How big of an age gap do you think there can be for romance in stories?

Id say it would depend. What would that character do? Are they accepting of that differences in experiences and potential disparity in power? I guess it would be another interesting aspect of character development.

I couldn’t tell you. I was just more of making an example statement rather than a specific thing planned out. Someone may or may not have something like that in the works, but it sure isn’t me.

Let’s ask my buddy Ben Franklin about older women

"But if you will not take this Counsel, and persist in thinking a Commerce with the Sex inevitable, then I repeat my former Advice, that in all your Amours you should prefer old Women to young ones. You call this a Paradox, and demand my Reasons. They are these:

i. Because as they have more Knowledge of the World and their Minds are better stor’d with Observations, their Conversation is more improving and more lastingly agreable.

  1. Because when Women cease to be handsome, they study to be good. To maintain their Influence over Men, they supply the Diminution of Beauty by an Augmentation of Utility. They learn to do a 1000 Services small and great, and are the most tender and useful of all Friends when you are sick. Thus they continue amiable. And hence there is hardly such a thing to be found as an old Woman who is not a good Woman.

  2. Because there is no hazard of Children, which irregularly produc’d may be attended with much Inconvenience.

  3. Because thro’ more Experience, they are more prudent and discreet in conducting an Intrigue to prevent Suspicion. The Commerce with them is therefore safer with regard to your Reputation. And with regard to theirs, if the Affair should happen to be known, considerate People might be rather inclin’d to excuse an old Woman who would kindly take care of a young Man, form his Manners by her good Counsels, and prevent his ruining his Health and Fortune among mercenary Prostitutes.

  4. Because in every Animal that walks upright, the Deficiency of the Fluids that fill the Muscles appears first in the highest Part: The Face first grows lank and wrinkled; then the Neck; then the Breast and Arms; the lower Parts continuing to the last as plump as ever: So that covering all above with a Basket, and regarding2 only what is below the Girdle, it is impossible of two Women to know an old from a young one. And as in the dark all Cats are grey, the Pleasure of corporal Enjoyment with an old Woman is at least equal, and frequently superior, every Knack being by Practice capable of Improvement.

  5. Because the Sin is less. The debauching a Virgin may be her Ruin, and make her for Life unhappy.

  6. Because the Compunction is less. The having made a young Girl miserable may give you frequent bitter Reflections; none of which can attend the making an old Woman happy.

8thly and Lastly They are so grateful!!"

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I think it’s the physical and mental condition really matters.No one seems to have troubles romancing a hundreds years old vampir/elf/asari in a game.
If it’s my protagonist,20 to 25 is the limit for human?But then I remember I’ve seen a movie featuring 14 and 40 and it’s very cute so…I don’t know,I guess it really depends on the chemistry

Sorry for taking it off topic again, but I feel it’s important to say it’s a much more complicated issue with different laws depending on prefecture. If you’re really curious there’s a site detailing how it works with a few separate answers here

But the takeaway point is this

These rules makes the de-facto age of consent of Japan at least 18 and can be interpretted as 20 in cases. This makes Japan have the highest age of consent in the developed world along with Turkey and several states in the United States such as California and Florida.

And this

The national age of consent law actually allows each prefecture of Japan to determine their own age of consent, but they are not allowed to set it lower than 13. Some people have therefore got the idea that the age of consent IS 13.
However, each prefecture in Japan has independently implemented a law that forbids sex with children under the age of 18.

So 13 and 30+ would still be weird or squicky to even the Japanese, yes :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

Though if there’s not actually romance between the two characters in that game, then I won’t bother with it further.

Back to the topic, I think if someone ever writes that they just need to be mindful of differences in maturity and careful about power disparities. I mean, either way, a relationship like that is not gonna be for everyone regardless how well it’s done. If it’s consensual and legal, there’s no reason to let anyone make you NOT write it

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Ah. Well, you learn something new everyday.

Whelp. I never claimed to be right about everything anyway.

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It depends where you are. I’m pretty sure they’re like the U.S.A. Minimum fed is 13 but no one sets it it that low normally, and the places that allow that have restrictions for that age. While I think Tokyo is 18. Most U.S states are 16 and many of those have cushion years.

