7 Things Age Players do Wrong at Birchwood Isle

I know that nobody wants to hear that they're doing it wrong, and I also recognize that much of what this blog covers is "this is what you're doing wrong" and "how to make it better." We've been at this a long time, with Birchwood Isle coming up on four years running, and it's predecessor, Foster Forest, having run for close to seven years (off and on) before going belly up to make way for the grand project that is BWI. Ageplay has been part of my life for about seventeen years, and I've been running groups for fifteen. Very few people have been around this block as long as I have, and of those who have, none that I am aware of have been so consistent in playing nor have they maintained their own groups.

I'm not saying I'm better at this than you are: I'm saying that I likely have more experience than you do and that come what may, I know what's best for Birchwood Isle.

Some of our articles have universal application within ageplay role plays, and some of them have universal application in role play generally. This one relates specifically to Birchwood Isle, and the things that come up most often to disrupt our role play community.

1. Respond to a call for more teenagers with 13 or 14-year-olds. This is largely the fault of our founder team, as both of us have been unclear in the past about what it is that we're actually looking for when we ask for teenagers. Teenagers in this age range are still considered "younger" children and don't fill the need for high-school-aged teens.
2. Respond to a call for adults with an adult who won't adopt. Unless an adult is in a position to interact with the children of Birchwood Isle either in the group homes or as a potential adoptive parent, there is no use for the adult and he or she might as well relinquish the face claim to someone who will create a utilitarian adult.
3. Depersonalize adult characters to turn them into "spanking machines." We expect all of the characters on Birchwood Isle to show some character development and to have strong personalities. Some members treat our adults as though they are all interchangeable provided they are the "right" gender and face claim.
4. Refuse to interact with one or more genders. Birchwood Isle is proud to have a mix of genders (male, female, cis and transgender, as well as non-binary) and we also have a small group of members who insist on playing with only one gender. When we accept you, it is assumed that you will interact at least with binary male and female characters. Refusal to interact with males is upsetting to us.
5. Choose an adult character when shown a list including children and teens. We know you want to get spanked, and we recognize that the majority of you want to get spanked as early and often as possible. However, when you are shown a (short) list of administrative characters, we expect you to choose a character closer to your own character's age, not to aim to get spanked right away.
6. Refuse plots with administrator children while asking for plots with their adults. This happens more often than I'm comfortable admitting. Child and teen characters are often passed over in lieu of adult characters new members prefer to get to know in the hopes of getting spanked or adopted. The key to getting spanked or adopted is the child or teen characters!
7. Not reading what's posted for your information. For example, I have posted in more than one location that I do not like to spank little girls, and that I prefer to play males. Many members continue to ask me to spank their little girls with one of my adult females. This is a combination that turns my stomach for reasons I won't get into here (except to say that I have triggers, too!).

Nobody's perfect. Everybody makes mistakes. We only ban for one reason, and that's predatory behavior. Different things come across as predatory, and I will list those here since it's related to the above information. Unless you are doing or have done one of the things listed here, you will not be banned (at least not permanently).

1. Reject all characters of a particular gender while demanding members create children for your character of a specific age and gender. One person was banned because he insisted on only role playing with girls and demanded that they all be teenage girls. He was very clear and insistent that they would be under strict rules and frequently spanked. (It should be noted that this member also mentioned publicly, in our chat box, a girl he knew who enjoyed detentions because they made her feel "loved." The risk of pedophilia was too high to keep him.)
2. Demand that a punishment meet certain criteria or expectations. It is one thing to have a preference for a certain scenario, but you may not demand of our adults. This is considered predatory. One member was banned when he refused to accept that an adult couldn't complete a thread due to the dire consequences it would mean for his teenage character, and called me all kinds of names for not changing my adult character to accommodate him. He was just here to get his jollies, and nothing else.
3. Attach to a single character, family, or member and refuse to play with others. This has happened a total of two times on Birchwood Isle, and in both cases the member was unsatisfied and wound up leaving the group. In one case the member was also banned. Not only is this behavior highly predatory as it preys upon the object of fixation, but it is the beginnings of a "clique," which are dangerous in our community environment.
4. Singling out a member or character and then leaving the group with a final message asking that member to role play with you privately. This was our last ban, and it would appear that the member arrived on the site for the sole purpose of singling out a new role play partner. We are not a personals service and I have rarely felt so crept on as I did with this particular situation. Please don't ask our members for 1x1 role play: It's incredibly bad manners!