5 Reasons Seven-Year-Old Girls are the Default Ageplay Character (and 4 Reasons Why They SHOULDN'T be)

We see so many seven-year-old little girls on Birchwood Isle that when a new member joins, we start looking for little girl face claims before we've even started talking to the new member. The truth is that we're getting short on celebrities who fit the descriptions we're being given because there are so many seven-year-old girls.

Why? Because seven-year-old little girls have become the age play default character.

My co-admin and I have been asking ourselves for quite some time why seven-year-old girls are the default character, and we've come up with the following reasons that people repeatedly fall back on seven-year-olds (with an occasional variation to six or eight). This is our attempt to answer that question with honesty and fairness.

1. Seven is the median age between three (generally considered our youngest age) and ten (generally considered to be the oldest age to be considered a "little kid"). We assume, therefore, that upon having chosen to play a "young child" that our members reach for an age that gives them the best of both worlds. Seven year olds are both "young" and "independent," seemingly giving them opportunities to enjoy the cuddling and closeness of very young children alongside the autonomy of making their own decisions like older kids.
   
   
   The Reality: On Birchwood Isle, children under the age of ten aren't given free access to the town, and those who belong at the foster home have very little autonomy at all. Their decisions are made for them, they eat what they are given to them, dress in the clothes laid out for them, and are expected to obey the adults. This autonomy only comes for these children when they are older than ten. Furthermore, the staff of New Beginnings rarely cuddle the children. Cuddling and a lot of the affection you're looking for comes when bonds form and not before.
   
   
   
2. Seven-year-olds are able to fully communicate a wide range of emotions, but are still dependent on adults to tell them what the difference is between right and wrong. The fact that the child is able to communicate makes them potential fun to play with other children, while the fact that they have an underdeveloped sense of right and wrong means that they are able to get into trouble without the appearance of being a "bad" or especially "bratty" kid. One year younger, and children aren't communicating well yet. One year older, and they are growing close to the age of reason and an understanding of the difference between right and wrong.
   
   
   The Reality: Nothing -- including being below the age of knowledge of right and wrong -- excuses repeated behaviors. In fact, I will go so far as to say that this excuse to play dumb about correction is one of the most irritating things about children in this age range, and it represents one of the main reasons that I do not enjoy role playing with seven-year-old little girls. If your character is old enough to communicate well, she is also old enough to understand if not why what she did was wrong but that what she did was wrong.
   
   
   
3. Seven-year-olds are young enough to be considered "cute" and therefore at an age where they are presumably more likely to be adopted by adults in an ageplay group. In theory, adults want to adopt younger children. This is certainly true in the real world where adoptive parents look for infants instead of older foster children. Many role players believe that this applies to all groups, and default to an age where they think their child character or inner kid is likely to be adopted but is still old enough to interact at school and with peers.
   
   
   The Reality: Birchwood Isle isn't real life, and though in the real world younger children are more likely to be adopted than older children, our staff in particular is often seeking to sponsor, foster, or adopt older children and teenagers. The younger the child, the harder it is to form a bond with them through role play, and the more likely they are to wait in the foster home for somebody to pick up a sponsorship and/or to adopt them.
   
   
   
4. Female role players often play female characters because it is easier and more familiar for them. Many male age players enjoy playing opposite gender for the perceived humiliation. Girls are therefore more popular to play because people simply like to play girls. It's easier for many people to play same-gender than it is to play cross-gender and so since there are more female role players in age play than there are male, there are likewise more female characters and inner kids.
   
   
   The Reality: Boys are often more fun than girls to play because they tend to be more rambunctious and better at getting up to mischief. In particular if you're interested in spanking role play, it's often easier to get a boy into trouble than it is to get a girl into trouble, and it is nearly guaranteed to be more interesting than one more thread with a little girl out of bed or sassing an adult.
   
   
   
5. Little girls are considered "cuter" because of the way they can be dressed up or their hair can be styled. Some players are especially fond of describing the "cute" things about their child characters, including such things as the clothing that they wear or the way that they style their hair. Sometimes it's that the little girl carries around a particular stuffed animal with her (something boys this age wouldn't dream of doing). It can be assumed that the player believes these "cute" behaviors make the child more likely to be adopted.
   
   
   The Reality: Describing your character's appearance and various things that make her "cute" is fun for you, but annoying to your role play partner. "Cute" is wrapped up in the character's personality, not in her dresses, not in her sweaters, not in her pigtails or the freckles on her nose. A character with a lot of physical flaws can be "cute" because of the way that she acts. Choosing to play a little girl for the "cute" factor is annoying to many of the adult-playing members of Birchwood Isle.

Our staff fully recognizes and accepts emotionally real inner kids. We have emotionally-real inner children of our own, and we understand where you're coming from. Both Ava (my co-founder) and I have inner children in this age range, and we accept that there may be other reasons that your inner child is a seven-year-old girl. If you identify this character as an inner child, chances are that none of the above applies to you. However, we would still like for you to consider what follows before signing up to play one on Birchwood Isle.

We're going to have a harder time finding a sponsor, foster parent, or adoptive parent for your seven-year-old little girl for several reasons.