Personally 5 years diffrence is fine, and the limit is 10 and that’s mostly for short-term relationship anything above 10 just feels weird

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If both characters are consenting adults, I don’t think there should be a limit on the age of the ROs, but you do still have to consider that people might be put off pursuing that relationship because of the age gap. For instance, if the MC is 18 years old and one of the ROs is 85… Yeah, you might find that players aren’t particularly interested in having a romantic relationship with that character… Unless it’s a vampire. They can get away with some REALLY creepy age gaps. :yum:

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With your caveat in mind, I honestly believe that it’s not the actual gap that matters but how it’s portrayed. Not saying you would do this, but I’d find it iffy if the gap was used to normalise or excuse unhealthy behaviours.

For example: the older RO being overly controlling (justifying it through dialogue such as “You don’t know what you’re doing”, “I’ve got more experience than you”, “You’re such a kid”), or portraying a 40+ female RO with a 20s MC as spending excessive amounts of time on make-up and money on anti-ageing creams, or a younger RO continually teasing an older MC about their fadedness, etc.

Of course if you’re going for realism then some of that’s fine, but I’d draw the line of unacceptability when it’s an unchangeable aspect of the relationship and the RO continues to use the age difference as justification for their behaviour, especially if the MC has no opportunity to express discomfort. But this applies to all CoGs in general, I’d think, that unhealthy relationships are a no.

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As long as the younger character is above 20, most age gaps should be OK. As mentioned above, supernatural characters like vampires can have a 1000s of year age gap with a human, but a lot of people like vampire romances.

For the power differences comments, it’s a game, so I don’t think power differences would matter. In the Awoken WIP, I wouldn’t date a person who was my apprentice IRL, but it’s fine in games.

For long term relationships, I’d be concerned with life span differences. If I know my mortal spouse is going to die long before my vampire self and I would have to slowly watch them die (well, if you live long enough, you watch most of your friends die off and your lover wither IRL, as old people have said), I don’t know if I’d want to persue that relationship. But, on the other hand, lots of young people die ‘early’ because of cancer or disease or car accidents or whatever.

There is also a Pub Encounter game that is about dating older guys, so some people like age gaps.

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As long as i am aware, the author did not include any age for her/him. And this has been discussed in one of Samurai of Hyuga topic. And i would avoid such big gap when the one participant is not older than 17 or 18. BUT 17 years gap could happen when the one is 20 and other 37.

The author intentionally didn’t include romance between Masami and the Ronin, despite a lot of requests for it, due to that age gap.

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There’s always the “half your age plus seven” rule. Or “double your age minus fourteen” for the younger partner, I suppose.

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As long as both characters are adults I don’t care about age gaps (though if they look old, like with wrinkles and spots then that would weird me out, gray hair is ok though)

personally , teenager and adult relationship…make me unconfortable . Thats why I avoid some anime stuff . The whole ‘Sensei’ just irk the hell out of me .

‘As long as they are consenting adult’ is pretty vague . I mean , there are many things that can make that statement iffy . Think of manipulation , sociopathic behavior…peer pressure…etc . And the whole ‘consenting’ isn’t consenting anymore .

So I say adult , but adult that know what they are getting into . Not your ‘18 is legal…so whatever’ adult .

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And then there’s people who don’t want to be part of such a relationship even if they feel it’s acceptable.

But the point stands unlike Jenny Yu who is always a lesbian regardless of your character in heroes rise. Masami and Masashi directly correspond to your characters sexual orientation. So even if there’s a time jump it seems likely at some point. I mean at the end of book 3 we’re All Alone lost and broken and Masashi/Masami’s family has reunited with them. So we might vanish for a few years like Bruce Wayne in the Dark Knight Rises and they drag us put of a tavern and slap some sense into us…

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Personally I would feel comfortable with almost any size age gap as long as I was playing the younger partner. If my character is older I would avoid any relationships with someone more than a couple years younger than me.

Of course that’s assuming all characters are old/mature enough to handle sex and romance.

Kinda like real life. Im 25. I’d date someone 30 or older if I liked them, but I’d never date someone 20 or younger.

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I would say nothing more than 10 years.
Like @Camille622 said I would rather be the younger party.