Guild Wars 2

Hello Anet. I would like ask if I can be allowed to make a child character in game. I saw in towns that the model exists. Would it be OK to unlock this feature?

bad idea and I’m not even going to go into why, I’m sure you can figure it out for yourself.

Roundabout.1752:

bad idea and I’m not even going to go into why, I’m sure you can figure it out for yourself.

Agreed, bad idea. However, since OP started this thread, I doubt they can fidure out why.

In the Never Ending Story, the hero was a child. And the empress was a child. There’s nothing wrong with fantasy characters being young heros.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_NeverEnding_Story_

Until people on the internet do what they always do and make everything about you know what. I say no to children being in this game and being playable.

Endless Soul.5178:

Roundabout.1752:

bad idea and I’m not even going to go into why, I’m sure you can figure it out for yourself.

Agreed, bad idea. However, since OP started this thread, I doubt they can fidure out why.

Looks like you are right oh well this thread will get buried soon enough.

Games in general dont let you play as children due to the moral/ethical issues surrounding it. For instance children carrying swords/gun fighting killing and dying isnt a great image to sell a game on.

Then you have problems in MMO’s with people Rp’ing mature scenarios with child avatars..

Personally I dont feel this issue is that significant (its a game not rl) but its a hot topic and one that people have quite extreme reactions to, so its pretty certain this will never be an option. Asura seem to be GW’s answer to a childlike character due to their stature.

It seems like it’s doable, since in Tera you can make child characters. The difference is, they have long animal-like ears. In the Korean version, they can even wear skimpy armor. So it’s not like it’s not allowed.

I could make one with an Asura, but they are ugly.

As was already said above, the gaming industry generally has its hands tied when it comes to using children in the games. With the exception of the clearly Mature/Adult games, children will be either kept out of harm or have any harm done to them occur off screen. I believe Anet even said that they had to keep Taimi out of the fighting during the attack due to not be able/wanting to have her in that much peril.

I play a child in second life. Yes, it is possible to keep playing a child and mature activities as completely different concepts even when people try to conflate the ideas.

I’d love to play as a 14yr old kid with a GIGANTIC sword but I can 100% appreciate and respect why that is not, and never should be, made possible.

Nice sentiment, but many people would use it for not-nice reasons. There is a good reason why kids are never enemies and rarely protagonists in videogames – violence against kids is bad, m’kay! [/MrGarrison]

Anet should ban all the bad people, so we can play games like normal.

I believe I read once that some countries have laws banning the showing of violence by and/or towards children in video games. Pretty sure I read about it concerning one of the Fable games and how you could be good or evil and attack pretty much anybody anywhere in the game, except for child NPCs. Not very good business to make games that would be illegal in target countries just because some people want to make kid characters.

Natto.5819:

It seems like it’s doable, since in Tera you can make child characters. The difference is, they have long animal-like ears. In the Korean version, they can even wear skimpy armor. So it’s not like it’s not allowed.

I could make one with an Asura, but they are ugly.

I played TERA for an hour, noticed those characters and got creeped out by that.

Legally, yeah it’s probably allowed. Morally? Nope.

i would love to play as a charr kid, so cute lol

psizone.8437:

I played TERA for an hour, noticed those characters and got creeped out by that.

Legally, yeah it’s probably allowed. Morally? Nope.

Thats the main reason I looked at that game, gave a huge NOPE and backspaced off its website!

GuzziHero.5104:

psizone.8437:

I played TERA for an hour, noticed those characters and got creeped out by that.

Legally, yeah it’s probably allowed. Morally? Nope.

Thats the main reason I looked at that game, gave a huge NOPE and backspaced off its website!

Yeah, I can appreciate that that kind of things is ok in the Asian market (different ages of concent/social acceptance of that kinda thing) but in the Western market that doesn’t go down too well, not well at all.

As a parent, it kinda grosses me out when people put childlike characters in those kinds of clothing.

lighter.2708:

i would love to play as a charr kid, so cute lol

True, which is probably what I would do if it were an option. My second life kid avatar is a cougar cub who walks upright.

In both worlds there is no inherent conflict with the rules about child human avatars. Anet just has to unlock the charr and maybe also the asura.

psizone.8437:

Natto.5819:

It seems like it’s doable, since in Tera you can make child characters. The difference is, they have long animal-like ears. In the Korean version, they can even wear skimpy armor. So it’s not like it’s not allowed.

I could make one with an Asura, but they are ugly.

I played TERA for an hour, noticed those characters and got creeped out by that.

Legally, yeah it’s probably allowed. Morally? Nope.

I love elins all the normal armors are not skimpy and the outfits who are is really expensive stuff also its not humans they are adults !

Tera is ->>>>>>>>> that a way.

