student ages & years

[sax sax sax sax sax sax sax ~]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=width,450,true][atrb=background,http://i52.tinypic.com/4rdnx3.jpg,true][atrb=cellspacing,0,true][atrb=cellpadding,0,true] ☆ STUDENTS just want to clear up a few things about students that haven't really been mentioned much thus far. it's not difficult, but please read it before creating characters. first of all, student ages. think middle school through college graduation in the us in real life for the approximate range of students at the academy; about 12-22, with some exceptions. 12-18 is a reasonable range for most first year students, though you may also have non-first years within this range. ie if a student started when they were 12 and you're playing them as 16, obviously that's fine. inversely, if a student is 19-22, they cannot be a first year student. however, a full education at the academy may take six years or more, so it is reasonable occasionally to have non-first years up to approximately 24, though we don't want a lot of these, or 19-24 in general. just be smart about this. now, student years. as mentioned previously, an education at the academy typically takes six years or more. that doesn't mean, however, that if you have a sixth year student, they're going to have all kinds of powerful pokémon. we are aware that this in turn is not very realistic; however, it's unfair to people that are making first year students considering the types of character interactions that happen on the site. for first year students, you need simply follow the guidelines set out in the starters thread pinned in the orientation hall; easy peasy. with students that are not first years, after your character is accepted, please pm a staff member (all are qualified to assign starters) explaining you have a character that's not a first year. they'll then give you a choice of three types as they would if the character was a first year, and a pokémon will be randomized based on your choice. why do we do it differently? the point of the orientation hall is essentially to help new students. so then, if a returning student came to the orientation hall to try to catch a starter to use for their education, it would all be rather odd when considering what it would be like in character. thus, it makes more sense to make it so that they already "have" the pokémon, no? their starting inventory will also be the same as a first year's. THE STARS ALIGN FOR YOU AND I TONIGHT  ★★