(09-25-2013, 05:46 PM)LiadansWhisper Wrote:(09-25-2013, 05:02 PM)Siobhain Wrote: I was directing most of that combat business to the comments about Saurfang, Gandalf, etc. and where they might be. Namely, who knows? Gandalf was a wizard in the LotR universe but he also pretty much when toe to toe with the Balrog and Saurfang was an Orc. ...I mean... Broxxigar was an Orc, and Saurfang and Brox are about on par in my eyes. I mean to say that if there are a lot of senior citizens doing back flips and punching beasts in the face it might not go over that well. I wish, primarily, that we had something like an average lifespan for races at the very least. Except for Hyur we can really only guess at lifespans which in turn means guessing at maturity and seniority.
I won't argue that they all have to be old and wise, they could be as immature, xenophobic, and unworldly as they might be in any other fantasy setting-- But I will say that it seems unlikely that too many of them are still active soldiers or pit fighters-- I guess mage-related things -seems- like it would fit better simply because I've been conditioned by NPCs and characters of other worlds that magic, like firearms and death, are the great equalizer.
Basically, part of being "old" normally comes with a gradual decline in your physical capabilities. Â An older person is going to, in general, have more difficulty with physical activities as compared to a younger person in the same sort of physical shape.
In extremely long-lived races, I'm not even sure calling someone who has lived for 100 years "old" would be accurate if their race lives, to say, 300 years. Â They might just be hitting middle-age, or their prime.
Do we even have concrete lifespans for each race?
I'm not sure. Last I saw we were still making some vague guesses at what races might live longer than other races. I mean, in the case of Elves many times they mature gods-know-when but they are still in pretty peak physical shape until they are nearly on their death bed. The usual explanation? Magic. That might apply to some races in Eorzea as well.
The thing, and I'll accept senior citizen superhero types regardless, but if the general mentality is going to be 'No, we will not accept your outstanding teenagers with their l33t skillz and some such' then should that mentality -not- apply to Eorzea's old folk? If our excuses are based off of our perception of teenagers, that they're too young and immature or what not to have worldly knowledge and elite combat prowess, isn't it safe to assume that there are likely as many if not more older individuals who suffer that same problem; taking the world as we know it as our example in both cases?
I don't want to see a bunch of people jumping on a bandwagon because they think that the people here will think it's the coolest thing since sliced bread only to find out in a week or two that suddenly all of those advocates despise the idea because 'too many people are doing it'. It's an epidemic, so I think it's fair to bring attention to the chances and considerations put into playing older characters rather than having people do them because they feel they'll be filling a niche that they -might- regret later.
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