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What is to young to play an MMO?
memphis12
Member Posts: 23
My son is 10 years old. He's on the gifted register at school for his intelligence. He has recently gotten into RPGs and I gave him my copy of Skyrim which he has now mastered. He knows every towns name, everybodys name in the game (nearly) theire stories etc and is better at it than I am lol. He plays it on the difficulty you start at, I play on expert.. but he still is good.
Anyway.. he has seen me on MMO's before and we were talking before about if he bought a laptop with money he has been saving. I said he could maybe go on a server I was on with my gf supervising him.
I think he could be to young. Was just wondering what you guys thought?
Comments
I started playing EQ in '98 when I was 10 I believe... granted I didn't know what the hell I was doing and mmos were a different animal back then... I feel like half the people I was playing with didn't really know what was going on either though since mmorpgs weren't so linear and easy.. my little brother was probably 8 - played EQ as well.. and my older brother was around 14.
I don't think its too young - but different era.. people weren't trying to exploit you back then (to the same degree at least).. but there was also less security, tools, and monitoring then as well.. I'd let em play. Been playing mmos ever since EQ vanilla.
There is definately no reason to push him into playing mmorpgs, but if he pushes for it himself you should be a part of it. I don't beleive there is any danger for a 10 year old in a mmorpg alone, but it is important that socializing is a part of his gaming.. lets face it, social interaction with others is very important in life, and too much gaming can be a little too easy way of avoiding dealing with other people.
Also it is a great way of binding with him while you still can .. a few years from now you know what will happen.
Anyways I am not a parent so I dont know anything
"I am my connectome" https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HA7GwKXfJB0
If you're worried that he's too young, you might look at a game like Wizard 101 that goes out of its way to protect younger players.
I sure would be scared of stuff like global chat
10 is too young in my opinion would you allow your 10 year old to talk to people on facebook. if no then mmo's should be no different. he will be exposed to adult conversations that he is too young to be exposed to.
kids that age should be outside playing as they still have lots of developement to do. They should be playing sports or things that are more active. At that age your imagination is enough they don't need to be playing mmo's that rob them of their childhood.
As a parent myself ( 13 year old ) I say let him play some with you and your GF. Just monitor his playtime and limit it. Make sure he still goes and plays with friends, outside, plays sports, music or whatever else he is interested in.
Social time with real friends and people is very important at all ages, but especially young age. MMOs are addictive by design, I personally would not want my kid choosing to play WoW ( or whatever MMO) instead of spending time with friends. Developing real social skills & interation with people is way too important at that age.
Maybe limit it to 8-10 hours max a week, can only play with an adult present, make it a time that you and him spend together at night, after schoolwork is done, rainy saturday, ect. Not something he comes home from school and immediatly wants to hop on, or spends sun up to sun down every weekend playing.
Thats my 2cp from parent to parent.
There are MMO's without chat. Look up Jumpstart. They just have emotes.memphis, I think it's up to the child partly. As you said, your child is advanced for his age. My middle son was the same. I allowed him to play with me when he was 10, nearly 11. We played together, at the same times, joined the same guild, we had our pc's side by side literally. Maybe a bit overkill but that's the only way I felt comfortable. He was probably the most helpful member of our guild, only the guild leader and I knew his real age. Everyone else was convinced he was 17 and no one was ever the wiser. It was a fun experience for us and we still play games together now he is 17 for real. I know it's hard to rein in a gifted child sometimes or hold them back so I've tried to compromise. I can tell you though I wouldn't do the same for my now 10 year old. He isn't the same child with the same understandings etc so we play different sorts of games together, Little Big Planet etc. One thing you mention is that you will play along side him. As I said this is what I sat out to do and I stuck to that. We had a friend we played with online with a son a year younger and he started out with the same idea, ie only letting him on when he was there too. That didn't last long though, after awhile he used to let his son on alone. He began to consider that being in the same house with him was a form of supervision even though he wasn't paying a bit of attention to what his son was doing. And his kid was a huge annoying pain in the ass
Eventually getting his father's account banned. Sooo, well I can't tell you what to do. It can work, and it can not work and you have some control over this. Start as you mean to go on basically and as others have said, let this be something you do together, one of many things. Real life things, real life friends, outside climbing trees is equally important. 
Good luck!!
the poster formerly known as melangel :P
No such thing as too young.
The single most memorable person I have ever played with was a...4 year old.
Yeah, 4.
His characters name was imforyroldnotwo, it was in Asherons Call, Leafcul server and the kid was a RIOT not only listening to, but watching him play. His father was also playing and in our guild. I will never forget the first time he came across an Olthoi and watching him run the other way and hearing him scream in Roger Wilco(old version of Vent) because it was an ugly scary bug.
As long as its monitored by the parents, let them play, keep your mind open and youll find yourself having more fun knowing the kid is experiencing something for the first time.
