agegapexchange | Rules & FAQs

agexmod posting in

Rules

You must give a gift that includes at least one of the recipients' requested fandoms and relationships, in (at least one of) the medium(s) the recipient has requested, and which does not involve any of the Do Not Wants (DNWs) in the recipient's signup. The gift must be either at least 1000 words long (for fic) or be clean lineart with basic colouring (for art).
All nominated relationships must have an age gap of at least seven years, follow the 'half your age plus seven' rule, or otherwise be a significant age gap (as expanded upon in the FAQs.)
For modern RPF, there are two rules:
1. Non-famous relatives/friends cannot be nominated.
2. All 'characters' nominated must be currently over 18.
Mod reserves the right to reject nominations not in good taste (serial killer RPF, IRL rapist/IRL victim RPF etcetera).
Please don't reveal that you're the creator of the gift(s) you've given until the anon period

Frequently Asked Questions

Please note that step-by-step instructions for nominations/signups etc will be provided when nominations/signups etc open.

So, what is the Age Gap Exchange?
It is, as the name suggests, and exchange for relationships with age gaps!

What do you mean by age gaps? What ships qualify?
For the purpose of this exchange, here must be a seven year gap between the two characters (or at least two of the characters, in the case of poly relationships), or the age gap must be greater than the half your age plus seven rule (in general, when the older party's age is divided by two and seven is added to that number, for the purpose of the exchange, the final answer must be greater than or equal to the younger party's age). i.e.: either the age gap must be seven years or greater or (the older character's age/2)+7 must be greater than or equal to the younger character's age. Here is an online calculator (though for this exchange, relationships within the range given aren't allowed).

What if it's a mortal/immortal relationship? What if the characters aren't human? What if it's an edgecase for any other reason?
Mortal/immortal relationships are fine. If the characters aren't human (i.e. they age differently from humans) or you feel that the rule may otherwise not apply, please use your best judgement. I'll put an evidence post up, but in most cases I will accept that relationships have been nominated in good faith.

What about if the character's age isn't stated in canon?
Please use your best judgement.

Is this only for / relationships or are & relationships also allowed?
It's only for / relationships, sorry.

You say you're accepting nominations on good faith, but what if someone takes advantage of that?
If there's genuine rule-flouting (eg: Steve Rogers/Bucky Barnes or Leia Organa/Luke Skywalker), please bring it up with me in the disputes post (including evidence of rule-breaking) and I'll deal with it. Please note that any issues must be brought up before sign-ups open.

How many fandoms and relationships can I nominate?
You can nominate 5 fandoms, with 8 relationships allowed per fandom.

Are Original Works allowed?
Yes. However, the presence of an age gap should be clearly stated in the nominations. (Eg: Middle Aged Spy/Teenaged Crime Lord or Immortal Swordswoman/Young Crown Princess or Monster Older Than Time/Monster Born With The First Human. You can be specific or vague as you like as long as the presence of an age gap is obvious in the nominations.)

Are crossover relationships allowed?
Yes. However, please nominate in the format Character One (Fandom One)/Character Two (Fandom Two)(/and so on). In addition, in instances where the age gap isn't clear, please be specific. (Eg: Leia Organa (Star Wars OT)/Minerva McGonagall (Harry Potter) is fine; Leia Organa (Star Wars)/Minerva McGonagall (Harry Potter) isn't. )

Is historical RPF allowed?
Yes!

Is underage allowed?
Yes. However, for RPF only, all nominated 'characters' must be currently over 18.

How many fandoms and relationships can I request?
You can request between 3 and 10 fandoms, and between 1 and 20 relationships per fandom. (You can also request 'Any Relationship' if you like. Please note that this means any relationship in the tagset, not any relationship ever.)

How many fandoms and relationships can I offer?
You can offer between 4 and 10 fandoms, and between 1 and 20 relationships per fandom. (You can also request 'Any Relationship' if you like. Please note that this means any relationship in the tagset, not any relationship ever.)

Will there be any expectation that the age gap be acknowledged in the fic itself?
No; if you want it to be acknowledge please mention this in your signup.

Will be able to include in our requests that characters be aged up to 18+ as long as the seven or more year gap still applies? (Example: In canon character A is 15 and character B is 22. Can I request that A be aged up to 18, as long as they also age B up to 25?)
If you want to request the characters being aged up, you can. (However, please do be aware that any sort of request like this is going to be treated as an optional detail which your creator won't be bound to.)

How will assignments be matched?
You will be matched on a minimum of one fandom and one relationship and one medium within that fandom.

Should I write a letter/fill in the 'Optional Details' section?
Writing a letter/filling in the optional details section isn't mandatory. However, I recommend that you include at least your strongest DNWs in the optional details section. That being said, providing prompts/likes etc. will give your author/artist a better idea of what you want (though they aren't obligated to follow those prompts), so at least a few sentences on what you like might be a good idea. If you write a letter, please do remember to enter the URL of the letter in the section reserved for that in the signup. You can also link your letter in the letters post if you wish to.

What are DNWs?
DNWs, or Do Not Wants, are things the recipient absolutely does not want in their gift. DNWs stated in the signup must be respected. Please note, however, that extremely restrictive DNWs or DNWs such as 'age gaps' will result in the mod contacting you with a request to change this.

Are treats allowed?
Yes!

What are treats?
They're extra gifts you can give people in addition to your main assignments.

Do you need to be signed up to treat someone?
No!

What are the minimum requirements for treats?
There aren't any. (However, DNWs should still be respected, as should requested relationships/medium(s)/fandoms.)

Is there a separate collection for treats?
No. Treats go in the main collection.

Help, I need more time!
Please contact me at least 12 hours before the deadline if you need an extension. I cannot give extensions that are closer than 72 hours to the time of reveals.

