Well, in the context of "still felt the effects of" You're talking about a global nuclear war. We would be feeling the effects of that for centuries, quite literally.

Ideally, for me, let's say that my proposed character's parents fought in the war, and raised their son to succeed in a post war society. Seeing as I wanted to put them on the asian side, having the parents be in the late teens during the conflict is not implausible, perhaps being 21 by it's end. Then, let's assume that they had him right after. Ideally I'd want such a character to 15-19 to have them be in an age range where their not creeping up on being a spooky child. Assuming we go with say, 17, that makes his parents 38. considering the entire world is now integrated into this game, it really doesn't prclude people from playing characters who literally lived through the war, while opening up the ability to play characters who have grown up in a post-war society, for whom Dust is not an intruder on reality, but rather reality itself.

I honestly think that gives us more room to be diverse, because as it is it's basically impossible to play a a character who wasn't involved in the war. I suppose I could make him have been quite you during the war. That would be an ok compromise, but it still wouldn't have the same social elements. Think about that sort of disparity, a generation who fought the most devastating war in the history of man followed immediately by a generation who don't even subscribe to the same reality.

Just food for thought. I'm ok with making him have been born pre-war and just not remember anything about it.