Viewpoint My age is making RP impossible.

[BakaTheIdiot]

Seriously, what the hell?
I don't have a problem with being as young as I am. I'm still within the age range this site is aimed towards!
And yet.
Here I am.
Searching for roleplays.
The most frustrating part? I'm actually a pretty good writer! I can do things people my age can only DREAM of doing!
So why is everybody so afraid or uncomfortable around me?
Does this happen to you? Or am I alone?
And is there anything I can do?

*NOTE: My age is very private, thank you. But I am not an adult.

 

[Viper Actual]

Generally most people don't care about your age as long as you act friendly. Sounds a bit like you're alienating yourself moreso than people being uncomfortable.

 

[Funkybub]

I dont wanna be in contact with someone underage for obvious reasons. I'm a 20 year old man, I think its a bit weird to be in contact or friends with someone under 17

 

[Merlot]

Some people do have their biases, it’s quite a bummer. From my personal experiences, I prefer roleplaying with older people but to exclude anyone just because of age is pretty bad- (unless it’s NSFW content which shouldn’t be here in the first place.) Sorry to hear you had that experience.

 

[Idea]

I'm actually a pretty good writer! I can do things people my age can only DREAM of doing!

I don't agree with the whole age requirement thing either, though if I was going to roleplay with you and I saw you posting what I quoted above, I would have dropped you.

 

[Nobelia]

Seriously, what the hell?
I don't have a problem with being as young as I am. I'm still within the age range this site is aimed towards!
And yet.
Here I am.
Searching for roleplays.
The most frustrating part? I'm actually a pretty good writer! I can do things people my age can only DREAM of doing!
So why is everybody so afraid or uncomfortable around me?
Does this happen to you? Or am I alone?
And is there anything I can do?

*NOTE: My age is very private, thank you. But I am not an adult.

What are some examples of this kind of treatment? I know most people just find it awkward after some point, especially if they're RPing with the opposite gender who are much younger than them, and if they're the adults.

 

[Nobelia]

The most frustrating part? I'm actually a pretty good writer! I can do things people my age can only DREAM of doing!

Also, I don't think that people may or may not be excluding you simply because they think you're terrible at writing..

 

[Merlot]

I get the age thing but as this comment thread has been saying; age could be a minor factor if it actually is “Impossible”, people Roleplay with younger people all the time.

 

[Strawberry Ink]

Throwing in my two cents!

I know in my case, I relate better to writers my own age and so I prefer not to rp with people that are below 21. Very young rpers tend to be more immature (not always), have different interests than me or just live by a vastly different schedule than I do which can be a little troublesome. It's also uncomfortable if you want to include mature or darker themes into your rp (mental health problems, for example) but your partner is... 12. Maybe 15. It's just weird for a lot of adults.

I have a feeling your issue is that you find a lot of people on 1x1 threads say they want a partner 18+. If so, I promise that you will find people who are your age or don't care to rp with if you keep digging. Or you can put up your own search thread and let those people contact you themselves.

btw your age is listed on your account so... maybe disable it if it is "very private."

 

[BakaTheIdiot]

Throwing in my two cents!

I know in my case, I relate better to writers my own age and so I prefer not to rp with people that are below 21. Very young rpers tend to be more immature (not always), have different interests than me or just live by a vastly different schedule than I do which can be a little troublesome. It's also uncomfortable if you want to include mature or darker themes into your rp (mental health problems, for example) but your partner is... 12. Maybe 15. It's just weird for a lot of adults.

I have a feeling your issue is that you find a lot of people on 1x1 threads say they want a partner 18+. If so, I promise that you will find people who are your age or don't care to rp with if you keep digging. Or you can put up your own search thread and let those people contact you themselves.

btw your age is listed on your account so... maybe disable it if it is "very private."

Hmm... I did that a little while ago. Maybe it didn't go through. Dammit.

 

[BakaTheIdiot]

What are some examples of this kind of treatment? I know most people just find it awkward after some point, especially if they're RPing with the opposite gender who are much younger than them, and if they're the adults.

Now, I'm not saying that it isn't a bit weird to roleplay with someone who's probably in middle school, but I do find that a lot of people find age to be a priority. A simple priority that I just can't do.

