My teen boys are gamers. Much as I tried to fight against it, they are. Some of those “discussions” with your spouse, you simply aren’t going to win. We do, however, use time online in a reward system. They both love Guild Wars. I like the fact that there’s no subscription fee. Elisha plays another one that costs $10 a month. With Guild Wars, you don’t need to buy anything once you have the software.
The basic game comes with four accounts. If you have more players, you can add them for $10 apiece. You can also buy extra weapons. It’s probably smarter just to earn the weapons. One nice thing about Guild Wars is that new players get to start in Newbie Land, a place where experienced players are forbidden. That lets them build up their strength and weaponry without fear of attack. They’ll have a chance to join different guilds that war against each other. Holidays have special events, with gifts given. For Christmas, the system operator gave away things like Yuletide tonics, Snowmen, and Candy Cane weapons. These are one-time gifts only available on holidays, which can be traded to other players for points, armor, or weaponry.
Guild Wars is rated “T”. That’s not something that we would usually let our kids play, but it’s mainly for animated violence. The violence is not bloody, and is mostly against creatures. It does have characters that mine are not allowed to play (spell casters, necromancers, etc), so it does require supervision. Likewise, one of the sets of armor for the female characters is inappropriate. Lastly, they’re playing with others online. Even thought it’s not allowed, they will see words they shouldn’t. If you feel your children are able to look past these things, it’s really a well-done game.
Amazon.com has it for $19.99. We paid $50 apiece. Remember, add $5.01 to get free shipping, or use Amazon Prime.