I will not say my age, but it is within a 10 year proximity of 21, and most likely on the lower side. I will admit: I have lied about my age, or at least omitted things. If a check says 18+, I generally do not adhere to said rule. Am I immature and just looking for smut/big boy RPs? No. I you saw my posts, I use grammar and err away from said smut, although I accept it. If something says 18+, is it a sin of any kind to ignore it, provided you act 18+?

To answer the question in your subject line, no. I don't know any kid who hasn't played pretend and role-played after a fashion, and there's no useful difference between roleplaying and just playing pretend. To answer the question in your post, are you using the word "sin" as a metaphor or are you referring to a literal "trangression of divine law" sin? What exactly are you asking? What are you worried about?

To me, it would be a sin. It's 18+ for a reason, not the least of which - protects all parties involved if the RP takes a turn that shouldn't be traveled down by those not age appropriate. Likely in the same way stores and such would get in trouble for providing beers to minors and the like. AS for the subject title - no.

If something says 18+, is it a sin of any kind to ignore it, provided you act 18+?

No matter what, you're going to be deceiving the other players that respect the 18+ gate. The community only works if people respect each others' wishes and people respect yours. If someone has a reason to put up an 18+ gate on their roleplay, chances are you're going to stand out like a sore thumb for the same reason you'd stand out if you join a "Naruto-fans only" roleplay while knowing nothing about Naruto. No matter how old you act, you still know nothing about Naruto. In a roleplay, you're betraying the trust of the other players and it can be very harmful to everyone involved including yourself. It's also not a safe way to approach the internet, and you may be creating a legally questionable scenario depending on the events that follow. Finally, under American law, if you're under the age of 13, you need a guardian's consent to be here and they need to know that 18+ topics take place here: http://www.coppa.org/coppa.htm. But I saved this for last because there are more reasons to be honest with others than just an appeal to authority.

Honestly, I've never seen an 18+ Roleplay that has actually been too mature for a high school student. I temper this with several caveats: -I'm not saying that the 18+ restriction doesn't exist for some legal reasons (as weak as they are). It does. They should be respected for that, for reasons stated above. -I'm talking about 18+ roleplays that don't actually venture into X-rated territory. Graphic sex, abuse, torture, rape, I'm sure those exist in roleplays somewhere. On the whole, R-rated/18+ roleplays don't usually involve those subjects, and I am speaking about those roleplays in particular. Now, back to what I said. Most high school students, especially upperclassmen, are basically mature enough to handle heavy violence, sexual drama, romance, and most of the other material that comes up in 18+ roleplays. Plenty of them watch or experience it already in movies, video games and on TV. There's also no shortage of places on the Internet where you can find that kind of thing. There are a few exceptions, some high schoolers are simply not mature enough for this, but so are there exceptions for actual adults who can't handle that kind of thing. So the question about maturity is usually pretty null. Roleplayers tend to be fairly young, anyway, from high school to college aged, with a few outliers on either ends. There are plenty of college-aged folks who are more immature than some high school freshmen, and since everyone really matures at a different rate, it's hard to pinpoint an actual age. 18 is pretty arbitrary when you think about it, but it's usually chosen as it coincides with the age of legal consent. And that's the key here. Consent. Legally, a minor cannot consent to a whole host of actions which s/he would otherwise be mature enough to handle. Not because there's some conspiracy against them, but because the law was designed that way. For some, it sucks. For most, it's just right. For a few, it's not enough. Could you join an 18+ roleplay, act mature enough and avoid detection? Yep, probably. Should you? No. If, and it's a big if but the if still exists, the Guild was ever discovered to have minors participating in mature situations, Mahz and the Guild would probably come under legal suspicion. It can cause problems. RPG is probably not as big of a target as the old Neopets once was, or other big boards like that, but the threat still exists. The best way to avoid this and keep the Guild away from that kind of trouble is to respect the 18+ restriction and wait a few years. Here's an alternative: Short stories that you write yourself don't have an age restriction. If someone really loves writing mature scenarios, but they're not old enough to join a roleplay, writing short stories on their own can be a creative outlet to keep the momentum going. That one's between you, your conscience, and your deity. Just don't share them until you are 18.

