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Averis · **06-24-2013, 02:29 PM**

Just a random curiosity that popped into my head. Do you RP that your character ages or are they forever locked in place? Do you actually celebrate a birthday each year or advance the age when you feel enough time has passed?

In my years of MMO role-play this seems to be one of those things most people ignore.Â I am just curious what is the general consensus here.

Personally, I don't usually advance their age, but too, I don't think I've really RPed the same character for years on end. Something I hope to change this go around. Tongue

Hyunseo · **06-24-2013, 02:37 PM**

MMO-wise, I celebrate my character's birthday, but they don't exactly age. Most of the time I pick a race that is very youthful; the kind that can age centuries and still look fifteen.

Unless it's Mabinogi. And even then, they have their elves. But characters on that MMO age and I like it. Characters aging are a difficult things to manage, though.

Eva · **06-24-2013, 02:40 PM**

S-E stated that everything that happened in 1.0 was supposed to take place in the year 1572. And everything in ARR should be regarded as being in 1577. There was a thread about this posted some time ago (or a couple even), and a lot of RPers who have been RPing for two years leading up to Dalamud kind of felt this was hogwash...

Eva has 'celebrated' (a term I use loosely since I don't think there was ever much celebration either time) her nameday twice (on the 20th moon of the 1st astral sun, or January 20th in RL terms). She was age 30 when we started playing, and age 32 at the time of impact. She's going to be confused about how old she is once she realizes what year it is cuz - time skipper and all.

But my opinion is that there's been years worth of experiences and interactions, and it makes sense to me that the character would age accordingly, even in spite of the lore. So that's kind of what I've been going with. I know others feel similarly, and others may also feel different. Tis just my own opinion.

Koko · **06-24-2013, 02:40 PM**

I do. I set a birthday for my character (usually my own, or a memorable date in my calendar for the sake of remembering), and the age my character is as he is created is already at least roughly on my mind (20s, 30s, 40s... etc.). When I decide what age my character exactly was at creation, then they age accordingly.

Vash · **06-24-2013, 02:53 PM**

I set my characters birthday on my own (December 20th) so i think that's the sixth one i think umbral on the 20th but this year will be his first and I think a party would be a grand idea being as it would be his 21st birthday and that is usually a big one. If I'm wrong feel free to correct me!Â

Adelpha · **06-24-2013, 03:18 PM**

I "age" my character, for as much as that actually means in terms of real tangible change to the way that I play her. Unless I'm playing the game for 10 more years, the effects of age on her physical capabilities will be negligible. What that really means, then, is that her personality evolves a bit as she becomes older, though that sort of development can just as easily be chalked up to her life experiences rather than just the physical process of aging.

I personally don't have any interest in playing a static character who never ages (either physically or in terms of emotional maturity), but I'm certainly not everyone.

Flynn Rosenberg · **06-24-2013, 03:21 PM**

I plan to age my character through normal time, going with the flow.

Had done a thing back in one of my old games were 1 day of RL is a week in RP, we could never keep track and after a while we'd all be dead of old age.

As for birthdays I'll use my own (25th August), but will keep the characters age in his late teens.

Deirdre · **06-24-2013, 03:37 PM**

I believe it is most peoples opinions here that the game time passes like real time, so one week IRL is 1 week in game. Therefore, I've RPed about 2 years in game, and Deirdre has aged 2 years.
So yeah, aging does occur Smile

Martiallais · **06-24-2013, 07:27 PM**

Like a few others have already said, I tend to pick a date (I'm another that tends to go for my own birthday or something close/memorable) and stick with that, allowing the character to get older as I play them, though typically it has little actual effect on anything other than life outlook and such.Â

Since Zarek wasn't a part of anything anywhere near the battle where people were time skipped (and I wasn't around then) his life and age will have progressed normally (at least as normal as can be in a post-firebombed Eorzea) during those five years.

ArmachiA · **06-24-2013, 07:31 PM**

I don't age my characters in MMOs until I'm 100% sure years have passed. Usually an expansion or a major event, since those are really the only times Devs say when time passes. I just assume everything happens in the same year till the devs tell me other wise (Even when time passes in game... was really confusing in FFXI let me tell ya XD)

Rhio · **06-24-2013, 07:34 PM**

Rhio's birthday is February 23rd, and she's aged accordingly. Mostly for rounding purposes I'm counting her 30th as being next year, since the whole time skip is wacky.

Uther · **06-24-2013, 07:36 PM**

Uther is definitely going to age as the years go on. I really enjoy seeing characters' appearance change over time.

I played WoW for eight years, and at the time I wasn't a roleplayer, but my friends and I had enough respect for story and realism that we each had our own back stories and we aged our characters appropriately. It was really cool to see my troll friend, who started the game on day 1 of Vanilla with a full head of wild green hair, retire right before MoP with male pattern baldness and gray hair. I couldn't age my horde character, who was a walking corpse, but I did age my dwarf from mid-length bright red beard (Vanilla - WotLK), to long dark red beard (Cata), to gray beard. (MoP)

Aysun · **06-24-2013, 07:46 PM**

Definitely age. Aysun was 17 at launch. She's 19 now. Timewarp. She should be 24, but is still 19. YAY CONFUSION!

Anzio · **06-24-2013, 07:58 PM**

(06-24-2013, 07:46 PM)Aysun Wrote: Definitely age. Aysun was 17 at launch. She's 19 now. Timewarp. She should be 24, but is still 19. YAY CONFUSION!

Have to say that this is one of the very few advantages to not being an "old gun."Â Tongue

No age confusion as I spent the five crappy years that passed for Eorzea there in the flesh.

Blue · **06-24-2013, 08:33 PM**

Personally I do RP aging. Keep in mind that most of roleplaying doesn't last many years, so although you character ages, the difference is barely noticeable on their look, as one or two years hardly bring any change.

My FFXI RP experience is now at its 5th year, about always with the same character. In this one case, his aging is more noticeable, not only in how he looks (I started with Kenjii as 23, now he's 27 years old), but also his behavior matured a lot, and went from a jerk youth to a more mature, battle-harshened rough man, still with some stubborn spurts. I'll say I never really had to 'be careful' in making my behavior fit my IC age: it all came naturally. I matured with the character, and don't feel the urge to RP him as I did five years ago. All the RP experience in my mind, all the memories I have of his IC adventures helped me keep him age psychologically, and that helps give an idea of an older man even though his avatar OOCly doesn't show any change of aging.

All in all, I think the physical aging in XIV will be even easier to demonstrate thanks to the barber we'll be getting. After some years of RP, you could add some gray to your hair, which does make a lot of difference in the age one shows to me. And who knows, we could be getting the option to change scars too in the future ^ ^ Looking forward to it!

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Birthdays / Do they age?

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