...also, regarding that other bit, I guess I'm just subject to the idea of age relating to maturity. If I were to walk into a chatroom full of strangers and type something in general, I would most likely sound like I'm 25. (First number that came to mind.)

Going back to what I was saying, I guess it's fine to have a preference, but I get a little tired of hearing "how old are you" in chats, as if that's their one agenda. I'm just looking for a little breathing room where I can roleplay without being subjected to an interview because I come off as a bit young.

...I got off topic, didn't I?

To answer your question, this just happened to me recently:
I was setting up a roleplay with another member.
I shoot over the character sheet I had. No big deal. Just one I made a while ago.
First response that comes back: "How old are you?"
After cautiously navigating the question as not to tell them my whole life story, this person made it clear that they weren't comfortable with my age.
So I left. After saying I would, that is.

My problem isn't that people get uncomfortable, but that they feel so unsettled by someone like me roleplaying with them that they request I leave.
I'm just saying that I wish people would prioritize age a little less. Just a little.
Now, I'm all for somebody requesting a writing sample. I can understand wanting maturity.
But is age really that big of a deal?

Maybe I'm just ranting. I dunno. I tried to answer as well as I could.

 

[BakaTheIdiot]

I don't agree with the whole age requirement thing either, though if I was going to roleplay with you and I saw you posting what I quoted above, I would have dropped you.

Yeah, I can understand that. I'm a bit of a narcissist when I'm frustrated.

 

[Idea]

To answer your question, this just happened to me recently:
I was setting up a roleplay with another member.
I shoot over the character sheet I had. No big deal. Just one I made a while ago.
First response that comes back: "How old are you?"
After cautiously navigating the question as not to tell them my whole life story, this person made it clear that they weren't comfortable with my age.
So I left. After saying I would, that is.

Reading this you make it sound as if they only asked you your age after seeing your CS, which would imply that the CS is what led them to have a problem, not necessarily your age. Mind if I see that CS?

 

[BakaTheIdiot]

Reading this you make it sound as if they only asked you your age after seeing your CS, which would imply that the CS is what led them to have a problem, not necessarily your age. Mind if I see that CS?

I can't find it at the moment. I'll dig it up when I have some spare time.
But to give you a general gist, he was 19, liked art, and was a pretty nice guy.
I typically don't go over 20. I chose 19 because then it's not a huge deal to change the age.
And no, the faceclaim wasn't mine. Then again, it never is.

 

[Idea]

I can't find it at the moment. I'll dig it up when I have some spare time.
But to give you a general gist, he was 19, liked art, and was a pretty nice guy.
I typically don't go over 20. I chose 19 because then it's not a huge deal to change the age.
And no, the faceclaim wasn't mine. Then again, it never is.

Well, my suspicion is that the CS has traits of common mistakes often found in more inexperienced or younger players, which led the person to presume you yourself would fall into those same mistakes (regardless of whether those were correct), or otherwise that person was uncomfortable with playing with someone younger and only found out due to evidence present in the content of your CS.

Of course, it's impossible to say that with any certainty without seeing the CS myself, so I'll wait until you can get it. Those are just my innitial suspicions based on your account of the events.

 

[BakaTheIdiot]

Well, my suspicion is that the CS has traits of common mistakes often found in more inexperienced or younger players, which led the person to presume you yourself would fall into those same mistakes (regardless of whether those were correct), or otherwise that person was uncomfortable with playing with someone younger and only found out due to evidence present in the content of your CS.

Of course, it's impossible to say that with any certainty without seeing the CS myself, so I'll wait until you can get it. Those are just my innitial suspicions based on your account of the events.

For all I know, you could be right. I'll hunt it down.

 

[Navarro]

26-year-old RPer here. Some adults feel uncomfortable RPing with minors, but it's not always because they think minors are inherently bad writers or immature. When you're an adult, it can seem strange or potentially exploitative to be messaging an unrelated minor on the internet. If I were a parent, I would be concerned if my 13 year old (just picking a number) were exchanging messages with an adult stranger, especially if those messages involved stories containing romance or violence between my child's character and the stranger's character.

