Child-like characters?

[RaideDuku]

Oh. This thread. Again.

[MrPresident]

No. For all the reasons stated billions of times before.

[lolicon09]

Isn't that like pretty much the whole plot of Naruto, and tons of other anime?

Yup, it is XD

[lolicon09]

This actually raises another interesting point which no one has yet to mention: children age. Well, all people age, but after reaching adulthood the physical changes are much slower and less noticeable. I couldn't find a timeline of the events in the MSQ so far, but considering how much has happened it must have taken quite some time. Pretty much every patch seems to end with a "there's nothing now, please return later". There was the trip to Kugane which I recall took a month or two. All kinds of bureaucracy between nations that just doesn't happen instantly. If the WoL was in their early teens at the start of the story, how would you justify them not growing up during it? For that matter, how do Alphinaud and Alisaie look exactly like they did in 2.0 (aside from receiving new outfits)?

Because... emm.... you know....... M-Mommy Crystal blessing!!!

[lolicon09]

It'd be pretty demoralising, if you think about it.

To be fair, those people asked to be accepted in our team; no one was forced to join our ranks. All of them heard about our feats and decided to try to be under our command and help Eorzea to be a better place

[Jybril]

Yup, it is XD

Me at your name and this topic together.

[lolicon09]

Me at your name and this topic together.

[Melichoir]

Only issue I see is inconsistency in how they determine what is and isnt suitable regarding 'younger characters'. As a point, a fairly large and vocal portion of the player base views lalafells as analogues for children and without some credibility to their argument. So why are the devs ok with this perception but not with the younger appearance characters? What is the differentiation here that the devs are making? To remain consistent with their own position, wouldnt this mean they need to address Lalafell designs?

If I had to take a stab at it, its because the distinction is either the devs dont consider lalafell designs to be childlike or that since theyve made quite a bit of effort to demonstrate that lalafells are adults in world (NPC dialogue/quests/and player interactions) that appearance isnt the issue as long as the stated age of the character is above a thresh hold. If they were really concerned about that issue, then it would stand to reason that Lalafells need to be addressed and explained to a large part of the palyer base why that becomes the exception or redesign lalafells. Personally, Im not opposed to the latter, as the redesigns wouldnt have to be extreme (define arms and legs to have actual basic definition/joints, and adjust torso to have more basic feminine/masculine averages).

[LineageRazor]

Back on topic, I don’t understand why people want to play a minor or why this topic keeps coming up but it’s kinda creepy. Especially with how many times WoL gets flirted with and everything else that happens.

This is simple: Because completely normal, non-creepy people like to see children go on adventures. Harry Potter, the Goonies, Naruto, Full Metal Alchemist - franchises starring children have long had a healthy population of non-perverted adults that enjoy them. I'm guessing that a lot of the folks who wish to play the game as child characters for innocent reasons have, in the back of their minds, a bunch of addendums, like "OBVIOUSLY, Haurchefant's crush on the WoL will be written out if the player is playing as a child character," which would be pretty manpower-intense to actually implement in-game.

Actually implementing child characters in this game in an acceptable way would be a monumental undertaking, but I DO understand why folks would want SE to make the effort. There's no shortage of adventure games out there that put you into the shoes of a child (Zelda games, for instance), and no one thinks you're a perv for enjoying those. Wanting to create a child character of your own (rather than one someone else designed, like Link) and send them on adventures is totally understandable, and not automatically suspect in any way. It's just not practical, unless the game was designed for such characters from the start.

[MikkoAkure]

Snip.

Yeah, I get where you’re coming from and even thought about mentioning that in my original reply to this thread, but most media with protagonists under 18, including the ones you mentioned, all have kids younger than 18 as the target audience and were made from the start with the idea of the main characters being children. FFXIV isn’t either of those and a minor WoL would be incongruous with the tone.

Stuff like FMA and other shounen manga/anime may have wider appeal in the west, but the target age range it’s marketed to is 13-18. The only media I can think of with minors as main characters where the target age range is older, all have the youth of the main characters having to go through these experiences as a central part of the horror/drama (like IT or Stranger Things).