Why Won't You (if you don't) RP With Someone Under 18?

[nothing]

I recently met a younger partner, who told me it was harder to get accepted at their age. I decided to take an interest, they posted an RP thread, and used some fandoms that a lot of people use, and are interested in such as Pokemon which I know people roleplay. Over a month, no takers. I posted a nearly identical roleplaying list, first day 5 people messaged me. The only difference between them, and I is our age. The other is under 18, and I am over 18. To an extent it makes me kind of sad, because even if they can't do smut they are in my opinion a great writer, and they've always given me four or more paragraphs per side.

So for those who just refuse to accept partners under 18, what is the biggest reason for you personally?

[xmadnessloverx]

To be honest, my only reason is because I'm trying to obey laws and not try to get myself in trouble for it. I just feel that I don't want to risk getting arrested. You know what I mean? Plus I get really uncomfortable and uneasy to do so, because I once role played with a minor back when Quizilla was still up, and that person has threatened me over a love interest. 

[⚜️🅛🅨🅓🅘🅐⚜️]

I don't roleplay with those under 18 because I require adult themes in my roleplays, things that are illegal to roleplay with those under age. I have made exceptions in the past simply because me and my partner were only a few months apart and I was friends with her in real life, but that was the only time. I have had people lie to me and tell me they were like 23 and I believed them because their writing was that good, but later found out she was only 16 and it upset me beyond belief.
Don't get me wrong, When I was 13 I was roleplaying mature themes and writing sex scenes but it's different now.
You never know what kind of parents under age partners will have. My mom was cool about me writing sex scenes, death scenes or anything like that and actually encouraged my writing but other people's parents might not be the same.

[an0nymouse]

I have to agree with the other two replies and say, a good majority of the reason I won't roleplay with someone underage is because of smut and the law.

Admittedly, when I was young and dumb, I roleplayed smut. Not that it's a justification or anything by any stretch of the means, but I know back when I first started roleplaying, no one had the "must be above eighteen" rule. Or perhaps I just don't really remember it being a rule. Who knows, really, but that's besides the point.

I will roleplay with people who aren't eighteen, but I won't write out smut, and I tend to tone everything - including more dramatic plot points, violence, etc. - down. Odds are, I won't really accept most who ask me to roleplay who are underage simply because, to me, I need to advance plot somehow. I'm not saying that smut, violence, and/or drama are a necessity for a roleplay, but to me, they play a big part. I tend to view roleplaying like writing and reading a story. You're not going to read a story if it's all happy-go-lucky and there's no twists and turns, are you? For a good book, you must have an origin/opening, a conflict, and a resolution. If you don't have those, you tend to just ramble on and nothing gets done.

I'm not saying everyone who is an underage roleplayer is bad, nor am I saying no one should roleplay with them, but I tend not to simply because I have things I want done for most roleplays that I am legally not allowed to do with minors.

- an0nymouse

[amyroleplays]

I think it's funny how a fair amount of people here have an issue with writing smut if your partner is younger than 18. Don't get me wrong, I don't roleplay with people who are under 18 either, but a lot of people on here are from places where the age of consent is around 15-16 years old. They personally aren't sending you nude pictures which means that it's not child pornography. When I was younger than 18 I had been writing smut with older people but I never saw why it would have been a problem. At 14 I personally had had sex for the first time (using protection of course) and I was emotionally ready to do so. I grew up in a mature household where everyone around me was open and blunt about sex. It may have just been my somewhat unique surroundings that attributed to my maturity level compared to those the same age, but I personally wouldn't deny someone a roleplay just because they were younger than eighteen.

