Children NPCs, yay or nay?
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I don’t mind child NPCs in theory, I’ve seen them done very well.
They can grow tiresome when their presence alters the vibe of things. If your PC can’t come out on our adventures, ever, because they’re babysitting… for instance.
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To be honest, I don’t really like interacting with other people’s kids unless I’m related to them, and even then in moderation. I feel the same way even in RP and if I’m RPing with a character who’s brought their 3 year-old on-screen, and is animating them tugging at my character’s trouser sleeve etc. it gets fatiguing pretty quick. I guess it can be fine if it’s intentionally played for laughs? Like if I was in some sort of serious negotiation scene and a 3 year-old NPC kept breaking the tension I’d find that funny enough to be OK with it. Or if there was a serious moral quandary our characters are facing, and the presence of vulnerable children was there to raise the stakes.
But that rarely seems to how child NPCs are used by players. It usually seems to be some sort of house-RP wish-fulfilment fantasy and I really don’t like being a part of that, I don’t want to attend your calendared social baby shower, or coo over your IC pregnant belly, or act emotional when your child NPC calls mine Auntie Kestrel. Idk why and I’m sorry if this makes me sound like a monster, but I just don’t like RL wish-fulfilment type RP in general, I’d feel the same way about a machismo power fantasy or beauty fantasy where I have to ooh and ahh about how hot/strong/powerful your character is. It just makes me feel like I’m there to fulfil some sort of unmet RL need of the player and I prefer more separation between characters and players, with a focus on the overarching story.
I’m fine with staff/storytellers animating/acknowledging child NPCs with the understanding that these are less of a permanent fixture of the ensemble, and serve a specific story function. The city/town our characters inhabit should probably have a school and schoolteachers etc. I’m fine with spooky horror children etc. The actual focus of the story should be on the adult characters, but of course it’s fine to acknowledge children exist in this universe.
My 2c. That said, for my own project that I’ll probably never complete, I specifically came up with an in-universe reason for why player characters are currently unable to get pregnant in the setting, because I just hate dealing with how that tends to play out.
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I tend to exit scene upon hearing the pitter patter of little NPC feet.
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But that rarely seems to how child NPCs are used by players. It usually seems to be some sort of house-RP wish-fulfilment fantasy and I really don’t like being a part of that
Interesting. That does all sound pretty annoying, but that hasn’t been my personal experience. I wonder if it just comes down to the types of games or specific players or something. When I’ve seen child NPCs used, it’s usually been for a specific plot point. When I’ve done it, either been for that or just because my character happened to be a parent. Almost all of the times were after I myself was already a parent, so there definitely wasn’t any wish-fulfillment going on. It was just exploring an aspect of the character that seemed interesting to me at the time.
I remember one amusing scene where @Roadspike’s Viper pilot was getting grilled by my character’s NPC kid. That would certainly become tiresome if it happened all the time (for me to play as well as for everyone else to deal with), but the kid was largely off-camera with his grandparents. As occasional flavor, I think he brought a bit of levity to scenes, while also highlighting who the PCs were fighting for. It also added depth to that character, who was struggling to balance being a single mother in a war.
YMMV of course but that’s just my experience.
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Child npcs, like pet npcs, are annoying when done badly and fine when done well. I find that when they are the focus of the rp I’m usually bored unless something unusual and interesting is happening, but on the other hand sometimes really cute shit happens.
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This convo is going to end up settling on “This kind of RP is only good when it’s actually good, and not bad”.
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@Yam
Such is always the way.Mostly I’d find the idea of a game where someone declares ‘no children NPCs exist’ an overreach that’d makes the world feel less real. Humans, especially if they aren’t all 22 years old, end up with children. I barely see them, anyway, it tends not to be part of the RP fantasy for most players, so to me it’d feel like a solution in search of a problem. I’ve played characters with kids before and it’s generally added an interesting dimension to that RP, though I usually contrive reasons for them to be off-screen a lot of the time.
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i had a kid NPC i greatly enjoyed on Arx and it definitely wasn’t wish fulfillment lmao. i don’t want kids at all. but he was specifically a weirdo kid i’d just bring along now and then (if it was the right season for him) to be weird. and tbh he was specifically curious about other characters and would ask them questions about themselves, which is usually a good route for RP fun.
anyways yeah what sao said. when done well it’s fun, when not it’s annoying. and tbf there’s a lot of mileage may vary. some people hate it no matter what. i tended to ask first if people were interested/okay with it.
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This convo is going to end up settling on “This kind of RP is only good when it’s actually good, and not bad”.
Amusingly, that is my exact feeling.
I don’t mind child or pet NPCs as a general thing, but a lot of players do not have a sense of moderation nor do they understand that other people do not have the same attachment to their NPC follower as they obviously do. So, it’s unfortunately likely for a scene with a kid/pet NPC to become “LOOK AT MY NPC AREN’T THEY CUTE/NAUGHTY? LET’S RP ABOUT THEM.”But when people don’t do that, it’s fine.
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One of my take-aways (personal regrets) from being on Concordia is that the thread’s question of children NPCs also applies to pets.
Because I was a menace about my cat, and looking back I think it was pretty clear I more often than not failed to add much of substance to a scene with him involved.
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Hard nay. I don’t want them in scenes. I don’t want them on the game, period. No good comes from them.
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I generally agree with @third-eye in that I think, depending on the general setting, it enriches my immersion. People having families, children, parents… I like it the same way I like when there’s a broad age range, where you have PCs that are grandpa age, down to early 20s and everything in between. It’s a nice splash of diversity.
Even if you have a full PC cast of sexy 20-somethings, there can at least be a setting that feels a little more real.
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I like children in games. I don’t want EVERYTHING to be about them, but I like them. I even PCed a kid or two that was once an NPC when they came of age.
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