First off- I'm 20 years old, and I don't feel ashamed or awkward about being here.

The other day, I somehow ended up talking to SLM straight through the night. I found out in the course of conversation that he's only 14 years old, which surprised me. He then asked me if I feel awkward about being so much older than everyone else, or if I ever feel like the board's "mentor" or "big brother" figure, and I told him that I honestly don't. Like I said about gameplay too- I don't think of myself as being better or worse than most other people here (with a few exceptions). I just see myself as another person.

I think it's pretty interesting and also somewhat relevant that none of us could guess each others' age correctly. If I could actually tell how old someone was based on their age, that pretty much always means they're coming across as a little kid. Thankfully I can't, which indicates to me that we're able to communicate on a rational level in a setting where age is irrelevant, no different than a group of mature adults. Most people think that the age at which a person is mature enough to have a mature discussion is around 18 or 20 or maybe even 25. The truth is that middle school teaches you everything you need about proper writing, high school teaches you all the necessary social skills, and puberty changes your thought process from a solely direct mindset to a mindset that is able to understand abstract concepts and imagine hypothetical situations. In short, by the time most people are around 13-16 years of age, they're fully capable of speaking and acting like mature adults. I've seen many examples of that, just like I've seen many examples of people in their 40s and 50s acting like spoiled children. Once a person is old enough to be capable of being mature, what really matters is whether or not that person is willing. The only other that people won't take 13-16 year olds seriously is that they still look like children, but the entire beauty of internet anonymity is that we can't see each other anyway.

Growing up, I always had a few friends 4-5 years younger than me and a few friends 7-8 years older than me. Maybe I'm the odd one here, but it never struck me as being wrong at all. Even when I joined GameFAQs, I was the sole 13 year old among a crowd of 16-23 year olds (MvC2 board), but it never stopped me from being social with everyone else. I just figured that as long as I never earned the "little annoying kid" reputation, then I was just another gamer like the rest of them. Age shouldn't matter when we all share a common interest.

As far as being on a Pokemon board... Once you're past caring about high school popularity, it really stops mattering what hobbies you have, as long as they don't disrupt the more important aspects of your life. As you've all seen from my endless ramblings, I've managed to keep the rest of my life (job, school, girlfriend, friends, other hobbies) in decent order, which should prove that older Pokemon players aren't necessarily socially inept losers. Pokemon theorizing is just my preferred way of killing time right now, so as long as it doesn't harm me or anyone else, it shouldn't matter to anyone but me.

I realize it's probably inevitable that as long as I'm here, people will ask me about the dos and don'ts of "college" stuff like applying for university, choosing a major, dating, sex, getting an apartment, getting jobs, etc. Of course I'll talk about that stuff, because it's just my life experience, no different than the life stories of everyone else here. I just don't believe that being a "big brother" or "mentor" to the board is the reason I'm here. I'm here to be a gamer, and to blend in with everyone else here who just wants to be a gamer.

*Tear* Thats was Beautiful.
That is the great thing about the internet, no one can judge you based on your age. Why? Because no one knows!

You can tell if someone is ashamed of being on a game board if they lash back at sarcastic comments about their life or reply with "at least I have a life" whenever you prove them wrong.

QUOTE (TheLegendaryX @ Jul 30 2007, 10:23 PM)

You can tell if someone is ashamed of being on a game board if they lash back at sarcastic comments about their life or reply with "at least I have a life" whenever you prove them wrong.