The reason why I absolutely will not roleplay with anyone who is younger than that is because they are just that: YOUNG. Those of us who were born in the early to mid 90s grew up in a very different society than the kids today! Just a few days ago my friend and I were talking about Gidget, the Taco Bell dog, and my niece who is only 14 had no idea what we were talking about. And then there's VHS's, analog TVs, and cellphones that weren't even flip phone yet but had those long antennas. I just can't relate to the younger kids nowadays and they're just too different for me to really talk with. A lack of chemistry when it comes to roleplays for me makes it less enjoyable to talk and roleplay with them; not to mention everything that I do roleplay has most if not all of their cast being over 20 years old and I feel as though younger people can't portray those people well enough.

This is just my own views on this subject of course.

[⚜️🅛🅨🅓🅘🅐⚜️]

Mar 12, 2017 1:06:05 GMT amyroleplays said:

I think it's funny how a fair amount of people here have an issue with writing smut if your partner is younger than 18. Don't get me wrong, I don't roleplay with people who are under 18 either, but a lot of people on here are from places where the age of consent is around 15-16 years old. They personally aren't sending you nude pictures which means that it's not child pornography. When I was younger than 18 I had been writing smut with older people but I never saw why it would have been a problem. At 14 I personally had had sex for the first time (using protection of course) and I was emotionally ready to do so. I grew up in a mature household where everyone around me was open and blunt about sex. It may have just been my somewhat unique surroundings that attributed to my maturity level compared to those the same age, but I personally wouldn't deny someone a roleplay just because they were younger than eighteen.

The reason why I absolutely will not roleplay with anyone who is younger than that is because they are just that: YOUNG. Those of us who were born in the early to mid 90s grew up in a very different society than the kids today! Just a few days ago my friend and I were talking about Gidget, the Taco Bell dog, and my niece who is only 14 had no idea what we were talking about. And then there's VHS's, analog TVs, and cellphones that weren't even flip phone yet but had those long antennas. I just can't relate to the younger kids nowadays and they're just too different for me to really talk with. A lack of chemistry when it comes to roleplays for me makes it less enjoyable to talk and roleplay with them; not to mention everything that I do roleplay has most if not all of their cast being over 20 years old and I feel as though younger people can't portray those people well enough.

This is just my own views on this subject of course.

I know what you're saying. Back when I was under 18 and roleplaying smut I didn't think of the laws or anything. Plus now that I think about it a lot of my roleplay partners are close to my age so we were all under 18 back then. Even though it's not 'Child Pornography' some parents may look at what their children are writing online and not think of it as writing a romance story with someone but rather writing out what the partners want to do with each other. It can easily be taken the wrong way by people who don't know what's going on.

I remember when I was like...eleven maybe twelve? It was the first time my mom caught me writing smut and of course with what I was writing she thought I was talking to a 40 year old man or something and it freaked her out. I had to explain to her that it was just writing stories with someone and nothing more than that and after I explained it she was pretty cool about it. But some parents aren't like my mother is. I know some of my friends parents growing up were so strict with this sorta thing that if they got caught writing things like this they'd have their internet privileges taken away or would likely even get the cops involved.
Even though you're roleplaying and writing a story together and have no interest in doing the things you write with the people you're writing with over protective parents won't understand that and when you try to explain they likely won't believe you and think that you're lying. And because the person is over 18 and considered a legal adult the parents will see it as a pedophile and will likely try to get the cops involved. I've heard about it happening before and I don't want it to happen to me.

So over all my fear is over protective parents not understanding and me getting into legal trouble. I'd hate to be labeled a pedophile just because I love writing adult content with friends.

But I also agree with what you said about not relating to kids nowadays. I have to 100% agree there. I mean...I'm 21 and I don't know any of the new bands that are out now. Growing up for me was My Chemical Romance, Panic At The Disco, Paramore and Fall Out Boy...there was a music award show on tv the other day and I had no idea who any of the bands were. And also, like you said, it's kind of hard for a 14 year old to play a 20 year old character. There are some who can but...from my experience they can't.
And even though I hate to admit it, most (not all, but most) can't write real well. I mean, I'm not perfect. There are PLENTY of grammar errors in this alone but people who have just started out writing (typically those under 18) can't add in precise details and length and...I personally feel they are just too immature to write. I was like that when I was young and I just want to kill myself over how I used to write. I used to think certain things were funny and would "WRITE LIKE THIS WHEN SOMEONE WAS PISSED OFF!!!!!!!!!!!! AND HAVE MY CHARACTER PITCH A FIT THINKING IT WAS FUNNY!" when it really wasn't. It was likely annoying and being over dramatic.

