Now for RPGs

[rynne]

Because I don't like RPGs much and don't play in them, I kept forgetting to include questions/answers about them in the polls. Therefore, here is a separate one for RPGs.

Go here for the original survey, and here for the addendum about maturity.

Again, no one can view the results, so don't be afraid to answer.

[Poll #388583]

For how underage, please see the poll on maturity and age. And in the second-to-last question, pretend I spelled "roleplaying" right. :p

Comments

[ant-power.livejournal.com]

This is a really tough one, because while I am all for freedom of expression and no age restrictions and such, and I think that if people are old enough to want to seek these things out, generally they are old enough to deal with them, and if they're not, then that's how they learn to deal with them, I think RPGs are different. I've had a few bad experiences RPGing with underage folk, one instance where the person I was RPGing with was very immature and when it came necessary to write smut to further the plot it was a terrible ordeal and I had to walk her through it. Another example was when someone sort of got the lines of fantasy and reality blurred and supposed that our relationship was that of our characters, which made for a really uncomfortable time. I really think alot of it depends on the individual, as in anything, but if I were ever going to RP again, I think I would be more wary about age restrictions and whatnot.

[latentfunction.livejournal.com]

Yeah. While there are immature older teens, and mature older teens, I won't even look at a game (which is really all I have time for, anyway) if there isn't a minimum age of something older than thirteen or fourteen, and even that's low. Fifteen or sixteen makes me happier. There's a difference between being old enough to read something without being scarred for life and being old enough to write it well.

[starrysummer.livejournal.com]

I think it depends on not only the maturity of the under-18 player but on the nature of the game. I'm in games that are restricted to 17+ or 18+ that I would feel comfortable playing with someone underage and games where I'm not. While I'm very much not big on age restrictions in general, the thought of RPing explicit sexual situations in the_leaky with someone who was, say, 14, is more than a little squeam-inducing.

I recently started my own RP with a couple friends and though we're going to have a fair bit of dark themes and even some (likely) incest, the format of the RP really made up my mind as to allowing under 18 players. The way the game is played, there really isn't a way to end up with explicit sex or violence, and it's really the explicit roleplaying of situations rather than the adult themes that makes me want the people I'm playing with to be of-age.

[deirdre-riordan.livejournal.com]

A clarification to #6: I'd be comfortable RPing R-rated material with someone as young as fifteen, depending on the person (of course). My life was definitely R-rated at fifteen.
NC-17 material, I'd probably have to draw the line at 17. That rating has always confused me, because it's really supposed to mean "18 and up," but I've always taken it to mean 17 and up.

Of course, the thing is, if I didn't know, it wouldn't bother me, which I suppose all goes back to the first poll. *sigh*

[ceilidh]

The main reason that it bothers me to RP adult material with someone underage (and why I refuse) is the fact that even though RPers are supposed to keep in-character and out-of-character separate, after you've been rping with someone for a very long time it's hard to do that. And I feel very uncomfortable with that line crossing with someone younger, becuase you read about these sexual predators who try to roleplay creepy stuff with young kids and ugh, that's too close for comfort to me. :\

[genarti]

I've never RPed smut; it's not that I have anything against it, but the question has never come up. (And, with the character I'm playing in one currently, it's not really likely to.) Plus, in the only RPG I've spent significant time playing in, fade-to-black is not remotely required but is certainly an option that gets used.

That said, though, there are players I would be totally comfortable RPing smut with, and players with whom I would be very hesitant to broach the plotline. It has nothing to do with age; I don't know the ages of several players in both groups, and in fact I know that a couple of people I wouldn't want to RP smut with are solidly over 18. It's not even a matter of maturity, exactly, at least not with most of them; it's a matter of writing style, and so forth.

Even with someone whose maturity I'd fret about, it's not a question of letting their precious virgin eyes see the smut and their virgin fingers type it. If I'm worried about their maturity, it would be a question of relating to them OOC during and after the plotline. Otherwise, it's not a worry about maturity at all, it's a worry about whether they would feel comfortable writing it (applies to any age) and whether they would be able to write it realistically (ditto).

But then, as I say, I am perfectly comfortable with fade-to-black, and usually it's an entirely valid option. I don't RP for titillation, though it's an occasional nice side bonus; I RP for character arcs and the fun of bouncing ideas and personalities off other writers in a unique sort of collaboration.