1. We simply have too many seven-year-old little girls already. The vast majority of the children at the New Beginnings Home for Orphaned and Abandoned Children are little girls. This means that your character or inner kid has more competition than if you were playing a little boy or an older girl. Adults looking to adopt girl children in this age range are going to be looking at all the girls who are available, and yours is going to have to really stand out. She won't do this by getting spanked more or taking up more attention from adults, and so for those most inclined to role play seven-year-old little girls, playing one actually defeats the purpose, as she will not stand out in this environment.
2. Most parents looking for little girls are currently full. We allow each sponsoring adult to sponsor up to three children at one time. The adults in our group who are currently seeking to sponsor little girls are full, and will be for three months, provided that all of the people involved remain in the group for the duration of the sponsorship period. This means that you may wait for no less than two to three months before there is an opening to sponsor (the first step in our adoption process) a little girl in this age range. Is it worth it, considering that a child as young as nine may be more appealing to some of our adults?
3. We need teenagers and little boys. There are needed character groups on our group right now, which means that we are actively seeking players willing to play high-school-aged teenagers and little boys. However frequently we send out notes requesting characters in these age ranges, we are met with a steady stream of little girls. Little girls are a dime a dozen, but when we get somebody wanting to play a boy or a high-schooler, we get honestly excited. Even better if it's a male teenager as far as our founder team is concerned. Another little girl is another little girl. An unexpected gem will get us fawning all over you.
4. I, Devin, on a personal level do not like F/g spanking. For those  not "in the know" on pairings, F/g refers to an adult female and a little girl. Since the majority of our members prefer female adults, and I do the majority of the spanking, this means that your seven-year-old little girl is probably at some point going to put me in a position to feel uncomfortable with the pairing. There's no reason for me to go into detail about why this pairing bothers me, but I will go so far as to say that I sometimes find this pairing triggering, and I would much prefer to avoid playing it or reading it if I can. M/g (adult male and little girl), F/f (adult female and older girl) and other pairings are fine, but F/g upsets me.

The question, therefore, is what do you do? 

If you still want to be part of Birchwood Isle, having read and understood this, then my recommendation is that you take a look at our list of needed character types of consider picking up a requested character (who is usually part of a biological family).

Most of all, we highly recommend playing an older child or a high-school-aged teenager. We accept that most of you who play girls will always prefer to play girls and that asking you to play boys won't ever get us the results that we want. All that we ask is that you consider our points carefully before bringing us (yet another) seven-year-old girl.

Character Types We'd Like to See More of at Birchwood Isle

You may have seen my earlier post about character types that we see most frequently on Birchwood Isle. I created that post in order to encourage people to avoid repetitive character types we see frequently. While there is nothing patently wrong with a seven-year-old little girl with dark hair, green eyes, and a big gap in her teeth, this has become the default character type that we see most often, and we'd like to encourage our members and potential members to fill some other voids.

In order to help potential members (and existing members making new characters) to determine what we need the most, this post will go through the specific needs and hopefully give you some specific ideas.

As always, we encourage our members to make the characters they are most comfortable playing, and to not push themselves to create a character just to fill a void!

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#1 Little Boys

While we have an abundance of little girls, we do not have all that many little boys. This leaves the little boys (anywhere from 4 to 12 years old) without playmates, creating frustration for their players. 

It also creates an unbalanced adoption situation, because as much as we recognize that most adopters seem to prefer female children, there are those among us (including both of our head admins) who prefer boy children over girl children.

We would like to see more boy children, but please note that we prefer that these children be played by those with confidence that they can play a boy who acts like a boy, and not a girl who has boy body parts.  

If you are interested in playing a little boy between 4 and 12 years old, we'd love to have you! Please consider contacting someone on our administrative team about what you'd like to do and we can help you to get started with this type of character. Your own real-life gender doesn't matter!

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#2 High School Aged Teenagers

Our staff often gives shoutouts for more teenagers, because we need them in general. The response, more often than not, is seventh and eighth graders who are thirteen or fourteen years old. This is not what we're looking for. We would like to see more teenagers, for several reasons.Most importantly to us, teenagers provide friends for our inner teens. It's selfish, but it's true. Secondly, and perhaps most importantly to you, our head admins most want to adopt teenagers. Thirdly, and most important perhaps in general is that teenagers have access to the entire town, meaning their homes, their schools, and the businesses throughout town. They can work jobs, have a wider support network, and generally interact more than any other character group on Birchwood Isle.

If you feel comfortable playing a teenager, we highly recommend it. Teenage boys are of course always in higher demand than the girls, but we will be thrilled to accept teenagers of all genders, provided that they are of high school age. Please note that one or two more transgender teenagers would be interesting and add to our dynamic, if you are comfortable playing this scenario! We already have two one transgender and one genderfluid teenager on the island!

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#3 Characters of Color

There is no question that the age play community is incredibly white washed. The administrative team cannot burden the sole responsibility for adding a diverse cast of faces to those played on Birchwood Isle, and our community (the whole community) includes people of all colors, all ethnicities, and body types.

Representation may be less important in our community than in the broader role play community, but it thrills me every time someone is interested in playing an Asian, African, or Hispanic character on Birchwood Isle. Whether your character is a child or an adult, we'd love to see some faces that mix it up a bit and add some more diversity to our cast!

