Well Macron was 16. Of course there is also the gay example of Tom Daley and Dustin Lance Black who have an age difference of 20 years too.
The only one that’s 18 in this country is if you want to be a legal sex worker and make money of off doing it.
Right, so your statutory rape laws are nibbling away at what is supposed to be the legal age of consent in many cases.
I’d rather have people learn to handle a drink before they get behind the wheel and in that regard I was and remain vehemently opposed to our conservative government lowering the driving age to 17 about two years ago. Though around here that is offset by the fact that we have less licensed drivers as a percentage of the population then the US and that the average age of obtaining the license is also still stable at 22. And apparently also that most accidents caused by young(er) people today are not because of drinking and driving but playing with their “smart” phones while driving. Yay, for progress!
Okay 14 year old mc, with Deity as old as the universe itself, there you go nice age gap, eh.
On the other hand in relationships with Elves, Vampires, Gods and AI’s/Cyborgs/Myrmidons of all stripes that could simply be another plot element that could be exploited for drama, comedy, or simply romantic tension, depending on the notes the author wants to strike with the relationship/romance.
It doesn’t bother me to be honest Almost nothing bothers me. Not even things that require a trigger warning. As long as i like the plot i won’t care much. There are a ton of things i tolerate in fiction that i would never tolerate in real life. In my humble opinion, fiction shouldn’t always be bound to morality
That is an unbelievably creepy thing to say to a student at a high school where you work. That gave me the shivers. Yikes.
Anyway I think one aspect of age gap relationships is that there’s an unspoken level of power that the older party has against the younger, which is compounded if they hold a level of responsibility (and control) over them, such as the principal in this example. It’s not possible to decouple the romance from the fact that the principal/teacher/careworker/doctor/therapist/any other example can make their “partner’s” life hell with very little effort, and their partner has very little agency themselves that they can use to seek help if that power is abused.
It’s one of those things that makes more sense with context otherwise it just sounds odd. Though yeah. I wasn’t all so much of a fan of that guy myself, but according to the Internet nobody really hated him all so much either. At least not because of the age difference.
I sometimes can see that but I have my own internal codes. For example: if siblings in a game have had to rely on each other their entire lives and don’t make friends easily I can see an westermarck effect taking place and attraction developing but Even if I acknowledge tgat possibility my I wouldn’t take the option to engage it were it provided because guilt at the feelings should prevent them from acting IC. I can’t just say “it’s a game let those sisters be banging” things have to make sense logistically with how the characters are.
(I know incest is squicky but it’s less creepy than age gaps)
I don’t have them. If i know it’s a game, all my internal codes fly out of the window. If it looks fun, i’d do it. Murder, 40 year age gap or more, incest, theft, you name it. After all, it’s a game. That’s how i think, but i am aware that’s not how many people think and that’s okay. It we all thought the same then where’s the fun in that?
On the other hand you can easily reverse the dynamic, some young people would realistically be much richer and more powerful then their older lovers, though it would be more rare than the reverse. But again, Macron in France is an example from the real world and Daley and Dustin Lance Black seem about equally famous and accomplished, albeit in very different fields. Of course Daley reached his fame a lot quicker then his husband.
Yeah, I think the question of age-gap relationships is partly masking the question of power-imbalance relationships.
Now some people actually like that aspect of a relationship – the “canon” pairing in Choice of Romance is with literally the king or queen, and teacher/student pairings are pretty popular in erotica – but when it’s clear that one party is abusing their power over the other for the purpose of pursuing a relationship, that gives me an uncomfortable sinking feeling in my stomach.
This brings up a question . In the Samurai of Hyuga. Even though we are physically older and more powerful The Shugenija Masami/Masashi is basically the adult. We are working for her, she teaches us to write, and our self esteem is so low that she’s basically the Dom in a Dom Sub relationship. So is that an acceptable power balance?
Hmmmm. That is where good writing comes in, I think. When it comes to controversial topics such as incest, the writer has to be able to forge a story that leads to the player sympathizing with the characters to the point where the player accepts the characters’ desires, and perhaps wishes to see them reach their ‘happy’ conclusion. Honestly, I would be interested to see written works that can do this. Of course, when it comes to incest, we know that such things are almost always abuse, in one form or another. It is why most people have an aversion to anything involving the topic.
That is actually a good response when it comes to these kinds of stories. It shows some good writing on the part of the author.
When I first played through as the second Heroes Rise protagonist I didn’t think about it.
“Look guys I’m only here to cure my sister and honestly it’s not really clear which of you are romantic options and you’re all as forgettable as reality TV stars. so I’ll focus on curing my sister and then taking over the world or destroying it or I dunno fuck it I’ll have options”.
But due to dialogue in the forums I was like. Well I never really play an asexual. So obviously she must be focusing her love and devotion on her sister but she’d never act upon it because she’d be ashamed of those feelings. Plus JK has feelings for Starsoar and later someone else. So it made her conflicted and tragic.
No. Masa is still a kid. They may have advantages that the ronin doesn’t, but the ronin is by far more knowledgeable in how the world works. It’s the ronin’s job to take care of the kid, and they do. Just because someone has book smarts, it doesn’t make them an adult. Remember, Masa has led a very sheltered life.
Perhaps Devon will have Masa grow and develop more. Then, once they are of legal age, there can be a romance option.
Assuming they’re all adults, I don’t see why there should any restrictions at all. In the real world people of all ages get together, there’s no reason that shouldn’t happen in stories/games as well.
For me it goes more with maturity than legal age. For example, to me, someone that is 18 with a person of 50, would fell really weird to me. On the other hand, someone of 30 with a person of 60 would be totally cool, because I think a.person of 30 years old is mature and then the age gap becomes irrelevant.
Well now, that depends! Where is the story set up and how does this work in this country? If we’re talking, say, modern America and 30 y/o dating 15 y/o, it would be a no-go for me, UNLESS it’s written good. Overall, I’m cool with age gapes.
But then again - move the same couple to, idk, medieval whatever or something similar and then it’s fine, because they used to live like that.
There is this thing with Samurai of Hyuga. Your ronin is like, what, 30? And Masa is considered a kid, and everyone either wants to romance them, or is losing their shit because of US PERVERTS. But then… It’s not modern times, you can’t just look at past the same way you’d look at present, can you?
BESIDES IT’S JUST A GAME, I COULDN’T GIVE ANY LESS FUCKS. I’m going to fuck and murder whoever I want, because that’s fiction. Just because my character is a cold-blooded killer or a slut doesn’t mean I’m a mass murderer and I’m whoring myself in real life too, does it now?
People should just chill instead of being so damn offended by every single shit they don’t like.
Guess, for me, it depends on how its written first then who is involved, ya know? I can’t condone a 13 year old being with an 18 yo, no matter the history or emotional battles they’ve been through together, I could understand if the emotions are there but I can’t get behind a romance between the two.
And I guess this is where the how its written part is explained. If a 13yo and an 18+ yo are showing those type of emotions for each other I’m fine with a huge time skip where the 13 yo is now 18 and the 18 yo is now 23/24(ish), perfectly fine and it’ll make those emotions just seem more genuine to me.
Now, if the character(s) are around 18 and they wanna go after a sugar daddy/momma, more power to them. Basically, my rule is “18 and up? Safe.” Anything below is a touchy subject that people would rather not talk about. Pretty sure my views can be construed as…weird, I guess.
Anyways, in summary: if the characters involved in the romance are above 18 years old, its fine/whatever; anything below 18 is murky waters that you could travel in but is it worth the risk?
