Roleplaying children.

Ok I've noticed that the number of people roleplaying children in CoH (don't know if theres any in CoV). Personally I don't know why people want to do this but I have noticed some issues arising from this.

They don't act like children. More often than not they act in a manner very different from children, usually they act very aggressive using the fact that they are RPing children as a shield against in character consequences. One example of this was when a member of my group was repeatedly threatened and harrassed by two or three of these so called children. They repeatedly claimed they were going to tear him apart and eat him. Now I may be getting old now but since when did children threaten to eat large sapient rabbits? or rabbits in general?
What the hell happened to children being cheery and scared of grown ups?
Surely I'm not the only one annoyed by this?

I have a semi-child that I RP. I find it very hard to do right, I mixed her up as a faerie child in order to give me a little leeway in how she acts, but I still find it tough to get right. I haven't had any feedback about her so I will take that as a positive sign. Keep an eye out for Lilit if you see her ... she will most likely be hiding, or peeping out from behind Red Commissars legs as she trusts him (he let her have his funny pages).

Thats a more believable behaviour pattern for a child though. Some of the ones we see in PD now try to pick fights with people five times their size (Tygerboy trying to [censored] of Lunk through Tress...)

Any child even a super powered one is going to be nervous if surrounded by a load of super powered strangers. And how do they even get into Pocket D in the first place?

i think its a generational thing.
Im still quite young (even though i know im older that you, gash :P ), but im still from a generation that pre-puberty would see a giant humanoid rabbit and think "hey! cool!" (compared to the now post-puberty "[censored] furry")

Kids today, or atleast the ones i see, are little bastards.
Maybe its because im in a rough part of London, but ive known of kids (about 11/12) slashing car tyres, smashing windows, beating up old women, throwing kittens off council flat top floor balconies 'for a laugh'.... and so on.

having said that, a lot of kids today are so stupid, i doubt they know rabbits are edible

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Some of the ones we see in PD now try to pick fights with people five times their size (Tygerboy trying to [censored] of Lunk through Tress...)

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*cough* ten times *cough*

Yeah I guess. Bloody kids XD
Albeit Lunk thats from a rough part of London, one of the areas thats only gotten worse thanks to Labour (but lets not get into that). But I imagine it would be difficult to have a hero license at all if you were doing things like that or threatening people (and if you didn't have one then you'd have constant trouble with police.)

So you suspect some roleplayers are purposely using children characters to behave immaturely in a roleplaying community? Dude, thats paranoia right there. If you ask me, I'd say the kids threatened the talking rabbit because an aggressive child, or adult even, might just do so. There really is no set way to roleplay persons unless he or she is simply a cardboard cut-out stereotype.

So these three kids ganged up on a rabbit and graphically described that they were going to rip his organs out and eat them because aggressive children do that?
God what sort of place is London? Sounds like hell on earth.

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God what sort of place is London? Sounds like hell on earth.

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it is, but thats not the point

what pistol is saying, is that its possible that IC for these little hooligans is exactly that: sick twisted little [censored].

do i personaly think that it makes sense for a "hero" of any age talk about graphicaly mutilating a poor defenceless bunny? HELL NO!
do i think that its valid that those kids are possibly horrible little wastes of life IC? yes.

Punch them in the face and/or eat them before they carry out their threat. If challenged, simply comment about what they were doing to provoke you.

Actually had my character stab someone in the groin a while ago over something like this - the player got rather snarky in a /tell, so I just gently reminded him that trying to get someone into a fight WILL blow up in their face if they're not prepared to deal with it. Never heard from him again.

Good point Lunk considering one of the characters in question was a cannibal (albeit she was the only one who ended up treating him even remotely nice o_O)
I know little knight wolf was one of them but I don't know who the third was.

Its a shame we can't revoke their hero licenses
Ah well if Noetic see's them he can just give the kids an uncontrollable urge to sing backstreet boys songs

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Tygerboy trying to **** of Lunk through Tress

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Tygerboy is a little rascal hero you just love to hate.

well tbh i have never seen this, the first thing that has hit me with people RPing children is at times they are TOO innocent and naive, i've seen children being RPed who are older than myself, and others i know, who are balking over things that i find commonplace, for example when a 16 year old talks about sex =P

okay, i don't think anyone would use young characters as an excuse to being a git. Maybe these people are simply playing the characters, as Lunk, i think, said, some kids, however old they are are just idiots, if they want to act like this there is no age limit, you don't have to be 15+ or anything lol =)

okay, i guess what i am trying to say is, that, i know Tyger's characters, and although i do not know the other two if we take Tyger's age, which i think is about 14, i know people who are 15, okay a year older but still, who will happily stand up to people twice their size, and although they might not describe quite so graphically what they will do, Tyger boy's history shows him growing up in a time of war where boys his age were made to fight, surely this will have made him act older, even if he is still only a young teenager.