Characters with body diversity are also more than welcome. Right now we can proudly state that we have dwarf characters and characters who are heavier of build. What we really need from you now is some more non-white characters so that we can avoid the great white wall that is so common in ageplay groups. If you need help choosing a face claim, please just ask! We have a list of faces we'd like to see in play.

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#4 Older Adults

While age play is about playing your kids with their guardians and other adults, there is something nice about having older adults on the site as well. Right now our oldest character is 86 years old and a great-grandfather. We also have a 71 year-old great-grandfather who is a closeted homosexual. 

Older adults are great for grandparent figures or for supplemental adults. They are also highly realistic. We don't currently have any older adults among our canon characters, so you'll have to come up with one on your own, but we'd love to have them!

We also welcome our members creating their own requested families. If you are interested in playing an older adult, you may wish to create him or her with a family of children, grandchildren, and potentially great-grandchildren as well. 

Older adults enrich the environment that we have at Birchwood Isle and we think that you might enjoy playing them as much as we do! They can still work on the island, or may choose to live with family. One way or another, adults aged 60+ have few problems getting threads!

5 Character Types We See a Lot at Birchwood Isle (but Would Like to See Less Frequently)

Birchwood Isle has been open and going strong for about three months now and during that time we have noticed patterns in the types of characters we see coming in the most often. While we rarely place a restriction on a certain character type, we would like to make our members and potential members aware of the types of characters we see the most often, because these are always the character types that we are most on the verge of having to restrict.

You are still welcome to create characters in these groups. We love your inner kids and believe in the reality and importance of inner children, so our doors are always welcome to your inner child or children. However, if you are experimenting with a new character or are looking to fill a void on Birchwood Isle, we suggest you first check out our list of Character Types We Want to See More of at Birchwood Isle. This will help you to understand what we need the most and to fill actual needs.

We are not asking that you don't bring us these types of characters, only that you think twice about a different character type first.

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More than any other character type at Birchwood Isle, we see a lot of little girls. We define "little" as younger than ten years old.

We see so many seven year old little girls that our staff literally takes bets on whether or not the latest character is going to be a seven year-old little girl.

Birchwood Isle currently has far more female children than it does male children. It has far more children below the age of ten than it does children in other age groups.

Most of these little girls are seven years old. Most of them have dark brown hair. Most of them have blue or green eyes.

We are running out of celebrity face claims for these girls!

Our staff suggests that you consider playing an older child (10-14 years old) or, even better for our site, a high-school-aged teenager. These groups have far more opportunities to role play and are more likely to get attention from staff characters than younger characters are. Let me repeat: Our staff prefer teen role playing with teen characters to role playing with younger characters!

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We would never make the argument that children shouldn't read or that reading isn't good for the children of Birchwood Isle, but it has come to our attention that we have a relatively large number of very young children reading far above level. First and second graders do not, in general, read chapter books and carry these with them everywhere they go.

Our interview process won't catch this before the character is in play, and we won't ask you to make your child less of a reader in order to combat this problem, but we ask that those reading this consider a different hobby for their introverted kid.

Other options include art, independent science, playing with dolls, and other creative pursuits.

We do not recommend children adopt writing as an alternative for the same reason.

Whatever you choose, remember that even introverted children should interact with their peers and with adults at the New Beginnings home (or whichever home they live in). Keep in mind that no child who isn't social will be able to find an adoptive family!

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Everybody wants to be intelligent, and our staff appreciates that many of our members relive parts of their own childhood through their inner children, finding ways to improve themselves by making their inner children everything they were not. While we understand this, however, it is overwhelming the number of highly intelligent kids that we get at Birchwood Isle.

I'm going to be very frank with you here: It offends me when a person feels the need to include their character's presumed intelligence quotient (IQ) in their plot pages or their biographies. While this is something that the player should always keep in mind, it only comes up publicly when the character is meant to be very high on the scale.

Your character doesn't need to be inferior in order to be realistic, but a group and community take all kinds. As the head admin, I play characters who struggle with learning disabilities, or who simply lack the skills and intelligence that other characters have. These characters are generally considered to be more interesting because they are less common and it adds dimension. Remember that if your character is a grand list of positive traits, this is what we would define as a "Mary Sue" character. Birchwood Isle is looking for highly developed characters.

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Birchwood Isle currently has enough kids coming from wealthy backgrounds into foster care on the island, and we do not need any more of these. There's nothing wrong with children coming from a wealth background to a life of poverty in foster care and the character development that comes through their transition, but we would like to see some variations from this point forward.

Please allow us to make it clear that any child coming to New Beginnings or Second Chances with a trust fund will not have access to that trust fun until she turns twenty-two years old. No foster child, therefore, will have special privileges and access that the others will not.

All children receive an allowance that pays for their bus pass, their school meals, and leaves them between $5 and $10 pocket money. Teenagers may obtain jobs in town to give them more spending money.

Trust fund children will be treated exactly the same as any child without a trust fund, and it will not make it easier for your inner kid to find an adoptive family: In fact, it might make it harder because these trust funds can make your character boring and less desirable. Think twice before doing this!

