Age Poll, February 2015

[Torisakia]

I am no more likely to be under 41 than I was the last time we did this, and I still mildly resent the lack of additional options for those of us over 41.

Most of these children can't count that high, Arch.

I stop counting age after 29.

[Torisakia]

Are there seriously people over 40 playing this?

Are there seriously teenagers playing this?

[Torisakia]

Yes, except no (see the argument above). It doesn't really matter (it's just a decade after all) but the term does need some consistency of usage and I maintain that describing myself (born in mid-1995) as a 90s kid is misleading. Therefore, describing someone younger than me as such is more misleading.

I was born in the 1990s, therefore I was a kid in the 90s. Therefore I am a 90s kid.

You people and your 1990s. Everyone knows that 1890s kids are much better.

[Torisakia]

Are there seriously teenagers playing this?

Lol is that a rhetorical question?

Considering it was a sarcastic remark to your question, is it?

[Torisakia]

Considering it was a sarcastic remark to your question, is it?

All I need is a yes or no answer, no need for a riddle. Besides, I asked the question first, so you answer first.

As far as you're concerned, no.

[Torisakia]

It looks to me like some players are puppet voting in options #2 and #6.

Which of course renders the poll meaningless. I could ask a Mod to investigate, but I doubt they'd make the effort since puppet voting on a poll isn't a forum offense.

Really bloody annoying though.

we are winning

... and here's a suspect.

Plus some people might be lying on the poll. I don't think we've ever had this many number of 19-20s on an age poll.

[Torisakia]

Once you hit 30 it pretty much drops.

Once you hit 30, pretty much everything drops. *weeps*

Even the bass?

[Torisakia]

Even the bass?

Even the bass, child. Eventually, little old men look like little old women and little old women look like little old men.

At least I can look forward to looking like a woman.

[Torisakia]

Someone should come up with the....

average, median, range and mode. And while they're at it create a box and whiskers plot. I love graphs and statistics...I'd be happy to create and publish one if someone gave me the raw data.

I would try finding the average, but I'm so bad at basic algebra that I don't know how to find the average of multiple people, only single people (i.e Timmy is 13, Johnny is 14, Suzie is 15, Betty is 16...). However, I did find the median, mode, and range.

(Based on Ailiailia's latest bar graph)
Median: 40
Mode: 16
Range: 54

[Transyl]

I turned 17 last year in September. Turning 18 this year, cannot wait to finally be a legal adult.

[Tsunamis]

I'm 17.......and in October I will be 18....*sigh*

[Tunguskania]

im 5 and what is this?

[United Marxist Nations]

18.

[United Marxist Nations]

How do we know this site's "13-year-olds" aren't just middle-aged men looking to catfish for teens?

Because none of them actually do that, most likely.

Also, I would say NSG is a much more tightly knit forum than most, to the point where several NSers know each other outside of NS (some even married to each other, though I don't know if they met here).

Edit: what Fatn said too, though I don't think I've ever come across it.

[United Marxist Nations]

It's not the 1340's anymore where you'd be lucky to hit 16.

Oh, now, people routinely lived to 18 or even 20 in the 1340s. Okay, maybe not in the 1340s and 1350s, that's when the Plague carried off anywhere between 30 to 60% of the population of Europe, but you get my drift.

They may have used 16 because it's around that age the immune system reaches adult strength, which is why mortality rates for children were so high, bringing down the life expectancy. If someone survived to 16, they'd probably have made to their 40s or 50s.

[United Marxist Nations]

Edit: what Fatn said too, though I don't think I've ever come across it.

Eh. Not an issue that gets a lot of love, but you really shouldn't be relativating it and implying it doesn't really happen here.

Oh wow, that is my bad then. Hadn't heard of that one. Most serious thing I'd though had happen on-site was the 1000 Cats incident.

[United Marxist Nations]

20. Holy shit. I feel old. I've been on here too long.

Really? Your "internet persona"(?) seems a lot older.

[United Provinces of Swaziland]

I am 19 but I'll turn 20 in June.

[United Russian Soviet States]

I am 16.

[United Russian Soviet States]

There are a lot of people younger than me here.

[United Russian Soviet States]

There are a lot of people younger than me here.

So it seems.

I wonder what drove them to this site.

[United Russian Soviet States]

I wonder what drove them to this site.

What drew you to this site?

Perhaps there aren't many debate forums which are so easy to register on and have an age as low as 13 to start.

That wouldn't really explain the bulge at 15 or 16 years though. It's not just this thread, every age poll on General has shown more mid-teens than early-teens.

So maybe it's the game (or games, there being more than one way to 'play Nationstates') which attracts early teens, but doesn't entirely captivate them. How much better the world would be if I called the shots, this is great, oh wait. There are all these other players trying to rule the world, and they have more practice than I do. I'll just chill out for a while in one of these "discussion" forums.

And they get stuck on the forums, like mice in a glue trap. Stuck here until they finally knaw their own leg off to escape.

For sake of argument, let's say that 13 and 14 year olds aren't, in general, particularly politically active/aware. As a consequence, we should expect that NSG draws from a smaller pool and so there should be fewer of them in NSG (as we see). However, after one or two years mixing with older teens and stuff, the number of teens to whom a game like NS would appeal increases. As a result, we should see more of these.

Furthermore, the forums are populated by people who are young. This has two effects. Firstly, it doesn't discourage other younger people. Secondly, it probably does discourage at least some older members (especially if they get headhunted, as it were.

If we then argue that the forum model or the relative inaction of the game or both lead to a relatively low retention rate of players so that many make it a few years then tail off (if not months or weeks). This would help explain the bulges, I think.

I wanted to play a political simulation game after I had been playing a life simulation game called Stick RPG.

[United Russian Soviet States]

I wanted to play a political simulation game after I had been playing a life simulation game called Stick RPG.

Probably something similar, then. I suppose it's possible that the forum attracts some people but the idea of the game is probably the big draw, I reckon it was for me. Mind you, I cannot remember how I found the site but I do know that the idea was appealing (even if the game itself never really grabbed me). On the other hand, I was also 16 when I found NS.

I was 13 when I found this site.

[United Russian Soviet States]

I must say, you're a pretty decent writer for your age.

Thanks for the kind gratitude, sir Bunk!

One more year for me, and then it's wine time.

I drank wine once. It tastes horrible.

I'm 13, turning 14 in October.

Now i know I'm not the youngest person here.

I thought alcohol was prohibited in Islam.

[United States of Devonta]

Sixteen! WooWooWoo!