This just has me riled. (Rant).

[Ryoku]

Beware. This is a rant. A very lengthy and colorful rant that may or may not be about you. Read at your own Risk

I am so sick tired of people acting like anybody under the age of 18 is some immature idiot who cannot play the game.

I'm about 7 years of playing MMOs (yeah, since I was 10), and almost 9 years of playing online videogames in general, I have had to put up with the utter crap for too long!

Firstly, I'm tired of the people who suddenly dumb things up, or won't say things around me because they're afraid I'm going to up and tell Mommy because I don't understand. I'm 17 years old! I've been around the goddamn block a few times! I go to a Public Highschool! (which is also considered the "gangster school") Anything you have to say, I have probably heard it before in some other form. Don't act like I can't handle it just because I'm young.

Furthermore, I'm tired of people and their huge speil on M rated games. I'm tired of the guy saying "[insert graphic game here] should not be played by anyone under the age of 18. Any parent who lets their underaged kid play a game with boobs and/or blood should be ashamed of themselves as they are horrible horrible parents." I just have to say... Why? PG-13 movies contain excessive Blood, Foul Language, and sometimes even the occassional Boob. I've been able to see those without my parents since I was 13. What's the big deal? If my parents think I'm mature enough to play a game that has graphic details, or storyline, I probably am. It's not like I was completely impressionable when I was 15. GTA didn't make me want to go out and buy a hooker and randomly beat people in the streets, and actually my parents didn't want me playing GTA because the media blamed the game for some kid shooting someone. I played it anyways though, and nothing happened. and come on... 18 years old? I can buy M rated games right now at 17, as well as see R rated movies.. Why should they boost it up?

But what I hate most... Are the pricks, and jackasses in WoW who act like they are the fuckin' superior at everything because I am 17 years old. According to that guy, they are more experienced in everything. Girls, Drugs, the game, and I'm a little pale child who lives in my closet and has never seen the world. I've tried certain drugs, I've never been with a girl, I'll give 'em that, but I was a prominent member of a progressed raiding guild for 6 months when I was 15 and 16 (before TBC made me leave the game). I've had NEW members to ventrilo servers make fun of me because I used to have a high voice, I've had people /gquit because a kid was higher and more respected member of the guild than them, and I've only had one man kicked because he flat out disrespected me, and told me that he thought that anybody under the age of 21 should not be playing World of Warcraft. What is that anyways? Nobody under 21? Videogames were designed to entertain EVERYBODY. Kids were a high focus of this market for a long while, what with Arcade games and the like. I see a T rating on WoW, who are YOU to tell me that I am not old enough to play a game I bought and pay for with my money!

I'm sorry for this rant, and I do not direct it at anybody in this forum. Everybody I have encountered here in game has been very accepting of younger members of the community (there are 18+ guilds around, but I can understand using it as defense from lawsuits due to some peoples prefered form of roleplay). I don't know why I'm suddenly snapping on this subject (probably when some guy in an Age of Conan forum said anybody under 18 shouldn't play the game because it has boobs), and I know that I am close to becoming an age where that won't matter anymore, but I'm so tired of being picked on, and undermined because I'm a "kid" for 7 years, and even when I'm an adult of age 30 I will probably still feel for the younger players because of the way some people used to treat me.

Again, sorry for this... But I just really had to blow off the steam, and this is the only place I feel comfortable doing it.

Goodnight.

[Rand_Shea]

People quit because you were higher rank than them when you were 15?

....nice. :D

I miss you and your serenades to Thoraggar over vent.

[Xaraphyne]

People are dumb, bud. The smart people know your age comes second to an assessment of your personality and experience. If someone doesn't know that, they're not worth your time anyway.

[swiftbleid]

You know, it's kind of funny. I'd more quickly flame you because you play a night elf druid(I HATE NELF durids!) than I would flame you because you are 17 years old.
Admittedly, there are many people who don't want to play online games with people significantly younger than them not because of you, but because they feel inadequate being beaten by someone nearly half their age..
I know what they are going through.. Me, Halo 3, and a 12 year old handing me my ass in Halo 3... Great way to make me hate the game.

All of that being said 17 years old(or 15) isn't that young. You are nearly "legally" an adult and should be treated with the respect that you have earned.
Ignore the people who act that way and take the high road. You will be a better person because of it.

[Swerto]

Your preaching to the quior buddy, I hate when people talk shit about me because my age, why do you think I kept it secret when I played SWG? I got a lot more respect then when everyone didn't know my age than I do with everyone knowing I'm a 17 year old here. Hell I'm ALMOST 18, I know I may act immature on the forums but people need to get it through their head that me ranting and trolling forums does not equal what I am. You want to judge me? Have a real conversation, not some arguement over the RP channel or a forum I barely care about.

[Skafloc]

People are dumb, bud. The smart people know your age comes second to an assessment of your personality and experience. If someone doesn't know that, they're not worth your time anyway.