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Administrative characters make up the majority of the teen parents on the island, and we have to admit right out of the gate that teen parents themselves are not the problem. In this setting, kids coming from foster care, they aren't unrealistic. However, the problem that we've faced with most teen parents we've seen at Birchwood Isle is that they use their children in order to get into trouble.

Anyone choosing to play a teen parent must be playing a parent first and a teenager second, especially if you are going to have somebody play the child to your teenager. 

Because of what we've seen, we no longer accept teen parents as first characters, as many of our members now and in the past have chosen to abuse the privilege of playing them and it often turns into a disaster. If you wish to play a teen parent, consider a permanently pregnant female, or consider playing your own child so that abandonment only hurts you and not the person you're playing with who relies on you to parent their younger child. If you have a strong desire to play a teen parent, please note that abortion is illegal on the island and that all teenagers are encouraged to parent their children rather than give them up for adoption. This is a serious undertaking!

I'll have another article out tomorrow about which types of characters we'd like to see more of on Birchwood Isle, but if you're reading this before that article is available and linked, please consider bringing us a high-school-aged teenager, a boy child, or an adult.

More tomorrow!

The Ageplay and Discipline Role Play Community at Birchwood Isle

Birchwood Isle has given us many things to be proud of over the years it has been in development. I could name you half a dozen things about our group that makes it better than others of its type, but the one thing that stands out (most of all in 2015) is that Birchwood Isle Ageplay and Family Discipline Role Play has an incredible sense of community.

If you choose to stop into our chat box and say hello, you will likely be greeted by a chorus of members eager to meet you and answer any questions you have about Birchwood Isle. Most of our members continue to be active in our chat, getting to know other members personally. Our members are personable and remember you, your name, and much of what you've chosen to tell us.

Lots of things about Birchwood Isle make us special, but none so much as the way that we embrace every member of our community to illustrate to them that we see them as individuals. Our staff knows which members have chronic illnesses (and generally which chronic illnesses), which struggle with family issues, who has which talents, and what our members prefer to play. We stick to one another because we realize that as we build and support the members of our community in a way you won't find in many other places.

One of the ways that we do this is through our Weekly Encouragements. These weekly newsletters select one outstanding member of our community to highlight, update members on the progress of current events, provide a weekly tip, and allow members to involve other members by giving them the opportunity to encourage members as well with a weekly questionnaire to fill out.

Birchwood Isle is an inclusive community that strives for balance and inclusion for all members of the site. We encourage our players to contact one another for threads and to plot out ideas. Many age play sites don't encourage this level of interaction, and this is one of the most important things that makes Birchwood Isle exceptional.

If you don't believe us, come on by and chat with us in the box at the top of the page (for guests) or in the sidebar (for members).

How to Write a Better Spanking: Top Edition

I've been meaning to do this for a couple of years now because I think that this is an important article. 

It's a sad fact that most people who enjoy spanking role play don't write spankings well. I'm not trying to hurt anybody's feelings, but if I've role played with you, chances are that I do not, personally, believe that you either give or take a spanking at the level that I enjoy role playing. Please don't misunderstand me: I'm not judging you. Nobody has taught you what goes into a good spanking, and no matter how often you read through one, it honestly takes putting certain steps into practice before you learn to do it well.

This will be a lengthy guide, broken down into parts to make it easier for you to read. I'll be breaking the parts to make it easier to read. Each part will come with a sub-heading and an image to help break the page down visually and make it easier to digest.

This article is for TOPS (that is to say, the person giving the spanking). A version for BOTTOMS (the person getting the spanking) is forthcoming.

Basic Tips for Better Spankings

1. Focus on the visuals, not on the sound effects. Most people who write spanking scenes focus too much on the sounds that their hand or an implement is making on the skin of the individual who is being spanked. Instead of focusing on the sound effects, try to focus on the visual. What impact is the implement (or hand) making on the bottom of the person being spanked? How is the skin coloring? Does it jiggle when smacked? These are much more effective than writing out the sounds (like *smack!* *smack!* *smack!*).
2. Know your roleplay partner. Get to know what your roleplay partner enjoys in a spanking, then write that into the scene. If she's particularly fond of leather and has fantasies about "daddy's belt," then use a belt. If he prefers to be spanked over the knee, then do the spanking over the knee. Find the nuances that your roleplay partner fantasizes about and include those elements into the spanking that you're writing for your partner.
3. Write one phase of the spanking per post. One of the big issues that comes up a lot is pacing during a written spanking. The problem is that some people move too fast (*smack!* *smack!* *smack!* and the spanking is done) and some people move too slowly (one swat per post for twenty-five smacks). Instead of focusing on the number of smacks (except in an institutional setting), focus on each phase of the spanking. "Phases" should be distinguished from "steps." Spanking is only one step in the spanking process. I'll update later with a link to the phases of a spanking.
4. Thoroughly read your partner's posts. Someone who knows how to write receiving a spanking well might give you little gems to reply to. Maybe the person you're spanking will fling her hand back to cover her bottom and nearly smack you in the face. Maybe he'll wiggle so hard he gets out of position and you have to pull him back in. Responding to the details your partner gives you keep the spanking fun by keeping it interactive. That's the real joy of role play, isn't it?
5. Focus on details. Most people fail to focus on the details of a good spanking. This is what I refer to as "being a spanking arm." Adults who don't focus on details are interchangeable with one another. In order to stand out in the crowd, you have to do more than just swat a miscreant backside. You have to give details. Focus on the way that you restrain the person you're spanking, on the way your hand feels when it makes contact, the weight of the hairbrush, the sound of the leather being pulled through belt loops. These are delicious details!
6. Use your words well. Not everybody likes to scold during or before a spanking, but this little detail can be delicious for the person who is receiving the spanking. Many bottoms enjoy taking ownership of a spanking ("your spanking" vs. "a spanking") and reference to "good spanking" or "sound spanking" can be beautiful. Focus on the words and use them well to add an extra dose of wonderful humiliation for the recipient of the spanking. Your partner will walk away much pleased but might not even know why!

