family-fun posts

MMO Family is your resource for leveling a gaming-specced family ... From tips on balancing gaming with family life to finding age-appropriate niches for every family member, MMO Family offers you advice on MMO gaming of the family, by the family and for the family.

Wizard101 is the game your youngest gamers have been begging for. With stringent chat filters atop relaxed, turn-based game play, Wizard101 looks almost unbeatable for young players seeking an MMO with traditional fantasy appeal. It plays like a collectible card game with all the MMO trimmings: housing, armor and clothing, player houses, pets, mini-games ... Family subscription plans plus the most complete, well presented web documentation that we've found keep parents as happy as the kids. (And they just might find themselves tempted to start a character and build their own spell decks, too!)

MMO Family is your resource for leveling a gaming-specced family ... From tips on balancing gaming with family life to finding age-appropriate niches for every family member, MMO Family offers you advice on MMO gaming of the family, by the family and for the family.

Next in our look at kids' MMOs is Ether Saga Online, winner of a 2009 National Parenting Publications Award for tweens and teens video games. Compared with the freewheeling, open-ended approach of Free Realms, ESO presents a more traditional MMO face. Even so, you probably weren't expecting a work of classic literature -- but that's in fact what you'll get. ESO, which was first developed for Chinese players, is based on Journey to the West (often known in the West as Monkey), considered one of the four great classical novels of Chinese literature. All that, and it's free to play, too.

MMO Family is your resource for leveling a gaming-specced family ... From tips on balancing gaming with family life to finding age-appropriate niches for every family member, MMO Family offers you advice on MMO gaming of the family, by the family and for the family.

This week, MMO Family begins a gaming-savvy look at some of the most popular kid MMOs. You know what you like in an MMO – but what about your kids? And what if you're looking for something the whole family could play together? Today's gaming family can nibble from a whole feast of MMOs: games for grownups (we can help you fence off areas for kids who want to play what Mom and Dad do), games for the little ones, games for tweens and teens, and games for everyone to play together. When it's time to find just the right selection for the kids, we'll help you reticle over the most likely targets.

First up: Free Realms from Sony Online Entertainment.

MMO Family is your resource for leveling a gaming-specced family ... From tips on balancing gaming with family life to finding age-appropriate niches for every family member, MMO Family offers you advice on MMO gaming of the family, by the family and for the family.

It's inevitable: whatever bright, shiny game you are playing, the kids will want in on the action, too. Granted, some games just aren't made for sharing with kids. (This mom saw her Age of Conan debauchery relegated to late-night sessions after the kids had gone to bed.) But most MMOs make perfectly fine sandboxes for the kids, once you've helped shape a kid-sized mini-world within.

The thing is, young children enjoy MMOs differently than older kids and adults. The things that float their little boats are likely to seem completely pedestrian to you. Kids devour character creation. They enjoy exploring starting zones and picking "their" own houses, inns and shops. They like to dress up (you did take Tailoring, didn't you?). They think killing 10 rats is grand fun -- and just as fun the next time, and the next, and the next ...

Part of the reason that these things are so enticing to them is because they're part of the game that you play. Just because your youngster isn't quite ready for the main course of your favorite game doesn't mean the game is completely unsuitable for kids. We'd never recommend buying an MMO specifically for a child who's not ready to tackle its main content. But if you're already playing a game that your kids think looks fun, why not let them join in at their level? It's not necessary to hand-hold them through every moment. Keep reading for simple ways to help younger children enjoy big MMOs in a smaller, more kid-friendly way.

MMO Family is your resource for leveling a gaming-specced family ... From tips on balancing gaming with family life to finding age-appropriate niches for every family member, MMO Family offers you advice on MMO gaming of the family, by the family and for the family.

Now that we've established why and how to stay plugged into your children's gaming interests, some general internet safety rules for kids and a variety of ways to choose games that are suitable for your family, you're probably ready to log in and get some XP. But if it's the whole family we're trying to consider here, we're not quite buffed and ready to pull. Gaming for kids and gaming with kids are two different things. Have you considered the benefits of fitting both into your gaming family?

