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The Daily Grind: Do you play your favorite MMO with your kids?

Rubi Bayer — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 08:00:00 EST

Filed under: Opinion, The Daily Grind, Family, Miscellaneous

Today's Daily Grind is for the parents -- or those who plan to be parents one of these days. It's only natural for little ones to take an interest in what mom and dad spend their leisure time with, whether it be a sport, some sort of craft, or gaming.

MMO gaming in particular lends itself to being a family activity, where Mom, Dad, and the kiddos can team up and take on the Big Bad in their chosen game (provided there are enough computers around the house). Granted, not every MMO is suitable for the younger crowd, but plenty are.

As a parent, do you round up your child for some gaming time? If so, do they join you in your game of choice, or do the two of you spend quality time in a game that you set aside to play together, like Free Realms and Wizard101? Those of you who are looking at parenthood down the road, do you plan to introduce your kids to gaming as soon as possible? Click that handy little comment button and let us know what you think!

Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!

The Daily Grind: Do you play your favorite MMO with your kids? originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 15 Nov 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Soapbox: The raid can wait; your kids can't

Shawn Schuster — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 12:00:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Opinion, Kids, Family, The Soapbox, Miscellaneous

Disclaimer: The Soapbox column is entirely the opinion of this week's writer and does not necessarily reflect the views of Massively as a whole. If you're afraid of opinions other than your own, you might want to skip this column. No, seriously.

When I'm on voice chat and I hear a child in the background asking for his mommy's or daddy's help with something, it breaks my heart when the parent responds with frustration.

"Not now, honey, Mommy's busy."
"Go ask your Mommy -- Daddy's very busy right now."
"Can it wait?!"

Sure, it can wait, but if you've ever found yourself saying something like that, look into that child's eyes next time. All a child wants is your guidance, attention and love. When you take any of those away from him for the sake of a potential loot drop, you might want to re-evaluate your priorities.

Continue reading The Soapbox: The raid can wait; your kids can't

The Soapbox: The raid can wait; your kids can't originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 18 Jan 2011 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Parents can breathe a bit easier thanks to Crisp Thinking's NetModerator

Krystalle Voecks — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 12:30:00 EST

Filed under: MMO industry, News items, Free Realms, Kids

Letting your children play MMOs can be a tricky balancing act for gamer parents. On the one hand, you want your children to have fun playing games online while gaining socialization and computer skills. On the other, you're a protective parent who wants to make sure your kids are safe -- without making them live in a bubble. You can teach them about online safety and how to protect themselves, but there's always the possibility that something will take a wrong turn.

Thankfully, it seems that a company called Crisp Thinking have developed a tool to help parents in their fight for online safety. Their system, called NetModerator, has been put into place in kid-friendly MMOs like Free Realms and FusionFall to combat against predators, bullies, and the like. It watches for certain keywords and phrases during online interactions. When detected, the system will step in and moderate the conversations -- allowing for real-time changes in potentially dangerous situations, as opposed to a reactionary method of dealing with abusive or predatory accounts after the conversations have taken place.

The entire concept is fascinating, so we're sure parents will want to pop over to VentureBeat's Games Beat and check out Dean Takahashi's great write up about this new technology. With an accuracy rate of 98.4% in terms of flagging dangerous and harmful conversations, and the ability to learn cloaked phrases, we're sure parents will be glad to hear that there's another layer protecting their kids from online danger. It's no replacement for the first line of defense -- good parenting -- but it certainly doesn't hurt.

[Thanks, Pete!]

Parents can breathe a bit easier thanks to Crisp Thinking's NetModerator originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 24 Feb 2010 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ether Saga Online and Wizard 101 take home parenting awards

Seraphina Brennan — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, MMO industry, News items, Wizard101, Ether Saga Online

Many congratulations go out today to both Wizard 101 and Ether Saga Online, as the two online games have both claimed themselves a National Parenting Publication Award (NAPPA) from Parenthood.com.

What does this mean exactly? Well it means that parents can rest easy knowing that these two games are fun, informative, and free of questionable content. If your kid plays either of these two games, you don't have to look over their shoulder to police what they're doing. The game takes steps to keep your kids safe and to make sure they'll have a good time too!

Other recipients that weren't from the online MMO category included EA's Spore, and Guitar Hero On Tour, so it certainly speaks to the quality of these two titles for kids when they're put in that sort of company.

Ether Saga Online and Wizard 101 take home parenting awards originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Daily Grind: Questions for the MMO parents in the house

Krystalle Voecks — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 08:00:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Opinion, The Daily Grind

Ah the joy of kids. Packing lunches, making sure homework is done, an endless round of extra-curricular sports/groups/events, and then there's the ever-present question of what to do for free-time together outside of all of the regular things you already do. Kids love new experiences, so as a parent, you may have considered MMOs as an option of something ever-changing and fun to play with your kids. As there are only a couple of us on staff here at Massively who are parents, our experience is limited to what we and our circles of friends have experienced as gamers with kids. Thus, this morning we thought we'd ask - if you're part of the MMO parenting crowd, do your kids also play MMOs? Are you constantly on the lookout for MMO titles that you and your kids could play together? Or do you keep the kids away from MMOs, preferring to give them console games on the Wii or 360, and instead keep online worlds as your escape? Let us know!

The Daily Grind: Questions for the MMO parents in the house originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 09 Mar 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The advantages of being an online gaming parent

Shawn Schuster — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: Real life, Video, Culture, Academic, Education, Kids

The issue of parenting as it relates to online gaming is not only a delicate one, but its popularity is growing as more children are getting into the virtual space. We would be willing to bet that a healthy percentage of Massively readers are gamers with children. Not only that, but as online gamers age, their children inevitably continue into the next generation of online gamers.

