So, why isn't this a thing yet?

[Alyzia]

I know some of what I'm going to say has been said already, but I kind of wanted to give my own small piece.
After finally getting to the point where I found this NPC, I was honestly really happy, since my first thought was, is this a prelude to a future piece of content?
I, for one, would be ecstatic if we could make the younger versions of the current races... Even if it ended up being some form of adoption, as others have mentioned. Since PC's can already not only get married, but own a home, it would just be another step into having that growing family, or something to that degree. Perhaps even have them in the 'minion' section so you can summon them and they follow you around, for example.
I don't see how it would hurt the lore too much overall, considering the state of things. Now, I didn't play through 1.0... But from what I've seen and pieced together, the PC's overall story is very, very vague. A younger character's story could simply be, they lost their parents to the calamity, and decided to take up a sword... As something tells me may have happened in some cases unseen. Or... Considering this is a fantasy game after all, with it's own odd time magics or alchemy, it could simply be a spell cast on the already matured character to bring them back to a past version of him/ herself.
I understand that the whole pedophile case makes this subject very... sensitive. But if there is any sort of bad conduct, then that is why others are allowed to report said players, is it not? I've noticed that the devs have done a more than decent job in trying to let players be the character they want to be. If you want to be the big and burly type, fine. be that. If you want to be the tiny, cute type. Fine, do that. Having playable beast races would be interesting, sure. We have seen plenty that are friendly, and some that could actually possibly work, even if they had to be given a different starting scene.
Having to make armor different hasn't appeared to be too much of a challenge thus far (I'm not meaning to make it sound like it's an easy job, but that's not the point I'm going for), as each race, and size, has been made to work just fine. Gear looks different depending on race and gender, and as we can see, some of the already existing items are already made to work, so we know it's possible... If not being worked on already.
I've always been someone who just likes being that smaller character in the group. I always have. I played the elin. I played the lyn. To me, being that tiny character and fighting a giant dragon (for example) solo just made it so much more enjoyable and memorable... But I would also rather play a miqo'te than a lalafell. So having a sort of happy medium would be great, I think... Especially if there are different perks, and drawbacks, to selecting the adult, or younger version, going back to what I mentioned with being allowed to be what you want to be. For example, the adults, as we have them, do not need to change. They are well rounded. But as the smaller, younger ones, perhaps they have slightly reduced base stats, so, in turn, do less damage and have less hp, but have smaller hitboxes, and slightly higher movement speed in return?
I know I would buy a Fantasia on day 1 if this was implemented.
And really, trying to bring up 'children would just get crushed by the primals.' Just as others have said, I'm going to repeat it. Lalafells. Yes, an adult lalafell would be tougher than a child one, but why would they be as strong as a roegadyn in the first place? Or, 'everything that takes place would be too traumatizing.' Most child NPCs in this game are already pretty much dealing with war, death, and what was practically a near apocalypse, also going back to when I mentioned that they could have lost their caregivers in the process.
Anyway, I don't want to rant for too much longer, but in the end, I really do, personally, hope they keep working on making the character creation more in-depth. Character heights, ages, and maybe even more ear and tail types for miqo'tes. I know much of it is going to be restricted via lore, but I at least think there's some potential in the fact that they added these younger characters to the game, and I hope more is added... Mostly in allowing them to be playable.
I seriously loved finding that NPC, and really wished there was some sort of content around her, other than her just being there. So I hope, in the near future, there actually is more to it.

[Lemuria]

I understand that the whole p*******e case makes this subject very... sensitive. But if there is any sort of bad conduct, then that is why others are allowed to report said players, is it not? I've noticed that the devs have done a more than decent job in trying to let players be the character they want to be. If you want to be the big and burly type, fine. be that. If you want to be the tiny, cute type. Fine, do that. Having playable beast races would be interesting, sure. We have seen plenty that are friendly, and some that could actually possibly work, even if they had to be given a different starting scene.

This is going to be my last post on this subject, because frankly it disturbs me to even edge close to the topics being discussed here. However, I feel it's important to bring up a few points for consideration amongst the die hard amongst you who still think making children playable is a good idea.

