OK.  So...I have two kids.  Yes Kristi is a mommi, if you didn't know this all ready.  ^_^  Anyway...to my question, at what age do you think is a good age to allow a child to begn playing MMORPG's online.   My oldest plays on one of my comps, on one of my WoW accounts and I have been thinking that he is just about old enough(almost 7) to have his own gaming rig and his own WoW account.

Should I wait a little longer until he is older or go ahead and get him his own gamig rig?  He can all ready read as well as most adults due to the fact that I started him gaming at the age of 5 (under close supervision) and he is wishing to have his own so that we can play together.   What to do.  Any suggestions would be welcomed.

My son is nine, and I am just now thinking of giving him his own machine....although I won't be letting him play mmos without me in the room.

I dunno.

It would most likely depend on a few factors:

1- Wife would have an opinion/idea; and definitely a veto on most stuff concerning kids until we have an agreement.  I would refrain from opposing her openly in front of the kids and "lies" to say we have an an agreement earlier if needed, no matter what my personnal idea is on such a topic.  Saying to kids that we both think the same is better than actually promoting a silly point.

2- No kid developp the same.

3- I would still need to be a gamer or the kid might not even want to do that, which under the circumstance of a wife + kids could be put on the side, indefinitely a little as Imperator.  (I won't stop been a gamer unless something more positive and time consuming happen...wife + kids is possibly qualifying as such, and if not totally, it would most likely divide the time available for gaming by many factors)

4- The kid himself/herself.

See, I would suggest a 10 year old to try a game or two.  But a 5 year old?  I dunno.  What if the kid join a group and they ridicule him because he is so dumb and dimwit from the perspective of a 22 guy living in a basement about l33t skill?  A 10 year old has to learn to deal with such and is in the right age for that...a 5 year old...I dunno...Imagine for 1 moment this 5 year old is the most gentle kid, extremely social, and actually manage to make it in a group, undetected...still a 5 year old on sensibility level most likely.

As a parent myself, I have struggled with this question, too.  Seven seems a little young to be able to handle the complicated controls and text of the standard MMO - but I don't believe that's what you're getting at.  Assuming your youngster can really play, I would assume your biggest concern lies in the gaming community itself.  I would recommend sticking to games that have strict codes of conduct...namely those against inappropriate language.  I'm an "old" guy and I still myself appalled at some of the vulgarities spewed out by other, immature gamers...many times, for no apparent reason.

It appears you are a good mom by even bothering to ask this question...so I would say just use your own judgment. 

I would not let my child play Online games period.  They will have to wait until there are adults to play them.  As a person who has been through many many online games, I know the detrimental effects they have.  Not only on myself, but to a more extreme effect on others.  In an essence, its the type of game you can never feel accomplished unless you dedicate a significant portion of your life to.  I want my child to succeed in life, and forcing them off the net for 18 years should make them have a greater resolve for work and committment.

This topic came up once before, i'm surprised you didn't see it then.  But my advice is that it depends on the child.  I have two step sons that were interested in EQ back when they were 14 and 15, but that was when it was "new."  Once the newness wore off and their friends stopped talking about the cool things they did, the two of them quit.  My other two children are still too young, but they don't seem interested.  I do have one boy that, even at 20, will get online and mess around with an mmo now and then though.

In the end, that's part of your job as a parent, determining if something is right for your child.  My personal opinion is that until a child is in their teens, their time exposed to anonymous people online should be limited and always directly supervised.  Even at 14 and 15, I still watched my step sons closely, and often played EQ alongside them.  In the end though, I would probably say that 6-7 years old is a little too young in my eyes and would question if the thought of letting him play with you was due more to selfishness or for his own entertainment.  And please don't take that statement the wrong way.  Many times I found myself wanting one of the boys to play EQ with me back in those days, not for them, but for me.  In the end I am glad I didn't succumb.

consoles at 11, mmo's at around 12-13. Games consumed alot of my time when i was younger, ill wait as long as i can before introducing my kids to games.

Please for the love of all that is holy, start his training now! I wish every player I have ever grouped with had an MMO instructor since age 7.

