Eorzean Seniors

[LandStander]

I actually had two questions for this thread.

 

The first one: I was wondering if anyone had any late middle aged or seniors they were RPing as. I see that most people are in their 20's and younger. Where are all the wise old people, the cranky old people, the cougars, and the old creepy perverts at :3?

 

The second one: I am actually planning on making an alt. I have her character design already picked out, but she is going to be in her late 40's or early 50's and a Midlander. Going for the nasty rich old lady covered in jewels approach on this one. If there are any other...more aged and refined RP characters out there I would love to make some sort of connection with them. And if anyone is looking for a "mother" character, I would not mind filling that role if we are able to work something out ^^.

[Olofantur]

Heya,

 

My character is currently 34 (Not including the time skip.) and while I agree that the majority of people I have met are in the late teens-20's range I have encountered a few in the 32-38 range, but no one higher so far. (Though age doesn't come up often.) Until some contrary lore is released i'm treating him as 'middle aged'. I enjoy the "experienced, but still exploring" mentality, like the older Elezen male with his healer companion found outside the first three dungeons.

 

While Quarimar isn't strictly "Upper Crust" he does a fair bit of Goldsmithing work for people in Ul'dah and it isn't inconceivable that he might have fulfilled a commission or had a piece noticed related to the lady. Just ideas, I find the idea of "High society" interesting.

 

Cheers,

 

Edit: And yes, I consider it as the start of middle aged, he's not crotchety, just feels the chill more keenly and his vision problems have worsen.

[Naunet]

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?

[Gideon Aryeh]

Amaare is 33 years old, he's supposed to be a bit wiser and more mature overall and more seasoned and experienced. He's been around, know's what he is talking about and is very much an old soul.

[Salty Lake]

I wish there were more options for making a character look older. I've seen a few older-looking faces on male hyur and miqo'te, but not many on female characters. I'd have liked to have made Salty look older without looking harsh--I like her dopey expression, but it makes her look young!

 

Salty is in her mid-to-late 30s and considers herself old to be her profession (sellsword) and not having been killed yet. Now in our world I consider 30s young, but in a more feudalistic society, I imagine 30s is middle-aged for a commoner. Salty also has a teen or young adult child (hoping to get someone to play her daughter so I have left the age vague).

 

(Not sure if it is fair to call FFXIV feudalistic since we don't seem to have lords living off peasant labor, but not sure what else to call it to signify a pre-industrial fantasy society.)

 

I suspect that a lot of people who have time to play MMOs are in their early twenties, and I think some people want to play a character near their age. I know I did when I was younger, and when I was 13, rolled 13 year olds, and when I was 19, rolled 19 year olds. They also looked like me. Hmmm. I'm more comfortable playing characters different than myself now, which is why I never play the "human" race in games anymore.

 

PS: Salty may be older than many in her profession, but she is neither wiser nor more mature--makes for fun RP!

[Raccoon]

Older people also want to be young again, and the 20-30s are considered the prime of one's life, so it's not necessarily just the younger people playing in that age gap. It's more likely to be a younger person playing the creepy old pervert. Old men get enough grief for that in real life, so it's better to just play the younger, sexier version.

[Naunet]

All these people thinking 30s is middle aged is making me really sad.

 

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.

[Magellan]

I think a lot of people like to explore the coming of age theme. The youth finding their calling, making a name for themselves. Its a pretty easy ploy to open up a lot of great rp and character development. An already developed character is not as much fun to play for a lot of people.

[Dravus]

My Hyur is thirty one years old, mostly because I was starting to get pretty tired of all the characters that are role-played as teenagers and twenty-somethings yet are somehow highly experienced at the same time. I'd have made him a bit older if not for the lack of appealing customisation options for older looking characters.

[Magellan]

Also, the lack of age slider makes a lot of characters look naturally young.

 

I play a 19 yr old and a 27 yr old. Both are fun for different reasons. The 19 yr old is inexperienced, and trying to find herself. The 27 yr old grew up an outsider. She has knowledge, but is having to integrqte into society for the first time, and finding it very difficult.

[Dravus]

Also, the lack of age slider makes a lot of characters look naturally young.

 

Heh, it's not as bad as GW2 at least. I suppose the only upcoming MMO that will allow for a greater variety of character customisation features is going to be TESO, though that's still a way off and belongs to a series that is typically a lot grittier in design to begin with.

 

I was able to create a Basch/Gabranth/Vossler type Hyur in FFXIV so I can't complain too much.

[Twinflame]

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.

 

This is all to say that I think that low to mid 30s would count as young, as much in-game as it does irl. You could make a case for 40s.

 

In response to the OP, as Nau said, I do have a character in his 80s, but he's not likely to hobnob with the rich folk since he's more the wandering-hermit-in-the-woods type. I have another character who is wealthy and influential in Ul'dah, but is not elderly. I'd put him in his 30s somewhere.

[Rinh Hallani]

One of my friends once said, "You know you're getting old when you're RPing characters younger than yourself."

 

My characters in this game are decidedly young, Rinh being the oldest in her mid 20s, but I've played older characters in other MMOs. If I can summon the strength for a second alt, I'd definitely like to have a greying mother-of-three Highlander or something like that, who scares her children with a severed bear's head when they're playing up. "I killed this with me bare hands. Jus' think what'll happen t'ya if ya don't get yer arses into bed right now!"

[Salty Lake]

All these people thinking 30s is middle aged is making me really sad.

 

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. 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? There were cities in feudal societies, but I'm no student of history, so enlighten me.

[cuideag]

I wish there were more options for making a character look older.  

 

^ ^ ^ 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.

[Salty Lake]

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.)

---

I wish there were more options for making a character look older.  

 

^ ^ ^ 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.

[Naunet]

All these people thinking 30s is middle aged is making me really sad.

 

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.  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?  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.

[Ildur]

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.

[Twinflame]

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.)

 

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.

[DAISHI]

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.)

---

I wish there were more options for making a character look older.  

 

^ ^ ^ 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.

 

Magic. It all boils down to magic. The life expectancy of a person in Eorzea is, according to me, 200.

[Salty Lake]

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?

[LandStander]

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?

 

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 restaurants . 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 . 

 

I'm glad to see so many people interested in playing older characters ^^. I have to seek out these wise people .

[Naunet]

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.

 

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 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!

[LiadansWhisper]

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.  

 

Re: Industrialization: I have yet to see any indication that all or even most of Eorzea is industrialized.  The Garleans appear to be with magitek, and that seems to be the big dichotomy between it and Eorzea.

[PerkPrincess]

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.