 

[Waraeru]

to be honest, it goes both ways, to an extent. i don't necessarily have an age limit / restriction on the rare occasion that i do roleplay, but as a minor, i would theoretically be uncomfortable if i was roleplaying with someone way older than me. it can perhaps be seen as uncomfortable, awkward and even creepy, and then there's such a large difference in mindset, development and overall compatibility, regardless of how capable or advanced you think you are.

 

[Lord Aphrodite]

Alright. I’ll pitch my two cents.

This is one of things that you might have to ride out. I get that it’s frustrating, but you might just have to suffer through it.

Now this next part is coming from a more experienced role player.

Your attitude about this issue has convinced me to never ever roleplay with you. For two reasons.

1. You seem very whiny. I’ll be blunt. You seem like a little kid complaining about how they can’t play with the older kids. This is my impression.

2. If you started RPing when you made your account, you would still be inexperienced as a RPer. I really don’t know when you actually started, if you have any prior experience writing or roleplaying.

But those two things would be enough to drive me away. I don’t want to RP with someone who isn’t as experience as I am, or someone who complains excessively.



My next point. Take this one with a grain of salt.

You might not be as good as you say you are.

And before you come yelling at me saying you’re good at writing, thing about this.

You may think that your writing is good, but other people might not. When I was first starting off, I thought I was great. Now that I’m older and more experienced, I see that I wasn’t.

TLDR; You complain a lot, and you might not be as good as you say you are.

 

[BakaTheIdiot]

Alright. I’ll pitch my two cents.

This is one of things that you might have to ride out. I get that it’s frustrating, but you might just have to suffer through it.

Now this next part is coming from a more experienced role player.

Your attitude about this issue has convinced me to never ever roleplay with you. For two reasons.

1. You seem very whiny. I’ll be blunt. You seem like a little kid complaining about how they can’t play with the older kids. This is my impression.

2. If you started RPing when you made your account, you would still be inexperienced as a RPer. I really don’t know when you actually started, if you have any prior experience writing or roleplaying.

But those two things would be enough to drive me away. I don’t want to RP with someone who isn’t as experience as I am, or someone who complains excessively.



My next point. Take this one with a grain of salt.

You might not be as good as you say you are.

And before you come yelling at me saying you’re good at writing, thing about this.

You may think that your writing is good, but other people might not. When I was first starting off, I thought I was great. Now that I’m older and more experienced, I see that I wasn’t.

TLDR; You complain a lot, and you might not be as good as you say you are.

And I won't fire back on that opinion. To be honest, i welcome salt. Just a little.
As for experience? I admit, I'm easily less experienced than most at just 2 years. Seriously, I've seen a number as high as 8.
Yes, it is frustrating. I've also been dealing with it for some time now. I also apologize for the way I came off.
Your opinion is valid, and to be honest, I'm a little surprised that anyone replied at all.

 

[BakaTheIdiot]

26-year-old RPer here. Some adults feel uncomfortable RPing with minors, but it's not always because they think minors are inherently bad writers or immature. When you're an adult, it can seem strange or potentially exploitative to be messaging an unrelated minor on the internet. If I were a parent, I would be concerned if my 13 year old (just picking a number) were exchanging messages with an adult stranger, especially if those messages involved stories containing romance or violence between my child's character and the stranger's character.

And I'm not going to say that's wrong. If I were a parent, I'd be concerned. That being said, not everything I do is romantic or even remotely adult themed - sometimes, I just want to blow off steam. Maybe this post is one of those moments. I get what your saying, but it feels weird to be on a site that was built to welcome my age range, and only finding adults. (With one of the posters on this thread being an exception.)

 

[truthofself]

Heres my thoughts, not that they matter, but I've read this entire thread.
Personally, I agree with a lot of the previously mentioned points.

People do not enjoy roleplaying with people of serve age differences, especially is party age is 20+ and party b is under 18. from my own experience it plays into age difference, meaning two grew up different and might have drastically different ideas of well-written replies, and over-all maturity levels. I'm only 18, and I aim for partners either extremely close to my own age, up to 3 years younger for minors, or up to 10 years older. Why? Because with how i grew up, I understand the differences of those time periods. A majority of my friends are years (sometimes a full decade) older than me, or they are younger than me by a few years. A lot of people might find my idea of ideal ages for partners to be insane and a bit worrisome. But for me, its the ages im most comfortable with. I know how to be grown up when needed, but i also know how to childish and playful.

