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Im a 33yo male with a young daughter who im trying to get into gaming. I have been gaming for over 20 years and can tell you online gaming and communities have gone down in quality at an exceptionally fast rate. Personally i blame the WOW generation where parents are paying for kids subs and letting them loose on people with no supervision. I am very reluctant to let my daughter get into mmos and even im fed up with chats and interactivity with morons online and even on forums. So i thought about making servers age based. So young kids can play together and do what they do and us old farts can have our communities and our interactivity at an adult level. What do you guys think? Also developers could when adding content taylor it to the different server ages so adults can get the gory sexual stuff and the kids can have fluffy bunnies and its all still one game offering different experiences to a larger audience.  |
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12/01/09 2:42:43 AM#2
You do realize that age doesnt equate to maturity, right? I've played with 14 year olds who have been "guild assets", because they acted mature, and I've known more 30 and 40 something's who become idiots in MMO's because they are behind the facade of a computer persona. The younger kid acting mature might be the exception, but the older folks still acting like idiots is pretty much a norm. |
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Of course its a generalisation, that goes without saying . Some of what you say is true, but in my experiences its the under 15 yo crowd that has caused the most troubles. When I make guild always 18+ and it works a treat. |
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12/01/09 2:49:51 AM#4
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12/01/09 2:50:21 AM#5
Originally posted by Dave3216
There are different MMO's that target varying age groups already out there. Those are no guarentee to have a sparkling community considering those "kids" can often be the worst to interact with online. All your proposal will do is segregate the communities solely based upon age, which has very little merit in terms of maturity. Not to mention, there are just as many if not more immature "adults" playing online games than there are children. The WoW and Counterstrike communites come to mind here. |
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12/01/09 3:05:35 AM#6
I dont think there is any way to segregate servers based on age, and I dont think it solves the inherent problem. It'd be as ridiculous as the recent story (and correct me if I'm wrong) that some company was forcing people to verify their gender so men could not play female avatars. You cant control who else plays the game, but you can control who you play the game with, and that makes all the difference. You mentioned you prefered guilds that are 18+, and that's one way of doing it. Most MMO's I play with the same group of folks that I've been playing online games with for years, so I dont have a problem turning regional chats off, or putting people on ignore. It doesnt fix the issue, but if for the most part, I'm picking and choosing who I'm spending my time with, my enjoyment definitely goes up. Granted, reality impinges all the time, but I'd rather take control myself, than have a company try to give me an option that cant be enforced. |
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12/01/09 3:10:24 AM#7
I can't think of any games that actually divide their servers by age, though there are some guilds that do so. I guess if you want a more mature crowd, go join a guild that has an age limit. Unfortunately, it does not get rid of immatuarity though. There are some adults who do behave like children sometimes, as well as some children who seem to have a more mature mentality compared to those the same age as them. And, I'm not sure whether holding a server with an age limit is going to work. The thing is, people can lie about their ages and end up going into a server that they shouldn't be in. Moreover, there still will be immatuarity as well anyway, because like I said earlier, there are still adults who act like children. Main characters: |
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12/01/09 7:58:36 AM#8
Why on earth are you trying to get your young daughter into gaming? |
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12/01/09 8:08:08 AM#9
Originally posted by altairzq
Why not? Kids are never young enough to be exposed to it, not if they can play. Seriously, I've learned my first swearword at age 6, but only got, what it means at age 15. Not a big difference. With that said, I say drop her unto the normal server. The sooner tshe learns to filter out the asshats, the better. I hate WoW because it made my plush hamster kill himself, created twin clones of Hitler, punched Superboy Prime in reality, stared my dog down, spoiled my grandmother, assimilated me into the Borg, then made me into a real boy, just to make me a woman again. |
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12/01/09 8:14:53 AM#10
the better u do for your daughter is to inscribe her into some physical activity(balet, yoga, kung-fu, soccer... whatever) unless u want her to keep fat and virgin, then good luck with wow =) edit: almost forgot to tell about pedophiles, boyz who will try to make herself "dance" on web cam, ask for her e-mail and adress and all kinds of harasment. and maturity is features game "dumbed down" with current releases, get an mature 30 man playing for too long those titles and he have high chances to start behaving like those kind, see our forums =) now: M&B Warband: cRPG MOD, Kingdom of Amalur: Reckoning, L4D2 |
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12/01/09 9:25:00 AM#11
There are a few games that are designed with the younger audience in mind. The best I've tried is a game called Wizard 101. It's pretty heavily Harry Potter-ish, but the lack of chat makes it far more child-safe, and the game is fun, even if you're older. <3 |
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Ceridith
 Advanced Member
Joined: 11/24/09
The more you hype an upcoming game in your mind, the more it will fail to meet your expectations. |
12/01/09 10:09:06 AM#12
Age doesn't dictate maturity, but it does tend to influence it. yes you can have kids that are more mature than adults, and adults that are immature, but those are the exceptions. Generally kids are less mature and adults are more mature. And yes, anonymity and lack of consequence can cause some people to behave like douches, but if someone's behavior degrades when there is no consequence, then it really shows just how immature they really are. They're just good at pretending to be mature when they have to. |
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12/01/09 1:22:59 PM#13
Originally posted by Goronian
Why not? Kids are never young enough to be exposed to it, not if they can play. Seriously, I've learned my first swearword at age 6, but only got, what it means at age 15. Not a big difference. With that said, I say drop her unto the normal server. The sooner tshe learns to filter out the asshats, the better.
