Character Age

[uberevan]

The difference between 31 and 34 is hardly noticeable.

The difference between 20 and 23 is very noticeable.

Depending on the age range we're looking for here, it may or may not change much at all.

[Mike280]

So, here's my thoughts on age and how/why they could really help gameplay. 

 

Professions/hobbies:  As you get older, if you've been working in your profession for a while, you have more expierence than someone just starting out.  So a 40 year old would have more experience as a doctor than a 20 year old.  More experience means more points to start with.  Two, someone who's been working for 20 years would have more time off (ideally), so they could potentially have more "hobbies".  I would love to see hobbies expanded on.  I've mentioned in another post that I feel like gardening and hunting are not professions, but rather hobbies.  Nobody I know hunts for a living, but does that on the weekend or in their spare time, same goes for gardening/growing veggies in their back yard.

 

Effects of age:  However, as you get older, you get slower.  Sure sure, I bet you're 45 and still play linebacker/shortstop for your office league.  YOU are not normal though.  The average 45 year old has creaky bones, possibly an old back injury, or just not sleeping well anymore.  You can't run as fast as you used to, you can't learn as fast as you used to.  So, to balance out a 45 year old doctor starting with 4-5 points in first aid and also being an avid gardener and hobby mechanic, he can ONLY level up sprinting to level 4.  Ouch, no maxed out leveling.  You could only have your physical stats go so high, and possibly learn something new at an even slower rate.   Or, maybe not slower to avoid grinding, but maybe your boredom/unhappiness increases a LOT faster, since who wants to learn about soldering wires in your middle-age years?

 

So starting out at 18 would have a dramatic effect on your health, leveling-up, max skills and perks.  Plus it adds to the role-playing aspect, because if we all want to feel like we're in the game, then we have to account for the fact that some of us have lots of hobbies, and others don't.  Some of us have a bum knee that would suck in the zombie apocalypse (ZA), and some people still play tennis every Friday evening or go to the gym daily. 

 

So in addition to professions, I would love to have the ability to have one or more "hobbies" that are done in your free-time outside of your normal work. 

 

Example (me):  35 year old office worker (profession), hunter and gardener (hobbies).  I know excel inside and out (not useful in the ZA), I know how to hunt deer, duck, squirrels, geese and reload used shotgun shells, and have a garden that grows all kinds of veggies every year (very useful).  I go to the gym almost daily, so I'm caught up on cardio, but have a bad back so lifting heavy things is difficult/dangerous for me.  It would be awesome to role-play that in the game.

 

Now, age doesn't have to be forced, but having age ranges would be pretty cool.  18-23, 23-27, 27-35, 35-45,45-55, 60+ (from a previous poster, I agree that the age ranges need to be dependent on how much a person changes physically and mentally during that span)

[silents429]

Snip

I don't mean to like ride my ego, but I still laid down a solid reason this idea of adding age (with affects) was just flawed at its conception.

I will point out from before that adding aging in this game is a feature 99% of the players won't ever see, considering how rare and difficult it is right now to survive a year. Putting time and effort, balancing etc into a feature no one will see is a waste.

And what is the real gameplay addition to this? What makes this fun? I go to video games to escape reality why would I want the effects of aging to be apart of my experience?

Roleplaying reasons be damned, this is my character and I won't have the game decide he is going to be slow and brittle at 45.

No one should be punished for whatever age they make their character.

[Demonic_Kat]

 

Snip

I don't mean to like ride my ego, but I still laid down a solid reason this idea of adding age (with affects) was just flawed at its conception.

I will point out from before that adding aging in this game is a feature 99% of the players won't ever see, considering how rare and difficult it is right now to survive a year. Putting time and effort, balancing etc into a feature no one will see is a waste.

And what is the real gameplay addition to this? What makes this fun? I go to video games to escape reality why would I want the effects of aging to be apart of my experience?

Roleplaying reasons be damned, this is my character and I won't have the game decide he is going to be slow and brittle at 45.

No one should be punished for whatever age they make their character.

 

 

I think that you personally don't think it's fun, and that's fine. We have made our reasons why we think it's fun, and we see that you don't think so.

 

We're not trying to convince you in particular that we should add this feature, we are simply suggesting it and giving some reasons.

[silents429]

 

 

Snip

I don't mean to like ride my ego, but I still laid down a solid reason this idea of adding age (with affects) was just flawed at its conception.