If you can follow these tips, you're well on your way to being a better spanking writer than most people in role play are! Congratulations for giving it a shot. But if you want to be an exceptional spanking writer, you'll want to follow the steps listed below.

How to Give a Better Roleplay Spanking, Step by Step

This part of the guide is going to take you step by step through what you need to do in order to write a better spanking (as the person giving the spanking). The goal of this section is to illustrate for you, a step at a time, how to keep your energy up while enjoying the spanking and creating a scenario that the person you're spanking can also enjoy. None of this is complicated, but it does focus on details.

Step One: Catch the Miscreant

The first step to giving an exceptional spanking is to discover that the miscreant has in some way misbehaved.

This may happen in one of two ways.

In the first (and perhaps the most common) instance, the miscreant is caught in the act of some misbehavior. This occurs when the top (adult or otherwise "the spanker") enters a scene in which the bottom (child or otherwise "the spankee") has misbehaved. Perhaps the bottom has been interacting with other characters and has gotten up to mischief, or perhaps he has misbehaved and the misbehavior needs to be stopped and dealt with. Either way, in this instance, do the following.

Interrupt the misbehavior. Make sure to do so in-character. If your character has a hot temper, maybe she enters the scene shouting. If he is quiet-natured, perhaps he simply takes the miscreant and removes her from the "scene of the crime."

In literate role play, this is a good time to start a new thread if you are interrupting an ongoing scene. Treat the punishment as its own scene. If the thread was created to court trouble, then simply continue in the existing thread.

The second way a miscreant may be caught is by a phone call to the spanker. This is a less common way to proceed, but in some ways it saves time, and it can be just as interesting as catching the miscreant in the act of a misbehavior. 

In this case, the top ("spanker") will need to retrieve the miscreant ("spankee") from wherever the misbehavior occurred, whether it was at school, a friend's house, or a public place. 

With this particular scenario, you have some added responsibilities, including taking the miscreant back to the place where she is going to be punished. The drive home is a good opportunity to get to scolding the miscreant, so take the time to make it good and be descriptive about the atmosphere during the drive or the walk home.

Step Two: The Talk

While any transfer of the miscreant from one location to the other may be silent in order to promote an atmosphere of nervousness in the child, the next step in a good spanking is to give "the talk." Everybody who has ever been a child knows what "the talk" is. At this point in time, it's the top's responsibility to issue a scolding to the bottom.

It might be tempting to skip this. Both the top and the bottom are looking forward to getting into the action of the thread by skipping the scolding and going straight for the star of the show. Whatever you do, don't rush this part of the process! This has the potential to be one of the most delightful parts of a step-by-step spanking.

This is the period of time when you need to get control of the bottom. It can be time consuming and sometimes the bottom will put up a power struggle. During this step, you will be able to note whether or not the bottom is going to be an interesting spankee, because they will match your energy while still allowing the top to "win" any fight that crops up between the top and the bottom.

Your job, during this step, is to convince the miscreant that what she did was wrong and that she deserves to be punished. This is the step during which you will work on establishing what the punishment is going to be, and what, exactly, you're going to be punishing for.

A wise top will expect some struggle from the bottom at this phase of the punishment. Many role players will use this step (as bottoms) to push for a bigger or more intense punishment, even if they don't need to keep pushing in order to get a serious spanking. Be prepared for this power struggle so that it doesn't come as a surprise, and understand how crucial a good scolding (dressing down) is in establishing your control as the top.

Any power struggle should be won by the adult during this phase. If you cannot win the power struggle during this step of the punishment, then it's time to consider negotiating with the bottom in private or dropping the thread altogether.

(Note to bottoms: It's not wise to make this struggle such a disaster that you wear the top down. Use common sense!)

Step Three: The Decision

The purpose of "The Talk" is to reach a conclusion on what the punishment is going to be. For most spanking role players, this is where things really begin to heat up. This step should take as few as two and as many as eight posts (back and forth between top and bottom) during which the sentence is handed down and the implement of punishment is procured.

This is the point at which I would strongly encourage tops to begin using their "trigger words." Up to this point the punishment has been a theoretical exchange. At this point it is about to become a literary reality for the role players involved in the scene, and while many role players enjoy the warnings and scoldings (sometimes as much as the punishment itself), this is where the scene begins to heat up.

My advice is to personalize the spanking. Force the bottom to take ownership of it. Identify the punishment as "your spanking" and have the bottom retrieve "your hairbrush" to be applied to "your naughty bottom." If using another type of implement, the top should identify that implement as belonging to the top in some way or another. "Daddy's belt," or "Mommy's wooden spoon." These little personalizations are very appealing to the majority of role players, and add quite a bit of detail.

