[quote=@Shorticus] I get all this. As I said, I've had both good and bad experiences with them. [b]But most folks emphasize romance, or else REALLY want to push a high school slice of life setting (in which romance inevitably happens).[/b] There are twists and tweaks on it, but [b]most folks don't RP anything beyond what I'd call a typical perception of the teenage experience.[/b] Now, the teenage years are very important. But the rest of life is important, too, equally so. But we don't see people RPing about being outright kids very often, nor do we often see folks RPing about being old men and women or even middle-aged unless they're already getting on in years. [b]I feel like the reasons for teenaged and early twenties characters being the focus of most people's roleplay has a lot to do with the romantic and sex appeal of such characters (besides the typical "power fantasy" stuff).[/b] Old people are "squicky" in this context and a lot of roleplayers are on the younger (30 years or younger) side - certainly not all roleplayers, mind you. Child characters... [b]I figure most people find playing a kid to be weird or beneath them or maybe would just rather play a character whose interests can realistically involve sex.[/b] Plus, child characters come loaded with a crapton of limitations we don't want to deal with when we roleplay, like having to listen to to their parents, like having curfews, like having to do homework, like being unable to fight the big bads, like being pretty much disadvantaged in a ton of ways while also having a few unique options available to them. Basically, [b]a child character makes you [i]weaker[/i], and there's a very real want for roleplay to give us a feeling of power or independence.[/b] Roleplay can be very self-expressive.[/quote] [quote=@Shorticus][b]And some people are just not very sexual beings.[/b] I mean... Myself? I think about sex and I think "Eh." There's nothing especially exciting about it to me. I don't spend very many, if any, waking hours thinking about the subject. I love the idea of romance and having someone be very close to me and sharing my feelings with them. I'd love to wake up next to that someone, certainly. [b]But the idea of sex itself just [i]bores[/i] me, and I've never been all that enthused by amorous acts. I frankly don't [i]get[/i] the sex drive a lot of people have. So, when people want to roleplay about sex sex sex, I honestly have no enthusiasm for the subject matter at all and have zero interest in getting involved in that.[/b] And... well, a lot of RPers that want to RP about "romance" throw in words like "mature" and want some saucy typing. It's not my cup of tea, and it's especially not my cup of tea when we're dealing with teenagers.[/quote] Word. We're like minds indeed. I don't hate romance - in fact, when people come together and build bonds with one another, it's natural for the feelings go beyond mere friendship and the characters would ponder about going further as they become closer together. It can help to develop the characters collectively as they try to sort out the increasing complication of their relationship with one another. ...Until some people misinterpret that closeness as an opportunity to jump the sex wagon. Romance =/= sex, period. Romance is the psychological-emotional bond the characters [i]share with each other[/i]; sex is simply to [i]satisfy personal lust[/i] (unless you're hellbent to get babies, that's a different story). Regarding child characters, I think it also has got to do with the whole "mature" mindset. Other than all the sex and "power fantasy" stuffs, most players probably have this conscious/subconscious thinking of wanting their characters to have a certain edge over everyone else's - that's where the idea of "maturity" comes to play. Just like you said, the idea of playing childish, simple-minded, weak characters don't appeal to them... But in a roleplay that focuses on adventure and exploration, it's much funnier and more exciting to have a group of rowdy kids than...a bunch of angsty teens.