I will point out from before that adding aging in this game is a feature 99% of the players won't ever see, considering how rare and difficult it is right now to survive a year. Putting time and effort, balancing etc into a feature no one will see is a waste.

And what is the real gameplay addition to this? What makes this fun? I go to video games to escape reality why would I want the effects of aging to be apart of my experience?

Roleplaying reasons be damned, this is my character and I won't have the game decide he is going to be slow and brittle at 45.

No one should be punished for whatever age they make their character.

 

 

I think that you personally don't think it's fun, and that's fine. We have made our reasons why we think it's fun, and we see that you don't think so.

 

We're not trying to convince you in particular that we should add this feature, we are simply suggesting it and giving some reasons.

 

And the point of suggestions is to start with an idea and mold it through community feedback into something better. If an idea isn't going to hold water when reasons against it are mentioned then it probably shouldn't exist, if you prefer to just obtain from any negative reaction why bother suggesting it.

Better off as a mod.

[uberevan]

 

 

 

Snip

I don't mean to like ride my ego, but I still laid down a solid reason this idea of adding age (with affects) was just flawed at its conception.

I will point out from before that adding aging in this game is a feature 99% of the players won't ever see, considering how rare and difficult it is right now to survive a year. Putting time and effort, balancing etc into a feature no one will see is a waste.

And what is the real gameplay addition to this? What makes this fun? I go to video games to escape reality why would I want the effects of aging to be apart of my experience?

Roleplaying reasons be damned, this is my character and I won't have the game decide he is going to be slow and brittle at 45.

No one should be punished for whatever age they make their character.

 

 

I think that you personally don't think it's fun, and that's fine. We have made our reasons why we think it's fun, and we see that you don't think so.

 

We're not trying to convince you in particular that we should add this feature, we are simply suggesting it and giving some reasons.

 

And the point of suggestions is to start with an idea and mold it through community feedback into something better. If an idea isn't going to hold water when reasons against it are mentioned then it probably shouldn't exist, if you prefer to just obtain from any negative reaction why bother suggesting it.

Better off as a mod.

 

As you've been saying, these are all personal opinions.  It's what the community as a whole wants.  We'll have to wait and see what the popular opinion is, maybe do a poll.

[silents429]

Popular opinion isn't always the best opinion. A lot of people wanted to cover themselves in zombie guts as camo but that was just stupid and confirmed no after getting constant barrage of suggestions about it every day.

[Demonic_Kat]

My good sir, it is not that I don't appreciate your remarks, it is that I'm trying to put it kindly that WE HEARD YOU, and we UNDERSTAND. Thanks for your input on the subject.

[nubus]

I think this is an uneeded feature.

Doesn't really add that much.

Plus I am 17, would bother the hell out of me if my character was older.

 

Ok, kid. You're just in the age when nobody gets old, neither ugly or tired. You'll see kid! if there's not a zombie apocalypse in next corner, you'll be 20, 30, and EVEN 40 years old. And then, you'll feel young and the seventeen kids... will be just kids. 

 

Dont' say that is an unneeded feature until you get enough old to find the differences.

[silents429]

 

I think this is an uneeded feature.

Doesn't really add that much.

Plus I am 17, would bother the hell out of me if my character was older.

 

Ok, kid. You're just in the age when nobody gets old, neither ugly or tired. You'll see kid! if there's not a zombie apocalypse in next corner, you'll be 20, 30, and EVEN 40 years old. And then, you'll feel young and the seventeen kids... will be just kids. 

 

Dont' say that is an unneeded feature until you get enough old to find the differences.

 

Did you really just call me a kid 3 times?

[nasKo]

I think this is an uneeded feature.

Doesn't really add that much.

Plus I am 17, would bother the hell out of me if my character was older.

 

Ok, kid. You're just in the age when nobody gets old, neither ugly or tired. You'll see kid! if there's not a zombie apocalypse in next corner, you'll be 20, 30, and EVEN 40 years old. And then, you'll feel young and the seventeen kids... will be just kids. 

 

Dont' say that is an unneeded feature until you get enough old to find the differences.