Honestly, I've never seen an 18+ Roleplay that has actually been too mature for a high school student. I temper this with several caveats: -I'm not saying that the 18+ restriction doesn't exist for some legal reasons (as weak as they are). It does. They should be respected for that, for reasons stated above. -I'm talking about 18+ roleplays that don't actually venture into X-rated territory. Graphic sex, abuse, torture, rape, I'm sure those exist in roleplays somewhere. On the whole, R-rated/18+ roleplays don't usually involve those subjects, and I am speaking about those roleplays in particular. [...] And that's the key here. Consent. Legally, a minor cannot consent to a whole host of actions which s/he would otherwise be mature enough to handle. Not because there's some conspiracy against them, but because the law was designed that way. For some, it sucks. For most, it's just right. For a few, it's not enough. Could you join an 18+ roleplay, act mature enough and avoid detection? Yep, probably. Should you? No. If, and it's a big if but the if still exists, the Guild was ever discovered to have minors participating in mature situations, Mahz and the Guild would probably come under legal suspicion. It can cause problems. RPG is probably not as big of a target as the old Neopets once was, or other big boards like that, but the threat still exists. The best way to avoid this and keep the Guild away from that kind of trouble is to respect the 18+ restriction and wait a few years.

Not only Mahz and the Guild, but also the person you were RPing with. There are so many things that could happen - though they likely won't - that the people who are posting the 18+ interest checks need to cover their rear. Like Mahz said, though, the main thing is trust. Be honest with the people you want to RP with. And I've seen many interest checks without the adult content warning - which on here often doesn't mean blood/gore/violence/language, but rather bedroom activities. To answer the question in the subject, though: No, I don't think 12 is too young to RP in general. It is great for expanding your imagination and improving your writing skills. Keeping it appropriate for all parties involved is key, though.

I will not say my age, but it is within a 10 year proximity of 21, and most likely on the lower side. I will admit: I have lied about my age, or at least omitted things. If a check says 18+, I generally do not adhere to said rule. Am I immature and just looking for smut/big boy RPs? No. I you saw my posts, I use grammar and err away from said smut, although I accept it. If something says 18+, is it a sin of any kind to ignore it, provided you act 18+?

Reading a few comments above and noticing the 13+ comments is probably the key factor within all this. I've been on a few forums where some under 13s managed to make accounts and most of the time they hide their age to get through the gate. The main concern is their exposure to content that may not be suitable for a person of that age, whether it's drugs, sex, alcohol, violence, adult themes, etc. The best bet for if any member is under the 18 and secretly under 13 age is to just avoid those sections and stick to the areas that are a bit safer. Everyone knows that there are really young members on every forum and different forums will have different rules on how they handle it. Just my 2 cents.

On a general basis, we think the age restriction on roleplaying is based more on when a person is capable of acting/writing out a role than on some number. There are no doubt children of eight years more eloquent than those of sixteen. People mature differently. We don't think a precise number can be put on when it works and doesn't work. But there's also the restrictions Mahz mentioned, like the need for parent/guardian consent to join if under a certain age. Such a number rule is in place to both cover people's sixes and to be sure that someone considers the individual old enough to be able to do it. Granted, we suspect that LARPs might be easier than PbP RPs for the younger ones.

Granted, we suspect that LARPs might be easier than PbP RPs for the younger ones.

Or tabletops. I kinda wish I'd gotten into tabletop games as a kid. A friend in middle school tried, but we never got together for that game. It took until college to get there.

for a child to get into tabletops, the DM has to be pretty good. and perhaps the mechanics simplified a bit. like everyone skipping certain fields.

