~Children as Avatars?~

Consider in Ultima Online, people used bow and salute emote to do naughty stuff by Brit dock. Having controllable children characters in game will open the Pandora's box.

 

Ah, the good ol' days... fond memories of being driven mad by Spark and beating him to death with the Lightning Whip. <3

 

HELL yes.

 

I can see this too. On the other hand, LOTRO has hobbits, WOW has gnomes, etc. etc. and they don't seem to be big problems. Shorter people are just shorter people from a pixels perspective.

 

They said in the telethon that they tried just scaling down the models and it didn't work so children in the game will be completely different models that need new clothing, armor, animations, etc.

 

~There's Still Many Possibilities~
Once those are done, then it still remains that other items then become easier to scale down as they have already been designed for the larger avatar... no new creative artwork needed?... yet programing required.

~Warning Our SOTA is PG-13~
What box does PG-13 have left to open? To say that our game is somehow pushing a PG-13 limit... well.. that's just not possible.
See spoiler and remember, it's all PG-13, so don't blame me if you are Rated-G and are offended...

Spoiler

and that doesn't even include the guy with boobs on his head

(are we there already?)

I warned you it was all PG-13
~Time Lord~

 

You can't just put equippables designed for the adult avatar on a child avatar and scale them. Nor can you just apply animations from one model to the other. This is why we don't have fat bodytypes and such in the game right now. This is not a trivial issue to overcome.

 

~I Would Hope That All Our Coming SOTA Children in Game Would Be Just Like Her!~


I mean... couldn't you see a guild or gang full of blood crazed kids attacking any of our instances?
I wouldn't care if there's any penalty for playing an Avatar like that, because it would be such a blast!

I hope our developers just don't create them just for looks, "let's play'em!"
~Time Lord~

 

+1 to the OP. I suggested this some time ago and was crucified straight away lol, but I still think this would add a cool level of diversity to the game that most others don't have.

 

I remember coming across that kind of activity at WBB - just once. A footstool was involved IIRC.
There's no way to completely counteract the creativity/depravity of players in any game, we're a pretty imaginative bunch; but given the dev team has taken a stance that they are unlikely to tolerate this kind of behaviour in this game, unless maybe it's in private between consenting avatars, I foresee any such activities quickly leading to reports and bans for the perpetrators.

Regarding the OP, I think the idea has a lot of potential if it imposes a different style of play, for instance a child can't expect to fight their way through most scenarios that an adult would. I don't expect to see it implemented any time soon if at all due to the technical challenges - maybe episode 2 or later, if the game takes off in a big way. Teens rather than infants would probably counter many of the other objections given the intended audience. Good suggestion even if nothing comes of it!

 

~The Continuing Challenge in Children~

Many said we would never achieve children in SOTA, yet now they are here...
The next logical step, is to have them as playable Avatars
~Time Lord~

 

I have no desire to see screenshots and videos of childlike avatars performing "adult" acts (whether it be slaughter or acts of debauchery) giving SotA a bad name. And it will happen if we allow children as avatars.

 

The ~Time Lord~ has always strived to tackled some of our most difficult forums subject matters, because they need all our reckoning with. So don't take the thread's content as being offensive, just everyone please apply our best thoughts, "or our Portalarium will think them for us without our input at all" ... The concerns of @Kara Brae are well founded here, because those same concerns have surrounded this subject from it's very first beginnings here within our forums so long ago.
The NPC Children are now with us, thus forwards the same issues in a much more wider range and intent "for SOTA in the now".... now that it's here... thus now needing to be addressed in measurements of size and then applied measurements of age.


I Do Agree Kara Brae!

Yet now we also have such a probability in ways already now existing, which further prods the subject's discovery of what is yet to come or could become viable if given a proper solution.
... 13- ... 13+ ... <---<<< mentioned in usages of time measurements of approximate age... maybe 16 Romeo and Juliet's measure of ...16-... or ...16+... is another defining point.

~13- Seems What We Have in NPC Children~
I do know what you're saying with the "acts of debauchery" and I do totally agree, when a YouTube of some contriving could very possibly then be made. As far as some "slaughtering" of a smaller 13- avatar.

~The @Cordelayne Post Pic Example~
https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/forum/index.php?threads/children.53611/

This above looks to be 13- in size... "truly a child size", yet not of Romeo and Juliet 16+...

The NPC child avatar we have, looks like these guys age group...

There are many questions, that having these size Avatars in our game raise, yet they are (in my opinion of the OP) not what I would call appropriate in any way with our current "emote mechanics"... "yet they are here"... but that's something I believe is of another thread's subject matter. "But well within discussion here in contrast" because it's a difficult subject to wrap all our heads around within it's complexities of concerns.

Our tallest adult playable Avatar, is a full adult head size above our shortest we can currently create. Our shortest playable Avatar is 1+1/2 adult size heads taller than our current NPC Children. This means that our tallest playable Avatar is 2+1/2 adult sized heads taller than our NPC children. I know this from creating our most short avatar within this release and then standing next to the girl in the opening scene. So, unless our new NPC children come in different sizes, then this leaves room for a 16+ age size to fall between the NPC child and the shortest adult sized Avatar.

The above range of height (1+1/2 head size) could then fit an age group of Avatar within the 16+ age range.

If we could overcome this hurtle, then this would open up the possibility of becoming able to "grow or age" our characters.
This would not be "following CoE (Chronicles of Eliria)", because I've been posting threads on this subject for over 2 years now. Threads of comments which have always been met with very stiff resistance, "yet the children are now here".

From 2014...
https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/f...the-reminders-of-compassion.7467/#post-128924

Have my comments been vindicated? "No".... They have only served as a platform by which we as players can help our Portalarium figure out how to approach such a subject matter in a very thoughtful way, which allows our players to become a part of this evolving subject. Avatar size is a contrast which helps our world seem more real and could offer our players a more challenging game, "when size matters".

Currently our shortest playable Avatar is challenged, because it is hindered within it's jumping capabilities (and possibly our "reach" abilities). When and if our sizes have differences, then we can begin to adapt our skills to compensate for a more playable game for our lesser sized characters, which are currently hamstringed by having lesser ability than our tallest playable Avatar.

Currently all our Avatars are not created equal... so maybe in our future, "we can change that".
~Time Lord~