Please watch your tone around here. You can make a point without belittling someone or acting out the inner grumpy grampa

[Mike280]

I'd like to point out that I never said that you would grow old to those ages.  I was talking about starting out at those ages.  Also, you wouldn't be forced to play an "old" character.  If you want to play a 17 year old, fine, pick that age when you create your character.  As it's been mentioned before, there's nothing that says our PZ characters are young anyways, since there is the baldspot and Picard hairstyles.  I would hardly call a "Picard", meaning a completely bald or shaved head, a "hairstyle" outside of fringe cult groups and professional swimmers.  Mostly that's a inevitability for balding men not wanting the Homer Simpson hairdo.  If you have friends that are 15 and losing hair, I'd definitely call them an exception, since in my 35 years walking around, I don't see many teens with receding hairlines, maybe there's something in your water?

[King jjwpenguin]

Age is not something that seems to be too concerned with. It would have to be its own option which i feel is pointless besides ascetics. Not may elderly people can survive a zombie apocalypse, younger teens wouldn't have the skills or experiences, it is very unbalanced forcing you to play in a certain age group for any real chance at survival. Its like adding height to the game. Ascetic reasons are the only real reasons for this and that is why i say its not a major matter. It may sound like i am against it but i am neutral. I just don't see any major use besides it having stereotypical changes..

[silents429]

I'd like to point out that I never said that you would grow old to those ages.  I was talking about starting out at those ages.  Also, you wouldn't be forced to play an "old" character.  If you want to play a 17 year old, fine, pick that age when you create your character.  As it's been mentioned before, there's nothing that says our PZ characters are young anyways, since there is the baldspot and Picard hairstyles.  I would hardly call a "Picard", meaning a completely bald or shaved head, a "hairstyle" outside of fringe cult groups and professional swimmers.  Mostly that's a inevitability for balding men not wanting the Homer Simpson hairdo.  If you have friends that are 15 and losing hair, I'd definitely call them an exception, since in my 35 years walking around, I don't see many teens with receding hairlines, maybe there's something in your water?

No one mentioned forcing to be a certain age, I said putting in your own age forces your ingame person to be a certain way.

The idea of age in this game was flawed at its conception, it should work to the extent of simply being a number and nothing else.

[IronCoffins]

You know why can't we just have the ability to have our age changed from 18+ and upward, and forget about all this talk about how quick we would learn or run or get tired. That is all entirely based off the person in general, not age. I mean come on. There is an old dude in my hometown that runs every day down the road at the same time everyday. Goes into town and back. Guys like 60 or 70. Probably more heaither then I am and my fast food diet, and im 24. I don't run, I got to work and sit home playing games on the pc then sleep then repeat. SO what would my traits be? Im over weight but no obese, I learn quick, but have to make some mistakes to know better, I eat more regularly buy drink less. These are my traits among many many more. But me being 24 has nothing to do with how I do things. Lets all get that straight, dam. So like it was said leave all that stuff to the traits, that's why they are there. but I wouldn't mind at least having the age an optional thing to change to whatever I suppose for 18+, someone can mod it if they want it lower then that.

[nubus]

 

 

I think this is an uneeded feature.

Doesn't really add that much.

Plus I am 17, would bother the hell out of me if my character was older.

 

Ok, kid. You're just in the age when nobody gets old, neither ugly or tired. You'll see kid! if there's not a zombie apocalypse in next corner, you'll be 20, 30, and EVEN 40 years old. And then, you'll feel young and the seventeen kids... will be just kids. 

 

Dont' say that is an unneeded feature until you get enough old to find the differences.

 

Did you really just call me a kid 3 times?

 

Yeah, i did, but i think i could use the word "Boy" or something else. I'm spanish and sure i used the word wrong, i just wanted to say that young people think they will be never old, but older people also plays videogames, in fact, we were playing VG's since... damn! since your father did (not an offense, just reality)! 

 

Anyway it's my fault by two reasons: I have a teenager girl and i often have to remind her that "she's not enough old for that and those and blahblahblah"... and second (but not least) reason... never, and it means NEVER try to discuss with a teenager about a matter of age LOL.

 

But hey boy (or kid, or toddler or whatever)... let 25 years to pass and you'll see what is a kid for you. Just wait ^^ hehehe. 

So don't be upset, just tell me if "kid" is an offense for you (or maybe in the whole english language) and i could use another word, or is simply the fact to have told something related to our ages. In the first case i can learn another way to say, less offensive. in the second case, i can't do much for it. Anyway you commented first about the ages.

 

There are many things i DON'T do with a 17 old person:

 

- To give them cigarettes or pot

- To invite to alcoholic drinks

- To show them porn

 

It would be obvious, isn't? Then why i had to deny so many times?

