World of Warcraft is a massive multiplayer online role-playing game that transports the players into a gaming world where they can interact with other players, take on quests and enjoy skill crafting, problem solving and more. My nephew, now 7, loves to play this game. Initially, his father introduced him to it in order to encourage reading. My nephew loves video games and he could read, but he often resisted doing it.
His father thought that the game would be a great way to get him to read because the interface requires reading skill in order to accept and understand the quests as well as to handle getting training and furthering in game skills. In moderation, it’s a great game for entertainment but there are some facts that other parents should understand when it comes to these online role playing games like World of Warcraft and others such as Ultima Online, Everquest and Dark Ages of Camelot.
- First and foremost, these games are played over the Internet and it is populated by a variety of individuals from around the world with players ranging in age from 6 to 60
- The majority of these games include parental controls that will allow you to prevent your child from receiving ‘tells’ which are in-game instant messages from other players as well as preventing them from grouping with only a dedicated select number of players that you list – this keeps them from interfacing with strangers
- Many of the games also involve a form of PvP – this is player versus player combat and there are many who really enjoy it – PvP is not advisable for children because it can be frustrating and annoying and they lack the understanding or compassion for seeing that the characters they are ‘killing’ are in fact played by other ‘people’
- There is an inherent violence level present in these games – they do require hunting, killing and in some cases harvesting pelts or other materials from their pixellated ‘kills’
- Online games are extremely addictive to people who enjoy them because they require time to complete in game quests, activities and goals – this can be a massive time drain for children
- While a form of entertainment, an argument can be made that these types of games are not healthy for kids to play without moderation and parental supervision
Here’s the rub, I like these types of games but I rarely play them anymore because they are just too demanding on my time and I have other things I need to be doing. I don’t mind that my nephew plays, but the time he spends playing is monitored and limited closely when he is with us. For example, we do not allow him to play if he has homework or other projects that need to be done. He is not allowed to play in time increments longer than 60 minutes.
He is also not allowed to play for longer than a 120 minutes total in a day. While his father allows him to PvP – he is only allowed to do that when his father is logged in with him and they are playing jointly. His account is locked down under parental controls and I hang out in the room where he is playing (usually my office) and I do other work nearby so that I can be aware of what he is doing and how he is doing it.
Video games are a great way for kids to entertain themselves, but like anything – too much is not healthy. If you are interested in letting your child play games, especially online, interactive role-playing games, I would encourage you to familiarize yourself with it and the parental controls. Don’t let them go where you would not and always monitor their interactions – this prevents strangers from taking advantage of their youth – which in an online world would be very hard for them to see or even understand.
What video games do your kids like to play?
Related Articles:
Kid Friendly Websites: Fun Brain
Does Violence in Video Games Affect Children?
Online Fun and Learning for Kids