why can minors play this game, freaks me out

[Verain]

I wouldn't think anything of a player being a 12 year old girl, but then I'm not engaging other players with amorous intentions- if I was, I'd be sure to get the ages up front! Even then, you are dealing with the possibility of someone misrepresenting themselves.

[drwelfare]

In same states an inappropriate comment or insult can be considered a sex crime.

[spaace]

Do you expect Blizzard to ban players for being too young?

I for one hate getting "warnings" for swearing... when there is a profanity filter..

and I just think you need a developing brain to "understand" how certain game mechanics work..

[walbomb]

Why in the world is everyone assuming he's talking sexually to the person.

Things I wouldn't talk about in front of a 12 year old.
- drinking
- drugs
- wild stories from a weekend out of town
- how santa and the easter bunny aren't real
- I wouldn't swear if I can help it
- etc.

I'm also in a guild with a loose 18+ policy. It's mostly though so we aren't dealing with kids who leave mid raid because their parents want them to clean their room or they are grounded for a week from the computer, etc. We don't want to deal with the drama that some kids can bring and their immaturity. But it's also so we don't have to worry about the guild chat content. I don't know about you guys but when I get home from work I don't want to hang out with a bunch of kids in RL nor do I want to hang out with them while playing a game.

[Kuthe]

I know what you mean OP.
My friends brothers play WoW, they are 8 and 10.
I dungeon with them alot, and it's so hard to not talk my normal way of saying adulty jokes, etc, and not to rage over easy to avoid things.
But yeah, it got me thinking about talking smart, I never know who is behind the screen.

See it in LoL alot more though, I see all these people blatantly swearing and making racist jokes, and then they turn out to be like 10-12 years old.

[roflmfao]

We are all ages in my guild from young to 40+. Alot of us are parents and Officers watch gchat and keep it apropriate. Even if your older whats to say your child isn't looking over your shoulder reading things! I personally think a good way to be ingame is to treat everyone fair and keep things clean. If you want to have a stronger conversation take it in a private room in vent.

[Justignoreme]

You're concerned about talking to teenagers online because you are concerned about Chris Hansen knocking on your door? Are you really that vulgar in your general conversation that it could possibly be construed in such a manner? There's nothing wrong with teenagers playing this game, normal people are fully capable of holding a proper conversation or giving instructions (like in a raid) to youth.

---------- Post added 2012-11-08 at 12:38 AM ----------

Why in the world is everyone assuming he's talking sexually to the person.

Because Chris Hansen wasn't tracking down people who liked to curse and swear excessively...

[junkshop23]

When I first started playing, back at Vanilla release, I was 12 or 13. I ended up joining a guild as one of the youngest members (The only younger being a girl one year my junior)
We were never treated any different for our age, other than a few jokes on occasion ("You kids get off my lawn", "Kids these days", ect), and we still play with the same people now (I'm now 20, and she is 19). I cant speak for her, but I know I've never felt uncomfortable by people being older than me while I play, as long as they dont treat me like I'm a little kid.

Honestly, from someone who has been on the other side of the fence, just treat your younger guildies with the same level of respect and expectation as you would your older ones. I mean, go ahead and hold back on the adult language if you feel better about it, but I promise you they've heard it all before - you aren't going to be damaging them at all. Not holding back may actually make them feel more like part of the group, instead of like a kid at their babysitter's house.

[IxilaFA]

I used to play video games when I was 12. Not sure how good I was. Probably wasn't too good with the math part of it all, but I'm fairly certain I still succeeded on most video games at medium or hard difficult in those days.

It's easy as an adult to look down on minors and think they shouldn't play video games, but it's also easy to forget that they can be just as good as us sometimes. As for the communication thing, I don't think it matters to most parents. My parents wouldn't have let me play WoW when I was 12 because of the online aspect, but some don't care too much. In your average elementary / middle school, a kid is going to be exposed to a lot worse things than they'll see in trade chat anyways.