There's an obvious difference between me and a teenager, and also when i was a teenager was an obvious difference between me and my father.

 

To the admin Nasko, i say the same, if there's a better word, less offensive or whatever to call the young people, i would be proud to learn it. If not, people may not be mad. I can be upset (not actually) with a young when he just complains about a feature simply because he doesn't fit into his age. This is WAY more excluding than a word like "kid".

 

And the grumpy grandpa thing... i better save it for the roleplaying !!! i hope not to hear the word "grandpa" until the next decade!!!

[EnigmaGrey]

It's generally best to avoid condensation (boy, kid, "You're too young to understand!" .etc) in general, as it's too easy to be considered offensive when doing so. You can make your point without going after a member's age or even knowing it.

[nubus]

Well, i just wanted to explain myself. done. hush.

[silents429]

 

 

 

I think this is an uneeded feature.

Doesn't really add that much.

Plus I am 17, would bother the hell out of me if my character was older.

 

Ok, kid. You're just in the age when nobody gets old, neither ugly or tired. You'll see kid! if there's not a zombie apocalypse in next corner, you'll be 20, 30, and EVEN 40 years old. And then, you'll feel young and the seventeen kids... will be just kids. 

 

Dont' say that is an unneeded feature until you get enough old to find the differences.

 

Did you really just call me a kid 3 times?

 

Yeah, i did, but i think i could use the word "Boy" or something else. I'm spanish and sure i used the word wrong, i just wanted to say that young people think they will be never old, but older people also plays videogames, in fact, we were playing VG's since... damn! since your father did (not an offense, just reality)! 

 

Anyway it's my fault by two reasons: I have a teenager girl and i often have to remind her that "she's not enough old for that and those and blahblahblah"... and second (but not least) reason... never, and it means NEVER try to discuss with a teenager about a matter of age LOL.

 

But hey boy (or kid, or toddler or whatever)... let 25 years to pass and you'll see what is a kid for you. Just wait ^^ hehehe. 

So don't be upset, just tell me if "kid" is an offense for you (or maybe in the whole english language) and i could use another word, or is simply the fact to have told something related to our ages. In the first case i can learn another way to say, less offensive. in the second case, i can't do much for it. Anyway you commented first about the ages.

 

There are many things i DON'T do with a 17 old person:

 

- To give them cigarettes or pot

- To invite to alcoholic drinks

- To show them porn

 

It would be obvious, isn't? Then why i had to deny so many times?

There's an obvious difference between me and a teenager, and also when i was a teenager was an obvious difference between me and my father.

 

To the admin Nasko, i say the same, if there's a better word, less offensive or whatever to call the young people, i would be proud to learn it. If not, people may not be mad. I can be upset (not actually) with a young when he just complains about a feature simply because he doesn't fit into his age. This is WAY more excluding than a word like "kid".

 

And the grumpy grandpa thing... i better save it for the roleplaying !!! i hope not to hear the word "grandpa" until the next decade!!!

 

I don't want to say I am offended but I am deeply enraged everytime I hear it.

I assume the point you intended to make is I didn't understand old age because I am not old age..?

[Demonic_Kat]

Someone lock this thread please.

[Fuzzy Wolfy]

I think Age would be a mostly aesthetic addition, if anything. A pseudo-detail of your character that has no impact to the game other than giving you a lil' more immersion.

[nubus]

No more offtopic, i swear.

 

Actually an age trait would be some more than visual, since every age has their handicaps and their advantages.

 

Young: 18-35

(for example, being 35 the age when an athlete retires)

Advantages: extra sprint and agility, good sight and hear, fast learner

Handicaps: less experienced in professions (i.e. carpentry, cooking, first aid...), foolhardy (i.e noisy or conspicuous traits), etc

 

Middle age: 36-45 (Being 45... ahem...  )

As the medium trait, no special advantages or handicaps, the player just balance the trait points on his own. Maybe some extra strenght but not actually needed.

 

Mature: +45

Advantages: Experienced in professions, fast reader, discrete

Handicaps: Obese and/or slow runner, short sighted and/or hard hearing.

 

and logically would be cool to have a body shape for every trait, but hey, kinda demanding huh?

[Nightmaster]

People keep saying that more than 99% of the players will not last a year or two.

 

What if the player last for a decade or more ingame? Its tecnically possible. Have you guys though about that?