Now, i have no idea if any of this helped or made sense to anyone but i thought i just throw in my two cents and see what people think =)

Well, if people are acting like idiots when RPing kids, react as a lot of adults would, and give the little buggers an IC spanking!

Does annoy me when kid characters are in PD though. For all it's in another dimension, it's a bar run by an American, and I VERY much doubt he allows kids into his club unless they're 21+!

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Well, if people are acting like idiots when RPing kids, react as a lot of adults would, and give the little buggers an IC spanking!

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In some countries violence against children is forbidden, even if done for disciplinary purposes. Admittedly, I believe physical punishment of kids is allowed in many states in USA. But even then, I doubt it's accepted to smack around someone else's kids even if they do act like idiots.

Blackdove

While it's pretty ghastly, I actually don't think I find it all that un-childlike for kids to be able of very graphical descriptions of things. I'm reminded of a class assignment my younger brother had some ten years back (age 12-13 at the time) where the class had been tasked with writing a 'scary' story. Nearly everyone in that class equated scariness with gratious use of blood and gore (as opposed to suspense, but I digress).

To some extent, I think children might actually be more capable of making statements like that because they wouldn't be as capable of understanding the full weight of what they're saying. Kids don't have a very developed (if any) sense of empathy - as a result, kids can be very cruel individuals.

But.. I'm rambling.

The line between using age as a shield IC and a shield OOC is pretty fine - it can come down to being a matter of perspective which it is in any given situation. I'd say FFM offers a good argument though; If we assume thatPocket D is atleast a semi-adult locale, then it might be logical to say that children that trek their way in there also forfeit their traditional 'children's rights'?

Basically, age nonwithstanding, children that take the step into an adult world should be treated as adults, with all applying advantages and disadvantages?

Personally I haven't seen that much of a problem with 'children', but then again with Kanae having existed for merely some seven months she doesn't really see children as people who are free of consequences. As she sees it, if children visit a place like Pocket D then someone obviously must've felt they were ready to bear the consequences of whatever actions they might take.

As has been said, there is a wide variety in how kids behave. Some are little darlings, some are antisocial killers. Then there's the gap between them where the rest of them fall.

Playing any of them is as valid a choice as any other, adult, werecat or a demon. Some characters are nasty IC. Some of them might be kids. That's the way it goes.

Although, it pays to point out, in extreme cases of kids misbehaving enough for others to get annoyed it is equally valid to contact an NPC instance like child care or police which would have consequences for the kids. As with any RP it would be good if people causing ruckus would be ready to pay the piper according to their actions.

I have no big problems with child or childlike characters if they are played consistently. By that I don't mean that a meek character should never get aggressive, or anything similar. One person can plausibly act very differently if the situation calls for it.

What I do find myself to be at odds with are characters who seem to fluctuate too much (in my personal opinion) with their maturity. On one hand they seem to be oblivious to the most basic facts of life, on the other they are well trained ninja spies who vanish to the four corners of the Earth to conduct secret, highly dangerous tasks for various organizations and are just cool with that. If their responses to any situation seems to be more dependent on the mood of the player than the chosen theme of the character it becomes hard to have consistent interaction with them.

As for Tygerboy, well, as a time traveller I'm not sure what his current background story exactly is (as my characters affected the present and changed the future where he originally is from) but previously it was a 30 year old mind in the body of a 15-16 years old. To my experience the character has been consistent and yes, he can be a nasty bugger IC. I'm sort of dreading the day my character meets the business end of his claws.

One childlike character that I find to work very well and to be consistent is Love Angel. Physically she is 17 but some of the actions and reactions seem to belong to a bit younger person. It has been so for half a year and the character has experienced IC growth. This growth might not be as apparent from her IC diary, mind you.

I even have a character in the similar vein of my own, namely my main Coile. Physically he's an adult but he started as a whiny brat looking for a place in the world. Although educated at least to high school extent he lacked a lot of real world life experience and that meant making terribly stupid mistakes along the way. There has, however, been growth and it's now somewhat rarely that he has childish tantrums or encounters social situations where he has no idea what to do. The success and consistency of Coile I leave others to be judged.