Now seriously, I would take every opportunity to share the enjoyment of hobbies with my children. Whether that be reading, baseball, puzzles, karate, and yes-even online gaming. Actively participating in these activities with your children is the best way to teach them the responsibilities associated with them, just as helping with homework and house chores. They will model themselves from the things you do, not the things you say.

Honestly I would wait till he is about the age of 11-13. If you think about it, at an age under 12 they are very vurnable to picking up bad habits in the online world, even when your supervising or not, you don't control what content is said when it's online. That's why the ESRB always say things change when your online. I mean at the age of 7, a child still have ways to go and also with learning proper manners, responsibility and such. They are better off playing single player games and consoles till they grow up a little more. MMO's are too addictive and you don't want them to get soaked in so bad that they are addicted.

I think you should wait Teala. I know internet control can always be handled, but not on a MMORPG. I think you should let him play on yours, see how things go. My dad got me into gaming when I was around 5. Sega, Nintendo were big. We didn't have online. Now when I play online, by witnessing younger kids play, they get exposed to so much that they try to mimick others. I don't think it's time for him to start. I think you should wait till he starts having to use Microsoft Word. Better yet, wait till he's about 10+ I think your doing a good job monitoring him, just keep on till he gets older. He always got your rig to be on anyway.

See that is my biggest concern is contact with the nefarious sort of players one comes across in these games.   There are so many people one comes across in these games with bad intent.  So for now, maybe I should just hold off and let him continue to play on my spare gaming rig under my supervision to monitor those that he comes in contact with.

He loves playing WoW though.  He's all ready figured out the hunter class and has a level 20 toon.  

My neice has been online gaming since primary school. She is 8 years old.

She likes the BBC site the best as it ties in with many of her Television programs. I like them too, a few of them are mildly educational, and practise her reading comprehension.

They have their own little MMO there, I don't have to worry about her interaction with nefarious strangers because there is no chat room element of the game. Communications are much simpler and more limited.

She also plays Animal Crossing on her Nintendo DS, which is again a limited MMO, anyone in range of your DS will be in your game or you can join online. Once again there is no chatroom element to this game, they communicate through child friendly emotes alone.

My neice knows how delete epic items in WoW and the fastest way to get me to  the graveyard. She loves it.

On the downside, she isn't spending enough time reading books or doing maths, I'd like to find her some more educationally advantageous pastimes. I think her computer access is set to diminish until her school reports improve.

I would keep my kids away from MMOs till they're over 10.  other games would be fine at any age unless they're a psycho cop shooter or AO type game.

Originally posted by Teala

See that is my biggest concern is contact with the nefarious sort of players one comes across in these games.   There are so many people one comes across in these games with bad intent.  So for now, maybe I should just hold off and let him continue to play on my spare gaming rig under my supervision to monitor those that he comes in contact with.

He loves playing WoW though.  He's all ready figured out the hunter class and has a level 20 toon.  

Perhaps you should only allow him to play if you are in the room or if you are gaming with him.  I started playing MMOs when I was 8, and that's mainly where I learned my first curse words... But I was too scared to give away any personal information, since my parents made that very clear.   Although, looking back on it now, that was pretty young to be playing with others online. 

Originally posted by tvalentine

consoles at 11, mmo's at around 12-13. Games consumed alot of my time when i was younger, ill wait as long as i can before introducing my kids to games.

I agree, i have a nephew who plays wow and he is bearly 6 and thats all he wants to do, his mother has to pry him from it to go outside and play and get some sun.... Its an addiction to most people and kids i believe under 13 wouldnt be able to handle the addiction in a positive way. It's easier to start them out with consoles first because at least there is a pause button and a save option to leave off where you stopped....MMO's are like real time so kids don't want to get away because the party wouldnt be there when he/she returns or if they step away there is a risk of dying and what not. I may add that the 6 year old has his own lap top witch is a big mistake because he gets angry when he keeps dying and he already broken one key. I say let your kids be kids go outside get some sun play in the dirt and wait until later and let them play video games. Wait until the teen years when they lose interest in playing outside and become depressed, isolated, "everyone hates me" type of person....lol. Then you would want them to stay indoors and playing games to let loose that negative energy....of  DIE DIE DIE!!! but hey thats just my point of view...LOL!!  =8-)

Never,it is the equivalent of watching television unsupervised.

