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+--- Thread: Eorzean Seniors (/showthread.php?tid=4711)
RE: Eorzean Seniors - Salty Lake - 09-23-2013
(09-23-2013, 01:19 PM)Twinflame Wrote: Considering how common elderly NPCs are and how often it is that, in the story, you run into people who were active in the Ala Mhigan defense forces during its fall (which was 20 years ago, making them at least mid-thirties or forties on the low end), I don't think that in Eorzean society there's a remarkable difference between characters who are, say, 25 and those who are 32. Some low-30s folk are going to be wise, old souls, but then so will some in their 20s. Keep in mind that this is a fully industrialized society that doesn't have the unsafe labor and feudal ownership that drew down life expectancy during similar eras in the real world, and has healing magic and medicine to bloat those same numbers. So if the life span for Lalafel is 100 years (it is), I would expect their life expectancy to be only a couple decades removed from that. Elezen wouldn't be far behind, and Hyur would be behind them a bit. My guess would put Hyur life expectancy around 70.
What about the lore suggests to you that labor is safe? I am not trying to be argumentative, just understand. It seems to me there is plenty of dangerous work: adventuring, military positions, mining, piracy, etc.
If we don't want to compare to eras past, how about the recent past? According to the US's Social Security Administration, life expectancy at birth in the US was 58 for men and 62 for women for those born in 1930 (this includes infant mortality). In FFXIV, are we to presume that magic and alchemy inflate the life expectancy from what it was in a post-industrial first world country? Do you believe health care is available to everyone? (These are questions for everyone.)
(09-23-2013, 01:40 PM)cuideag Wrote:(09-23-2013, 12:30 PM)Salty Lake Wrote: I wish there were more options for making a character look older. Â
^ ^ ^ As much as I LOVE pretty young people, it would be so nice to have some variety. Of course you can always RP as an older person but having an avatar that goes with it is helpful.
Yeah! I've had a few IC complements admiring Salty's face, calling her pretty etc. and I'm like, "Eh? Pretty wasn't what I was going for but OK!" Maybe I need to use that phial of fantasia to add some scars.
RE: Eorzean Seniors - Naunet - 09-23-2013
(09-23-2013, 01:30 PM)Salty Lake Wrote:(09-23-2013, 12:50 PM)Naunet Wrote: All these people thinking 30s is middle aged is making me really sad. XD
On a somewhat related note, I disagree that Eorzea mirrors a "feudal" society. Its cities suggest significantly greater advancement than that. More industrialized than anything.
A quick glance at Wikipedia tells me that life expectancy for those who survived childhood was 54 in classic Rome and 64 in medieval Britain. Â Perhaps there is some lore suggesting folks live longer in FFXIV, but if their societies are similar to Britain and Rome in quality of life, and folks live to 50-60, I'd say 30 is middle-aged.
What would you say is a better historic analogy? Â There were cities in feudal societies, but I'm no student of history, so enlighten me.
I would hesitate to draw historic parallels, considering Eorzea is a land of magic and a certain level of magitek (though that is mostly reserved for the Garleans). As Twinflame said, we do see a lot of elderly characters in-game, and we do know that lalafell can live into their 100s. That combined with the level of sophistication in not just the main cities but the outlying settlements suggests something significantly more advanced than any kind of medieval era in real life.
RE: Eorzean Seniors - Ildur - 09-23-2013
We don't need an historical analogue. Eorzea is an amalgam of themes, times and cultures. You can't just pick a place and a time and draw conclusive paralels. The most accurate you could go, I believe, is saying that Eorzea's Japan when Christianity arrived there. You have some cultural analogies, but nothing else on , say, the way of health care. I mean, while the Dutch and Portuguese had gunpowder and probably very fancy ships, they didn't have self-powered robots. And Japan clearly did not have airships!
Eorzea's has a medieval aesthetic. But nothing else.
Oh, and to answer one of the questions on the OP: one of my character's is in his 60s.
RE: Eorzean Seniors - Twinflame - 09-23-2013
(09-23-2013, 01:41 PM)Salty Lake Wrote: What about the lore suggests to you that labor is safe? Â I am not trying to be argumentative, just understand. Â It seems to me there is plenty of dangerous work: adventuring, military positions, mining, piracy, etc.
