Role playing - "Think you're good? Here's the nooks and crannies." [HL2RP]

[GamingZealot]

I'm not gonna make a long post here for two reasons, one is that I'm a lazy arse, the other is because most of this issue has been argued into the ground. However there is one point here I dissagree with.

YES. THANK YOU. I ACTUALLY FACE PALMED WHEN I READ WHAT HE SAID. Age does NOT equal maturity. I play airsoft, and the indoor field i play at created "over 16 only" midnight games, to try to give arenas that didn't have 12 year old codfags running around screaming and cussing because their mommys saw the yearly membership as an opportunity for cheap daycare. I've found, that more often than not, these midnight games are a PROBLEM. Immature 16 year olds are a much larger problem, both physically and communicativley, than immature 12 year olds. And boy oh boy, immature 16+, not in short supply. At all. Age is not the issue, maturity is the issue. It's not necisicarally true that the minges are immature, either. We all just need to understand what we are looking for in good RP, and to put leashes on everything we say and do, that's not good RP, that's creative stranglehold.

You guys are all saying that some 12 year olds can be more mature and better at RP than some 16 year olds, and that is true, but not the issue. An immature 16 year old is way below the standard of good RP and the 12 year olds that are better are still below it. The fact is without experience and education you can't RP effectively, and 12 year old kids just don't have that. I have friends on the RP server who are younger and honestly I don't have any issue with them personally, but a lot of people who aren't at least 15-16 have many problems with their RP skill. They simply don't have the IRL experiences to figure out how they would reactif put into these situations or the knoledge to know how some things work. To anyone reading these posts who was less than 16 or so when they started RP like I was go back and look at your old RP. Yes, some of the mistakes are caused by you being new to RP but a lot were also caused by not having the experience to deal with the situations. If there are 12 year olds who are up to the standard of good serious RP somehow they are few and far between. The fact is even a good 12 year old RP'r is still well below the standards set by the mature older RP'rs.

[Toxilium]

I agree with the OP. The Combine are basically a metaphor for alien/foreign oppression. Let's take a look at some "real" (film) examples of how citizens may act in the company of Civil Protection.

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veztNJQyRJg" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veztNJQyRJg</a>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKie_34cpJI" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKie_34cpJI</a>

Also in regards to age, I cannot even say I have anywhere near enough IRL experiences to RP a truly realistic character. I roleplay a 33-year-old woman. I'm a 19-year-old male who lives a generally posh live in a Canadian suburban home with a few friends who pays for his own rent and food. What the hell does that say about me? It means most of Amanda Whitley is ripped from books (50%) and the remainder is ripped from my own personality, others I know and a tiny little bit from television programmes.

If you're less than even the legal age to drink or drive in your country (19 and 16 respectively in Canada), how can you even begin to comprehend what it's like to be an adult? Most of you are younger than 20 years old and have likely never lived on your own, had sex, drank legally in a bar into the wee hours of the morning, done hard drugs, had a full time job, been in a serious relationship, traveled on your own or with your significant other, etc. Most of you have not experienced the major facets of being an adult which is true independence. But that does not mean you cannot imitate it to the best of your ability. I implore everyone to read mature books, hang out with older people, etc. to get a sense of what it's like to create an adult character. Though none of us will ever be perfect making a realistic character who's older (or in the very rare case) younger than us, unless we're writing an auto-biography.

[Statua]

Could someone please explain to me why we're debating what determines better roleplayers? Look, through my years of RP and teaching, theres one simple factor to what determines whether someone is a good roleplayer or not. Determination. The more one cares about roleplaying, the better they are or will become at roleplaying. Its simple. Age, experience, those are all factors in improvement but determination is in my opinion the biggest factor.

TL;DR, if someone isn't determined to RP, their skills wont be the greatest.