To age or not to age?

[Erwin]

I've pondered my mind upon the question if my characters should physically age or not.
With physical ageing I mean changing their appearance to that of an older human during their lifespan.

Although this might seem like a normal thing to do, I've never seen an old character in Cantr that looks old.
In fact, most of them look as young as the day they spawned.

Are there any guidelines or rules for this that I might have missed? Or is it personal preference, if so, what do you prefer?
So to age or not to age? That is the question.

[the_antisocial_hermit]

It's personal preference. I have seen some characters that have put aging descriptors in their description. They don't die (as yet) soo... even if they do age, it's probably way slower than we do.

[Doug R.]

This is really a General Discussion question, since there's no policy on it. I'll move it there.

[*Wiro]

I tend to fill in the blanks myself. Didn't need fancy descriptions before to tell old and young people apart, certainly don't need them now!

[Henkie]

I usually let my chars age about half what humans do, but I must confess the 'usual' is not so very 'usual' when I look at my char list.. hehe

[viktor]

i've had chars before with 'dynamic descriptions'
a couple of them did age... one i recall started greying somewhere over 100.

[Oasis]

About the same for me...I think when mine were deemed 'very old', I started to add some age to some of their appearances. But that was before dynamic descriptions, so only occassionally rp'd that way, not written.

[EchoMan]

One of mine started greying in his 50's. But that was mainly due to wifey problems.

I have had "young man/woman" in a lot of my char descriptions, and then removed it when they are in their 40's.

[Voltenion]

One of the things I have most fun with is changing the descriptions of my characters to reflect what's been going on with them. Have they been eating a lot and doing little? I add to the descriptions that he is gaining a little weight. Been through a battle or got suddenly attacked rhinos? Add some scars to the description. The guy is constantly traveling? Add a beard to him. Stuff like that.
So I will certainly change them a bit with age, although not too much. Since aging is a complicated term in Cantr, they technically get better at the skills they do, so it's the normal aging we humans have.

[Snickie]

I used to be obsessed with those in my own characters. Now I only ever add in scars and whatnot, and occasionally I'll put something age-related to it, like graying hair, but it's usually fairly subtle, since aging doesn't happen all at once.

Ex: dark gray hair -> light gray hair
Ex: white-blonde hair -> white hair

[Alladinsane]

Most of mine have begun to gray at the temples. Aging is a role-played effect of the environment.

When a char spends alot of time on a ship, we often portray them as tanned, or with windburned skin. A wound adds blood perhaps, certain rp in other areas can leave bruises, hickeys or other signs of private rp. What about a player who is drunk, there are physical characteristics to that too. Tired? Has grown an uncharacteristic facial hair, changes the color of their clothing? Challenge your abilities to write and give others a visualization of your char, the depth is up to you and what you can portray. Where is that secret freckle? Tattoo's are popular and some list that they exist but can't be seen as long as the char is clothed, some only change their description when the char is appropriately attired for...err...swimming!

The thing tougher to rp with aging is weakening, though that could be done by adjusting the strength of shots in sparring and combat... try to drag yourself before dragging someone else.... Maybe it will make you too tired to drag them or that coveted pile of dried dung.

Ah the possibilities are... something cliche'.

Age well.

[Faith]

I usually change a lot the descriptions of my chars. They spawn just with a couple of lines (hair, eyes and physical structure) but with the time the description grows according with the life they have; so I don't pay much attetion to age, rather to the character's life. If one of my chars lives all its life in a comfotable grassland just giving food to the cows...well he's not going to age too much; but if he lives a stressful life, or some dramatic change, his appearance suffers (some gray hair, wrinkles) and he begins to age.

It's funny because a bug makes that one of my more hyperactive and stressed chars looks on his 60 one year before he had it.

[Xander]

Some of my characters generally age, but some of my characters in their fifties and sixties still look like they did in their twenties and thirties.

[Sunni Daez]

A Charri ages 18.25 years in 1 of our years... so in 1 year, he goes from 20 to 38.25 .. 56.5 .. 74.75 93... 111.25 129.5 so, in 5 of our years a charri ages 91 years... You don't change alot in 5 years.. a bit yes,

so you go from 20 to 25 your charri goes from 20 to 129.5...

[wichita]

I thought Chauncey and Bessie Gardner in Lake Village aged wonderfully, though my opinion might be biased. What the game lacks in mechanics one can always make up for with quality roleplay in activity and mannerisms. The personalized descriptions are actually one of the game's greatest developments in this regard. Maybe even in any regard.