1) Maturity:
Most of the guilds with the 18+ rules say it's strictly for the fact that 18 year olds are just more mature than people under 18. This, in any case, is an irrational generalization. I've met 20-30 year olds that are incapable of making it through a raid without pitching a fit because something doesn't go their way. I've also met players under the age of 18 who are exactly the same. What I'm saying is, regardless of age, you're going to meet immature people, and assuming that someone is going to be immature based off their age, is just going to make you seem like an immature bigot. To put things into a more personal perspective, I'll use my self as an example. I'm 17 years old, I'm the youngest raider in Vortex, and I'm also the most immature. However, I'm not immature in a "gimme muh lootz, QQ, I'm a lil kid" kind of way. Outside of raids, I joke and laugh and act like an idiot. Inside of raids, I joke and laugh and act like an idiot on most easy/farm bosses, however when we get to a difficult encounter, I'm able to put my serious face on and get my job done. I'm sure my guild gets tired of hearing me on vent on any given raid night, but when the fight starts to escalate in difficulty, you can tell I've started to focus. Now, you can take me and compare me to the oldest raider in our guild, Naz. Now I think Naz is like 50, Scythe says otherwise, but until I get a confession from Naz himself, he's 50. Naz is probably the most serious raider we have. He keeps vent clear most of the time except for intelligent discussion about boss strategies. However, he does have a sense of humor, albeit dark. Just the other night, me and him participated in some, witty banter back and forth during a break. The main difference between Naz and I, is that he is serious but knows when to be fun, and I'm fun but know when to be serious. Both of these traits are good to have within a guild, and are both shown by the oldest and youngest members of the guild.
2) Scheduling/Parental issues:
Another "excuse" used by those selective guilds, is that players under 18 don't have complete control over their schedules, or may have parental issues. I agree with this to an extent. I personally was under restrictions with my mother until I was 16. This really put a damper on my trying to raid during Ulduar, as my guild was an 8-12:30 guild, but my mother decided to have me in bed by 10:30 every night. I'd already been a member of the guild for 6 months at this point, so the event proved how, unpredictable, a minors schedule could be. However, this just overlaps into the "maturity" issue. A player that is mature enough to join your guild, will also be mature enough to: finish their homework on time, do their chores before the raid, maintain good grades, and keep a good standing with their parents. Adults, while on the other hand have a more stable control over their schedule, do not have complete control. Most adults have significant others, in some shape or form. They sometimes have children to attend to. They have family issues that need attending to. The only difference between an adult and a minor is that the adult can chose his/her own work schedule, and controls their play time. They also usually pay their own subscription fee, thus eliminating the chance of mom or dad canceling the account at a moments notice.
3) Legality Issues:
I name it this because I can't think of anything else to name it. This point mostly pertains to vent/gchat. I know most of the restrictive guilds don't like to force members to censor their gchat or vent conversations just because one of their other members is 15 or 16 years old. I know personally in Vortex, Scythe likes to make sexual jokes. A lot. A whole lot. Pretty frequently. I'd say 1/3 of what he says on any given raid night is some sort of sexual innuendo. Anyways, Vortex is mainly 20-30 year olds, and it is clearly stated on the site. I know that guilds are afraid that a mother or father of a younger player is going to walk up to the computer or in to the room and see/hear things that their child just shouldn't be subjected to. However, the game is 12+, but on the box it clearly states that, "game play may be altered with on line play". Parents allowing their children to play the game should know that the children will be subjected to, less than desirable chat. Now, there's nothing stopping a parent from removing their child from the guild, but again, a mature child will be able to compromise with their parents, and you, as a guild leader, should be willing to compromise as well. If the player has proven themselves as an asset to the guild, then you should be more than willing to limit vent chat a bit, so that the child can stay within the guild. Gchat can be fixed by just asking the player to turn on their chat censor.
As you can see, most of the issues can be boiled down to maturity. If a player has an overall maturity level high enough, and is more than capable of performing to your guild's standards, you should highly consider excepting them. Guess that's all I have for now.
/guffaw
-Bus
2) Scheduling/Parental issues:
Another "excuse" used by those selective guilds, is that players under 18 don't have complete control over their schedules, or may have parental issues. I agree with this to an extent. I personally was under restrictions with my mother until I was 16. This really put a damper on my trying to raid during Ulduar, as my guild was an 8-12:30 guild, but my mother decided to have me in bed by 10:30 every night. I'd already been a member of the guild for 6 months at this point, so the event proved how, unpredictable, a minors schedule could be. However, this just overlaps into the "maturity" issue. A player that is mature enough to join your guild, will also be mature enough to: finish their homework on time, do their chores before the raid, maintain good grades, and keep a good standing with their parents. Adults, while on the other hand have a more stable control over their schedule, do not have complete control. Most adults have significant others, in some shape or form. They sometimes have children to attend to. They have family issues that need attending to. The only difference between an adult and a minor is that the adult can chose his/her own work schedule, and controls their play time. They also usually pay their own subscription fee, thus eliminating the chance of mom or dad canceling the account at a moments notice.
3) Legality Issues:
I name it this because I can't think of anything else to name it. This point mostly pertains to vent/gchat. I know most of the restrictive guilds don't like to force members to censor their gchat or vent conversations just because one of their other members is 15 or 16 years old. I know personally in Vortex, Scythe likes to make sexual jokes. A lot. A whole lot. Pretty frequently. I'd say 1/3 of what he says on any given raid night is some sort of sexual innuendo. Anyways, Vortex is mainly 20-30 year olds, and it is clearly stated on the site. I know that guilds are afraid that a mother or father of a younger player is going to walk up to the computer or in to the room and see/hear things that their child just shouldn't be subjected to. However, the game is 12+, but on the box it clearly states that, "game play may be altered with on line play". Parents allowing their children to play the game should know that the children will be subjected to, less than desirable chat. Now, there's nothing stopping a parent from removing their child from the guild, but again, a mature child will be able to compromise with their parents, and you, as a guild leader, should be willing to compromise as well. If the player has proven themselves as an asset to the guild, then you should be more than willing to limit vent chat a bit, so that the child can stay within the guild. Gchat can be fixed by just asking the player to turn on their chat censor.
As you can see, most of the issues can be boiled down to maturity. If a player has an overall maturity level high enough, and is more than capable of performing to your guild's standards, you should highly consider excepting them. Guess that's all I have for now.
/guffaw
-Bus
You may've heard me refer to "earmuffs" every now and then? My first class leader when I started raiding back when the dinosaurs roamed the earth would say "Earmuffs, Kae, earmuffs!" whenever anything was said that went over my rather innocent head. Unfortunately, I no longer can claim ignorance, and that leads to a lot of the guild taking enjoyment in imagining how red I get from embarrassment at times ;)
ReplyDeleteBut yes. Age is not indicative of maturity :) Maturity is merely knowing when to use it.