Why exactly would you send a child into battle? How would said child know how to fight against monsters? Do you want the cry of pedophile in every chat? Do you want the masses who don’t even play GW2 (adults) talking about how Anet kills babies and should be taken down? Please think before spouting such things.

I wonder where all these threads are coming from? child characters? all these cat/fox ears and tails? yeah two different topics but its all this same “cutesy” business All I can say is if you want to play as a kid, play the Tera, you want to play as a halfbreed humananimal, play a Venomancer or something in perfect world international!

Natto.5819:

It seems like it’s doable, since in Tera you can make child characters. The difference is, they have long animal-like ears. In the Korean version, they can even wear skimpy armor. So it’s not like it’s not allowed.

I could make one with an Asura, but they are ugly.

Aren’t the Elin also supposed to be something like 300 years old? Yes they look young but they aren’t children according to the game.

The biggest problem I see with playable child characters is that you end up with situations where you are killing children and that would have a big impact on GW2’s ratings. Another problem is that you just doubled the amount of work required for every new armor set. Child versus adult isn’t just a simple matter of scaling, at least not if you want to do it well.

I just thought also… what kind of pact would allow a child Commander? Or let them near the battlefront at all?

Depends on the game if there should be a child character or not. Guild Wars 2 is not one of them.

Zelda games does it good.

This is not going to happen because videogames in which children are hurt get much higher ratings and become harder to distribute.

Even in Mortal Kombat Ferra never gets hurt because she’s still a kid, or at least looks like one, so Torr has to take all deaths while Ferra watches or is knocked out on the sideline.

Still, you can make surprisingly child-looking characters. But they will still have their very grow-up voices as there’s no voice pitch slider in character customization options. So that breaks the illusion.

Calm Arkanere here is meant to look like a young teenager.

You get this with the shortest stature, a relatively big head, big eyes, small mouth and puffy cheeks.

Virtually everything I would have said has already been said about why I would vote no on this issue.

I will add to the previously mentioned points that if you notice, every single Dynamic Event that surrounds children (Such as Kari in Kessex Hills or the Cubs in Plains of Ashford) do not have the possibility of an NPC child dying, and for good reason.

The last thing I want to see is a child PC (whether mine or someone else’s) in the defeated state. I’m almost certain this wouldn’t be a 12+ game by then.

This is of course, in addition to all the other reasons people have already said.

Its not going to happen.

Games where you have far more character customization have issues with people making child characters for sexual purposes. In one its so bad the GMs had to come out tell people to stop that, because its illegal.

Anet has no incentive to set themselves up for those kinds of issues.

Anyway, we already have child characters, at least according to HODIL?

War Child foundation says no. Roll asura, closest you can get to a kid character.

It’s not going to happen because if people could play as a child then other people could kill children in WvW and PvP.

And as soon as you add killing children to a game (even killing them bloodlessly with magical butterfly effects) it pushes the age rating up, at least in the USA and EU which are Anet’s main markets. Then they lose a significant part of their playerbase.

It’s possible, but it’s not worth it for them.

Just make a really small character with a young looking face.. and pretend you are a young character..

Uki.4725:

I believe I read once that some countries have laws banning the showing of violence by and/or towards children in video games. Pretty sure I read about it concerning one of the Fable games and how you could be good or evil and attack pretty much anybody anywhere in the game, except for child NPCs. Not very good business to make games that would be illegal in target countries just because some people want to make kid characters.

I think Uki hit the nail on the head here.

I saw a thread a while ago, similar to this, and another poster said the same. I seem to remember somebody saying that the only reason why Taimi is allowed to be is because she doesn’t ever take part in the violence herself, she is always guarded by her companion, Scruffy.

My stance on it before was “Sure, more customisability is a great thing”. I noticed that you could make child-like characters in Aion and thought this was awesome as it added a new dimension to character creation. You could even change the character’s voice to fit your character better, but then Aion didn’t have as many voiced cut-scenes like we do in GW2.

Those rules and regulations are there for a reason though, so I support them. I don’t particularly want to see somebody being violent towards a child.

I also don’t think that it would make sense for the Vigil/Order of Whispers/Priory to employ an 8 year old and set it to work against Zhaitan as the Commander of the Pact. :P

The majority of human females in this game look between the ages of 12 – 14 for the most part anyway, excluding their massive bust. The less pre-teens we have running around in bathing suits the better IMO.

You can make child like characters in other games. Never seemed to be a problem in the ones I have played. Think the main reason you wouldn’t get it here is because it’s extra work that’s probably not worthwhile. And then the complaints roll in.

J Eberle.9312:

You can make child like characters in other games. Never seemed to be a problem in the ones I have played. Think the main reason you wouldn’t get it here is because it’s extra work that’s probably not worthwhile. And then the complaints roll in.

