Gaming across the generation gap

[TheYeti1775]

It would depend on the maturity level of the player, and then on the level of your game.

I prefer the darker gritter worlds. Bad happens to good people.
That's why my online ones, I always ask persons be at least 18 and mature.

So it depends on your game.
Another thing to consider is your other players would they be jittery around the younger person?

Good luck, I say try them out. But let them know ahead of time, that your unsure. This will clue them into your worries as well.
Best case you find yourself a great Roleplayer.

 

[Glyfair]

For almost my entire gaming history I've played with a wide variety of ages. I've had varied experiences with younger players. Some of the best players have been younger players (admittedly, the children of gamers), as a matter of fact.

I recommend two things:

1) Give them some leeway - Younger gamers are going to be more immature, and how that shows will vary. Sometimes differences are so drastic it won't work.

2) Judge them on themselves - Don't assume they'll react a certain way because they are younger. If they do something you don't like, try to avoid treating it as if "younger players do that." If they create inappropriate character names, explain it to them, don't just write them off because "younger players are like that."

 

[Henry]

If you are about to post "Say Billy, that has nothing to do with being young", I'm saying that in my experience, that these traits appear in the young more than anywhere else I've seen (I have yet to see any of my current group suggest playing a Gangsta Rap anything...much less a Gangsta Rap everything)

Clearly, you need a copy of Solid! for those off-week games.

I'm unlikely to play with anyone younger than 18 unless their parents are a member of the group, mainly because in this day and age, people get some odd looks when a bunch of thirty-somethings are getting together with an unrelated teenager to spend about 6 hours' time indoors. But I've rarely had a problem gaming with older or younger players, because I try to adjust play style to give them what they'e looking for, and if an attitude is a problem I ask them if they can tone it down.

 

[TheGM]

Wow. I'm surprised you got any gaming done.

We've got them from 14 on up in my various groups. The biggest problem that they come with is needing more attention, but if the group smiles and nods, I give it to them at that age.

Now playing style is a different deal. My oldest son (18 y/o college kid) grew up with High Fantasy as the norm, so he's not interested, and by mutual consent he almost never joins in my games. He uses D20 to do some pretty bizarre things in an attempt to be "different" (since most of the extended family plays), and is a rules lawyer.

We like "sanely justifiable" and don't want a rules lawyer in the group, so he runs his own games and only joins into one of ours if it's a "pick up" game that he won't care much about.

 

[Dieter]

Our ongoing group (circa 1995) has run the gamut of ages and abilities over the years. Currently, the DM's 12-year-old son is playing in the campaign. We've found that if you make the boy play someone his own age that he has a much better time and understanding of the events around him. All we have to tell him is "Ok, imagine if -you- were (insert scene) there. What would you do?" He's currently playing a 12-year-old cutpurse and it seems to working out fairly well. I do have to mention that the kid does have a slight case of ADD (doesn't every 12-year-old?) so we have to at times remind him to stay focused. Overall, his addition really hasn't put too much of a damper on the game.

The most important thing to remember is that your mileage may vary greatly according to the player. I've found that the 12-year-old sometimes has a better (perhaps less mired) outlook on a situation than us veteran gamers. At the same time, I've seen plenty of 30-somethings act far less mature than the 12-year-old when it comes to life/death matters in the game.

I'd say give the player two games to prove his/her worthiness before giving them the boot. If you do boot them, make sure to give reason why.

As for the generation gap, it's best to limit the metagaming chatter for dinner breaks and such. It's really hard to relate to someone half your age when you're talking about 401Ks and they're talking about Warhammer 40K.

 

[billd91]

Back when I was in high school, playing across generation gaps was pretty normal. On some weekends, we'd head down to the student union and game with an eclectic mix of high schoolers, college students, and older union members. Sure there was friction from time to time, but it was usually because of individual maturity levels which didn't necessarily correlate with age.

In my current GH campaign, when he's not up in the dorms in northern Wisconsin, we play with the son of one of my regular players (technically, we play with his mom and also his step-father). When he started, he was under 16. There were things he needed to learn, but we were all patient about it and he caught on quickly. For a while, his mom was concerned and thought he'd be better off starting a group with kids his own age. But he ended up doing both.
Her other major stipulation for the rest of us was, once he turned 16 and she could no longer get in trouble about it with her ex-husband, we could drift into R-rated territory as long as we were the ones to answer any embarrassing questions he may have. Seemed fair enough.

 

[fusangite]

I have a heartening story for you Psion. The Monday night game in which I am a player has had very high turnover in the past year for a variety of reasons. And many of the players were recruited through a local internet forum or posters in local gaming stores.

One the best, possibly the very best player we had (sadly he moved away for work and family reasons) was 18 years of age. When he joined, I was the next youngest person in the game at 33. The rest of the players were in their 40s. Even though he looked absurdly young, none of us could believe it when this fellow told us his actual age -- his maturity, social skills and ability to pick up on subtleties in-game exceeded those of basically any other player we have recruited before or since, with maybe one exception.

I had a similar, though less dramatically contrasting experience with another young player, this time, 20 a few years previously.

What both of these young men had in common was that they were used to mixed-age social environments. In my view, this is the acid test. The ability to act like an adult is not so much age-dependent as it is a learned set of skills. One can learn, at practically any age, the skills needed to socialize with a particular age group. So, in my view, this high school kid could be fine, provided he's picked up these skills somewhere and you don't have to impart them yourself.

 

[Maliki]

I think that style of play is more important than the age difference. The ages in my group run from 38(me) to 29, 22(X2) and 16(X2). The age difference has had little impact on the game. Now conversations outside of the game are another story

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

I think some of you people just get stuck with the rejects from groups their age.

Most every game I've run for kids in the 13-20 range have been very, very mature and great games. We never had any of the problems I see mentioned here...heck, we never had player/DM problems, powergaming troubles, etc.

Even with a bunch of different players, I was always good at picking the right ones.

 

[Thunderfoot]

As I've stated before, my 16 yr old plays in my group. He does fine, yes he has his moments, but so does a 32 yr old that we play with. To be quite honest, there are times when my 16 yr old acts much more mature than the 32 yr old.

I think the big thing here is that maturity, not age is the real determining factor. For a while my 11 yr old daughter played, she did well, but couldn't handle the dark turn of the game, so she quit, which was fine. We had a player who was supposedly playing a hick farmer, but was actually playing Conan the dragon slayer, after a one-on-one he adjusted fire and was good to go.

I've never run into the "gansta" player as mentioned earlier, but I'm not denying their existance. (As a matter of fact, I'm kind of surprised considering the neighborhood I live in.) Also, I've never had a problem with teens, at one point I was running an almost exlusively teen campaign, with the exception of myself, my wife and my son who was 8 at the time (yep, that was interesting :\ ), but the thing to remember is that we are supposed to be having FUN. If a player's age doesn't make you feel comfortable, then be uprfront and tell them so, becuase the chances are, you won't be having fun. If they are a good player, tell them that if they need a reference to join another group, that you would be glad to give it (Yes, we have progressed to interviews in many cases, isn't gaming wonderful). and that it isn't anything personal, but it makes you uncomfortable. If it is your decision to say no, please be as mature about telling that person as you expect them to be about playing at your table.

Just my two coppers.