Youthful Heroes

by Raincrystal 

I am now twenty years old.

This is a shocking realization. Not just because it's the "big 2-0," not just because I am now a "twentysomething" instead of a "teenager," but for another, more personal reason: Most RPG heroes are now younger than me.

I have lived, in general terms, a fairly sheltered existence. I haven't had to struggle to live. Taxes, full-time jobs and bills are still beyond the scope of my college-girl life. Yet the revered collection of heroes that comprised the main fascination of my teenage years is mostly younger than me.

Oh, there are a handful of older heroes. Some, like Cecil and Cloud, are main characters whose age is set a little higher than mine; some, like Gremio and Edgar, are supporting characters. Yet I generally find that a hero older than twenty is a vast minority. Come to think of it, Cecil and Cloud are the only main RPG heroes I can recall that are older than twenty. That makes me feel really, really old.

Why is it that the heroes of RPGs generally tend to be teenagers? In our modern society (yes, and in the society of Japan too,) most teenagers are still sheltered kids living at home and going to school. It's a far cry from the fourteen-year-old hero who rushes out to find his destiny, or gets thrown into the midst of a hopeless war. Why are they all so young? Is it because bad situations somehow feel more tragic when the hero's a kid? Is it an enhancement of the "fantasy" aspect of games, a throwback to olden days when people were considered adults at younger ages? Or is it an effort of game designers to reach a target audience of teenagers with teenaged characters? If this last theory is true, then it's probably not achieving its desired effect, since these characters act much older than their years.

In years past, I looked up to certain characters as role models. The equation worked like this: They were cool and I was in awe of them. Now, I find myself liking characters for different reasons: usually I latch on to them because I pity them or feel a common bond with them. Nanami from Suikoden II, for example. Vivi. Freya. I liked them because I felt empathy for their plights. I hardly ever look to RPGs for role models anymore; my heroes now come from literature and history, not from games. Perhaps this is because the scope of my choices is so limited. It's easy to befriend or feel empathy with someone younger than you, but it's hard to idolize them.

I'm not really criticizing the fact that heroes in games are young. It's good that way. It keeps things epic, and gives teenagers something to latch on to. But I'd also like to see some real role models for people my age. The gaming generation is growing up, and we don't want to leave our beloved heroes behind; we hope the epics will hold something for us too. After all, just because I'm older doesn't mean that RPGs mean any less to me. Now, if you'll excuse me... I gotta go hang out with the twentysomething FF7 characters in Tifa's bar.