I think that’s an important factor too.

You have to ask yourself : “Even if the regulations weren’t there, is it worth A-net’s resources adding these options in-game post-launch?”

As I already mentioned, I think the biggest problem (outside ethics and resources) would be that it wouldn’t “fit” the game. The story of GW2 is developing your character, watching him/her progress through the ranks to become a strong, leading character to take on some of the biggest threats in Tyria.

The story would be very different if you were a child; even if a child could succeed against such opposition, how would other important characters respond and interact with you? Could they really expect a child to make the right decisions?

Natto.5819:

Hello Anet. I would like ask if I can be allowed to make a child character in game. I saw in towns that the model exists. Would it be OK to unlock this feature?

No, if you can not grasp why this is wrong and a bad idea, you may need to seek profession help.

there is a game op… called TERA… you might wanna google one of their playable races.. called elin…nuff said.

For all of you talking about “morality” get over yourselves.

Your morality is not the only view on our planet. While I agree that they are not needed in game, children playable characters, don’t act like we live in some ethical world out here where we don’t send children to die.

Review world history both distant past recent past and our present and you will find that this is actually the reality we all live in.

I think some of you should see a real third world war zone then comment. I don’t agree with sending kids to war but it happens everyday.

Be careful evoking “morality” wars have been fought and millions dead over that word in this earth we live in. While in this game guild wars 2 it is all about war for the most part. Games emulate life.

I still don’t want to see it in game but I would ask that some of you teach your children why not to send kids to die not just rail against it to them as “BAD”. Educate and maybe it all ends one day.

(edited spelling)

Crimson Clouds.4853:

J Eberle.9312:

You can make child like characters in other games. Never seemed to be a problem in the ones I have played. Think the main reason you wouldn’t get it here is because it’s extra work that’s probably not worthwhile. And then the complaints roll in.

I think that’s an important factor too.

You have to ask yourself : “Even if the regulations weren’t there, is it worth A-net’s resources adding these options in-game post-launch?”

As I already mentioned, I think the biggest problem (outside ethics and resources) would be that it wouldn’t “fit” the game. The story of GW2 is developing your character, watching him/her progress through the ranks to become a strong, leading character to take on some of the biggest threats in Tyria.

The story would be very different if you were a child; even if a child could succeed against such opposition, how would other important characters respond and interact with you? Could they really expect a child to make the right decisions?

You’d probably be treated similarly to Taimi – allowed to tag along and appreciated when you help out but certainly not the one in charge or making all the important decisions and everyone would freak out if you went to explore the map alone. Which wouldn’t make for a very fun game.

out of a sudden “that” group of people make remarks on morality and choices.

Bravo. I leave this here.

https://tera-forums.enmasse.com/forums/general-discussion/topics/BHS-Elin-saved-Tera

Crimson Clouds.4853:

J Eberle.9312:

You can make child like characters in other games. Never seemed to be a problem in the ones I have played. Think the main reason you wouldn’t get it here is because it’s extra work that’s probably not worthwhile. And then the complaints roll in.

I think that’s an important factor too.

You have to ask yourself : “Even if the regulations weren’t there, is it worth A-net’s resources adding these options in-game post-launch?”

As I already mentioned, I think the biggest problem (outside ethics and resources) would be that it wouldn’t “fit” the game. The story of GW2 is developing your character, watching him/her progress through the ranks to become a strong, leading character to take on some of the biggest threats in Tyria.

The story would be very different if you were a child; even if a child could succeed against such opposition, how would other important characters respond and interact with you? Could they really expect a child to make the right decisions?

Just playing the devils advocate here for the sake of a two sided discussion…

This is a fantasy world, anything within the realm of imagination is expected. That allows for almost anything. Not all world views or philosophies are the same as yours, it does not make yours less valid or theirs less valid.

I was aware of the world and death and what that meant by about 5 years old. My parents made sure of that. They awakened me as early as they possibly could so that I would be a free thinking and open minded person. They did the right thing even though I am sure many would not agree. It is my opinion that counts here and even then I would be willing to consider someones other than my own to see if there is a better way of seeing it.

I am a pacifist in real life yet I can kill in a game. It is in complete opposition. To me opposites and why they attract are the basis of the race I love, the human race.

Khisanth.2948:

Natto.5819:

It seems like it’s doable, since in Tera you can make child characters. The difference is, they have long animal-like ears. In the Korean version, they can even wear skimpy armor. So it’s not like it’s not allowed.

I could make one with an Asura, but they are ugly.

Aren’t the Elin also supposed to be something like 300 years old? Yes they look young but they aren’t children according to the game.

