Hmm, I wouldn’t say I was a completely different person to who I was when younger though personally. Most of my ideals, morals, personality traits etc have not radically shifted over the years. Yes you get more experiences and that can alter your outlook and actions to an extent, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse depending on what those experiences are and what you take from them. I don’t think I’m an all over better person with every year that passes. In some ways yes. But in others I think not.
Maybe it is an individual thing. I was never a wild rebellious teen and was comfortable talking to adults as well as people my own age without it feeling like an us vs them thing, and now I have had people surprised if they manage to get my age out of me because they assume I am younger. I’d say one of my main complaints is I seem to have progressively less free time as I’ve gotten older, but that’s a thing that’s put on you, rather than a choice that’s come from within and not true for everyone either as it’s going to depend on what’s going on in your life. Perhaps for people who have undergone a more notable character transformation with age would feel differently and that’s fine too.
For me personally, I don’t think age of the protagonist is an issue if it’s a ‘stage of life’ and eventually there is a focus on the adulthood of the character.
However, if we are talking about what periods of life I would be comfortable reading an entire book on then I would confidently say anything 20 or under is getting a hard pass from me. Early 20s is fine, but my preference is anything from late 20s to late thirties in terms of age demographic for the MC.
I wouldn’t mind them being older either, I just think people don’t tend to default to thinking of older ages for them.
When it comes to being teens or the like… It feels deeply uncomfortable to me, especially if there is any mention of sexuality/romance between characters at that age. I know it can mostly be innocuous but for me as someone who is very much an adult I just get intensely uncomfortable from reading the material since… While I am very much not a ‘self-insert’ reader, I still end up connecting with most MC I make. So for me, it is just… disconcerting.
I also think most content written for that age demographic doesn’t work for me as a reader. I really dislike ‘school’ set stories, I think in part because of the repetition and in part the tropes associated with it.
Some character flaws can stick with you for your whole life if they go unchallenged, or the person can pick new flaws and quirks as time passes by. A person can be stingy at 15 or at 50s like Ebenezer Scrooge in a Christmas Carol. They can be a coward at 15 or at 50 like Bilbo Baggins in the Hobbit. There’s no lack of possibilities for character growth. And not all stories need a character arch besides. Some stories are plot driven and has little to no character development like most James Bond movies.
Actually this is a huge thing for Immortal character writing. Immortals oftentimes end up not being challenged to attempt changing things, so their flaws grow deeper and deeper [more stubbornly set in by their sturdy roots]. It’s possible to be a thousand years old and be flawed, if anything you might be significantly more flawed then most mortals due to carrying significantly more trauma, and significantly bigger flaws. I remember reading a good video about the concept, I’ll link it if I can find it again.
Anyway, even if you have character arcs in your past it doesn’t mean you stagnate as a person from that point forwards. You find new motivations or goals to help you push more towards what you perceive to be as ‘better.’
Like I said before, you have your bias and you believe the main character should be young and now you’re grasping for a reason.
Even if you’re different when you’re 50 then you were at 15 it doesn’t mean you don’t have room for growth or for a character arch. Some character flaws can stick with you for your whole life if they go unchallenged, or the person can pick new flaws and quirks as time passes by. A person can be stingy at 15 or at 50s like Ebenezer Scrooge in a Christmas Carol. They can be a coward at 15 or at 50 like Bilbo Baggins in the Hobbit. There’s no lack of possibilities for character growth. And not all stories need a character arch besides. Some stories are plot driven and has little to no character development like most James Bond movies (btw, James Bond is another character who has never been younger than 40 and kick a lot of asses).
And about the character’s family or career, it can definetely be integrated in the story. In Choice of Games’ Rent-a-Vice by Natalia Theodoridou (one of my favorites), you are a detective with a family already. You have an ex-partner and even a kid. It’s not relevant to the plot of the game but it’s an interesting detail. And you can choose to get close to your former partner again or move on to one other romance options.
This! So much this! (Althoug my fav is to let the player decide whether or not the mc had a character arc and what kind it is, but I know it’s not always feasible and may require extra writing.)
Games about children or teenagers aren’t my thing. I find them a rather boring demographic (which might be hypocritical considering I’m 19, haha). But playing a grizzled, thrice-divorced character going through a mid-life crisis? Yes, please!
I’m not sure about older characters (at least in their late 60s - someone in the comments referred to 50 year olds as old, and I have to say that got a chuckle). I’d definitely give it a go.
I feel like the ideal age range for me would be 18-30 for the MC possible age in a book because I kinda of just want to avoid HS experience if it’s anything close to American High school life at all. We don’t need to have to immediately own our own house or find a stable career but a general idea of how far away the MC’s life has come or not.
Usually, if there is an age option I will try every option for different gameplay choices so I am fairly flexible. I think I’m more concerned about RO age than the MC since I feel like a huge age gap is different than a closer-aged RO. I think it’d be neat if we could control what MC’s childhood was like up to this very moment based on their experiences.
