What's the fascination with playing children/teens?
Masks, Tales From the Loop, Kids on Bikes, Slugblaster, Monsterhearts and hundreds of others I can't remember of the top of my head. All of these games centre around the idea of playing kids/teens. Hell, I've even seen Call of Cthulhu scenarios written for children characters.
I don't want to be a hater, but I really don't understand the appeal of playing kids/teens. Especially in a horror setting where it feels extra "wrong" to me. But I do want to understand why people like playing as kids and teens.
So, people who love playing these types of games/characters - what's the appeal?
EDIT:
Some people took this as an attack on a thing they enjoy - that was not my intention. I am just legitimately trying to understand a thing I don't get.
So far I've gotten some great insights!
Nostalgia - a kind of yearning for a part of your life where things were simpler.
Reframing - getting to reframe your own childhood. Living it the way you would've wanted it to play out.
Emotional Rawness - the drama feels bigger and emotions can hit the characters harder.
Easy reference point - we've all been kids, so it's a good starting point for a character.
Helplessness - adults often don't believe kids so anything that threatens them, they have to deal with themselves while simultaneously being significantly weaker and with less access to resources than an adult would be.
Horror can be enhanced by the percieved innocence of children. The same horrors and tragedy inflicted upon children can be much more emotionally impactful as a player.
Friends of Convenience - lumping this in as one thing, but being a child, your social circle is kind of forced upon you (family, school, neighbourhood) which helps quickly build a foundation for the social connections of a game. In addition, that can also force very different characters to work together in a way that doesn't create as much narrative dissonance.