@WitchChild, I meant more along the lines of biological development and not simply a societal norm. For instance, our human brains don't even finish development until our mid-twenties while an elf that could live to be 5,000+ years probably wouldn't finish brain development until after they've been around for a century or more. Without a fully developed brain and without the hormonal balance that begins to happen in true adulthood, it would make sense that they may not have the kind of maturity that a middle-aged human might have even with their advanced age. And to be fair, even adults who are well into their middle aged range aren't always mature.
It's not just environmental experience that determines maturity. You also have to take into account hormones and the way our brains fire off. There are a plethora of mental disorders, and intellect isn't something that you just acquire over time. I can tell you that some people are gifted with more intellect and more potential to learn than others. My father, for instance, isn't a very smart man. He doesn't really have much by way of academic intellect
or common sense. The man still acts like a teenager or at least someone in their early twenties. I'm guessing he just wasn't gifted with the same capacity to learn and grow that other people get.
Of course, this kind of logic only applies to creatures who are born to live a long time. I don't get the deal with vampires and the like that were once human but become immortal later (unless their transformation also arrested their brain and hormonal development; then I could kinda see it, maybe). I also find it really offputting that so many centuries-old formerly-mortal-but-now-immortal creatures want to get it on with teenagers. That makes zero sense to me. I'm only twenty-five, and I can't see teens as physically anything more than children, so I don't know how a person living so long couldn't see them as practically babies. :: shudders ::
@Asuras, I don't see a problem with using a celebrity photo as long as it's either from a screen cap of one of their works or if it's from a professional shoot. However, using photos of celebrities that are selfies or the like seems weird to me. I also think it's really weird to use photos of random people who aren't famous for the reasons you stated. I wouldn't want someone using my selfies for their characters just because it kind of weirds me out that something I took specifically for me and not for the masses ended up being used on a character I may or may not really want to be associated with... I don't know... I think at that point, if you really want to use another person's personal photo badly enough, you need to ask the person in the photo for permission. Otherwise, it's a no-go.