A gaming family has a lot in common with a rich, well developed MMO. You can solo. You can group. You can team or raid. You can quest, and you can craft. You can go PvP, stay PvE or tuck yourself into a quiet corner to roleplay or socialize. And just as you can cherry-pick your activities according to your interests within a single game, you can mix and match games, what you do within each game and different configurations of groups and partners within your family. There's no law that states that kids must play "children's games" and adults must play "mature" fare. Your kids may be jonesing to play the games they've grown up watching you play – or they may find your enraptured state over the economy of EVE Online utterly stultifying. Cobble together whatever mix of high/low, adult/kiddie gaming everyone finds most enjoyable.

MMO Family is your resource for leveling a gaming-specced family ... From tips on balancing gaming with family life to finding age-appropriate niches for every family member, MMO Family offers you advice on MMO gaming of the family, by the family and for the family.

When I first started playing MMOs in the very earliest days of EverQuest, I never quite understood my husband's rantings about the con system (i.e. to "consider" a monster's levels in relation to the player's). He can only take on light blues? Say what?! My magician's pet was putting down dark blues and whites while I ran to the kitchen for a drink. What was his problem, anyway?

Unfortunately (for my husband and monks everywhere), no matter what they say, what's good for the goose isn't always good for the gander. And when it comes to choosing MMOs for your family, what's appropriate for one child and one family might be off the rails for another. Like keeping kids safe on the internet, the best strategy for choosing suitable games is a combination of tactics tailored to your family's likes, dislikes and needs. How can you best con the games your kids are begging to bring home?

MMO Family is your resource for leveling a gaming-specced family ... From tips on balancing gaming with family life to finding age-appropriate niches for every family member, MMO Family offers you advice on MMO gaming of the family, by the family and for the family.

"Be careful, there's nasty stuff out there on the internet."

It's frustrating to hear this warning clarioned over and over again. We're gamers ourselves, after all. We know easily children can get in over their heads on the internet. "Be careful," intone the experts. "Watch carefully, and be very, very careful ..." But how? What must we be careful to do? To not do? What does "being careful" mean in actual practice? Specific online safety tactics – and putting them into practice without driving anyone crazy in the process – become an epic quest reward that always manages to stay two turn-ins out of reach.

As we mentioned last week, your main objective as the parent of a young MMO player is to remain figuratively logged in to their activity. When children are online, parents cannot afford to be figuratively AFK. We're not suggesting you pull up a chair and some popcorn to faithfully oversee kids' every move online. No child needs direct supervision to kill 10 rats (or pick 20 flowers or befriend 30 fairies or frag 50 enemies ...). But young gamers do need your boundaries and your guidance (as well as your feedback, your enthusiasm and your support). Just how strong the boundaries should be will depend on the age of your child and the game that they're playing. Apply common sense, based on your own MMO experience, along with these 17 tactics for safe online gaming.

MMO Family is your resource for leveling a gaming-specced family ... From tips on balancing gaming with family life to finding age-appropriate niches for every family member, MMO Family offers you advice on MMO gaming of the family, by the family and for the family.

Are you leveling a pack of MMO gamers? Welcome to MMO Family, where we look at tips for families who love MMOs. Should you be keeping an eye on your kids while they game? (Yes!) How can you do that without seeming heavy-handed? (Stay tuned.) Are MMOs appropriate for young kids? (Sure!) Which ones? (Coming soon ...) What MMOs might your family enjoy playing all together? Should you be using parental control devices and tools? What are the best ways to quickly gauge the age-appropriateness of a game? There's a lot to cover when it comes to leveling a family of gamers, so let's breeze through the tutorial and tap our first topic.

As the parent of a young MMO player, your main strategy is to remain figuratively logged in to whatever they're doing. There's no AFKing when it comes to parenting. Every parent knows they need to get involved in their children's extracurricular hobbies. We want to know what they're doing, who they're with, whether they're safe, whether they're enjoying themselves, if what they're doing is a productive source of life lessons as well a good, old-fashioned fun ... What you might not have considered is that kids' gaming deserves the same level of scrutiny and support as, say, their karate classes or violin lessons. Whatever captivates your child's imagination should also attract your parental periscope.

We're not suggesting you plop down and dutifully watch every move as your child logs in to kill 10 rats (or pick 20 flowers or befriend 30 fairies or frag 50 enemies ...). Frankly, no gamer wants or needs a hall monitor. But young gamers do need your boundaries, your guidance, your feedback, your enthusiasm, your support – all the same things you'd bring to their piano recitals or baseball games.