General: The Week Ahead: Family Week

BillMurphy

From November 28th to December 2nd, we here at MMORPG.com will be celebrating the thrill of gaming with the family.  We'll be reviewing some of the industry's brightest young family games and talking about the ups and downs of gaming with our families.  Peek inside for a look at what's to come.

I'm probably not the best person to write this preview of our upcoming content. My children are four-legged and poop in the house when I leave them home along too long.  Still, Mrs. Bill and I are trying, and it won't be long until I have my own diapered nerd running around the house slaying dragons with a bed-sheet tied to his neck like a cape.  I'm sure there is a healthy mix of people here who either A.) have children that game, B.) are children that game with their parents or C.) are husbands and wives that game together.  And so it's in that spirit of familial MMO-ing, that we bring you Family Week at MMORPG.com.

Read the rest of our look at Family Week @ MMORPG.com.

eye_m

I personally choose MMO's that have mature ratings so that I don't have to put up with kids(AoC, APB). I specifically avoid games that have a "kiddy" feel to them (WoW). I've always felt that MMO's in general are not a suitable place for kids, and shudder when I hear some childs voice on vent or TS. 

However, being a new father, I am going to have to change that. So I'll be interested in reading what this article has.

PadmeAm

Being a father of 3 (all boys 7, 4 and 1) I know a child can be all into gaming. My oldest has to be watched carefully because he likes it too much while the 2nd doesnt care for it at all (the oldest has been like that since a little boy so it aint an age thing).

The key is that you keep in mind as a reponsible parent you pick the games and you decide how long they get to play. Tell them in advance and give them a little notice just before they really have to quit.

There are plenty of educational games that they will love just as much as any other game.

Have fun together, i know i will!

Ps. The kids are not that difficult, can someone please explain how to get my wife enthausiastic about games/gaming? The absolutely hates it and me and the kids playing them!

Gandolfi

Great idea for a theme!

I'm a father of 5 boys, although only my oldest two (10 and 8) are old enough to play MMOs with me, but my 6 year old is starting to enjoy Wizards 101, and my 4yr old is incredibly skillful with tactile physics games on the iPad (I mean, he's better than me!)

I agree completely that the secret lies in setting rules and boundaries. My boys would spend far too much time on their computers without guidance, but I can't blame them - I mean for those of us who were teenage boys in the days of the Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum, modern MMOs would have seemed beyond our wildest dreams. I count my lucky stars I'm young enough at heart to enjoy them now, and that I have my sons to enjoy them with. Setting the guidance is my job, and simple rules like no computers until homework and chores are done, and time limits (with a five minute warning) are all very important.

Choosing the right game is important too. My older boys actually love Minecraft at the moment, in the single player version. I think this is wonderfully educational and creative. When it comes to MMOs, we played Guild Wars together, along with an old med school friend of mine who has boys of his own. I found this was a nice gentle game, with no actual gore, and only the sort of cartoony violence that children deal with all the time (pretend guns and swords etc). For me the best thing is the teamwork and problem-solving it teaches them - they all quickly found talents and roles within the party and took pride in being good. For instance my oldest son quickly earned his nickname 'The Nose' for his unerring ability to know the right way to go when on a mission or a quest.

I agree with the difficulty in getting wives/mums to play though, but at least my wife humours us and just rolls her eyes indulgently when breakfast table conversation turns to tactics ot the stats of someones latest character.

MMOtoGO

I'm playing Vindictus with my son right now LOL

peannut

I am a momma gamer. Years ago I played Addictmud using zmud (by zuggsoft). It was a text based mmorpg with my two oldest sons, we had sooo much fun. I then went web searching for a graphic mmorpg and found Fairyland, which was fun but shut down before we could really enjoy it. Next Oz, which was nothing but a graphical chatroom. Then around 2004, I found Conquer online. It was years before TQ became extremely greedy and changed the game for their main goal, making money and destroyed it's funness. But let me tell you we had a few years of extreme fun on that game me, my  sons and daughters, playing, pking, getting pked, hunting, doing quest, mining, finding Db's and running our stores at market. OHHHHHHH for the good ol days !!! Since then, I have played private servers like, Qonquer, but they have problems staying up and they are always somehow not as good as the OLD original conquer. I wish I could find a replacement cuz the kids would still join me in some play when they have the time. I just cant find a mmorpg that fits us as well as Conquer did