Another thing is, your writing from this post ALONE. Screaming something of and in my own abrasive and or blunt wording. "I think I'm a lot better than people my age, Everyone would LOVE to Roleplay with me." Which let me tell you straight, that's a huge turnoff for many. If you carry the air of someone arrogant and narcissistic, a lot of people will not want to roleplay with you. And if you wonder why people don't like that, its hard to put into words. But with an idea of narcissism, party a might respond slow but get mad when party b doesn't reply fast because party a's reply is so good.

You could think youre so skilled and such, but others may not think that. Unless others have said you're really good don't go around saying "I can do things people my age WISh they could do."

 

[S h i s h a]

Writing can be personal/intimate and for me (even SFW), I can't write with someone who's over a decade younger than I am. We have different life experiences and have been exposed to different things even just in the literary sense. I don't discredit younger writers because obviously I was one myself but to write with someone who is drastically younger kind of makes me feel like a predator, even if things aren't romantic it just feels weird. Plus a younger writer probably has more free time and wants things quicker paced. Someone in my age bracket is okay with a slower pace and longer posts. I could go on about the pros of being a more seasoned writer tied to your age and where you are in life, that said you gotta respect what someone people want even if you disagree. If I found out my partner was really like 15 instead of 25, I'd be pissed. So just be honest and you'll click with people the right group of writers. Don't have a chip on your shoulder and just enjoy writing with people around you. If age matters to some, oh well, if it doesn't, great.

 

[koshka]

don’t worry, it’s not just youngin’s.
I’m 18 and I feel uncomfortable roleplaying with people above the age of 24. I simply believe I can’t relate to seasoned adults. and I don’t wanna potentially be patronized. lmao.

I’m fresh out of high school. that’s all I know.

I’m also uncomfortable roleplaying with people who are under 16 because they don’t have too many life experiences. obviously I am still young at 18. but legally I’m an adult. most RPs have mature themes. not saying people under a certain age are immature.

but more often than not, they don’t know about sex, drugs, alcohol, violence even. it feels wrong subjecting them to things. at least in my eyes.

only to people under 15 at the very least, anyway.

long story short, some want to relate to their partners. I feel like I can only relate to people 16-24. it’s nothing personal.

 

[idyll]

I started rping when I was 11, and I am 20 now, so I know how it is on both ends.

First off, I'll start by saying that no matter what age you are, when you look back on the past year and so on, you'll always be realizing how much more you've matured. What this means is even if you feel like you're mature for your age or doing completely rational things, there's a chance it might be one of the things when looking back, you'll wonder "what was I thinking?" I'm sure that in a year or two I'll look back on this time in my life and see so clearly how I could've handled things better, I'm always growing, and I just hadn't grown enough in that moment to know better.

And honestly? This applies to everything, not just maturity levels. It applies to fine art, writing, musical talent, philosophy... I look back at drawings I was proud of and they're hideous! I don't feel bad about it since everyone starts somewhere, but... you get the idea.

I've never read more of your writing than one or two posts in this thread, so I can't judge your level, but I think that's just good general advice to have in mind and I like hearing myself talk.

The other big aspect here is age differences. You're at least 13, so as an example, to have an idea of why an 18 year old might not be comfortable rping with you based on age, imagine this. You're in a romance 1x1 with someone, your ocs have incredible depth, the chemistry between them is so good, the plot is amazing, the prose beautiful. You have a great friendship too, you share personal problems and life events, and they seem to understand very well. It never gets nsfw, but one day you ask them how old they are, and they're 5 years younger than you. They're 8. It would probably feel a little weird that you've been writing romance with your 8 year old, and you might see aspects of your friendship in a new light that you were just unable to realize before knowing. It doesn't matter that they're able to write well or not, or how mature they are for their age, because they're still so much younger than you. I hope this makes sense, and if it doesn't now, it will in the future.

Usually though, if I'm in a group rp with a lot of different people, age doesn't matter as much since it feels less personal, although it'll depend on the genre as well. If you're mainly searching for 1x1 rps you might have better luck in small groups.