NPCs refering to our character's age

[DPZ2]

^ We don't really know the life expectancy of the average Eorzean, though. In the real world, most people up until the 20th century could only expect to live to about 35 or so...

Let's be clear here. Life expectancy is based on the sum total of ages at death divided by the number of the dying.

If you lived to 35, you were as likely to reach 70 as anyone today, as most of the deaths figuring into that sum total were under 1 year of age.

To be clear, life was harsher, and there were more opportunities for accidental death, but "you live to 35 and then, poof, you're gone" wasn't a real thing.

[Enur]

It is weird that almost half the male faces available looks like they are in their mid thirties to forties. This is especially prominent in Roegadyn, Highlanders and to an extent, Elezen.

All of the female faces however looks like they are in their late teens to early twenties. I'd like an older female face option to remedy the gap.

[TinyRedLeaf]

Let's be clear here. Life expectancy is based on the sum total of ages at death divided by the number of the dying.

If you lived to 35, you were as likely to reach 70 as anyone today, as most of the deaths figuring into that sum total were under 1 year of age.

To be clear, life was harsher, and there were more opportunities for accidental death, but "you live to 35 and then, poof, you're gone" wasn't a real thing.

Eh... I would have thought I made that very clear: Most people up until the 20th century died because of war, famine or disease, and that had an overall effect of lowering average life expectancy to about 35 years or so.

Life expectancy is simply what it is: a statistical measure of how long an average person can expect to live in a given environment. It says nothing about how long a person can actually expect to live, biologically, if war and natural disasters don't take their toll.

And it has relevance in Eorzea, given that we do in fact know that the realm is really not a very nice place for the average dude who is not the Warrior of Light, the Scions, or among the leadership of the city-states.

Lalafell and hyur constantly fall prey to all kinds of carnivorous flora and fauna. Smallfolk around La Noscea and its nearby islands and seas are at constant risk of being kidnapped and sold into slavery by pirates. Women, especially, are sold into prostitution, and we can expect most were raped before being auctioned off.

And then there's the constant threat of war, not just from the Garleans, but also tempered beast tribes. The various Grand Companies always talk about how they're stretched for manpower; they may not say so directly, but it's clear that attrition rates among their ranks are quite high.

So sure, we will see the occasional old folk or two; but for every one we see in the villages and city-states, it's worth bearing in mind that there were likely hundreds more that didn't make it to that age, simply because life sucks for the average Eorzean.

[Serilda]

Aegis is seen by the NPCs as completely ancient if that's the case. :S

My character is on the older side too - not on the level of your wonderful Elezen gentleman but certainly closer to 40 than 20, and I just assumed that most of the NPCs were stupid. Like the way several of them stand around insulting Duskwights right to my grey-blue face. It's the only way I can stay sane; they're not doing it on purpose, are they?!

[Chocolys]

Do one multiply Miqo'tes age by 7 to get their Hyur equivalent?

[Lukha]

Didn't we get some answers regarding life expectancy a while back? Something to the tune of most of the races having approximately the same life-spans as humans (About 100 years in good conditions), except for Elezen who live a bit longer (up to about 150)?

Though obviously that's all assuming excellent health, nutrition and them never running afoul of the local primal.

[The_NPC]

^ I agree it was mentioned once in a live letter (not sure which as it was linked to a post on these forms once & I forget which post) so yah cocidering u don't run afool of bandits, assasination, death by ilness, random wildlife while not geared, enemy factions, tempered by beast-tribes, sacrificed by anyone for power, random bad luck or end up an enemy of the PC player... the average NPC lifespan would be 20th century average (slight longer for Elzan)

[Jonah_Greymont]

Well, to be fair, adventuring really isn't an elderly person's passtime, for the most part. It's very taxing and dangerous.

Isildaure would disagree about adventuring being only a young man's game.

While not directly related to character age, I have had issues with the dialogue when playing a Hellsguard and the NPC uses your first or last name only. For instance, I had one for a short time named Silent Shield and in most conversations he was simply referred to as Silent. For the Hellsguard in particular this is bothersome because he's taken the whole name to identify himself as an individual, yet everyone still treats his name as though it's a given name plus a surname. It's a small, perhaps insignificant to some, portion of immersion that just obliterates the idea of playing such a character for me.

[Rocl]

Isildaure is an adventurer we can all aspire to be, tbh