Cast your mind back to the last time you saw children in a video game. I can almost guarantee that whenever that child was in the game, they were inevitably out of harms way or saved at the last minute. Fallout, for example, has children which are all tagged as invulnerable so they don't take a stray bullet. GTA avoids it entirely by not adding them anywhere. There's a reason for this, and it's not just paranoid developers. Any content which has children in it undergoes MUCH heavier scrutiny than content with strictly adult characters.

Any time a child is considered 'in peril', and it only needs to be mild peril such as facing down beastmen or the like, it gets a few disproving looks from the ESRB and similar rating agencies. This, in exchange, tends to earn it a higher rating than it would otherwise. In fact, there's is a quest in FFXIV where a child dies but again, this is done off-screen and you never see the body. It's all told through exposition via text.

All of this is before we even come to the doubly sensitive topic of what manner of clothes they would wear. Even something you might consider relatively safe, like a decent length skirt, occasionally comes under fire because we have full camera control and the more perverse could simply look up their dress. That's before I mention clothing items like the Colosseum gear which is basically strappy leather. The ratings board would explode immediately, and who could blame them?

Remember, being childlike is the 'hook' some games use to avoid being labelled as crude. The "She looks young, but she's actually 200 years old" situation. Even that alone is often frowned upon in western society. When you make it an ACTUAL child, you open up that can of worms to a full debate, and it's impossible to rejustify it.

So no... let's not add playable children. Let's not ruin what could just be left as a nice easter egg in the game. Posts like this thread are more likely to stop SE ever adding something like this again more than encourage them to make them into full characters. If they patched these characters out of the game, I honestly wouldn't blame them after reading this forum. There have been some downright disgusting posts.

[Nestama]

This is what comes to mind when I read your post

I'm tired of how cute this game is. Nothing wrong with that :T

[Dualblade]

Cast your mind back to the last time you saw children in a video game. I can almost guarantee that whenever that child was in the game, they were inevitably out of harms way or saved at the last minute. Fallout, for example, has children which are all tagged as invulnerable so they don't take a stray bullet. GTA avoids it entirely by not adding them anywhere. There's a reason for this, and it's not just paranoid developers. Any content which has children in it undergoes MUCH heavier scrutiny than content with strictly adult characters.

FFXIII, Hope. Fully playable and killable. Not even the first child to be playable in an FF game, though most of them were pre-3d. That said I completely understand where you are coming from and I'm pretty sure Lalas already are toeing the line as it is.

[KisaiTenshi]

FFXIII, Hope. Fully playable and killable. Not even the first child to be playable in an FF game, though most of them were pre-3d. That said I completely understand where you are coming from and I'm pretty sure Lalas already are toeing the line as it is.

FF4, FF5 and FF6 all have main (playable) characters that are children.

FF4 had Rydia (Age 7), FF5 had Cara (age 14), and FF6 had Relm (age 10).

It's only Western RPG's that shy away from children dying, and even then... you could do it in some CRPG's that are of the same vintage (EG you could kill -everyone- in all Ultima games up to 8)

The problem, more or less, in a MMORPG are RP'ers who take things a great bit too far.

Aside from those outlier elements, when given an environment where most of the characters can be whatever age they want, people don't select younger ages unless there is some bonus to it, or for cosmetic reasons.

[AdamuKun322]

Truth be told I don't know how old my character is via Lore. In reality, I'd say he's around mid 20's like myself in real life.

[Tigra]

Cast your mind back to the last time you saw children in a video game. I can almost guarantee that whenever that child was in the game, they were inevitably out of harms way or saved at the last minute. Fallout, for example, has children which are all tagged as invulnerable so they don't take a stray bullet. GTA avoids it entirely by not adding them anywhere. There's a reason for this, and it's not just paranoid developers. Any content which has children in it undergoes MUCH heavier scrutiny than content with strictly adult characters.

um..... Ellie from Last of Us?
Clementine from Walking Dead?
the evil girls from Bioshock?

[Mimilu]

Truth be told I don't know how old my character is via Lore. In reality, I'd say he's around mid 20's like myself in real life.

He's 50.

[Parryacg]

I see this thread has gotten better after I was called deluded, lol.

How's everyone been?

[myahele]

Children in games seems to be a hot-button subject here