If you wish to describe the implement, this is the pre-spanking period in which you will wish to identify details about it. Is the belt worn from use? Thick leather, wide cut, or thin and narrow? Is the hairbrush heavy with a long handle, or is its face convex and small? How old is the implement you're using? Has it been passed down through the generations?

When the bottom has been sent to fetch an implement, she should be the one responsible for describing the implement, but if she fails to do so, you should take over this part. Your partner will appreciate it!

Bonus Step: Cornertime

While I don't recommend that this be a go-to disciplinary strategy for all top characters, corner time can enhance the spanking scene by adding an additional element. Each character is (and should be) unique, so this should be used selectively and should be done with additional, personalized elements. 

Should the bottom be required to remove the clothing and underclothing before standing in the corner? Should the hands be placed on the head in order to provide more exposure? Does the top character scold during this corner time, making sure to send the message home to the bottom? Is the bottom required to stand straight without wiggling or potentially incur further punishment?

These little details can make a good spanking scene great!

Step Four: The Spanking

This part of the punishment is the star of the show. Anyone who has participated in spanking role play already knows that this is what the majority of age players are posting for in the first place. It is the reason for all bratting, the source of quite a few problems for discerning tops, and it is where both you (as the top) and your role play partner (the bottom) are going to find true chemistry and potential compatibility. 

At this point, I'll be breaking this process down into phases of a spanking. While there (will be) another article detailing these phases, I would like to point out that this is broken down into those phases because each phase should take exactly two posts: one from you and one from the bottom.

I must reiterate at this point that the chief goal is to keep your energy up for this phase. No matter how bland and boring the bottom is (and most are!), your job is to keep your energy high and to try to draw that energy out of your bottom.

Spanking, Phase Zero

Get the bottom into position. This should probably include the removal of at least part of the bottom's clothing (at least the outer clothing covering the buttocks, but potentially also the undergarments or even stripping to nudity depending on your preference and that of the person you're writing the spanking for [the bottom]). In most cases, you'll want to give the bottom the opportunity to remove his clothing before doing the job for him. If you do it for him, it's more humiliating, so knowing your partner is critical. Someone who prefers a lot of humiliation may prefer not to be given the opportunity to do it themselves.

Note that if the bottom refuses to do it the first time and you must do it for them, that potentially adds another post to this phase -- that's okay. Both this phase and the last phase may take longer in terms of the number of posts just due to establishing the part of the scene.

Once the clothing has been appropriately adjusted, move the bottom into position. At Birchwood Isle, we have a relatively long list of positions, but "over the knee" is a favorite for many role players. 

You may also choose to remove the undergarments once the bottom has moved into position, bending over something or has been placed into the diapering position. This allows for more privacy, but can also be more embarrassing for the bottom, and puts you in control.

It's up to you how much control you wish to take with the removal of the clothing.

This is also the phase of the spanking during which you should secure your bottom. Restraint may be necessary to keep him in position, so make sure to hold him down across your lap or to put a hand on his back if you are using a bent-over position, in order to ensure that your bottom doesn't do a lot of moving around. While some wiggling may be fun, restraint is an added trigger (in a good way) for most spanking role players

At this point, if your bottom puts up a lot of resistance, contact your roleplay partner to find out what's going on. If your talk phase was successful, a realistic bottom character shouldn't resist much.

Spanking, Phase One

Begin the spanking.

Now that you have the bottom in position (whether over your knee, bending over or on her back with her legs drawn up in diapering position), it's time to begin the spanking. I do not in any way recommend using a "warm up" unless you are role playing an erotic spanking, since the "warm up" defeats the purpose of a punishment and it unbalances the phases significantly. 

At this point in a spanking, the bottom will (if she is playing realistically), be resigned to being spanked. She will probably have already decided that she can make it through this, that she's too big for spankings and that it isn't going to hurt that much. It's a rationalization that allows the bottom to get into position at all. I encourage bottoms who are reading this to adhere to this convention, since it works well for keeping the spanking going energetically. 

Use this time (as a top) to work on calibrating the spanking. Since the bottom is resigned and determined that the spanking isn't going to hurt all that much, you can spend a bit of time determining how hard you have to spank in order to get a good reaction from the bottom. Start with light swats (and be descriptive! How far are you swinging your arm, or are you just using your wrist? How much is the skin coloring, and how much does it jiggle when you strike it?) and then progress to stronger swats.

This is best done in a single post. The bottom player should be able to adjust, and this allows them room to use more words to describe the reaction to the progressing spanking, as the skin begins to warm up and actually feel the sting. That way you lead nicely into phase two.

To reiterate, at this point the top should be working up to a nice sting. The bottom's skin should be beginning to develop a nice pink, but if your character stopped now, the skin would return to a white complexion almost immediately.

Spanking, Phase Two

At this point, the bottom character should actually be feeling the sting of the spanking. Your character (the top character) should begin to spank a bit harder, taking advantage of the building sting. Really own this part of the spanking by using faster spanks or harder spanks and covering a wider area of the buttocks. Continue to be descriptive about color and the "bounce-back" of the implement (or your character's hand) on the bottom's buttocks, sit-spots or thighs.