I can't finish my assignment.
Please default as soon as possible if this is the case. There are no penalties for defaulting this round.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

anon002

I'm unsure, does "the older character's age/2)+7" mean that a 40 years old guy/18 years old guy isn't an eligible couple?

From:

fangirlism

No, the younger character's age has to be less than "half the older character's age + 7." In your scenario, any ship with the older character and any character younger than 27 would be eligible.

But that ship would be eligible anyway because the older character is more than 7 years older than the younger character

From:

anon002

Oh, okay thanks, clearly I can't do simple math. :p

On a different note, your community doesn't seem open to anon comments, is that intentional or accidental?

From:

fangirlism

Sorry, I'm not the mod, just a passing commenter, so I wouldn't know.

From:

agexmod

Not allowing anon comments was an oversight on my part; I've fixed it. Thank you for pointing it out!

From:

sirvalkyrie

If a series is set on Earth and has both a year associated with the events and the characters have a clear age, can they be crossed over with characters in another fandom set later on Earth where the characters in the first fandom would have aged enough to have an age gap that fits the requirements of this exchange. Does that count or do the ages that they are in their respective canons matter?

Example:
Tsukino Usagi from the original Sailor Moon anime and manga is 14 in 1991/1992. Misumi Nagisa from Futari wa Pretty cure was 13 in 2005. That would put Usagi around 27 during the events of Futari wa Pretty Cure. Would something like that be allowed or do only the ages the characters were in their canons count despite what year they took place in? In this case both canons clearly take place on Earth.

From:

agexmod

Something like your example would be fine!

From:

sidewinder

One question: can we nominate canonical character/original character ships? (Specifying, as an example, "Canon Character A"/"Younger Original Male Character"?)

From:

agexmod

Yes, that's fine!

From:

corviday

I'm interested in nominating a ship with the player character from Bloodborne, where the player character can be customized as 'young,' 'mature,' or 'aged'. Should I specify the character's age in the nomination (for example, Father Gascoigne/Young Male Hunter, Arianna/Aged Female Hunter, etc.)?

From:

agexmod

It's probably a good idea to specify the age if there's any doubt as to whether there's an age gap.

From: (Anonymous)

I intend to nominate few pairings of fandom Fate/Stay Night and related. Now, characters who are categorized as servants in this franchise are historical/mythological figures who have lived a full life and then summoned into another era by a magus. That means the exact age of some characters feel a bit arbitrary due to this "living for a second time" concept. Thus i have questions for the eligibility of these few pairings:

David/Solomon - as you can see, they are father and son. Had this been a non-multi timeline story, this would be eligible. However, by appearance of summoning, David looks like he is in his teens while retaining memories of his previous life, making him look similar in age if not younger than Solomon.

Shirou/Gilgamesh - Shirou is straightforward ~18 years old, while Gilgamesh looks like he might be in his twenties due to the form he is summoned in, yet as a servant he's technically a lot older.

Thank you in advance!

From:

agexmod

I'm going to err on the side of laxness and say that if the age gap is large enough that you feel like it's eligible it's fine! (This depends on whether the characters you've mentioned remember their past lives, and whether remembering affects their personality and behaviour.)

From:

niewanyin

Would ships involving Steve Rogers or Bucky Barnes count as age gap considering they were born in the 40's and have the memories of living through it, or because they didn't age for long periods of time and didn't actually live through the forties to modern day would they be ineligible? (This would also count for time travelers in other media.)

From:

agexmod

I'd say this depends on the relationship itself and the character's lived experience. If the character has experienced a 100 years but still looks 20, pairing them with a twenty year old is fair game. If a character has lived a 1000 years but has been in a coma for 980 of them, pairing them with a twenty year old (of the same species who experiences time, for a lack of a better phrase, the same way) then the pairing probably wouldn't be in the spirit of the exchange.

(But as with all relationships for this exchange, if you believe it's eligible and provide a good enough reason, even if it doesn't fall 'strictly' within the parameters of the exchange.)

From:

niewanyin

I was thinking of nominating pairings and providing fics that would emphasize how they do have this gap in age in terms of the world, culture, and era in which they grew up, i.e."Steve/Natasha, moments in which she remembers that she's his first relationship in the 20th century." Is that acceptable?

From:

agexmod

To clarify, cultural and social differences between characters, however wide, aren't considered an age gap in this exchange. Relative maturity and the era in which they live also aren't considered. However, if the ages of the characters are far apart enough (or if you have enough reason to believe that they're not close in age if the ages of the characters aren't clear in canon).

I.e. 'time travelling person/person from a different era who is of a similar age to them' isn't eligible, but 'time travelling person/person from a different era who is substantially older or younger than them' is.

From:

niewanyin

Okay. Thanks for the answer, and sorry if I missed it in the FAQ. :)

From:

agexmod

No problem!

From:

meatball42.livejournal.com

Are poly ships acceptable for this exchange? For example, I'm thinking of Mariah Dillard/Shades Alvarez/Comanche Jones from Luke Cage. Shades and Comanche are the same age, but Mariah is more than 20 years older.

From:

meatball42.livejournal.com

Oh I'm sorry, I didn't realize it had already been nominated, ignore me!

From: (Anonymous)

Hello! I wanted to ask if two immortal-esque or slow aging characters would be eligible for this exchange, providing there is a significant gap in age between them? For example, one character is 200 and the other is 250, would 50 years be enough of an age gap?

To be more precise, I was wanting to nominate SesshoumaruxInuyasha from Inuyasha, and while Sesshoumaru's age is never stated within the series, Inuyasha is stated to be about 200, and there are sources for Sesshoumaru being 900. Would that be eligible?