The biggest problem I see with playable child characters is that you end up with situations where you are killing children and that would have a big impact on GW2’s ratings. Another problem is that you just doubled the amount of work required for every new armor set. Child versus adult isn’t just a simple matter of scaling, at least not if you want to do it well.

Thats the thing in games,they can make it look like a child,then say But oh she’s 300years old just cus we say so,eventhough she clearly doesnt look like it..For me its also a huge turn off though,breaks immersion greatly for me.Besides what the op is asking for is just…no,no on many levels.

To maintain the Teen rating GW2 has, they can’t allow people to play as children in life threatening situations, where your child character can “die” and has interaction options with alcohol and innuendo.

It also utterly goes against the lore of the game. Sylvari doesn’t have children, and the children of the other races are very clearly just normal kids minding their own business and doing kid stuff, with exception to one or two asuran progeny

Caedmon.6798:

Khisanth.2948:

Natto.5819:

It seems like it’s doable, since in Tera you can make child characters. The difference is, they have long animal-like ears. In the Korean version, they can even wear skimpy armor. So it’s not like it’s not allowed.

I could make one with an Asura, but they are ugly.

Aren’t the Elin also supposed to be something like 300 years old? Yes they look young but they aren’t children according to the game.

The biggest problem I see with playable child characters is that you end up with situations where you are killing children and that would have a big impact on GW2’s ratings. Another problem is that you just doubled the amount of work required for every new armor set. Child versus adult isn’t just a simple matter of scaling, at least not if you want to do it well.

Thats the thing in games,they can make it look like a child,then say But oh she’s 300years old just cus we say so,eventhough she clearly doesnt look like it..For me its also a huge turn off though,breaks immersion greatly for me.Besides what the op is asking for is just…no,no on many levels.

What levels? I see that being said but no one that seems to want to expand on that. If you have view lets hear it? Discussions are healthy as long as both sides will actually speak their minds not hide behind vague morality arguments, which are always totally subjective and almost never debates of ethics.

lol and, lol not so much – finishing moves on children in pvp

It’s not really a big problem though, since most of the Korean and Japanese games have this kind of feature. People are complaining about the “ethical issue” of the game, but guess what, the US and some European countries have much higher adolescence crime rates/prostitution than Korean and Japanese!

This speaks volumes about some “western standard” being misleading propaganda and shows an essence of arrogance and ignorance.

People create child characters because they like children, not because they like seeing children suffered.

Natto.5819:

It seems like it’s doable, since in Tera you can make child characters. The difference is, they have long animal-like ears. In the Korean version, they can even wear skimpy armor. So it’s not like it’s not allowed.

I could make one with an Asura, but they are ugly.

fyi, as mentioned a bit above, they aren’t actually children, they’re ancient spirits.. that doesn’t get rid of the fact that from the waist up they look like kids though :P

I don’t think it’d be a good idea though. if anything, it’d probably drive the esrb up to M which I doubt anet would want to do.

Toxsa.2701:

It’s not really a big problem though, since most of the Korean and Japanese games have this kind of feature. People are complaining about the “ethical issue” of the game, but guess what, the US and some European countries have much higher adolescence crime rates/prostitution than Korean and Japanese!

This speaks volumes about some “western standard” being misleading propaganda and shows an essence of arrogance and ignorance.

People create child characters because they like children, not because they like seeing children suffered.

The simple fact is, ANet have an ESRB teen rating. They have to follow strict guidelines to maintain that rating.

As far as I’m aware, Tera is rated as Mature, and so will Blade and Soul be.

It’s nothing to do with real life ethics or morality, so stop bringing up something that has absolutely bugger all to do with the topic.

What would Guild Wars 2 gain from allowing you to play as a child? What could possibly be the purpose of such a feature? Guild Wars 2 follows a pseudo-realistic framework in which children act like children and thus do not have the the physical or emotional maturity to keep up with adults. Like RL.

If you want to get technical, any sylvari player character is the equivalent of a child. However, if your goal is just “prepubescent or teenager” then you’re going for an aesthetic rather than actual children. What possible reason could you have to want to play a child specifically in Guild Wars 2?

I understand there are other games with child protagonists (legend of zelda games were mentioned) but how does such a thing improve Guild Wars 2? I can think of no reason. You want short characters? Asura. You want young characters? Sylvari. You want hairless characters? Human. I just…I don’t understand. Why would you even want to play as a child?

Natto.5819:

It seems like it’s doable, since in Tera you can make child characters. The difference is, they have long animal-like ears. In the Korean version, they can even wear skimpy armor. So it’s not like it’s not allowed.

I could make one with an Asura, but they are ugly.

That Tera race is bloody creepy. And the skimpy outfits on them even more so. I would hope to god Anet never creates something like that in this game.