In all my years, I can only recall three players who managed to pull off playing kids without triggering my squick reaction and my want of bludgeoning. Two roleplayed theirs in a LARP, and each lady had a thought-out and fantastic character. The other played his in City of Heroes, and his morals are without question (hi Shane!).
Everyone else needs to get the fuck off the bus.
The instances where it's okay to roleplay a minor are very few and far between. If the game itself is set in a genre only for characters of a certain age (Pokemon trainers, for example), or in a school setting (Hogwarts, Bayville High School) it's all right. If all the other PCs are minors, fine. If the player his- or herself is underaged, and APPROPRIATELY MONITORED, then that's fine as well.
But the minute you start sauntering your 14 year old into a club unchaperoned, you need a swift kick in the ass.
How many of you in your online MMO wanderings have come across some minor with the obnoxious attitude of a "Jersey Shore" cast member? Or an overly-sexualized little girl pulling her Lolita act in a club? I don't give a flying fuck if it's "just roleplay" or "not real". YOU SHOULD NEVER SEXUALIZE A MINOR. NEVER. EVER. There is NO justification for it. Don't fucking waste my time trying to justify why you have a little girl in fucking ass-floss sucking a lollipop. I don't give a fuck. I know exactly what you're doing, you appalling pervert.
There was a person who had an underaged character with the ability to absorb energy through her skin - or so his reasoning went, as to why this little girl NEEDED to be like 90% naked. Because, you know, more surface area for her to absorb energy, right? The guild I was a part of to witness this application shot the character down; thankfully, enough people were made uncomfortable when we saw this and voted no. It was readily apparent after several other applications, this (GROWN FUCKING) "man" had a penchant for underaged girl super heroes.
This is the only appropriate costuming for a minor girl in comicdom.
The anonymity of the internet is a double-edged sword. It always seems to bring out the absolute worst in people, and in this instance, it brings all the pedophiles to the yard. Or the sickos who want to be a little kid and get fucked. I don't care if it's your sexual fetish and the roleplay isn't real and you would never, ever do that to a real child. The slope is slippery and no amount of apologizing will ever fix what harm you do to a child.
It is also not an excuse for you to roll up an obnoxious character to try and get away with that sort of behavior. One character that immediately pops into my head was one I saw in City of Heroes. An 8 year old boy who lost his parents, and SOMEHOW had the capacity to procure high-power firearms AND have the alcohol tolerance of a grown man. He tended to ignore any repercussions from people reacting appropriately to a misbehaving, swearing child in public. It is an 8 year old. While I'm sure some parents have taken their little one to the firing range, that does not mean they are Wyatt fucking Earp.
I know in this day and age, people are more reluctant to step in when they see a child being rude in public, because the parent in question sitting there placidly doesn't want to "irreparably emotionally scar" their spawn of Satan. It's not worth the aftermath of doing someone's job for them. But in a roleplaying environment, when the player is definitely known to be above the age of 18 (generally in their 20s), they should KNOW better. Don't cloak it in excuses, you just want to be a twatbasket and get away with it. Fuck you.
Child characters need to be handled by respectful, mature creators, if they are necessary at all. They are not toys to be played with. They are not your vicarious youth reborn. They are NOT your "SAFE SEXUAL FANTASIES", because minors should NEVER be thought of that way. Have I repeated that often enough in this post? If you honestly think that it's all right to view children as sex objects, go see a fucking shrink at your earliest convenience. You need serious help.
I don't want your reasons. I don't care that "roleplay shouldn't be dictated" and I can't tell people who and what they can and cannot roleplay. I will report every single underaged character I see not actually behaving age-appropriate. I will utterly dismiss you as a player if your character is a minor girl jetting for her sugar daddy, or going out of your way to set someone up in disgusting ERP to fuck their reputation. Sure, that player was known to have a thing for Lolis, but lowering yourself to the level of deliberately goading him makes you just as reprehensible as him.
You people disgust me. Go fuck yourselves and stay the fuck out of my games. There is NO place for you there.
I actually know exactly which character you're talking about (the 8 year old with an alcohol tolerance). Actually, it was worse. He once asked for a drink which included JET FUEL as an ingredient. I laughed my ass off until I realized this character was supposed to be taken seriously.
ReplyDeleteAnd I agree with you to a point. I don't think that it is wrong to say that an under age character cannot have sexual relations with another character of about the same age (so long as there isn't actually ERP involved because...yeah, that's really squicky). Kids in RL can be sexually active at a young age. I myself lost my virginity at the age of 17 and one of my other friends lost hers at 15. After all, this is done in a lot of literature and stories, so you can't just dismiss it completely. If it's fine in those instances, some leway should be made for RP. I'm not saying the character should be sexualized, but if done realistically there's nothing wrong with two consenting underage characters to have sex OFFSCREEN (again...not in ERP). It's all a matter of realism. And don't start telling me that there is pedophilia and sexualization of under aged characters in movies and literature too because, yes, although that might be the case, there are two things against you. The first is that in many of these instances, the moral is actually against that sort of activity. And there's also the matter of consequences for said actions, but I'll get to that in a moment.
However, I do agree that under aged characters should REALLY be kept away from being sexualized. Not only is it squicky, but from the stand point of a RPer, the kind of flak that can come off of it can be very destructive. The only time and place I can really see this type of RP happening is if the offending character who is taking advantage of the under age character is punished. Don't go about this sort of RP and expect people to be fine with it if your character doesn't suffer for it. Be it through legal action or just flat out bad karma. There has to be some sort of consequence for it.
In the end, it all comes down realism. If your character is going to take part in questionable acts, then you better as hell be ready for the chance of punishment. Be it through IC actions or through OOC stupidity and breaking the EULA (assuming it's in a game). Even if your under age character is sexually active with their BF/GF, you don't need to sexualize them. Have some restraint. And remember that just because the sexual age of consent in whatever state/area the game is taking place in is 15 or 16 or whatever, there is still a fine line between young love and squicky. Try using the /2 +7 rule (divide the age by 2 then add seven), and you should have a good idea of what will be considered creepy.
In summery: Realism if your friend and don't sexualize under age characters regardless of their sexual activity if you want to prevent an ocean of flak from the RP community.
"And don't start telling me that there is pedophilia and sexualization of under aged characters in movies and literature too because, yes, although that might be the case, there are two things against you."
DeleteWould like to clerify here, Gabby! "You" is not talking about you, but rather, those who would make those arguments. :P
One last thing. I would like state that a character who has to wear little clothing to absorb energy is kind of silly anyway since in an environment with hyper advanced technology and skin tight bullet resistant suits exist.
DeleteAn awesome parody of this would be if Old Man Bob (frequent attendees of Club Caprice and CoH's Pocket D will recognize the name) began running around in his undies claiming he had to wear so little to properly take in energy.
Who here would love to see what Old Man Bob would do with that concept?