Redfork2000
The Red One
I agree entirely with this. And while I do my best to respect everyone's preferences and tastes, in my experience there really isn't much difference when it comes to age. In fact some of my best roleplaying experiences have been with users that are considerably younger than me, and I've also have some very good roleplays with users that are about ten or fifteen years older than me.Age actually doesn't matter to me at all. I'm old enough and wise enough to know that age has nothing to do with creative responsibility. A fourty-year-old man with a wife and several kids will still play a melodramatic meathead who monologues mid-fight and grins after his blood is drawn. And a sixteen-year-old boy will still write a practical, realistic, interesting character.
Creative tastes and responsibility is what you're chasing, not a certain age group. Worst thing you an do as a role player is limit yourself to certain age demographics. It really means nothing, lol.
I think it's more of a matter of what you're looking to roleplay. See, if you're looking to play dark and gritty stuff, or themes like drugs, mental disorders and abusive relationships, that kind of stuff that is generally considered to be 18+, then I think it would make sense to prefer roleplaying with only adults. It may have to do with my own dislike for everything overly dark and gritty, but interestingly enough, I've seen teens that just love that kind of stuff as well, so even then there's something to consider. While my own tastes have changed slightly, to be honest I haven't changed too much since I was 12-13 years old in terms of my writing preferences and style. I've just become a better writer through experience, but my preferences have remained very similar. It's very unlikely there'd be something I'd be willing to roleplay now that I wouldn't have roleplayed several years ago, and while I understand that's not the case for everyone, I sometimes find it a bit odd that people seem to be so strict about this age limit thing. I respect everyone's preference and tastes, but sometimes I feel like it just limits and wastes the potential for finding new roleplayers to roleplay with.
And yes, I understand the mathematical and statistical explanation of why people tend to gravitate towards certain age ranges, but in my personal opinion that really overlooks the amount of wasted potential roleplay partners available. It also doesn't completely solve the problem of finding roleplay partners with the maturity level you're looking for. Sometimes I've roleplayed with people who are much older than me (and I emphasize "sometimes", as it's a low percentage of cases) yet I feel like I'm writing with someone who is younger than me, whether because of how they write or because of how they express themselves when we have a disagreement. While it's true that maturity increases with age, age limits aren't a perfect solution, and in my personal experience I haven't found a large enough variation in maturity levels between roleplaying age groups as to feel restricting myself to a certain age group will solve this problem at all.
It may also have to do with how people say things. Sometimes people are respectful about their preferences and will say it in a way that doesn't sound rude or offensive, and I'm ok with it. But then there's someone who is very rude or even aggressive over this, and that just draws me away from them immediately. It's more than just them being direct about their preferences, but rather it's because they say it in a way that doesn't show much respect for people who don't fit their preferences. I emphasize on the fact that this isn't the majority, and it's limited to a small fraction of the people who have age restrictions, so I'm not implying everyone does it. I'd compare it to when people are mean about their preferences in just about any other area, which is why I feel this is a very valid question to make. My answer would be to just try to make your preferences clear from the start, but respectfully. Personally, when I first message someone after reading their interest check, I don't limit myself to saying hello and that I want to roleplay, but instead I make sure to also add an in-depth explanation of my roleplaying style and preferences, so that the other person can evaluate if I'd be a good roleplaying partner for them. Everyone who has done a 1x1 RP with me knows I do this when I first message someone. And while it's not necessary to go all in-depth as I do, you could use your first post to make clear what you're ok with and what you're not ok with. For example something like this:
"Hello, I was reading your interest check, and I'm interested in starting a roleplay with you. Before I get into the plots and pairings that I'm interested in trying, first I'll tell you a bit about me as a roleplayer.
-I'm X years old, and prefer to roleplay with people that are X years or older.
-I'm interested in these genres, and play this type of characters.
-I write this much per post, and tend to reply to my roleplays this frequently.
-I prefer to avoid these themes or settings in my roleplays.
-(Anything else you consider important to mention)
I'm interested in these pairings and plots you mentioned in your interest check:
-Plot or pairing
-Plot or pairing
-Plot or pairing
Let me know if you're interested in roleplaying with me."
That's how I'd structure it. Make it clear from the start that you prefer roleplaying with a certain age group, and if in their reply they don't specify their age, then you could reply something like:
"(Answer to what they said in their post)
By the way, in my first post I mentioned I'm only comfortable roleplaying with people that are X years or older. I just want to make sure you're X age or older before we continue any further."
Keep in mind that the person could clearly see your age requirement from your first post, so if they ignored it that's on them. The key is to be clear from the start about what you're looking for, but doing so in a way that doesn't seem unrespectful. You don't even need to ask for a specific age, just asking them if they are X years or older should be enough. Keep in mind though that there's people that'll simply lie about their age so as to roleplay with you, so even this won't guarantee you play with only certain age groups entirely. I do believe this might be one of the best ways to mention age requirements without coming off as entitled or rude. You want to make it clear that this is an important point for you, but do it in a respectful manner.
Hopefully everything I said helped at least a bit. I agree that this is a very interesting topic, and I understand the worry about trying to not come off as rude when this question is asked. I've seen it done poorly in some cases, and it drove me away from those roleplayers even though I was in the age group they were looking for. I've also seen cases of people I've roleplayed with first pretending they're older than me, and then one day they reveal that they're a lot younger than they said they were, so there really is no way to make sure the other person isn't a minor. I had this one case where I roleplayed on another site with someone who said to be one or two years older than me, but they only revealed their true age once they turned 18 a couple of years later.
So... that's all I have to say. Hopefully it helps. have a good day!