Those under 18 and have not been writing very long are more likely to have outrageous mary-sues like being Voldemort's long lost daughter separated from him at birth who has naturally purple hair, who is a vampire that can go out into the sun, was sorted into Gryffindor who is supposed to be Harry Potter's love interest. Who everyone loves, Snape and Umbridge isn't a dick to, and even though it's open knowledge that she's Voldemort's daughter no one looks down at her or is afraid of her...oh did I mention she has a dragon as a pet and is the owner of The Elder Wand (I swear I've had someone send me a character like this years ago). Like...just WAAAAY over the top. I mean, I'm someone who is usually pretty open with Mary-Sues and can tolerate them but...there is a limit. And someone who has just started writing doesn't know these limits. They just want to make an outrageous character to draw attention to themselves in the roleplay.

Now, I'm guilty of making Mary-Sues too, everyone has made them at one point but has grown and learned over time to even out a character with flaws and weaknesses. But as a roleplayer and writer who takes enjoyment from what I do...I don't get enjoyment from outrageous characters from new writers. I understand that everyone has to learn and make mistakes in order to improve their writing but over the years I've had to teach several people how to roleplay and I just can't do it again at this point in time.
I personally believe that those who are new writers should write with other people who are just beginning to write and roleplay as well. Whether you're under 18 or not.

[an0nymouse]

Again, it's not that I won't roleplay with someone under eighteen, it's just that I won't write smut. I know that I did when I was waaaaaaay younger than I should have ever been, but, being older and wiser, I'm just not comfortable with it, and I'm sure if I had partners who were over eighteen then, they wouldn't have wanted to write out smut with me either.

Like ⚜️🅛🅨🅓🅘🅐⚜️ said, a lot of it is just that parents can totally take it the wrong way. I was...ten? maybe? when I started roleplaying and writing. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't very good at it and like to think I've come quite a long way since then. But even back then, all I had was a dA account and my mother flipped her shit. She didn't want me even on deviantART, let alone talking to other people online. She made me "delete" my friends and my account (joke was on her because you could reactivate it later) and grounded me from the computer (joke is on her again, as there was no password and I'd just get on and delete the history before she got home). Had she known I was writing smut, she would have actually lost her cool totally. 

Even though I'm sure many will argue that the situation is totally different, my brother will forever be labeled "sexual predator," "sex offender," and "pedophile." What was his crime, you may ask? He was seventeen and had sex with a fourteen year old. Not a big age difference. He wasn't even a legal adult by the standards of most states. But he was above the age of consent and she was not. Those titles will follow him forever and he's only twenty-three years old. Everyone says, "That won't happen to me!" Guess what? It does. It really, really does happen, and a lot more frequently than people seem to realize.

That's just my take on why smut with someone -18 is a no-no.

As far as not being able to relate, I totally get that though. I'm about to be twenty-one this summer, and for me, it's hard to relate to anyone under the age of seventeen. Even seventeen is a stretch. I can say that a lot of people that are minors struggle portraying older characters, but even though I'm older, sometimes I struggle portraying characters that are past a certain age. I digress.

I hold firm to the belief that we all believe we were mature for our age. Whether or not that's true is entirely up for debate, but everyone that I've talked to has had the same response. "I was pretty mature for my age." "When I was thirteen, I confused people for a twenty year old." Totally happens, and I know I've gotten that a few times. I'm sure we all have. But you can usually tell just by writing styles and interests. Maybe that's just me, I don't know.

- an0nymouse