Pocket D as a place resides in another dimension and allows in humans, gods, demons, aliens and whatnot. From the Isles side in pours a whole flock of scum and villainy and I find it hard to believe that they get carded. Also, young characters can walk into Pocket D at will so the way of least headaches is to accept that. One way to look at the situation is to expect US laws to be applicable. The other way to look at is to assume that it is not so. People are free to choose, but the fact remains that there will be underage characters in Pocket D. Personally I choose to accept their presence as an IC fact and assume that the rules in fact allow this.

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Pocket D as a place resides in another dimension and allows in humans, gods, demons, aliens and whatnot. From the Isles side in pours a whole flock of scum and villainy and I find it hard to believe that they get carded. Also, young characters can walk into Pocket D at will so the way of least headaches is to accept that. One way to look at the situation is to expect US laws to be applicable. The other way to look at is to assume that it is not so. People are free to choose, but the fact remains that there will be underage characters in Pocket D. Personally I choose to accept their presence as an IC fact and assume that the rules in fact allow this.

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Exactly! Where is Pocket D located? NOT in the US, that's for sure. It's not even located in our dimension! Thereby US laws doesn't hold.
And as stated above... If someone is in Pocket D, be it a 7 months old magical construct, 500 year old deamon or a 14 year old human, they count as "adult". If they can get in there they qualify as that and is also (as adults) responsible for their own actions and behavior.

I you want to do "adult-things" you will be treated as an adult!

Can't say I have any truly "child" characters. Closest I had was Harrietta (who, unfortunatly, I deleted to make room). Being a genetically altered cat, she had a very basic mind and tended to be a mix of curious and nieve with a touch of ADD. Next closest I have is Bat-Hawk at a respectable 18. I try to get her to abide by expected US laws no matter where she is - upbringing and all that.

But yes, back to the original thing of the bunny getting eaten, I think I was witness to said event (or one similar). A number of characters, mine included, were treating a bunnyperson rather nastilly. We were informed OOC, however, that said bunnyperson had a mental disorder (I forget which), which would have required anyone interacting with him to be stern and firm. Unfortunatly, I judged my character to have a low tollerance of people she considered to be "bullies" as she had no IC knowledge of the bunnyperson's condition

So, should child-like characters act as children? I think it should all depend on that particular character's mental state.

And yes, I too am old enough to wholehertedly say "Giant robots? Cooooool!"

I've always taken Pocket D for what its name describes.

A Pocket Dimension.

Since it is a Pocket Dimension then it would therefore be out of the durastiction of any of the worlds justice systems. Hence why villains can waltz in and not worry about being arrested by having the police do nightly raids. By that very extention it is always unbounded to the age drinking laws of any country or pretty much any laws to be honest besides those Zero installs.

Best way to think of it would be International Waters, nobody really owns them and as such you can technically get away with quite a lot out there (though not so much now since if your british, British law now applies to your boat no matter where you are, so you can nolonger carry a handgun onboard your boat, or marry a animal etc.)

Mechano used this to his advantage while drug peddling scheme went on. He was technically untouchable by the law in Paragon, could not be prosecuted unless he stepped foot on Paragon's soil (they'd have to catch him first). Even the heroes couldn't touch him thanks to the 'no fighting' rule Zero has installed. plus when would Recluse ever sanction the extradition of a villain? Though they could ruin his business in Paragon quite efficently and with full backing from the law enforcement agencies of Paragon.

So kids would be allowed in, could drink alcohol as long as they don't get rowdy and generally behave how they saw fit as long as a fight and/or propety damage wasn't involved.

Not to sound too snarky, but I don't think the Pocket D being in another dimension would allow people to get away with death threats, drug pushing and other pretty serious crimes. I really doubt DJ Zero is a complete moron - his club wouldn't be so popular otherwise.

Indeed, as I understang the intent, Pocket D is MEANT to be crime free.

And I seriously doubt he'd condone the selling of alcohol to minors...

Mechano didn't push his drugs INSIDE the club (he wasn't vocal about selling it, shouting drugs for sale etc.), he's not that stupid, infact he warned two people that tried it that Zero would probably have them orbiting outside the club if he caught them.

I made the point of the fact that heroes couldn't touch him while he was in D's/Isles.

As I see it, "crime" will always be a part of life in Pocket D. You just can't expect a bar, filled with some of the worst criminals in the world, to be crime-free.
As long as there's no fighting, murder, drug pushing, [censored] or similar "recreational" activities on the premises, people will probably be able to bully or threat eachother to their hearts' content.

And about selling alcohol to minors...
In the US you have to be 21. But in Sweden its 18.
So who's a minor in Pocket D? Does US law rule, and if so, why?

I've always applied US law myself, when in pocket d, because DJ Zero is an American, so it's more likely he'll stick to laws he knows.

Not because he HAS too, but because he's an honest guy.