[Bombkirby]

I started WoW when I was 12 I'm 20 now :3

Pretty much my position. Leave the kids alone. They'll turn into respectable players who've experienced much.

[Tziva]

Why does that freak you out? There is nothing in this game that is especially inappropriate for teens and preteens.

Maybe you shouldn't flirt with people over the internet. You might find that they will be the source of many surprises since, you know, they can pretend to be any age or gender.

Why in the world is everyone assuming he's talking sexually to the person.

Because of the comment about their gender and the comment about Chris Hansen?

[Bombkirby]

Why in the world is everyone assuming he's talking sexually to the person.

Things I wouldn't talk about in front of a 12 year old.
- drinking
- drugs
- wild stories from a weekend out of town
- how santa and the easter bunny aren't real
- I wouldn't swear if I can help it
- etc.

Its pretty easy to tell he was trying to flirt. Read his post...

-There's a guildy, who I figured was a female. (Probably isn't female, and just has a female toon. Probably confused the guildy's childishness with girliness.)
-We got to talking. (Takes the guildy into a private situation, getting ready to get his man on, when he realizes....)
-He realizes its a 12 year old and loses all interest, and even hints that he's afraid of being seen as a pedo. (Its common practice for people to stop stalking you once you reveal you're very young or you're really a dude and not a chick, which happened to me several times since my main happens to be a female human. If I tell them I'm a dude and they stop wanting to have friendly chats with me. Lots of people aren't just after innocent companionship.)

[IxilaFA]

Its pretty easy to tell he was trying to flirt. Read his post...

-There's a guildy, who I figured was a female. (Probably isn't female, and just has a female toon. Probably confused the guildy's childishness with girliness.)
-We got to talking. (Takes the guildy into a private situation, getting ready to get his man on, when he realizes....)
-He realizes its a 12 year old and loses all interest, and even hints that he's afraid of being seen as a pedo. (Its common practice for people to stop stalking you once you reveal you're very young or you're really a dude and not a chick, which happened to me several times since my main happens to be a female human. If I tell them I'm a dude and they stop wanting to have friendly chats with me. Lots of people aren't just after innocent companionship.)

It's the "we got to talking" part that weirds me out. I've chatted with everyone in my guild before, but never into such a personal conversation where their age came into question.

I picture an "A/S/L?" sort of conversation going on...

[Safhira]

Answering the title of the thread.

Because my kids love to fight monsters and explore the world.

Long answer: My guild is made up of friends and family. Older adults and parents with young kids. We invite the kids to come into the guild to play. It's a safe haven and they are labeled as such. When they get on topics are censored. My 2 and 7 year old love to play the game. My son loves to fight monsters and my daughter loves to quest. Both are watched but with trade chat turned off there really isn't a reason to "hover" over them while they play.

[Brewski]

Girls want to play the game, not be hit on by random nerds.

[Nos]

You're fine. So long as when they tell your their age, you back off, and don't say something like "Cool. So when are your parents going out of town?" Nobody's coming to your house.

[Scottyjscizzle]

don't talk about creepy crap and noone will care.

[Deleted]

That 12 year old girl probably has seen more porn on the internet than you and most likely has a real or improvised dildo/vibrator somewhere in her room. Don't worry about it. Kids today know more than we think.

Some nice pedo style reasoning/rationalizing there. Try telling the judge kids know more than we think and try not worrying about jail when you end up in court after Chris Hansen comes knocking.

[panterarules]

That 12 year old girl probably has seen more porn on the internet than you and most likely has a real or improvised dildo/vibrator somewhere in her room. Don't worry about it. Kids today know more than we think.

I really hope you don't actually think that a 12 year old girl has seen more internet porn than a 30+ male.

[Deleted]

I really hope you don't actually think that a 12 year old girl has seen more internet porn than a 30+ male.

Depends. If that 30+ male is a wizard, she wn't stand a chance. But really, children these days are not quite the innocent angels some people think they are.

Still, you really shouldn't hit on a 12yo (ofc, that only applies AFTER you know her age)