If we don't want to compare to eras past, how about the recent past? Â According to the US's Social Security Administration, life expectancy at birth in the US was 58 for men and 62 for women for those born in 1930 (this includes infant mortality). Â In FFXIV, are we to presume that magic and alchemy inflate the life expectancy from what it was in a post-industrial first world country? Â Do you believe health care is available to everyone? Â (These are questions for everyone.)
What I'm comparing this to in my head is the coal-mining era, where life-expectancy was considerably truncated by the lack of safety and healthcare. While there is plenty of dangerous work, I don't think it's going to be common-place enough to significantly skew the figures. Most people live in the city-states or surrounding regions, where things are relatively safe and prosperous with the exception be Ul'dah, which has received the refugees from Ala Mhigo and has no place for them.
I'm comfortable looking at the 1930s US; I think it's a worthwhile technology-and-infrastructure analogue even if it's only just that. Answering the last question first, yes, I do think that healthcare would be available to everyone outside of Ul'dah which has a very definite lower class who likely die of poor nutrition and common illness not uncommonly. The lifespan of the refugees, or even the city-state of Ul'dah in general, though, in my opinion wouldn't be enough to pull down the whole of Erozean society.
Finally, I do think that alchemy and magic would bloat the life expectancy of Eorzea. I'm not one to look on Esuna as a panacea or magic as a cure-all, but having powerful alchemy and magics to aide basic medicine must be more effective than having medicine alone. In the very least, adventurers and soldiers that either are healers or stay close to healers will be able to stay active and at full strength until a much more advanced age than would be otherwise possible.
A less pedantic point: SE wouldn't have bothered to tell us that Lalafel could live to be over a hundred if it didn't actually happen from time to time.
RE: Eorzean Seniors - DAISHI - 09-23-2013
(09-23-2013, 01:41 PM)Salty Lake Wrote:(09-23-2013, 01:19 PM)Twinflame Wrote: Considering how common elderly NPCs are and how often it is that, in the story, you run into people who were active in the Ala Mhigan defense forces during its fall (which was 20 years ago, making them at least mid-thirties or forties on the low end), I don't think that in Eorzean society there's a remarkable difference between characters who are, say, 25 and those who are 32. Some low-30s folk are going to be wise, old souls, but then so will some in their 20s. Keep in mind that this is a fully industrialized society that doesn't have the unsafe labor and feudal ownership that drew down life expectancy during similar eras in the real world, and has healing magic and medicine to bloat those same numbers. So if the life span for Lalafel is 100 years (it is), I would expect their life expectancy to be only a couple decades removed from that. Elezen wouldn't be far behind, and Hyur would be behind them a bit. My guess would put Hyur life expectancy around 70.
What about the lore suggests to you that labor is safe? Â I am not trying to be argumentative, just understand. Â It seems to me there is plenty of dangerous work: adventuring, military positions, mining, piracy, etc.
If we don't want to compare to eras past, how about the recent past? Â According to the US's Social Security Administration, life expectancy at birth in the US was 58 for men and 62 for women for those born in 1930 (this includes infant mortality). Â In FFXIV, are we to presume that magic and alchemy inflate the life expectancy from what it was in a post-industrial first world country? Â Do you believe health care is available to everyone? Â (These are questions for everyone.)
(09-23-2013, 01:40 PM)cuideag Wrote:(09-23-2013, 12:30 PM)Salty Lake Wrote: I wish there were more options for making a character look older. Â
^ ^ ^ As much as I LOVE pretty young people, it would be so nice to have some variety. Of course you can always RP as an older person but having an avatar that goes with it is helpful.
Yeah! Â I've had a few IC complements admiring Salty's face, calling her pretty etc. and I'm like, "Eh? Â Pretty wasn't what I was going for but OK!" Â Maybe I need to use that phial of fantasia to add some scars.
Magic. It all boils down to magic. The life expectancy of a person in Eorzea is, according to me, 200.
