be stubborn in mind. But it is exceedingly harmful when you cannot let your mind be changed. No one person's effects on the world are better or worse than another when they are born. But as you grow older, everyone's world neutralizes at one point, and this can be seen as fate. Each person's contributions and detriments to the world can be seen as a waveform that dips and rises in unexpected places. Choose where you will be stubborn, Delerak, and you can choose where that wave rises and falls.

I don't know you, Delerak, but on the other hand, I do. The mirror you display to the world cannot show all of you, but it can show some. Know that I only wish for your well being, and that any offense is unintended.


By the way, so that I'm not completely off-topic, I like to play younger teens, 12-15, young adults, 20 to 28, and old people who are more active than usual. I particularly like the ages that are generally associated with transition, and personal struggle.
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Old 08-21-2003, 07:47 PM   #20
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