12-20-2011, 12:18 PM
Over the Hill: A treatise on aging in a World of Warcraft
Age has been a long-discussed issue, and I just wanted to collect and elaborate on a few of the issues that have been presented! The sample races that will be used are Humans and Draenei. Using the information listed on the old CotH Wiki age guidelines page as our source, we will start with the following:
Humans - mature at 15, old at 53
Draenei - mature at 2000, old at 25000
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Part One: Babies Making Babies - Childhood
The best place to start is with youth. Already there is a huge difference, with humans maturing at 15, and Draenei at a whopping 2000! The first thing to note is that neither race is remaining a baby until maturation and becoming an adult overnight. First, let's break down Human maturation.
At about age 4 give or take a year, we're already walking about, have likely started reading, and are beginning school. Our bodies are still frail compared to what they will become, but they are sturdy enough where we take it upon ourselves to explore our world and bump into things and scrape our knees.
At about age 11 or 12, and even earlier for women, is sexual maturity. At that age, our bodies prepare for, and can technically engage in, procreation. Because of the society we live in, the thought of that seems crazy, but it doesn't change the fact that nature provides for the possibility when we are still so young. And it runs right into our teenage years, where at 13 or 14 people are playing organized sports (even tough ones such as rugby or American football) for a school, not counting the fact that some have already started prior to that age.
Around a century or so ago in real life time, a 15-16 year old being married was not uncommon, so by that age, many had been working manual labor jobs on farms or in factories for at least a few years. Meaning that even prior to the maturation age, humans are already doing things that we identify as adult.
Now compare that with the Draenei age of maturity, and we get a scale like this:
About 500 years old, give or take a hundred: Starting school, already reading and exploring the environment around them.
About 1300 to 1500 years: Sexual maturity and possibly engaging in or learning a trade.
Again, you may look at the figure and think, "A draenei takes about 100 times as long to reach the first stage as a human! That's too much time to be so frail!" But as a control, let's take a real life species to compare. Dogs reach maturity between 1 and 2 years of age, about 10 or more times faster than a human. While not as much of a disparity as human and Draenei, it is significant enough that in nature Humans have an extremely long period of frailty. So what offsets this difference and allows Humans to exist without fear of being eaten every day until we're 15? Our social structure combined with our innovation and invention. And as Draenei technology seems far more advanced in the WoW setting, the conclusion could be drawn that this provides an environment that would permit an extended childhood.
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Part Two: Found My Groove - Maturation and Adulthood
So now both races have reached adulthood. According to our figures, Humans at this stage have on average around 40 years before they reach that magic time where they get senior discounts on the gryphon rides, while Draenei get to ride it out for a whopping 23,000 years. And here is where things get tricky.
Physical combatants are a bit easier to compare. We will assume that the physical disparity between a fit Human and a fit Draenei is not racially so different that a battle between the two would be like a toddler trying to fight a steamroller. There are physical limits that both will reach, at which point the difference will be purely strategical. If both races continue to focus almost completely on keeping in shape, then the years won't matter, as the time is spent maintaining their physique, not improving it. But some warrior Draenei will have a longer period of time to refine battle tactics. A Draenei general may have seen many combat situations that a human general has not first hand, and be able to react to it better by pure instinct, thus explaining the racial trait Heroic Presence (as well as to a smaller degree the Night Elf racial Quickness). They miss attacks less because they have seen more combat and require less thinking to react. All races however have the ability to pass down whatever knowledge they gain orally or through books. So while a single Draenei may gain more knowledge individually, the collective knowledge of the races may easily be comparable. This is largely a result of diminishing returns, which I will now discuss as it makes up a large part of the discussion of magic.
So, the elekk in the room that must be brought up: Magic. The main idea that is presented is that the thousands and thousands of years difference in magic training should make a Draenei mage a demi-god compared to a substantially younger Human counterpart. It sound logical, but there are a few things that balance things out between the two, which doesn't mean that Draenei can't have an advantage over Humans (see the mention of Heroic Presence above), but it does not mean that Draenei are necessarily infinitely more powerful either.
Diminishing returns is the idea (used mainly by people that are gearing for raids but applies outside of that as well) that at a certain point, there is no longer a wealth of knowledge on a particular subject, and what can be learned begins to diminish, until new findings become sparse, especially for more advanced subjects. Take real life medicine, for example. We have vaccinations and medicines for many illnesses and viruses, a lot of the new knowledge coming together in a huge clump, as did the Industrial Revolution, the Renaissance, the recent tech bubble. But at a certain point, it all slows down. Think about how many literary works are based on ideas already presented in works of Shakespeare, or how many new devices are just rehashes of current or slightly older ones. An iPad is a crossbreeding between a notepad and a laptop. The advance is how quickly you can get information to you, but reading hasn't changed since humans started using letters and sentences. At some point, the difference isn't the power but the delivery. And to get more powerful requires a heck of a lot of time.