I hope we shall crush...in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and bid defiance to the laws of our country." ~Thomes Jefferson
my sperm
correct, but most MMOs out there since WoW are too childish even for a 10 year old.
once in EQ i met a cleric and a warrior and we teamed up and killed some hours in a dungeon. this warrior was most propably the best tank i ever saw. when i said in chat, that this warrior plays awesome, the cleric said: "Yes i am a proud father. this warrior is my 8 year old daughter".
best szenario is to play together with the kids, whenever possible. regarding the chat, i guess you underestimate what kids hear in RL all day long. it is important to explain things to kids. you cant avoid, that they hear or read things anyways.
played: Everquest I (6 years), EVE (3 years)
months: EQII, Vanguard, Siedler Online, SWTOR, Guild Wars 2
weeks: WoW, Shaiya, Darkfall, Florensia, Entropia, Aion, Lotro, Fallen Earth, Uncharted Waters
days: DDO, RoM, FFXIV, STO, Atlantica, PotBS, Maestia, WAR, AoC, Gods&Heroes, Cultures, RIFT, Forsaken World, Allodds
I started playign EQ when i was 10, however back then the community was a whole lot different than it is now, There alot of kids out there and are just plain ignorant saying inapropriate things and so on. If you have a game that has a good community then i dont see why not, however if not he could pick up some bad habit aswell but it also should be to much of an issue if your kid knows what is right and wrong and know what he shouldnt do.
ermm most mmorpgs these days are censored derpfests. probably turn whatever brains he has into mashed potatoes.
I have met 11yolds in MMO's that talked and acted smarter and more mature than 60% of the older population. If your son is indeed as gifted and intelligent as you say, you would do him great injustce by artificlally shielding him from the world, be it real or virtual.
If you're insanely worried, you could play alongside him, in group, to see how he handles things. There are plenty MMO's that are kid-friendly, like Wizard 101, Fusionfall or Freerealms, these are like playgrounds, with safe chat and fun all around. It is very very unlikely he would be exposed to anything inapropriate in those.
As for more mature MMO's, I would suggest disabling the world chat or playing together with him for a while. I'm sure he would handle it well.
In general I would not put a lower age limit on this, it depends on the person, it should be obvious when someone is ready or not. And seriously, if he plays Skyrim.. then he can handle all MMO's out there. Well maybe not AoC or Mortal Online hehe.
My Guild Wars 2 First Beta Weekend "reviewette" : http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/post/4944570/thread/349125#4944570
He will learn a LOT more inappropriate things from his time in school and kids he meets there
Preventing him from playing a MMO just because he may learn or hear inapropriate things is really pointless, unless you also forbid him from going to school, or playing with friends outside.
My Guild Wars 2 First Beta Weekend "reviewette" : http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/post/4944570/thread/349125#4944570
Joined 2004 - I can't believe I've been a MMORPG.com member for 20 years! Get off my lawn!
It also depends on the MMO. Toon Town, Puzzle Pirates, Clone Wars Adventures, Free Realms, and many others are made to be kid and family-friendly.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
My opinion is that it has nothing to do with age, However if somone is gonna ask a million questions in General Chat constantly (ingame that is) then maybe its to early. That being said i have met people in their mid 20's that do this. i wish they would ban anyone who says "whats the best type of weapon"
Because i can.
I'm Hopeful For Every Game, Until the Fan Boys Attack My Games. Then the Knives Come Out.
Logic every gamers worst enemy.
^ This is indeed very true and some are worth taking a look at.
I started playing Asheron's Call in 1999 when I got it for my birthday, which put me at 11 years old. I wasn't supervised, but I also don't think my guardians at the time realized probably exactly how the game worked and that it was strictly online. That, and, the MMO landscape was quite different back then in terms of the chat content in the game and whatnot. There was still the off-topic, random, and rude people, but they weren't as frequent.
On an MMO like WOW, I wouldn't let my daughter player unsupervised. But that's just from the content of the chats and how abrasive the community can be. To each their own, tho.
wizard 101 is a good choice for a kid that age, its non threatening and great place to spend some of that extra allowance.
played a million mmo's
Your 10 year old has saved enough money to buy a laptop capable of playing MMOs? Mind. Blown.
Basically the maturity issue of MMOs comes from other players. I would suggest playing something like ATITD or Wurm where the community is much better. Plus they are virtual worlds. However if he really wants lots of fighting and killing that may not work. I think maybe Guild Wars 1 would be good. Less douchebags.
What MMO are you playing?
I have a couple digiKids as well, nine and ten. They'll both be playing GW2 with me. It's up to the parent to be able to see if the maturity is there to handle a potential rectum-head that decides to grief them in chat. That happened to my son recently in GW2, some guy started giving him crap simply because he's young. A quick hit of the tab key and I was able to tell the guy that before he started to pick on a kid he may want to be ahead of him on the leaderboard.
He shut up. My son was getting visibly upset at first, but that got him laughing and we had a chat about what to expect from some people on the internet. It actually served as a good way to break into a conversation about other things to worry about, namely the predation thing, so in the long run I think it helped him understand things a little better, shake things off better and be more aware of things.
The important part though was that he was playing with me at the time as well. They're too young to leave alone in the basement with nothing but the computer and internet in my opinion. But, as family time (rather than planting in front of the TV) I think it's ok.
Oderint, dum metuant.