Smed doesnt really give us all the details, it could have been not so innocent in the way he asked or the rest of the conversation. The context should have dtermined his actions,
On the other hand, maybe the person was asking her avatars age, RPing...like i said not enough info in the post to tell.
Maskis Elder Bounty Hunter Nabyl Elder Architect Vendors at -844 -3035 Imperia Tiberious, Lok
SWG was my first mmorpg. i considered it an adult game back in '03 just based on complexity alone. a long time ago my first guild was at war. we had a member who was a damn good pvp'er. we hung out alot and hunted together etc. i had never used Teamspeak or any of that stuff so i had never heard his voice.
one day during the guildwar i felt that he had abandoned me in battle and left me to the wolves. i really let him have it in guildchat. i mean i was cursing and the whole deal. i received a tell from one of my guildies saying "you realize he's only 11 right?" i felt like such an ass, i had always thought he was at least in his twenties. he had always seemed mature and never used l337 speak or anything like that....later our guild started using Teamspeak and he was always yelling with his siblings and acting very immature. i found it so annoying i quit the guild soon after.
since that day its pretty common i ask ppls age. i had never really considered an mmorpg a place where children could be preyed upon until reading this article.
now i try to hang with ppl near my age in SWG (thirties), i try to keep it that way because i like to RP and dont wanna hear about curfews, bedtimes, groundings, Pwnings, etc...
one a sidenote, i have already noticed a SHARP decline in players this past week or two since school went back in session. while i enjoy the older playerbase, i fear our beloved SWG is not long for this world...
Well, again thats one bad experience. You shouldnt base your whole view on age on that. If i was an adult, officialy, which i soon will be, ill take each person case by case. Tbh, judging someone by age, when parents dont mind, the player doesnt mind and the player is fairly mature. Is like racism, there's nothing different with him apart from his age, yet you treat him differently. There's nothing different with him apart from he's black, but you treat him differently.
Well, we can all say generally children are less mature than adults, but there are a few cases, and i and others feel that generalizing and treating a whole class of people because of one aspect is unfair. Ill relate back to my last comparison, i live in a mainly white skinned area, the only coloured people ive seen are on T.V and are big, bulky and carry guns. Now i make the presumption, all black people are big bulky and carry handguns, is that fair? No.
Shoot that is a manditory question in our guild. Only people 18+ that have a maturity about them are permited to join. We have had big problems in the past with the younger people that play this game. Not that we think there is not a place for them to play, but we choose to associate ourselvs with people that have level heads and that are not easily offended. People that we can relate too. I am not a young man any more, and i dont have that much in common with people that are so young. The way we converse with each other, the way we interact is on a mature and adult level. We want to play, make jokes, without the worry of upsetting someone or someones parents. You may even say there are legalities that we try to avoid by keeping our close nit group to people that are 18+ and mature. Not that we are doing anything inappropriate for such a venue.
IMO, it is the same in real life. A 30 year old man should not be playing around with 8 year old kids, that are not his children, or saying certain things around 8 year old children that they would say to another adult. There are terms used for such people, and possible jail time aswell. A game should be no different. That is why age groups should associate more within their respective age groups. It is not meant to say that mature players are better, it is meant to avoid inappropriate interaction, wether intentional or by accident. So in essence i am greatly disagreeing with Smed. Asking the age of a player is a very appropriate question.
Ofcourse it all depends on the intention of the question and substance of the conversation behind the question aswell.
Message Edited by abbink on 08-23-200612:36 PM
Too often players and the devs have a mindset that professions should be balanced with 1 on 1 pvp in mind. This mindset is ruining the game. The benchmark for balance should be determined by the role a profession plays in a group setting. As long as the current mindset continues we will never see uniqueness among the professions, nor will we ever see individuality within a given profession. We will never see the SWG universe expanded as the focus will only ever be balance pass after balance pass after balance pass.
Ahh, but RL and games are different, in RL i would obviosly not hang around with a 30 year old man who i do not know, however IG, i dont mind hanging round with people like that. Dont treat them as "A 30 year old man called bob' Instead i think of it as "A twi'lek jedi who is nice, mature and whom i enjoy the company of".
couldntthinkofone wrote: Ahh, but RL and games are different, in RL i would obviosly not hang around with a 30 year old man who i do not know, however IG, i dont mind hanging round with people like that. Dont treat them as "A 30 year old man called bob' Instead i think of it as "A twi'lek jedi who is nice, mature and whom i enjoy the company of".
I dont think they are. After all, we are all real life people sitting at the keyboards. So far interaction over the internet, wether a game or a chat room is not viewed any different then interaction in real life by those that inforce the laws. Like minds should associate with like minds. Its not meant to be an offense to you. Its to protect me just as much.
Message Edited by abbink on 08-23-200612:45 PM
Too often players and the devs have a mindset that professions should be balanced with 1 on 1 pvp in mind. This mindset is ruining the game. The benchmark for balance should be determined by the role a profession plays in a group setting. As long as the current mindset continues we will never see uniqueness among the professions, nor will we ever see individuality within a given profession. We will never see the SWG universe expanded as the focus will only ever be balance pass after balance pass after balance pass.
Well, i treat games differently to RL. As i know nothing that happens IG will affect me IRL. As i have stated many times, if i only played with people my age, i'd have very few friends, and the game wouldnt be nearly as fun. IN the end, it comes down too, where's the harm in innocently conversing with a 16 year old in a game, nobody will view it as "Eurghhh he's speaking to a child, have him arrested!". If you prefer not to speak or play with somebody because they seem immature, boring, annoying or the like then fair enough, but not because of their age. Also, a 9 year old isnt really old enough to think properly, make decsisions or whatever, a 16 yearold is 2 years of 18. The age many people consider adulthood. Now, physically i am 16, but if there was a "mental age" i'd guess i'd be higher. And consdiering physical appreance, age whatever has no impact in a game, metal age is what matters.
Message Edited by couldntthinkofone on 08-23-200608:49 PM
Red name, and smed himself, /gosh. 