I'll quote Mark Twain on this; Also, yes, you might be endangering the of-age person in this scenario as well in the legal sense. You probably won't even get a slap on the wrist as a minor, but prosecutors love to string the non minors up -- they'll cast it all in the worst possible light. Maybe you don't mean to have all that happen, but that doesn't help them much. So please, yes, respect people's requests in that regard. Don't lie to them. The potential consequences can be as profound and uncaring as getting them imprisoned, on a sex offender's watch list and a bevy of other ugly options. That also probably blows back on the Guild; so you're endangering the website quite a bit. At the same time, if you are underage and someone is stalking you for those kinds of RP's, we'd like to know so we can get rid of that account because that also endangers the Guild.

for a child to get into tabletops, the DM has to be pretty good. and perhaps the mechanics simplified a bit. like everyone skipping certain fields.

TT's aren't just Dungeons and Dragons anymore. There's plenty of games out there, even some made for kids. A guy I know even made his own system for his kids, and published it online.

True. We just don't know enough about any of the others to speak for them, but even the simpler ones might need further simplification if you're dealing with young children as players. Still, having a child involved in a tabletop RP could be... refreshing.

for a child to get into tabletops, the DM has to be pretty good. and perhaps the mechanics simplified a bit. like everyone skipping certain fields.

Not all table tops require a good GM, if we are talking about actual table top games. Gloom is probably a really good example. It's a card based game but as things happen to each player they can create a story around each event. The GM is technically the game itself and the players are obeying it's rules.

True enough. We may have generalized a bit in our minds about what tabletop is. Restricted it to many-sided dice RPs. Card-based tabletops can be a lot easier for children than those involving complex dice mechanics.

At least speaking as a Furry, I would have to say, "Not at all". In a general sense, I'd say you're never young enough to RP so long as you're old enough to have a basic grasp of English and writing skills.

Devourer of Love: *When I first started RPing, we'd post in this format*

If you're talking about, as you put it, "Smut" then that's a bit more of a tricky issue. I have nothing against it, just so long as you're keeping yourself safe. I'd restrict that sort of stuff to only between mates (Or what ever the non furry equivalent of a mate is), and I'd probably recommend waiting a little longer than 12 before trying it. That shit gets real derpy when you don't know nothing on the subject.

If you are NOT talking about smut then I'd say that 18+ shouldn't even be used by who ever is creating the RP. Since you don't have to be over 18 to cover a mature concept, such as the holocaust, just mature enough to treat the subject with the sensitivity it deserves. So in that case, someone making the RP should use the "Mature" tag, rather than the "18+" tag.

Devourer of Love: *When I first started RPing, we'd post in this format*

Ugh. I used script style exactly once. And it was awful. I'm so glad it's practically extinct nowadays.

On a general basis, we think the age restriction on roleplaying is based more on when a person is capable of acting/writing out a role than on some number. There are no doubt children of eight years more eloquent than those of sixteen. People mature differently. We don't think a precise number can be put on when it works and doesn't work.

This is very true, you can have the 12 year olds that are incapable of doing anything but making fart jokes, and the ones that write things that make me attached enough to the characters that I can't do anything for a week because I'm devastated by their deaths. I started roleplaying when I was 12, as a matter of fact. So no, it really isn't. As for joining 18+ roleplays? If you're as mature as an 18 year old, then I would consider it okay. Of course, you should always respect the wishes of other roleplayers. If they don't want you in their 18+ roleplay, then you probably shouldn't join.

As for joining 18+ roleplays? If you're as mature as an 18 year old, then I would consider it okay. Of course, you should always respect the wishes of other roleplayers. If they don't want you in their 18+ roleplay, then you probably shouldn't join.

Do you consider requiring someone to be 18 to join the roleplay as a "we don't want players under 18" statement? Or do you feel that GMs must specifically say "get out" to someone they suspect is underage.

<Snipped quote by Keyguyperson>

Do you consider requiring someone to be 18 to join the roleplay as a "we don't want players under 18" statement? Or do you feel that GMs must specifically say "get out" to someone they suspect is underage.

If it's a sexual roleplay? Don't join until you're 18. As said earlier, laws exist, so that's just a bad idea. If it needs you to be mature enough for the topic, then just be mature enough for the topic. The latter shouldn't have any kind of age even mentioned, because maturity has nothing to do with age.