WoW and their PvP system was designed specifically with people like you in mind. You don't even need to play, just join Battlegrounds and go AFK and you'll get superior gear.

EvE just spend 18 years building up your stats

i have a 5 month old and come home from work every day while my wife leaves for work to watch my son and im capable of watching him and playing AOC or madden on a regular basis. its not hard just learn your kids schedule. have em close to you so you can interact with them while playing your game babies dont require a whole lot and they are quite easy once you get used to the basics

Originally posted by Cronq

WoW and their PvP system was designed specifically with people like you in mind. You don't even need to play, just join Battlegrounds and go AFK and you'll get superior gear.

LOL good point.

Originally posted by Exavus

I know that sounds silly, but my lady is having a kid and i'm probably going to have to drop a lot of games but i'm looking for something I can do to where i could stop for a moment if i had to, i guess getting into warhammer is out of the question, too much pvp attention and if i stopped i'd make my team lose XD, so it'd have to be a PVE game. iw as thinking EQ2. I played it a bit and enjoyed it.

Honestly I would just stick to single player games.  My brother use to play counter strike for hours and hours everyday (typical for mmorpg players aswell) and he wanted to focus much more on school so he switched to single player games.  The best part for him was that 1) no more social aspect so he was forced to find real life shit to do; 2) he was able to PAUSE and SAVE anytime he wanted too. 

Thank you, That's what I meant, if its to take an hour nap or say the wifey is holding him/her i' could do something like play an MMO that doesn't require much attention.. I didnt mean to make this sound like i was taking away time from the baby.. just something to do if im caring for the baby but have a little time to squeeze something in, and if its checking an auction house for a few minutes or dilly dallying on some new area... yeah, Perhaps it was best to not make a topic like this, It's making me look like a poor father but I didn't mean to come off like that.

Originally posted by Noggin

You're still allowed to do things that you enjoy after having children.

 

Warhammer wouldn't be that bad of a choice to be honest, if you just jump into an open Warband for a keep seige or general open RvR, do a few scenarios, a PQ or whatever you're not going to kop any flack if you say 'Hey thanks for the group guys I have to go and take care of my baby now' and you're certainly not going to cause your team to lose.

 

I find that PvE games can be a lot more demanding, once you're grouped to do something you generally commit to the duration of the task at hand.

 

*edit* I agree with Kyleran too, EVE would be a fair choice.

I've played EVE and while its a very , go away and do your thing and come back game It's not really my type of game. I may have to keep playing warhammer then, the scenarios are just short enough to make good use of time, but those times require a lot of attention, as short as it may be...

I'd say try EVE out, you could be running missions then if you need to you can just warp out and dock in a station, no worries.

Gets a bit depressing when a skill takes week to finish though.....

try magic world online or those other mmorpgs with legal bots (i think granado espada also has one) at least you could take care of the baby while the legal bot does the grinding for you. congrats!

Wizard 101

Has a free trial and is suprisingly fun for a game marketed towards kids.

Most games including EQ2 you cannot just stop playing in the middle of battle and expect not to be punished for dying. Not to mention you will definitely piss any other players off you may be grouped with.

Wizard 101 is very forgiving though since there is essentially no death penalty and the way it's designed, you can drop out of battle and it won't impact others you are grouped with too much.

Congrats on the upcoming addition!

As a father of three I've been where you are now , it's tough trying to juggle a job, social life, relationships and the demands of a new born, with all that in mind slotting mmo gaming into your already hectic life will be a tough thing to do.

Wouldn't it be great to have a pause button in your fav mmo?

Sadly there isn't a pause button.....

Even if there was a pause button  you'll find you won't get much time to play a mmo anyway, especially one that charges you a sub every month. It will get to the point where you won't want to pay for such a thing because you just can't fit it into your ever decreasing budget.

So I suggest a free to play model for your mmo needs, there are some good ones out there with good communities.

I'd recommend Archlord, Last Chaos, Dungeon Runners and Guildwars to name but a few.

I have 2 kids under 3 a full time job and i can still manage to play at least maybe 5-6 hours a week. theres 2 people in a relationship

it's hard just expect to be interupted. i can play pvp and FIRST person onlines too

it's not neglect it's taking care of you too.. trust me it preserves my sanity a bit to escape for an hour or 2 into a game

I would say LOTRO is the best choice.   Although I would be extremely careful playing an MMO with a newborn.    Don't end up like those animals who left the baby in a car seat  sitting in the bedroom for a week while they played EQ.  

I have an eighteen month old.   My play time consists of about 3 hours a night from 7pm until 10pm.   He goes to sleep at 7pm and I'm wore out by 10pm.   I'm able to raid and everything in LOTRO with that schedule.   Some nights I do extend it until 11pm. 

I ONLY play during his hours of sleep.   Except for an extra hour occassionally I never go past 11pm, because I'm no good as a father if I'm a zombie the next day.   

The moment the MMO comes before your child, its time to terminate the account and delete the game.

wow, eq2, or lotro, they are the best for me as haveing 2 kids and looking for something casual and that can also offer a lil challenge when i have more time, out of the 3 i favor eq2.

Kids sleep people come on now, get off your high horses.
 

To the OP it's tough to get much play time in at the very beginning.  Once they start sleep more it gets easier.  You will want something solo friendly and the ability to get to a safe area to log fast.

LOTRO: solo friendly, map teleports, skill teleports

WoW: solo friendly ( minus instances), map hearth

UO: solo frienldy, recall

Originally posted by Cronq

WoW and their PvP system was designed specifically with people like you in mind. You don't even need to play, just join Battlegrounds and go AFK and you'll get superior gear.