All the cures for diseases we have, and we still have no cure for AIDS. And it's not that it cannot happen, but to make that one step requires advancement in medicine and technology that will happen over a long, long time, and has already done so. To cure ONE virus. That is the idea of diminishing returns as I'm applying it to magic. Mages can manipulate fire, ice, arcane, can conjure things, can create portals to move things from place to place. At some point, the idea of learning something completely new is hard to see, and most of the magical innovation will come from doing things more efficiently. A 25,000 year old Draenei is not going to necessarily have a more powerful fire blast than a 53 year old Human. He may know how to better conserve his energy, and have a better sense of when to use it, but at a certain point, the power of the caster is not determined by time but by will.
And that is another point. A long-lived Draenei may be taking his long life for granted, and learning things at a slower pace, where as a Human is more likely to be cramming. Many of you are in school, or recently out, and know first hand that having more time to study for a test doesn't mean you will do better. If we believe that all races have the same basic potential flaws (hubris, procrastination, etc.), then it would lead me to believe that while Draenei may have had magic for longer, it wasn't until they were threatened that the magic really picked up (for example, when the Burning Legion came to Draenor). The Humans are a good example of this, as the agreement to teach them magic in the first place came in the shadow of impending war.
There is an old saying "Necessity is the mother of invention." It is just as true with magic I believe as it is with technology.
A final point with magic is Arcane corruption. The Broken prove that Draenei are not immune to the manipulative effects of magic, though their proximity and practice of Light magic may contribute to a reduced effect, as well as their advanced ages. As a result, while Draenei may be long studied in the art, there is still a certain point where over-use could break them, and despite a 25,000 year lifespan, they would have to reduce heavy usage to active combat. Arcane corruption is not surprisingly underplayed, considering that no one wants to be one step from being one of the "crack elves" in old Silvermoon. It is more desirable to be in control, and as such it is likely that the trend of unaffected mages will continue. Just keep in mind that one rather large reason for this is probably that fear of becoming corrupted, which will reduce much of the casual usage of magic.
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Part Three: Why Does This Matter? - A Final Thought
As a server trying to maintain an even playing ground for all characters, it is important to understand what makes them all similar, in order to define what is different. Not every mage is going to be a powerful one. Not every soldier is going to be a general. Not every slave will free himself and become Warchief. So just the same, doing something for thousands of years does not equate dedication to it for that same period. And knowing about something longer doesn't diminish having the knowledge to begin with.
The first part of my discussion is largely unaffecting, with the server policy currently being that all races mature at the same age. My hope is that is still plays in the larger discussion about age disparity, and that it can help an often heated debate on the subject of getting older. Because everyone realizes at some point that the subject of getting old...can be pretty touchy.
Age has been a long-discussed issue, and I just wanted to collect and elaborate on a few of the issues that have been presented! The sample races that will be used are Humans and Draenei. Using the information listed on the old CotH Wiki age guidelines page as our source, we will start with the following:
Humans - mature at 15, old at 53
Draenei - mature at 2000, old at 25000
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Part One: Babies Making Babies - Childhood
The best place to start is with youth. Already there is a huge difference, with humans maturing at 15, and Draenei at a whopping 2000! The first thing to note is that neither race is remaining a baby until maturation and becoming an adult overnight. First, let's break down Human maturation.
At about age 4 give or take a year, we're already walking about, have likely started reading, and are beginning school. Our bodies are still frail compared to what they will become, but they are sturdy enough where we take it upon ourselves to explore our world and bump into things and scrape our knees.
At about age 11 or 12, and even earlier for women, is sexual maturity. At that age, our bodies prepare for, and can technically engage in, procreation. Because of the society we live in, the thought of that seems crazy, but it doesn't change the fact that nature provides for the possibility when we are still so young. And it runs right into our teenage years, where at 13 or 14 people are playing organized sports (even tough ones such as rugby or American football) for a school, not counting the fact that some have already started prior to that age.
Around a century or so ago in real life time, a 15-16 year old being married was not uncommon, so by that age, many had been working manual labor jobs on farms or in factories for at least a few years. Meaning that even prior to the maturation age, humans are already doing things that we identify as adult.
Now compare that with the Draenei age of maturity, and we get a scale like this:
About 500 years old, give or take a hundred: Starting school, already reading and exploring the environment around them.
About 1300 to 1500 years: Sexual maturity and possibly engaging in or learning a trade.
Again, you may look at the figure and think, "A draenei takes about 100 times as long to reach the first stage as a human! That's too much time to be so frail!" But as a control, let's take a real life species to compare. Dogs reach maturity between 1 and 2 years of age, about 10 or more times faster than a human. While not as much of a disparity as human and Draenei, it is significant enough that in nature Humans have an extremely long period of frailty. So what offsets this difference and allows Humans to exist without fear of being eaten every day until we're 15? Our social structure combined with our innovation and invention. And as Draenei technology seems far more advanced in the WoW setting, the conclusion could be drawn that this provides an environment that would permit an extended childhood.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Part Two: Found My Groove - Maturation and Adulthood
So now both races have reached adulthood. According to our figures, Humans at this stage have on average around 40 years before they reach that magic time where they get senior discounts on the gryphon rides, while Draenei get to ride it out for a whopping 23,000 years. And here is where things get tricky.
