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LFG MMORG for novice Senior Person
Hi,
Maybe you can help me with this one. My uncle (age 76) is currently not a real expert with computer, but can send an email and can surf a bit. (so that you know his current capabilities)
After telling my (somewhat dated) experiences with MMORG, like UO, EQ and D&D, he was very interested in hearing that I encountered several older people (60+) that were very active in MMORG's. Especially the social aspect, like crafting, bargaiining and having your own shop. Since the problems with his leg, he is not able to go far so why not let the computer wlk for him.
So I guess the MMORG should have a good crafing section.
In his point of view there are two major opstacles:
The language: native is dutch and he is better in German than English.
The reaction time: as you can imagine he does not have the reflexes of a mountain lion.
The difficulty to master a game
Does anyone have any tips or suggestions for a game? Or perhaps have any tips for assisting him to master any game?
Thanks!
Comments
Hi Casper! I'm quite impressed and touched by your post. I bet you have a nice uncle, and that you are a nice young man. When I get old, I want to have broadband and play my favorite mmo in the nursing home
Some complexities will always be there. The various options are always more complex than sending emails and surfing the web. Here is at least a couple of suggestions:
EQ2: Nice blend of themepark and sandbox (more on the themepark side though). Has pretty ok crafting system. The UI is pretty intuitive.
Dungeons and Dragons Online: Might be too complex, but it's f2p with a sub option, so he can check it out first. The UI isnt as intuitive as EQ2, and I can see him getting lost quite a bit.
WOW: Perhaps the easiest to get into? I mean, you have questionmarks above questgivers, and you have an arrow pointing you in the right direction. It has crafting.
I´d suggest a round-based game. Sadly I can´t think of any AAA P2P round-based MMO (I hope finding one for myself one day). Perhaps Atlantica or Wizard 101, but I am not sure their themes fit to a senior person.
Atlantica had some german servers though, when I played it many moons ago.
Vanguard is slower-paced with fine crafting. It is english-only, but you can join the german channel on Telon server typing /join german.
Or perhaps even EVE? If you stay in the high security areas for some trading or mission running. The EVE-client is available in german IIRC plus there is a huge german language-channel. *edit: I am pretty sure, there is a dutch channel, too.
Perhaps some browser/facebook-games would fit more to a senior person (no, I don´t mean these famous stupid ones "click me here and get a shiny", more some thinking games). You have some diversity there and it keeps the mind fit even when the flesh gets dated.
Hmm, well, RuneScape has good crafting and an interesting economy. It's a really simple game to learn, and since he's older he might not even care about the crappy graphics
They have a few German servers too, I believe.
RuneScape wouldn't be a bad idea. It is simple to play, pretty social at times, and has servers for just about any languge. Oh and combat is pretty optional in RS, but it is most of the content still.
Newb= Newly Enrolled Wannabe Badass.
EQ2 or Warhammer, if he can handle the English. Wizard 101 would be a terrible suggestion...as it is more child like than most shows on Cartoon Network circa 2000. What I think you want is handrails and themepark as much as possible. This will allow him to be guided along the path with the game holding his hand, but he'll still be able to feel a sense of accomplishment.
Are you going to sit down with him the first time he plays and set up the UI and explain everything, or just toss him in the deep end?
I would honestly suggest Minecraft. Find him a good Online server and have him play on there. Theres craftting, PvP, Cities, Shops etc. Also most of then have good fun mods.
RuneScape is a good idea, or Atitd (A Tale in the Desert). Atitd has no combat at all, so reflexes don't count, it has great crafting and an older playerbase. Most of the people I met there were grandparents. Its peaceful and requires a lot of time to play so good for retired people
I suggest Lord of the Rings Online, for these reasons:
- It has a German-language client and many wonderful German servers.
- It has a very interesting Free-to-play option.
- It has a lovely and important (but not hard to learn) crafting system.
- It has a fantastic amount of lore, story, and incredible scenery to explore (meaning, it can be very entertaining for someone going at a slow speed).
- The tutorial is wonderful, and the tooltips are great for teaching someone how to play (assuming he reads them).
- It also has housing, great festivals, and even roleplay servers (if your uncle enjoys that) as options of more things to do outside of combat.
- He'll never have to fear other players killing or harassing him as he learns: pvp only exists in a special zone.
- It has a great traditional MMO combat system, with some very interesting classes.
- It's the sort of game environment that draws more of the social, helpful, patient types of MMO players. It would be easy for him to find a nice, helpful Kinship to help him learn and play... especially on the German roleplay server, where the players tend to care more about building relationships than end-game and player ability.
Perpetuum servers are in Hungary, so I'm sure youll find some German and perhaps even Dutch speakers in the game. We have a few French guys in our TOG (The Older Gamers) guild. In fact, send him over to our website where he should feel right at home.
Perpetuum has crafting, to a degree. It's a lot like Eve where you have to mine or kill or trade for resources in order to make an item in a factory...I guess that's pretty off crafting, but it's a hell of a lot closer to crafting than STO has. Uck.
Perpetuum is a mech mmo, so I'm not sure if your uncle played any of the mech pc games or made mech models when he was a kid. Maybe he remember The Space Giants or Spectre Man and Ultra Man. Those were kinda mech related.
Edit after reading Halibrand's post (which was a the same time): His idea is better.
poster:best is probably guild wars and now that arenanet is releasing the bridging content in preparation for guild wars 2.it means a lot of player will be back for the lore,it isnt really a mmo but most player enjoy it!it has only 8 skill on the bar so spead or macro like wow isnt an issue.i dont recommend wow or eq2 cause of the various complexity that player are so used to them they dont think about it!nope your best be is guild wars you can have a box with the first 3 for very cheap and eye of the north shouldnt be too expensive.no monthly.if you see stuff you like you can often buy those in the arenanet store but those item arent game breaker .
make sure to note your character name cause arenanet is diff from other game they req your character name.i dont know about the langage but i do know they support a lot of various country
rune of magic might also be interesting since most player playing it are from europe.