Age Restrictions

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Squee

Squee

I'm one of those "details and implications" guys.
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Lately I've been searching for one more roleplay to join, and I have found loads of good plots, but they come with one of two issues. Either they're full, no harm there, or they restrict your age range.

Now, the occasional age limitation is alright, but I feel as though it's done all the time. I, for one, enjoy playing older characters. Between the ages of 28 (oddly young for me) and 56 (only slightly over my normal) is where I feel more comfortable. I've asked many GMs about this, maybe I can make an older character if I inquire about it, but I usually get a canned response of "Young people can be mature, too." It's not really a matter of maturity to me, it's a matter of experience. I'm simply far more experienced playing a character that's better aged. But of course, it's also not about my personal experience, but also of my characters experience.

By all means, there is nothing wrong with a good coming of age story, they can be, and often are, fantastic. However, I am just not good at this. Being limited to my characters age limits the type of personal story I can write, if it's too young, I'm no good at it. Like I said, it's not a matter of maturity, it's a matter of growth. Making a backstory is much easier than writing everything in detail, and frankly, as I said, I'm just not good at young characters. My forte is to make a character that has already grown, has already become the man or woman he or she was always meant to be, but what happens when everything you know is brought into question?

So this begs the question, why are there so many age restrictions? And how do the rest of you feel about them?
 
While my RPs are usually military based, I have never had a problem with accommodating older characters. Usually they don't pop up.
I personally agree, that backstory exposition > writing from day one.

My best character I wrote with was a 39 year old Ranger who was a year from forced field retirement. Sometimes the older characters are the best.
So I hate age restrictions unless it's like the "modern high school" stuff, which at that point, it's understandable.

Speaking of character-
My RP TIA could use a character as a scientist or engineer. If you wanted to join, of course. It's Sci-fi with aliens and a virus that rivals the flood from Halo.
 
I love the Halo universe, but I'm not overly enthusiastic about alien roleplays, though I do have a scientist. I can take a look at it at the very least, but no promises. Do you have a link for me?
 
I'm not sure I've looked at enough RPs to really notice it, but other than things where the primary plot or setting would naturally put an upper limit on a character's age, I am surprised that people would impose one at all. A minimum age, I can understand. A maximum limit just seems unnecessary. Most people don't like being the "old guy," but that's possibly due to a lot of entertainment focusing on youth, even more so if you look at anime and other Japanese entertainment that I'm sure a lot of us (myself included) also consume. I've seen at least a few characters in Japanese stuff with a running joke of being "old men" when they're only around 30.

Outside of an influence from media we consume, I'm not sure what might be the underlying cause.
 
Except if it is needed by the plot I never put a limit to how old can a character can be.
 
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