Middle aged/older characters?

[Stretch]

For real where are the fat characters at? 

[Aquila]

This is an issue that bothers me quite a bit.

 

You could argue "let people roleplay what they want, it doesn't affect you" but really it does, especially when the vast majority roleplay young people. I'd imagine that several factors are in play here like:

- The playerbase demographic is young

- People don't want to roleplay physical flaws (a lot of people's attributes have "mesomorphic builds")

- Current generation of roleplayers may not have an understanding of 30+ year olds are like

 

This wasn't the case before, because I could've sworn, when my character was in their mid-20s, there would always be countless characters that are older than mine. However, today it seems that my character is among the oldest, with the exception of a small handful.

 

1 hour ago, Koko said:

The problem is to me primarily twofold:

 

1) There's barely any middle-aged characters so if you play one, you still have to engage in activities and RP surrounded by people decades younger than you. This leads to the second point.

 

2) People RP older characters (particularly males) for comic relief almost exclusively, unless their faction dictates their age. This is in part a consequence of the first point because older characters need to insert themselves into age-inappropriate contexts to find RP.

 

It's all a repeating process: there's no stable population of older characters that aren't based around factions (and often glued to their job), which discourages people from playing more of them because they won't have peers to interact with, etc. etc.

 

It is indeed pretty unfortunate how it is right now. I've seen/heard of people roleplaying elderly characters to either troll or just try to be funny, though some are indeed genuine and well thought out, but it's rare.

 

There's no actual penalty to roleplaying a young character at all, and there's no incentive to roleplay a middle-aged or older character either. If we were to replicate real life, then getting a house, car, insurance, or loans, would be easier/cheaper (dependent) for someone who's older than a younger person, but we don't have these drawbacks/benefits on the server. All we can replicate is that the younger you are, the fitter you are, and I'd imagine that's why people want to roleplay young — because they want as few advantages as possible, hence the "mesomorphic build" I've seen too frequently.

 

This trend has to change on this server, because like @shaobadman said, it's just creepy to roleplay a 40-something year old when all your potential peers could be 1/4 of your character's age. I understand this thread was probably posted to gauge opinions on the potential worth of roleplaying an older character, but I think this thread could achieve much more — the possibility to create a culture shift and influence a change where roleplaying an older person becomes somewhat of a norm. A city full of young people can only become confusing and senseless over time.

[eTaylor]

It depends on what circles you occupy, there’s plenty of 30-40 year olds. I also don’t get the obscure idea of penalizing people based on what they want to roleplay.

[Taina]

I'm not sure where so many of you seem to be getting this idea that there are hardly any middle-aged characters on the server 😂  Sure, the younger characters outnumber the older characters but I regularly come across plenty of 30+ chars in game, including in street gangs (veteran characters, anyone?).  

 

I've personally had multiple characters from ages 30-56, and all of my characters (no matter what age) have had several family members/friends that are 30+. Characters over the age of 30 simply aren't the rarity some of you seem to think they are.

[L I C E]

Be da change you wanna see

[Aquila]

1 hour ago, Taina said:

I'm not sure where so many of you seem to be getting this idea that there are hardly any middle-aged characters on the server 😂  Sure, the younger characters outnumber the older characters but I regularly come across plenty of 30+ chars in game, including in street gangs (veteran characters, anyone?).  

 

I've personally had multiple characters from ages 30-56, and all of my characters (no matter what age) have had several family members/friends that are 30+. Characters over the age of 30 simply aren't the rarity some of you seem to think they are.

 

Nobody's denying that there are older characters, but the younger characters overwhelmingly outnumber the older ones, and that's the problem.

 

Props to you for roleplaying older age groups; but sadly, from my experience, you would still be a minority.

  

37 minutes ago, LICE said:

Be da change you wanna see

 

It's not that easy, especially when everyone you could potentially roleplay with is under the age of 25, IC.

[Wuhtah]

Alright guys - who is ready for bingo night?

[delanto]

3 minutes ago, Wuhtah said:

Alright guys - who is ready for bingo night?

 

Right after I RP filing my tax returns.

[Jankara]

As a previous poster says the easiest way to play older characters is in the OCG factions where character portrayl makes it essential. Outside of that the server is actually pretty hard to rp on if you have a 30 something character, let alone 40 something one. The social circles don't exist .

 

Personally i think some of it is roleplay quality challenging when  you have highly successful 21 year olds owning clubs and such like (it's not impossible but it is not normal) and you have people in command situations or high public office in their late twenties (again not impossible, but unlikely)

 

Either way though I don't feel that is something that is fixable. People rp characters they want to be or can relate to. I also think age is relative, if you are 20 irl then 40 is literally a lifetime away.  If you are 40 rping backwards is much easier.

 

 

 

[Florida]

https://wiki.rage.mp/index.php?title=Peds