This is the first time that I would suggest having your character dip down to the sit spots or the thighs. Up to this point, focus on the fullest part of the bottom, and make sure to state what part of the buttocks or thighs you're swatting. Don't leave this open to interpretation, as it can be very annoying to have your partner decide you were spanking the thighs when you envisioned that you were spanking the fleshy part of the buttocks.

Toss in some nice trigger words when referring to the bottom. "Tender flesh" or "sore bottom" are nice touches, since you can safely say that the flesh of the area is tender and that it's going to get sore as you continue to spank it.

Note that by this point the sting should be building for the bottom, but the flesh won't be hot yet. If your partner is following my guide to writing a better spanking thread, he should be considerate of this fact. It's becoming painful, but it's not unbearable yet. Before you're finished, it will be unbearable, and that means that you need to leave your top character with room to increase the intensity of the spanking. 

Don't shoot your wad just yet. Keep some of the harder and more painful swats in reserve. Always have an ace up your sleeve. Don't strike the thighs yet!

Pro Tip: You know that the next phase is going to be particularly harsh: One of the harshest during the whole spanking. Add some extra restraint by applying increased pressure to the bottom's back or perhaps locking down the arms and legs in preparation for the real thrashing that's to come (from the bottom, if he's following my guide for him).

During this phase, you also might want to continue the scolding that you started before the spanking began. Bearing in mind that the bottom probably won't be listening once the pain mounts too much, you want to make use of the time that he's still quiet to talk about the reasons he's in this position. Keep using the strong trigger words and make sure to be as specific as possible to add to the embarrassment of the situation.

Spanking, Phase Three

At this point, the bottom is actually in some real pain. Her backside is heating up and is probably beginning to turn a darker shade of pink. Use these details to your advantage in your description. When a smack lands, the color is beginning to turn a medium to dark pink now, and you won't see the fading to white, but a fading to a paler pink than you had before. The bottom is probably clenching quite a bit in an effort to control the pain.

If your partner has read our guide on how to write a spanking: bottom edition, she will probably be squirming during this phase of the punishment, trying to get away because the pain is getting to be more than she can handle. She'll struggle, and you're going to have to restrain her. You might have taken care of this in your last post, but if you haven't, this is the time to grab a flailing arm to pin to the small of the back, or to lock in the legs to prevent a lot of kicking. Alternatively, you may enjoy the struggle, and if so, should leave the bottom free to kick and flail.

This is the period of the spanking during which you want to be the harshest. Spank harder and faster (preferably both at the same time) and make sure that you have a good rhythm going. You may wish to take two posts to accomplish phase three by going down to the thighs on the second post to give a good, rapid tattoo there in order to encourage the bottom to stop squirming so much.

Keep talking, even though the bottom is for sure not listening at this point, since she should be screaming and squirming too hard to hear what you have to say to her. Cover the entire bottom, from fullest part of the buttocks, down the sit spots, and down to the thighs.

During this phase, you're breaking down walls. You're trying to get the bottom to submit to the top, so lay it on fast, heavy and hard to make sure you accomplish this goal.

Spanking, Phase Four

If the bottom is following the phases of a spanking, he should be having an all-out fit during this phase. This will be his greatest fight, his greatest fit of temper, and your job is to quell that temper. Spank harder, and use the spanking to punctuate any lecture that you happen to be handing down during the spanking process. Get a few good, hard whacks in on the backs of the thighs, and don't be afraid of the sit spots during this phase! Your goal is to make the fight stop, and to make a final, strong impression on the bottom.

For the top, this will continue through the same pattern of hard, aggressive spanking while the bottom works through the next two phases of the spanking. Tops should continue to spank very hard while the walls come down and the bottom begins the process of surrendering. Continue this until you reach the point of surrender (phase six for the bottom).

I personally think that it's important to keep a steady rhythm at this phase of the spanking if you're going to get good results, though it may vary by character. Keep in mind that changing it up too much during this phase could result in confusion on the part of the bottom and you could find that you've set the process back.

Use this time to describe the way that the bottom is coloring. If you have a harsh adult, the bottom should be going from pink to red during this phase. Describe this, along with the flesh's physical reaction to the impact of your implement.

Spanking, Phase Five

The bottom has surrendered now. She is probably laying limp over your lap or is nearly collapse if bent for the spanking, and she is sobbing. This phase cannot come until the bottom is clearly broken down, crying hard, and at a loss for words. If she's still arguing with you or putting up a fight, then she hasn't reached this phase yet. Only proceed when you're sure that you've reached surrender.

At this point you should begin to slow down. Use your words, lecture or scold hard, and spank harder, but much, much slower. Focus on the sit spots and on the backs of the thighs, and use the swats to punctuate the verbal message. 

When you're done spanking (and you should finish in this phase), a few lighter taps are appropriate if using a wooden implement, particularly if they are applied directly to sore spots with strong coloration. 

This is your final chance to describe the color of the flesh during the spanking. You'll get more opportunities, especially if you use an after-spanking cornertime for your bottom.