Becasue videogames it's not something that needs an effort to do, it's a pass time with very few benefitsm and anyway she will play videogames if she wants to. Parents are supposed to get their sons and daughters into important fulfilling things, like music, languages, sports, visiting places, etc etc... |
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12/01/09 1:37:13 PM#14
Originally posted by altairzq
Becasue videogames it's not something that needs an effort to do, it's a pass time with very few benefitsm and anyway she will play videogames if she wants to. Parents are supposed to get their sons and daughters into important fulfilling things, like music, languages, sports, visiting places, etc etc...
Music and sports are pass times, as well. And, no offense, but I don't believe parents should force sports/music down their kid's throat. Only a handful of them actually become anything, the rest have broken childhoods/teenage years, few minutes near the spotlight, early retirrment and ridculous pension. At least, that's how it usually works in Russia. Now, I don't mind kids doing sports/music (and actually would encourage them to learn languages, especially English, if they're not native), but kids and teenagers need to be... Well, kids and teenagers. It's one of the best parts of life and not to experience it fully can lead to serious regrets later on.
P.S. Games are probably the youngest form of art. MMOs, if supervised, by an adult, to explain some things, can provide some great lessons in life, the first of which is a good use of "ignore' button. I hate WoW because it made my plush hamster kill himself, created twin clones of Hitler, punched Superboy Prime in reality, stared my dog down, spoiled my grandmother, assimilated me into the Borg, then made me into a real boy, just to make me a woman again. |
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12/01/09 2:12:58 PM#15
Originally posted by Baikal
meh, I know some young kids (about 7 or 8) who are extremely mature and intelligent but in the end they are extremely mature and intelligent 7/8 year olds. And yes, there are very immature adults but if put side to side with a 7 or 8 year old they still come off as adults. Just adults who need help. My thought for the OP is that there will always be someone who is a predator and who will get on a server for kids to cause havoc. The best thing to do is to game with your daughter and perhaps friends. Especially if she is indeed young. As far as maturity goes for children here is a you tube video that makes me jealous, cry and rail that I wasn't this child... |
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12/01/09 3:04:03 PM#16
I believe they will come in time. Something like family servers. |
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12/01/09 3:14:25 PM#17
Originally posted by Sovrath As far as maturity goes for children here is a you tube video that makes me jealous, cry and rail that I wasn't this child... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZwpjSNT620
Yes. Imagine - No TV, no real friends, second-to-no time for herself, strict regime and, ultimately, no childhood. That's how most of these kids are raised. Leave the harsh things in life to adults. Let 'em simply be kids. I hate WoW because it made my plush hamster kill himself, created twin clones of Hitler, punched Superboy Prime in reality, stared my dog down, spoiled my grandmother, assimilated me into the Borg, then made me into a real boy, just to make me a woman again. |
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12/01/09 3:24:41 PM#18
Originally posted by Goronian
Yes. Imagine - No TV, no real friends, second-to-no time for herself, strict regime and, ultimately, no childhood. That's how most of these kids are raised. Leave the harsh things in life to adults. Let 'em simply be kids.
Well, I can agree that many of them don't have much of a childhood. As she is asian and as my asian girlfirend said upon looking at it "oh those crazy asians". But you might also understand that not all kids are prone to hating a life like this. Some are rather predisposed to being a bit more serious and focused. To that end, when I was a child of 6 I practiced an hour a day. Now, had I parents who were true stage parents I could easily see myself completely losing my childhood. But all I had to do was to practice a solid hour per day. I say a solid hour because if it was a rather unfocused day I would have to practice a little longer if I wasn't focused. So, though there were days that my grandmother had to shout "I don't hear anything...", for the most part practicing and perfecting my lessons suited me quite well. This prepared me for later life where I would practice 4 to 6 hours a day without breaking a sweat. |
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12/01/09 3:30:47 PM#19
I think a very simple solution to an age-based server is to charge $5 more per month and call it an RP server (and have the gm's actually enforce RP, at least the naming standards). Young people generally have less free cash on hand and would likely shy away from servers that charged extra. |
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12/01/09 3:35:41 PM#20
Originally posted by Sovrath
Yes. Imagine - No TV, no real friends, second-to-no time for herself, strict regime and, ultimately, no childhood. That's how most of these kids are raised. Leave the harsh things in life to adults. Let 'em simply be kids.
Well, I can agree that many of them don't have much of a childhood. As she is asian and as my asian girlfirend said upon looking at it "oh those crazy asians". But you might also understand that not all kids are prone to hating a life like this. Some are rather predisposed to being a bit more serious and focused. To that end, when I was a child of 6 I practiced an hour a day. Now, had I parents who were true stage parents I could easily see myself completely losing my childhood. But all I had to do was to practice a solid hour per day. I say a solid hour because if it was a rather unfocused day I would have to practice a little longer if I wasn't focused. So, though there were days that my grandmother had to shout "I don't hear anything...", for the most part practicing and perfecting my lessons suited me quite well. This prepared me for later life where I would practice 4 to 6 hours a day without breaking a sweat.
Key word is "some" kids. I know a lot more people, who had bad experience with that kind of life, than the opposite. Ironically, most of the "young talents" don't even really go anywhere in life... Which is really tragic. My parents only concentrated on some pre-school activities, really. They did try to get me to some sports, but they finally learned their lesson, when I nearly got my brain on the wall during a tennis lesson. My two big passions in life (Languages and writing) came to me entirely without (or I can even say, in spite) of their wishes. However, I can relate to the whole "lost childhood" thing, since I was studying with kids two years older than me, because of, surprise-surprise, ambitions of my parents. I really loved my teachers, but hated everyone in class. Ironic, huh? I hate WoW because it made my plush hamster kill himself, created twin clones of Hitler, punched Superboy Prime in reality, stared my dog down, spoiled my grandmother, assimilated me into the Borg, then made me into a real boy, just to make me a woman again. |
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