Yeah I'm with Xaraphyne here. Age and Maturity do not necessarily go hand in hand. I look for maturity, not calendar years when I interact with people. I am also not put out be being pwned by someone much younger.

However, maturity also translates into knowing when someone's experience is worth tapping into rather than trying to prove your own to them. You ARE 17, whether you like it or not there are more experienced folk out there. Just be sure that you are not being guilty of coming across like a "know it all" kid, which may in fact be prompting those actions you are describing.

Not saying you are, but there are two sides to every story and I for one would not hesitate putting a kid like that in his/her place if they came across as some "worldy" sage who has never left their state. I am sure thats not what is happening here, just trying to show you how these things sometimes happen.

[Ryoku]

Yeah I'm with Xaraphyne here. Age and Maturity do not necessarily go hand in hand. I look for maturity, not calendar years when I interact with people. I am also not put out be being pwned by someone much younger.

However, maturity also translates into knowing when someone's experience is worth tapping into rather than trying to prove your own to them. You ARE 17, whether you like it or not there are more experienced folk out there. Just be sure that you are not being guilty of coming across like a "know it all" kid, which may in fact be prompting those actions you are describing.

Not saying you are, but there are two sides to every story and I for one would not hesitate putting a kid like that in his/her place if they came across as some "worldy" sage who has never left their state. I am sure thats not what is happening here, just trying to show you how these things sometimes happen.

I was never really a know it all, often I'd just be talking in vent when a guy who's never been in there with me came in, and heard me talk and would be like "Wow, so since when are we letting kids in the guild" and it'd just go downhill from there (Mind you, he'd say that because my voice didn't fully grow into my post-pubescent one until I was in my early-mid 16s).

I don't know... I just think in a videogame I deserve the same respect as anyone else. Over the years I've gotten so tired of adults acting like they deserve more respect than they're willing to give me. Those rules may apply to the real world, but in a videogame where often I have more experience than the person at hand? Don't think so.

Lol... Quoir... Choir*

Also, I'm very happy right now because my coffee is the exact right temperature for drinking. :D

[Skafloc]

@ Dessana. Well yeah sort of. > >.

Nate, I'm not satisfied with the way that came across the first time. Basically what I'm saying is that I think I know exactly how you feel because I was that 17/18 year old that was for the most part more mature than his peers.

By the time I was 18 I was already out of the house and on my own in college in another city. By 20 I had finished basic training with the military and by 21 had already completed my first tour of duty in Europe and the Mediterranean. Meanwhile all my friends back home were still working part time at the pizza shop or the mines trying to decide what they wanted to do with themselves.

I learned quite early on that there are a LOT of supposedly mature people out there that do not or cannot accept that someone as young as 19 can have an educated and qualified opinion on matters that they seem to think requires age to be taken seriously. I came across to them as a "know it all" (hmm, some would say I probably still do. ;)).

In the end I wound up biting my tongue more often than not because it was just easier to let them go on rather than get worked up over it. Its something you are probably going to have to deal with for a number of years until those folk that are giving you a hard time decide that you are "old enough".

Its not right, but it probably isn't going to go away until your age catches up to your maturity.

[Bir]

I make fun of everyone, don't think you're special <3

Besides, I miss stun locking your druid to see how much opening burst dmg my shitty combat rogue can get.

[Gorvena]

I'll only treat you like a "kid" if you act immature. So far, I have not seen it.

What I'm trying to say here is that I deal with people on a case-by-case basis. Not by pigeon0holing them based on age/sex/ race/culture...whatever.

[Grolish]

Skafloc is pretty much right on the money here.

Something else to consider - Another sign of maturity is the ability to recognize which fights are worth fighting, and which ones are not, even when you know you're right.

[Swerto]

yeah I miss firefox while at school... no spellcheck... so yeah Choir not quior -le sigh-

Well here's the thing:

Most people you come across have met many "kids" and just assume the worst when they meet them. Much like when I come across someone who speaks like they just came out of a hip hop/rap video I assume they have low intelligence, or just refuse to speak english. Is this true? No most times it is false, I've realized this and the prejiduce has faded.

Yes this is all about prejiduce, don't worry about it... if people aren't being ignorant fuck-heads and give you a chance to earn that respect then you deserve it. But don't assume because you have more experience than someone else you automatically get that respect, hell I had to earn what little respect I have in the guilds I'm in (and I emphasize little)

If people continue to be douchebags, /ignore. Very simple, I kept my age a secret until I was 16 for the sheer reason that I was tired of being called a little kid, when I hit 16 and started telling my age I got called a kid again. Hell when I played back then I was far more mature than most the adults that played (seriously it was -THAT- bad, imagine me mature right?)

[Ninorra]

I don't even know most people's ages, until they tell me.

[Nadea]

A> did someone really say "quior?" *giggles*

B> skafloc, you never told me your character looks like brad pitt.

C> a lot of people are idiots. even if they're over 18. it just depends on the person. Some 30 year olds are stupider and more idiotic than some of the 15 year olds i know. So, rant on, brother. I feel your pain!