RE: Eorzean Seniors - Salty Lake - 09-23-2013
(09-23-2013, 04:24 PM)DAISHI Wrote: Magic. It all boils down to magic. The life expectancy of a person in Eorzea is, according to me, 200.
I'm not that far in the storyline yet, but wouldn't it take a utopia for everyone to have access to the magical (pun!) cures to aging and ailments?
RE: Eorzean Seniors - LandStander - 09-23-2013
(09-23-2013, 11:30 AM)Naunet Wrote: My character Antimony is a 46 year old mother of three and has all of the lines and grey hair and stubborn weight to prove it! Of course, her in-game model only shows the grey hair... *grumbles*
I do always chuckle a bit at the number of "20-somethings" in roleplay, but then it kind of makes sense, as the majority of folk roleplay at least somewhat true to their chosen class and 20s to early 30s would be the "prime" of someone's life. Still! I definitely appreciate it when I run into older characters.
Actually, my little blob of friends has rather a number of older characters in it. Twinflame's character Megiddo is extremely old - in his 80s, I believe - and two other folks' characters, Ildur and Alcor, are in their 60s and 50s respectively.
I guess we're the senior(ish) club? XD
Jeez, I need to get on this senior club. We can all plan a day out and go use our age to get a discount at one of the local restaurantsÂ
. I'm glad some people out there is trying to also create a more diverse RP environment. Did you find people to play all three of your children ^^?Yeah, I had trouble making an older looking character in the creator. I really wish that there was some kind of age slider. I created a decent old man (who I thought about playing as an aged war veteran who refuses to admit that he is not at the prime of his life anymore), but had a hard time with creating an older lady which is why I was thinking of settling for a lady who was still slightly young and only recently began greying (yay for highlights at least
). With age expectancy reaching in the 80's, 30 is no longer middle aged (technically speaking) and it's 40 now. Plus I'm personally coming up on 30 (27 atm) so I tell myself this to make myself feel better
. I think it would be hard to guess the life expectancy of the citizens of Eorzea. I mean they do have magic and medicine which can help them live longer lives, but they also have 10 foot ants, beast tribes who summon extremely powerful beings, and all sorts of nasty surprises around every corner. They also don't seem to have any sort of social security set up for the poor or aging population. I mean Ul'dah is the richest nation and yet they have a pretty gnarly slum. It seems like you work and work to get by and hope that your kids will take care of you in the future.
Plus I would think that the life expectancy of the citizens of Ul'dah would be shorter than the ones of Gridania as they Gridanians seem to be more helpful and they house a lot of conjurers, while in Ul'dah you are kind of more left on your on. If I remember correctly, I think Limsa has actually the least amount of older NPC's. I'll probably go count them all when I get back from school though xD.Â
I'm glad to see so many people interested in playing older characters ^^. I have to seek out these wise people
.
RE: Eorzean Seniors - Naunet - 09-23-2013
(09-23-2013, 05:27 PM)LandStander Wrote: Did you find people to play all three of your children ^^?
I actually have! Three different people, even. Shall make for some fun RP should certain things happen to fall into place.
Quote:With age expectancy reaching in the 80's, 30 is no longer middle aged (technically speaking) and it's 40 now. Plus I'm personally coming up on 30 (27 atm) so I tell myself this to make myself feel betterÂ
I can totally relate to this. I'm also coming up on 30 quite soon - no way am I gonna consider myself middle aged!
Us old fogies have done some RP in Limsa and and surrounding areas so far, so if your character happens to be around there, keep an eye out!
RE: Eorzean Seniors - LiadansWhisper - 09-23-2013
(09-23-2013, 05:26 PM)Salty Lake Wrote:(09-23-2013, 04:24 PM)DAISHI Wrote: Magic. It all boils down to magic. The life expectancy of a person in Eorzea is, according to me, 200.
I'm not that far in the storyline yet, but wouldn't it take a utopia for everyone to have access to the magical (pun!) cures to aging and ailments?
And if there's one thing Eorzea isn't, it's a Utopia. Â
Re: Industrialization: I have yet to see any indication that all or even most of Eorzea is industrialized. Â The Garleans appear to be with magitek, and that seems to be the big dichotomy between it and Eorzea.