Step Five: Cool Down

Bring the bottom back from the spanking with a brief "cool down" period. Not to be confused with aftercare (which is step six), this time period brings the bottom back to reality until he is ready to stand up from the position that he was in during the spanking.

Rub the bottom's back and maybe the buttocks or thighs (if you're comfortable with that) until he comes back to the reality of the current situation and is ready to proceed with corner time or affection. Be gentle and encouraging.

This step should not be skipped, however tempting it may be. During this time period, you'll be bringing the bottom back to reality. You must allow them to recognize that the spanking has ended and that it's time to proceed with whatever comes after. In most cases, we recommend skipping post-spanking corner time and proceeding with after care, but you should always write your post for your character and not to our preferences!

Bonus Step: Cornertime

Corner time after a spanking is a good time to give the bottom time to think about why he had to be punished in the first place. This is best done with the well-spanked bottom entirely bare.

Depending on your character, you may wish to observe the bottom and comment on the state of the backside for added humiliation, or you might want to use this time for extra scolding. 

This step is by no means necessary. It can be used independently or with the pre-spanking corner time as well.

Step Six: Aftercare

Arguably the most important step in the entire spanking ritual, aftercare is not something that should be skipped. Some tops don't enjoy this part because they don't desire to connect emotionally with the bottom, but aftercare is something that will help to ease the bottom back into the normal flow of daily life.

It is highly suggested that tops consider getting the bottom something to drink during this time period. Realistically, a bottom may become dehydrated during a punishment because of crying. A drink (water in particular, but also electrolyte solutions) will help to maintain hydration and avoid the bottom from developing a dehydration headache later.

Provide comfort to the bottom using hugs, words of support, and perhaps wrapping the bottom in a blanket for comfort. You may wish to allow younger children to thumb-suck or otherwise self-soothe. Younger child characters and even some teens may fall asleep after a punishment. Spankings can be exhausting, and this is a good way to wrap up the thread!

Make sure to also use encouraging words. "You did a good job," or "You're so brave!" are pleasantly triggering for many bottoms, and make a wonderful ending to an emotional thread.

Metagaming, Power Playing, and God Mode

In role play, you may hear any one of these three words often: Godmod (Godmodding), Powerplay (or Powerplaying), and metagaame (metagaming). They are sometimes used interchangeably, but the truth is that each of these words has a different meaning. 

I'm going to begin by explaining the first of these words, since it is the most commonly used, and it is used incorrectly by the vast majority of people. "Godmod" is an incorrect term. The expression is Godmode, which refers to the god mode in video games that allows the player to not suffer damage or death and to therefore be able to complete the game without the usual obstacles.

Many role players (and administrators) use this term to refer to moving another person's character as well as your own. This is an incorrect definition of godmode, which actually refers to making your character invincible. In "God Mode," your character never takes a hit.

To use an example in age play, let's say that an adult is wrestling with a naughty child who is fighting the sound spanking that they richly deserve. The child is thrashing and struggling and kicking and flailing. In order to avoid taking a fist to the face or a foot to the chin, the adult enters "god mode" in order to not take any damage.

In traditional literate roleplay, this is verboten. "Godmodding" is to be avoided at all costs. In ageplay, however, god mode is sometimes necessary in order to prevent the child/innerkid/little/bottom from overpowering the adult and ruining the thread.

Power playing is the next term that I'd like to address.

This term is, once again, often mis-used or over used. Power playing refers to your character making contact with another person's character without giving them the opportunity to block that contact.

Power Play is harder to explain than God Mode, but allow me to give you an example from ageplay again: You are playing a child character playing with another child character, and a fight breaks out between them. Your character is upset, and being young and out of control, reaches out and smacks the other child. This is power playing, because your character successfully hit the other character without giving that player the chance to have her character dodge the blow.

In ageplay, adults (guardians and parents, otherwise "spankers") must rely on power playing in order to accomplish the simplest of desired tasks, such as spanking an errant child. Without the privilege of power playing under these circumstances, a spanking thread would go something like this.

John (Daddy)

John attempts to smack Jamie's bottom with the palm of his hand.

Jamie (Son)

Jamie squeals as Daddy smacks his bottom!

John (Daddy)

John attempts to smack Jamie's bottom again.

There are people who role play like this, but it's not desirable. A good spanking post (in brief) could look more like this:

John raises his hand and brings it down crisply on Jamie's bottom, reddening it where his hand fell. He pins his son down and continues to spank hard, finding his rhythm and ignoring his son's protests. 

In the second case, John (appropriately) power played Jamie's character by saying that the spanking actually made contact with Jamie's body.

The third term that we're addressing is the most complicated: Meta-Gaming.

As to its roots, this term cannot be broken down into the sum of its parts, so bear with me as I attempt to explain both definitions.

Some people use the term "meta-gaming" to mean a character reading the mind of another character through narration.

For example, if Peggy says (but does not say) that she is thirsty, Donny is "meta gaming" if he mentions her thirst in his post.

At Birchwood Isle, we use the term "meta-gaming" to describe one player moving another player's character.

For example, Donny metagames Peggy by saying that she takes a drink of water because she's thirsty.

At Birchwood Isle, we allow limited power playing in order to facilitate spanking.

Metagaming and God Mode are strongly discouraged on Birchwood Isle.