Physical combatants are a bit easier to compare. We will assume that the physical disparity between a fit Human and a fit Draenei is not racially so different that a battle between the two would be like a toddler trying to fight a steamroller. There are physical limits that both will reach, at which point the difference will be purely strategical. If both races continue to focus almost completely on keeping in shape, then the years won't matter, as the time is spent maintaining their physique, not improving it. But some warrior Draenei will have a longer period of time to refine battle tactics. A Draenei general may have seen many combat situations that a human general has not first hand, and be able to react to it better by pure instinct, thus explaining the racial trait Heroic Presence (as well as to a smaller degree the Night Elf racial Quickness). They miss attacks less because they have seen more combat and require less thinking to react. All races however have the ability to pass down whatever knowledge they gain orally or through books. So while a single Draenei may gain more knowledge individually, the collective knowledge of the races may easily be comparable. This is largely a result of diminishing returns, which I will now discuss as it makes up a large part of the discussion of magic.
So, the elekk in the room that must be brought up: Magic. The main idea that is presented is that the thousands and thousands of years difference in magic training should make a Draenei mage a demi-god compared to a substantially younger Human counterpart. It sound logical, but there are a few things that balance things out between the two, which doesn't mean that Draenei can't have an advantage over Humans (see the mention of Heroic Presence above), but it does not mean that Draenei are necessarily infinitely more powerful either.
Diminishing returns is the idea (used mainly by people that are gearing for raids but applies outside of that as well) that at a certain point, there is no longer a wealth of knowledge on a particular subject, and what can be learned begins to diminish, until new findings become sparse, especially for more advanced subjects. Take real life medicine, for example. We have vaccinations and medicines for many illnesses and viruses, a lot of the new knowledge coming together in a huge clump, as did the Industrial Revolution, the Renaissance, the recent tech bubble. But at a certain point, it all slows down. Think about how many literary works are based on ideas already presented in works of Shakespeare, or how many new devices are just rehashes of current or slightly older ones. An iPad is a crossbreeding between a notepad and a laptop. The advance is how quickly you can get information to you, but reading hasn't changed since humans started using letters and sentences. At some point, the difference isn't the power but the delivery. And to get more powerful requires a heck of a lot of time.
All the cures for diseases we have, and we still have no cure for AIDS. And it's not that it cannot happen, but to make that one step requires advancement in medicine and technology that will happen over a long, long time, and has already done so. To cure ONE virus. That is the idea of diminishing returns as I'm applying it to magic. Mages can manipulate fire, ice, arcane, can conjure things, can create portals to move things from place to place. At some point, the idea of learning something completely new is hard to see, and most of the magical innovation will come from doing things more efficiently. A 25,000 year old Draenei is not going to necessarily have a more powerful fire blast than a 53 year old Human. He may know how to better conserve his energy, and have a better sense of when to use it, but at a certain point, the power of the caster is not determined by time but by will.
And that is another point. A long-lived Draenei may be taking his long life for granted, and learning things at a slower pace, where as a Human is more likely to be cramming. Many of you are in school, or recently out, and know first hand that having more time to study for a test doesn't mean you will do better. If we believe that all races have the same basic potential flaws (hubris, procrastination, etc.), then it would lead me to believe that while Draenei may have had magic for longer, it wasn't until they were threatened that the magic really picked up (for example, when the Burning Legion came to Draenor). The Humans are a good example of this, as the agreement to teach them magic in the first place came in the shadow of impending war.
There is an old saying "Necessity is the mother of invention." It is just as true with magic I believe as it is with technology.
A final point with magic is Arcane corruption. The Broken prove that Draenei are not immune to the manipulative effects of magic, though their proximity and practice of Light magic may contribute to a reduced effect, as well as their advanced ages. As a result, while Draenei may be long studied in the art, there is still a certain point where over-use could break them, and despite a 25,000 year lifespan, they would have to reduce heavy usage to active combat. Arcane corruption is not surprisingly underplayed, considering that no one wants to be one step from being one of the "crack elves" in old Silvermoon. It is more desirable to be in control, and as such it is likely that the trend of unaffected mages will continue. Just keep in mind that one rather large reason for this is probably that fear of becoming corrupted, which will reduce much of the casual usage of magic.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Part Three: Why Does This Matter? - A Final Thought
As a server trying to maintain an even playing ground for all characters, it is important to understand what makes them all similar, in order to define what is different. Not every mage is going to be a powerful one. Not every soldier is going to be a general. Not every slave will free himself and become Warchief. So just the same, doing something for thousands of years does not equate dedication to it for that same period. And knowing about something longer doesn't diminish having the knowledge to begin with.
The first part of my discussion is largely unaffecting, with the server policy currently being that all races mature at the same age. My hope is that is still plays in the larger discussion about age disparity, and that it can help an often heated debate on the subject of getting older. Because everyone realizes at some point that the subject of getting old...can be pretty touchy.
![[Image: nIapRMV.png?1]](http://i.imgur.com/nIapRMV.png?1)