Helping kids to act in character and not use player knowledge

[marv]

Any tips on helping kids to not use their player knowledge and view their action choices through the knowledge and motives of their PC?

I have 8 year old boy/girl twins. My daughter clearly understands the concept. For her it’s obvious and she will even talk in character. But for my son, it’s as if I’m asking him to solve a calculus problem.

He gets quickly defensive, angry and frustrated if I disallow usage of knowledge his PC couldn’t possibly know, despite me trying to introduce this concept slowly and gently.

Likely this just a cognitive development stage issue but if anyone has some tips to help, I’d appreciate it.

Thanks in advance

 

[ccs]

He's 8. He'll eventually catch on/figure it out. But for now? Just roll with it.

Maybe reward the group in-game whenever he manages it. Everyone heal 5hp, get extra xp/GP, inspiration pts, etc Specifically call out & reward it when it happens.
(yes, like training a dog.... Do a trick - in this case "play dumb" - & get a treat)

 

[Li Shenron]

Just go easy on the kid... and keep in mind he doesn't have to play the way you like

 

[MarkB]

Player/character separation can be a stumbling block even for some adult players. Sometimes it's a mental block, sometimes it's just preference - just because people want to play around in a fantasy / sci-fi setting doesn't necessarily mean they want to invent a whole new viewpoint and character for themselves.

Maybe just work around it for now, and see how it develops. If, as you say, your daughter is ably doing this in-game, as are you, he'll gradually catch on through observation rather than having to try and do it himself before really knowing how or why.

 

[Fenris-77]

I wouldn't worry about it. Even adults have different levels of engagement with this sort of thing, and various tolerances for separating 'player knowledge' from 'character knowledge'. If you and your daughter are modelling the play style you prefer he'll either get there or he won't. I have similar issues with my kids, but the two in question are both mid-teens. C'est la vie.

 

[uzirath]

I'm curious about what type of knowledge your son is making use of.

For younger kids, I often design scenarios to make use of their real-world knowledge—like old-school "player skill" adventures with puzzles and whatnot to solve. You could explicitly embrace his current play-style and allow him to play himself with powers. Maybe his sister's character is local to the game world, but your son gets sucked through a portal from the real world. Best of both worlds?

 

[GMMichael]

I'm no child development specialist, but I understand that kids take cognitive leaps-and-bounds that can be observed in as little as one year of development. An 8-year-old might simply lack the mental tools for roleplaying (among other things). Tell him how to hammer all you want, but if he doesn't have a hammer, not much is going to happen.

This is why we see age recommendations on games. I suspect that those recommendations are for the general populace, so individual kids will still be too old or young for certain games.

 

[iserith]

I don't see any benefit from separating this information, so I wouldn't spend my time on trying to teach him. He'll do it if he wants to do it. I have found that focusing on this too much hurts the game rather than helps it and the need to do it frequently comes from how the DM is presenting the game anyway. So, as was said upthread, I wouldn't worry about it.

As far as acting in-character, as long as he is making decisions that are moving his character and the adventure forward, then I'd say you're good and, arguably, in a better place than a lot of adult players I've seen.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

Dont badwrongfun the kid.

Personally I've told my guys that player vs PC knowledge isn't something I care about. I'm not going to get mad if they use fire on the troll right away.

 

[Tonguez]

7-10 is the concrete operational period of child mental development when children are starting to apply logical consistency to perspectives other than their own (younger children are egocentric, they can roleplay but see things from their own perspective).

At 8 decentration, the ability to see the world through somebody elses point of view, is only just developing and that seems to be the issue with your son, he’s not seperating his point of view from that of his character because his characters pov literally is his pov.

I would just let him play ‘himself’ but if its really important to avoid player knowledge then perhaps use visual cues or write down a list of what the character does and does not know and how the character might react to the world, reward him when he sees things from the characters pov.