Viewpoint How old is too old or too young to RP? Does it really matter?

[BlueCandle]

I prefer, in general, to spend time with people my own age solely because we share different understandings on how the world works, how to communicate, etc., as well as maturity relating to themes like the meaning of life, grief and suffering, and other deep topics. This is a reason why I struggle RPing with *much* younger people: but that, of course, does not make them bad RPers, just that I and them have different interests.

I started RPing when I was 12 or 13 or so and after a few years of learning, I was basically on the same "level" of writing at 16, 17 that I am now in my mid/late 20s. It's just that the content of my writing has shifted.

 

[Punkie]

I think a lot of people already touched on everything I'm gonna say, but I'm gonna go ahead and say I don't think there really is a such thing as too young or too old. Rather, I think roleplay acceptable for anyone as long as they're able to write and have an imagination. Like others have said... when you're a kid you already play pretend with dollhouses and your friends, which is basically a different form of RP.

I'm guessing the real question is more about when you're too old to rp, as many of us older folks might feel like it's maybe too childish too keep going or that we should have grown out of it. I say that there's no such thing as too old. I think the term "Roleplay" is what makes it sound more childish or silly, like a game we should have grown out of, when really roleplay is just a form of writing. Specifically, it's collaborative writing, which I honestly think makes it way cooler when you think about it that way. There are a lot of older authors of writing out there... why is it different when it's writing between two people instead?

I think the real answer to this is that roleplay is for everyone, but likely should stay within certain age groups and genres depending on the age. Meaning, younger kids probably shouldn't be engaging in certain darker themes and should only write with other kids, while adults should write with people closer to their age ranges rather than with kids. I think those are the only real big boundaries I can think of when it comes to roleplay.

But yeah, I think this question is a bit easier to answer when you think of roleplay as just simply "writing collaboratively with another person/group of people", because that's really what it is. It's one story, everyone is just contributing to it in their own way by playing out their character the way they portray it. So, this is more like asking "What is too young/old to be writing stories collaboratively?" If that makes sense :]