I'm pretty sure the original poster said they wanted something to do, not some gear to obsess over or how to get gear without putting in any effort.  Maybe I am crazy, but it sounded like they actually want to play a game.  *GASP*.  Not that there are not a dozen or so games that have flaws like this.

On topic:

To the original poster, you might want to try guild wars.  Pretty casual, nice stories, etc.  Kids sleep a lot the first few months.  If you just want to level characters solo in PvE any game that has characters with stealth/hide should do fine.  Most MMOs play similar enough that you can get by in any of them if you are just doing PvE. 

If you are worried about hurting your team in warhammer PvP, just don't que up for scenarios.  Once you get your new kids sleep habits on a predictable track, you could squeeze a few scenarios in.  If you roll Order you can't possibly hurt your team.  Any warm body at this point helps.

Exavus i sent you an email please keep an eye out in yer inbox ty.

Are you not married? Will you be a single parent?

If not, once you get in from work and mow the lawn the rest of the evening is your own. Plenty of time for any game you feel like. Obviously you'll have to pause for dinner when she finishes cooking it but apart from that you have all the time you need.

 City of Heroes/Villains is a great choice for rocking a sleeping baby and playing as long as you don't fly! Sadly, that takes two hands! Otherwise, EQ2 is good, and as you said, you can playit while hypnotyzed, especially with the map mod added in.

As for all the concerned posters here, like someone else said already, your first few months are spent holding and rocking. My son needed breathing treatments for his first two month, every three hours, so my wife and I split the shifts with me on nights and her on days. I'd hold and rock him as he slept for hours at a time, while playing CoH one handed! We were both terrified he'd stop breathing, so I held him close and watched all night. I'm actually really grateful for CoH for helping keep me awake and sane.

soapbox /off

Congrats on fatherhood!

You can play most MMOs while watching children.

You would just have to modify your gameplay.

First things first make sure you are playing a game that's solo friendly that lets you go afk at anytime safely.

Spontaneous grouping is a no go when it comes to watching children, You will need to plan ahead.

Set a group during nap time or after the bugger is down for the night maybe set a time with your wife when you could actually group (a schedule you both agree on) this will help when you want to raid.

Do not and I repeat DO NOT! use a head set to play your MMO, a baby is easily drowned out using one and your baby could get injured in some way.

If vent is very important to you, turn the game volume off and have vent come out your speakers and respond back by typing.

Now to answer your question on the easiest MMO to play while watching a baby, my answer would probably be WoW since the game can be played solo all the way to max level and through crafting and random battleground you can actually get decent gear.

Edit: I am a Single father of three children (wife passed on) so i'm an expert at playing MMOs while watching children.

I would say Guild Wars Get the whole trilogy pack with expansion Very good deal and no monthly fee.

Very fast levelling for PVE Game is more skills oriented and not just gear

PVP , Guild Battles and PVE are seperate .

Best of all with the same character you can jump servers (its called districts in the game) so no problem getting party .
I started with Guid Wars when my baby was born.

its not addictive but fun,

Try the trial trilogy pack u get it in store for 3 dollars

I encouraged my wife to call her girlfriends over teh weekends  , get teh grandpas and grandmas , family get togther ensure that you wil get quality time with mmo

Put the computer in the main room where u will be watching kids

Get used to make the child sleep on your chest with one hand on a chair and the 2nd to play the game

Lol I miss those days

All the same kids come 1st

Easiest mmo to play while caring for a baby?

Darkfall

Originally posted by Briansho

Easiest mmo to play while caring for a baby?

 

Darkfall

lol thats mean

Originally posted by sassoonss

Originally posted by Briansho

Easiest mmo to play while caring for a baby?

 

Darkfall

 

lol thats mean

but funny.

GW's was a good suggestion someone else made. (must stay on topic)

Originally posted by Exavus

I know that sounds silly, but my lady is having a kid and i'm probably going to have to drop a lot of games but i'm looking for something I can do to where i could stop for a moment if i had to, i guess getting into warhammer is out of the question, too much pvp attention and if i stopped i'd make my team lose XD, so it'd have to be a PVE game. iw as thinking EQ2. I played it a bit and enjoyed it.

Hmm I've been in a similar situation but I wasn't playing any MMO at the time... It would have to be something you can leave at a moment's notice without hurting anybody or missing too much fun...

WAR isn't a bad option because all the instanced PvP scenarios are 15 minutes or less... And if you play casually no one is going to be cross if you simply leave the scenario - someone will replace you soon enough. However there are wait times that can be problematic. Open RvR involves dozens of players at a time and people constantly drop in and out so no one is going think any less of you unless you're a main tank or healer during the boss-killing part of a siege.

Maybe Guild Wars? Didn't play them much but it seems you could just hop in and out of matches..

In any case your best bet would be  a heavily instanced game that is yet casual... Hmm... Hellgate London? It had a horrendous launch but now its pretty much OK. Casual romper stomper fun a-la Diablo that you can play solo or in group. Can't guarantee its future though since Flagship folded over...

Personally if I were in your place I'd choose WAR because I find it a really great game and very casual friendly - in fact most critics actually take its extreme causal friendliness as a flaw. If you don't join a competitive guild and don't take on any responsibilities you can't keep then I think you'll be fine in WAR.

Anywayz, maybe your best bet would be some kind of an online shooter played with a casual clan (if there are any out there).