That is my gut instinct.

Now let me relate my 5 year old daughter to this topic.

She has a friend at school who has had a TV in her room since the age of 2.All this kid does is talk about TV she has no imagination.Her parents dont read to her.If she is in her room watching TV she is not interacting with her family.

My daughter has asked me about a TV in her room.This is NEVER going to happen.When she gets a job and pays for it and can pay the cable bill that goes with it then she can have it.

As far as gaming online goes....same thing....

I would prefer that she go outside and play or go to the frisbee golf course with me.Life is too short to be addicted to online gaming at such a young age.

You want to play together go outside and play.A beautiful spring day is wasted on a computer.I dont even play an mmo now and havent in over a year.

My golf game is sharp now though and the kids aint half bad either.

My kids live outdoors!  LOL!  Its not the computer or game console I have to pry them from it is the outdoors I have to pry them from.   "OK, its time to go inside...lets go."   "But mom, the sun is still up.  Can't we play a little longer?"   "No...it is almost bedtime and you two need to get cleaned up."  "But mom...."   LOL!   It's like this when it is not raining and thank God winter is gone.   Bundling them up for winter was a real pain!  You'd think the cold would keep them in.  Not my kids. 

Originally posted by Opticaleye

Never,it is the equivalent of watching television unsupervised.

That is my gut instinct.

Now let me relate my 5 year old daughter to this topic.

She has a friend at school who has had a TV in her room since the age of 2.All this kid does is talk about TV she has no imagination.Her parents dont read to her.If she is in her room watching TV she is not interacting with her family.

My daughter has asked me about a TV in her room.This is NEVER going to happen.When she gets a job and pays for it and can pay the cable bill that goes with it then she can have it.

As far as gaming online goes....same thing....

I would prefer that she go outside and play or go to the frisbee golf course with me.Life is too short to be addicted to online gaming at such a young age.

You want to play together go outside and play.A beautiful spring day is wasted on a computer.I dont even play an mmo now and havent in over a year.

My golf game is sharp now though and the kids aint half bad either.

You never let your child watch television unsupervised?  Even things like Nickelodeon or PBS Sprout (which my 5 year old loves)?  There's a big difference between letting your child watch some appropriate programs and letting her sit in front of the TV all the time.  Don't get me wrong; outdoor play is important and my kids sure do a lot of it but there are also time when they want to play on the computer or catch their favorite show - I don't see anything wrong with that, either.

You should give kids credit, Ive been playing games for 24 years since I was 4 years old, games were rock hard back then, unforgiving and I used to finish them, so did alot of kids I knew, we had no saves ect they crashed alot :). Now i can't even be bothered to finish the easy spoon fed, quicksave stuff we get now adays. Saying kids would find games like WoW hard now is patronizing as long as you make sure they don't live on it I don't see any problem with letting them play. WoW even comes with a parental setting that bars them from playing at certain times, so they don't sneak up at night for a bit of leveling.

my son is 6 and plays city of heroes with me present in the room (he doesnt know the password)

I say go for it!

Why not share what you love with your kids?
For example in WoW, I know a guy who plays with his little 7 yearold daughter. He removed the chat box, and turned off speech bubbles.

The kid is playing only with her dad, so why expose her to the crap people constantly say. They even do pug 5 man instances. If something happens, he can just tell her. Its quite a cute setup with the little computer chair and his old computer screen. Shes actually QUITE good at playing, and she always says its one of her favorite things to do with her Dad.

She knows that their are other people playing. And she knows ones that run around are real people. He even made her a macro that did /wave so she could wave at people. She thinks its just amazing that she can wave at these people from all over the world. She loves helping people and it seems like a really positive experience both for bonding but also she is helping other people and its just overwhelmingly cute.