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<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 7619284" data-attributes="member: 4937">One thing I've noted in the past about playing with kids is that they tend to be vastly more moral than the adults.&nbsp;&nbsp; Most middle school and earlier players I've encountered tend to take moral quandaries very seriously, where as most adult players I've encountered are ruthless murder hobos.&nbsp; I've always been really fascinated by why that is.&nbsp;&nbsp; Is it that the kids can't separate fantasy and reality as easily as adults, or is it that the kids correctly recognize the importance of make-believe and play as a form of mental practice and problem solving and the adults have forgotten?&nbsp;&nbsp; Or are the players in their innocence actually in truth more moral than the adults?&nbsp; Or is it just that since the adults know they are playing a game, they take none of it seriously except &quot;winning&quot; the game?&nbsp;&nbsp; Or is it that the adults have been conditioned to think of winning as only a matter of dog-eat-dog survival?One other problem I encountered when running RPGs for 5 year olds, is that the players (my children) refused to make choices that would put them in danger.&nbsp; If a house in the neighborhood was said to be haunted, well that was more than sufficient reason not to go into a run down house.&nbsp;&nbsp; Besides, going into an abandoned house was dangerous in itself, and it was trespassing.&nbsp;&nbsp; If there was a dark hole that possibly led to fairy country, by no means where they going to go down it.&nbsp;&nbsp; Anything remotely uncanny or dangerous caused them to make the very rational decision to avoid that potential danger and stay safe.&nbsp; So it basically became impossible to have adventures, because they'd take one look at an adventure and tend to go, &quot;Nope.&nbsp; Not doing that.&nbsp; You'd have to be stupid to do that.&quot;&nbsp;&nbsp; The result is that most of their make believe play tended to lack conflict, and consequently tended to lack drama as I thought of the term.&nbsp; We had some drama of mundane things, but it was nothing like running any sort of RPG I'd run before.&nbsp; I had a tendency to find that in game stress didn't need consequences.&nbsp;&nbsp; Any end game stress was completely debilitating to the player anyway, that it was hardly necessary to dehabilitate the character.&nbsp;&nbsp; If the character would be sad, frustrated, scared, or what not - the player probably was as well.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 7619284, member: 4937"] One thing I've noted in the past about playing with kids is that they tend to be vastly more moral than the adults. Most middle school and earlier players I've encountered tend to take moral quandaries very seriously, where as most adult players I've encountered are ruthless murder hobos. I've always been really fascinated by why that is. Is it that the kids can't separate fantasy and reality as easily as adults, or is it that the kids correctly recognize the importance of make-believe and play as a form of mental practice and problem solving and the adults have forgotten? Or are the players in their innocence actually in truth more moral than the adults? Or is it just that since the adults know they are playing a game, they take none of it seriously except "winning" the game? Or is it that the adults have been conditioned to think of winning as only a matter of dog-eat-dog survival? One other problem I encountered when running RPGs for 5 year olds, is that the players (my children) refused to make choices that would put them in danger. If a house in the neighborhood was said to be haunted, well that was more than sufficient reason not to go into a run down house. Besides, going into an abandoned house was dangerous in itself, and it was trespassing. If there was a dark hole that possibly led to fairy country, by no means where they going to go down it. Anything remotely uncanny or dangerous caused them to make the very rational decision to avoid that potential danger and stay safe. So it basically became impossible to have adventures, because they'd take one look at an adventure and tend to go, "Nope. Not doing that. You'd have to be stupid to do that." The result is that most of their make believe play tended to lack conflict, and consequently tended to lack drama as I thought of the term. We had some drama of mundane things, but it was nothing like running any sort of RPG I'd run before. I had a tendency to find that in game stress didn't need consequences. Any end game stress was completely debilitating to the player anyway, that it was hardly necessary to dehabilitate the character. If the character would be sad, frustrated, scared, or what not - the player probably was as well. [/QUOTE]

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