HAY I KNO YOU! <3

hehe, anyway... yeah, basically what Dess said. I mean, I have roomates who just turned 18 and are completely irresponsible little kids.... and then there's my brother, who's 14 and acts more mature than most of the people I hang out with!

Age is a relative number, and I'm sorry that people give you crap because of it. I don't know you very well myself, but everything you've ever presented to TNG has seemed of a more mature manner than I've seen others act. (and no, thats not a flame against anyone! <3)

[Tillna]

My little sis is more mature then me at 15, but that mostly boils down to personality's more so then anything else.

I only get pissed at younger players when thy act like it.

[Ryoku]

People quit because you were higher rank than them when you were 15?

....nice. :D

I miss you and your serenades to Thoraggar over vent.

How did I miss this post?

I'm actually planning on coming back with some encore performances of Thoraggar's favourites, including (but not limited to).

Don't Stop Believin'
125600 Minutes
The Sound of Music
A Doe a Deer a Female Deer
Back In Your Head
Never Gonna Give You Up
I Ran

As well as some new never-before-heard songs such as:

Photobooth
It's Raining Men
Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
My Heart Will Go On (Falsetto Mix)
Can You Feel the Love Tonight?
Domo Arigato Mr. Roboto
Greese Lightning
Lion King Intro (Aaaaaaa Zabenyaa Habendiyada Henya-ay)
Shawty is a Ten
Baracuda

and more... But to stay on subject: I wasn't directing the rant at any of you guys. I'm not trying to pick fights, and I don't consider myself to be all that mature (I used to be mature for my age when I was 15... But now I think I pretty much just act my age unless I gotta be cereal.. Then I act more mature).

[Grolish]

I wasn't suggesting you were trying to pick a fight, Nate. I was just referring to what Skafloc mentioned about often biting his tongue and letting things drop that weren't worth getting worked up over. (Learning to pick your battles, in general.)

[Yatokth]

Age =/= Maturity

I'm 16, but if nobody knows alot of times they'll tell me they thought I was older.. I really can't imagine why, I'm pretty immature. XP (In a zany/silly/trolly way, not a throwing-tantrums way. But I just do that cause I'm a silly person.)

Age elitism is just another form of just that, elitism. I usually say that my only pet peeve is pet peeves (as they don't make all that much sense to me..) but I've discovered that isn't true, I can't stand elitism. Everyone deserves their chance, and even a second one, whether they're 15 or 51.

Still, best way to deal with them is just ignore them (this is great), or if you can, beat them where it hurts most, AKA their own game. Especially if they insinuate you can't play the game cause you're younger, go shut 'em up and play the game correctly.

[Ninorra]

Ooo oo Dixie, when I work in DC we'll do a power lunch!! I work near Metro Center!

[Irontoe]

Well, I didn't have these newfangled Interweb amusement park war game things when I was 15 or so, but I was often mistaken for someone far older over the phone because of my unusually deep voice. I took advantage of that quite often ;-)

The smart people know your age comes second to an assessment of your personality and experience. If someone doesn't know that, they're not worth your time anyway.

I agree with this to an extent. A teenager's time is not his own, and the worst way for a raid to disband is some kid telling everyone that "his mom says he has to clean his room" or somesuch. Ability to lead is contingent not only on maturity and skill, but on availability and consistency, something that un-emancipated folks can rarely guarantee.

[Pyrisath]

I am so sick tired of people acting like anybody under the age of 18 is some immature idiot who cannot play the game.

I go to a Public Highschool!


Here here.

Though, I tend to be the one killing the idiots who think <18 people can't play the game, not the other way around.

[opalexian]

My little sis is more mature then me at 15, but that mostly boils down to personality's more so then anything else.

I only get pissed at younger players when thy act like it.

I have no room to talk about younger players in a bad manner because of...things. However, it's really taught me to absolutely not judge people online based solely on their age. I am often less mature than mature 15 year olds. >_>

And Nick, we get pissed at you when someone lets you out of your cage on a sugar high with no sedatives in site. >_> Your sis isn't much better, I've heard her squealing in the background ; 3

[Naheal]

I agree with this to an extent. A teenager's time is not his own, and the worst way for a raid to disband is some kid telling everyone that "his mom says he has to clean his room" or somesuch. Ability to lead is contingent not only on maturity and skill, but on availability and consistency, something that un-emancipated folks can rarely guarantee.

It's also something that someone who isn't single can entirely guarantee. I don't know how many times I've had instance groups break up because of someone in the group needing to go because their significant other requires some attention.

Availability is something that isn't something that can be guaranteed 100%. Ever. Something will come up when you least expect it.

@Nate

I was in your shoes a few years ago at my first DnD campaign. Trust me when I say that it's no better in person around a gaming table than it is in an online environment. And I grew up as one of those "mature, wise before their time" kids. It happens. You'll just have to deal with it, as much as I'd hate to say it, since there's really no way around it.