According to a new video podcast by Palo Alto Research Center's Nick Yee, parents who game have an advantage over those who don't game. This video -- the first in his series -- aims to show non-gaming parents how they can set reasonable guidelines and provide leverage for their children's online activities. He interviews several parents and gets their own experiences with how they raise their online gaming children. You'll find the complete 12-minute video right after the jump.

[Thanks Efrem!]

Continue reading The advantages of being an online gaming parent

The advantages of being an online gaming parent originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 24 Sep 2008 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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How parents really feel about online gaming and their children

Shawn Schuster — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 13:30:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Opinion, Academic, Kids

For literally generations now, we've had to endure those ongoing discussions regarding the harm of video games on children. Now with almost the entire industry being online, children are able to interact with other people across the world. This, of course brings up a whole new array of problems when it comes to protecting our children from harm.

In a recent article at Yahoo's Shine, this subject is approached in a way that keeps its distance from the usual mainstream doom and gloom we read regarding online games and parenting. Instead, readers are invited to share their own experiences with their kids and video games or online games. The comments are (mostly) interesting, and give a glimpse into how some parents are conquering this battle. Also, there's a link to a survey conducted by SOE regarding what parents think of their kids playing video games, and how it affects the children's school work and social lives.

How parents really feel about online gaming and their children originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 09 Jun 2008 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Anti-Aliased: Age of Con-troversy-an

Seraphina Brennan — Tue, 27 May 2008 10:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Age of Conan, Culture, Opinion, Massively Meta, Anti-Aliased

I'm going to hijack my own column this week to cover a topic that I believe is worth spending some space on - Age of Conan and the buzz of negative media attention it has been getting. Age of Conan's controversy spans almost all aspects of the game, from fatalities, to nudity, to even such odd things like race selection.

Now, I've written a few of these articles. I enjoy controversy as the next person and I'm always interested in seeing the opposite viewpoint. It wasn't until I started getting some very, very nice hate mail in my inbox that I began to wonder if anyone understood my own viewpoint on the matter. So, this column is dedicated to other people's opinions, my opinions, controversies and, of course, Age of Conan.

Continue reading Anti-Aliased: Age of Con-troversy-an

Anti-Aliased: Age of Con-troversy-an originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 27 May 2008 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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WoW blamed for bad parenting

Brenda Holloway — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 16:00:00 EST

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Opinion

Here's a recent news item from the Contra Costa Times, about a kid who played way too much World of Warcraft: "[World of Warcraft had become] the one place he was joining the world. Bringing him back to the real world took months of therapy, a wilderness camp and boarding school." Months of therapy, a wilderness camp and boarding school -- could the cure be worse than the disease? The article describes him as a "tween" -- between the ages of ten and twelve. So let's break it down. A middle schooler was allowed by his parents to spend as much unsupervised time playing World of Warcraft as he liked, such that it was the only thing he did. A game the parents would have had to pay with their credit card each month, along with the initial cost of the game. The parents didn't notice their son had become withdrawn for such a long time that months of therapy, a wilderness camp and boarding school became the only options. Who was really to blame?

Blizzard knows that their game is addictive; they've even gone so far as to create parental controls for the game. Parenting support groups urge children to be restricted to just a couple of hours a week on the game. Given there is so much concern about children playing computer games of any sort to excess... how is it Blizzard takes the blame? Before World of Warcraft, it was EverQuest. Before EverQuest, it was Dungeons & Dragons. It can be hard for parents to keep tabs on their children; their natural desire is to give their children space to mature and learn how to take care of things on their own. But any sort of parents should be able to tell when a game, or depression, a fight with a friend or any of the thousand things that get too serious has gone beyond what a child can handle. Waiting until a problem has become so severe that boarding school and months of therapy are the only solutions are not Blizzard's fault. It's the parent's.

WoW blamed for bad parenting originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 10 Apr 2008 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Gamer Interrupted: You can be a great parent, spouse and gamer

Robin Torres — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 03:15:00 EST

Filed under: Raiding, Opinion, Gamer Interrupted

Each week, Robin Torres contributes Gamer Interrupted, a column about balancing real life with MMOs.

There is an interesting article over at Channel Massive that states in very strong terms that "You can be a great parent or a great gamer but you can't be both." He defines a "great gamer" as someone who is in a hardcore raiding guild in WoW or a top level ranked PvPer. He compares gaming to other activities which parents indulge in to escape familial responsibilities. He also claims that these "great gamers" play more in their MMO of choice than the average person watches TV and that watching TV is more conducive to parenting than "hardcore" gaming is. He breaks down the hours that must be required to be a "great gamer" and that leave no time for being a great or even good parent, spouse, billpayer, etc.

Hi, my name is Robin Torres and this is the new home for my column about having a successful MMO life while still having a successful real life -- formerly Azeroth Interrupted on WoW Insider. I have a hard time with many of the opinions put forth by the article mentioned. I don't like the definition of "great gamer". I disagree with the playtime required to maintain a "great gamer" status. And I really dislike the judgmental tone directed at anyone who seems to be trying to achieve the balance of "hardcore" MMO gaming and living an otherwise successful life.

Continue reading Gamer Interrupted: You can be a great parent, spouse and gamer

Gamer Interrupted: You can be a great parent, spouse and gamer originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 14 Nov 2007 03:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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