RE: Eorzean Seniors - PerkPrincess - 09-23-2013
Yo yo! Paerlwyn here rests around the 46-55ish area. I haven't preciously picked an age, mostly because I'm not aware there's an official life expectancy for the separate races. So I keep it relative to us.
She's still very busy though, or at least tries to be. Technically she's a retired entrepreneur and adventurer, but that's been kind of a drag on her mental health and soon enough that whole casket is going to blow. She's a wanderlust champion and a bandit at heart.
RE: Eorzean Seniors - Sigyn Shieldbreaker - 09-23-2013
Klarimel Surtsthalsyn is about 32-33 years old. He's older... but not more mature nor is he wiser.
I think it honestly depends on the lifespans of your characters, but honestly, Western countries where 18-20 are the expected 'young adult' age are rather few compared to the countries where people start the hard work of their lives as young adolescents. Mongolian children become, like, master horse-back riders before they're ten years old. I think they start at the age of three.
RE: Eorzean Seniors - John Spiegel - 09-24-2013
My main, John "JJ" Spiegel is in his mid 50s (57 if I recall.. too lazy to look at my timeline) and still kicking ass. His life has been rough and he keeps rolling. He's one part stereotypical badass, five parts insane, six and half parts JJ, one part pumpkin and two parts pinwheel. That's how you make a JJ. His mostly nonsensical speech contained wise words at times. Part killing machine, part adorably hideous-looking manchild. That's JJ!
Since Ala Mhigo fell (his kids were grown, wife was killed), he returned back to adventuring, was at the battle in Mor Dhona and is continuing to cause trouble and have fun all over the place.
His son, Alex, my other main, is 38 but isn't much of a fighter and nowhere near his father's caliber. He's a botanist, alchemist and purveyor of rum. Oh, and he's also a monk, but as I said, nowhere near his father's caliber. Alex also has a twin sister.
RE: Eorzean Seniors - Yloise - 09-24-2013
I play a 50 something while I am a 40 something. Been gaming and role playing since the late 80s.
I prefer to play the older types, since I am not really interested in playing a young person. You get to blame crankiness and wisdom on your motives and actions.
RE: Eorzean Seniors - Cato - 09-24-2013
As far as I see it, Eorzea is a pretty dangerous place. Aside from the regular beasts lurking in the wilderness there's the constant threat of the Garlean Empire and the Primals and their beast tribe worshippers to deal with. Furthermore, most of the quests paint a pretty gritty picture of the typical plights most folk in Eorzea face on a near daily basis. Merchants are at risk of being killed even if they stick to the roads between settlements, many of the people of Gridania are more than willing to let strangers perish and die if the Elementals that they revere do not give their approval towards the travelers in question. Then there's Coerthas...where men and women suspected of being heretics are made to jump off an icy cliff to prove their innocence. There's also countless examples of seasoned adventurers meeting a grisly end even if they're part of a larger group. With that in mind, I suspect the average life expectancy may not be as high as some people make it out to be.
RE: Eorzean Seniors - Uther - 09-24-2013
I read the OP and nothing else because I'm tired. So forgive me if I'm just repeating something already said.
I'll start by stating that the majority of Misericorde is between 29 and 40. Our youngest is 20-22ish, while our oldest is 48, I believe. We're not exactly geezers, but we're not the Hardy Boys either.
Uther is 31, and he's been going to war (not getting into fights, I mean big kid war.) since he was 15, so he has that "battlefield wisdom" that makes him seem older than he actually is. His mental age is probably around 35-40.Â
I think there need to be more older characters. In my opinion, there seems to be a disproportionate amount of teenagers fighting primals out there. It stands to reason that the truly effective adventurers would be the ones with military and survival experience. People who know how to kill and how to do business, not idealistic Jpop warriors. Players will always play what they want, and they have every right to do so. I don't avoid RP with young characters or anything, I just think the seasoned warrior archetype is underplayed in this game. Where are my Saurfangs, Gandalfs, Obi-Wan Kenobis, and Ra's al Ghuls? Old fighters, whether they be good, evil, melee, or magical, are awesome.