Hey guys, I need you to make a parenting decision for me.

[draykorinee]

I certainly wouldn't want my child to play this game, I remember as a kid getting hooked on gamins playing shit on the amstrad, this game is going to be even worse. I would hope I quit wow by the time my kids are old enough to want to play.

[Tahsou]

I've been playing WoW for a good six years now, and since day one my oldest son has watched me play. When he was younger, I used to sit him on my lap while my guild and I raided, and recently I began allowing him to play on my account here and there. Since he's turning 13 next week though, would you say it would be a good idea for me to go ahead and finally buy him his own account?

Im also long time player and haveing some experience with kids and wow, I am guardian and responsible for a 15 year old boy that I allowed play at my account at age of 5.
My advice is that u can nicely let them play any game that are in their range of understanding, but personal I find wow a bit to mutch time consumeing in the age your son is inn, restricted game time is needed since they dont balance irl/game time verry well in that age.
I would recomend u to let him try several different game types free to play in a limited time to see what type of game he most enjoy befoure takeing a desition.
They attend to shift fast betwene games in that age, and to have games without any monthly sub would be highly recomended due to this switching of games. I would recomend gw2 for him cause its easy for them to combine Irl stuff and playtime, wow is to mutch obligation, also there is another game out there that boys in his age are verry verry good at this days and that is Smite also easy to combine with Irl.
Most important is to have them beside u when they play, a sentral place where u and him can sit and play, not the same games if nessesary but where u can have an influence in behaveior and he can get companied by u if its things he wonder.
PS! they learn extremely fast in that age and will outrank your skills verry fast *wink*

[Deleted]

This.....was how my lot started

"Daddy needs ore, let me show you what you have to do, it's fun ... honest"

Child labor is back, sweatshop 2.0.

Or well, its actually a way of buying gold by having an active sub.

I agree with Tahsou: the sub is a burden to the youth or their parents, and makes it a strange gift due to its upkeep. There are plenty non-grindy MMOs out there which are much more casual-friendly. Such as GW2.

[draconisaerius]

It's fine.

People will say 13 is too young and they will be exposed to bad language yadda yadda, but you get all of that at school and in real life etc.

It's funny how people get about bad language with kids. By the time I was 8 I knew all the swear words I know now. That's what you get at public school.

[Oerba Yun Fang]

I say go for it, and teach him how to deal with the asshattery that goes on in WoW on a daily basis. Too often do parents shelter their kids from everything that could cause even a slight booboo, and I honestly think we're raising a generation of wimps because of it. Don't shelter him from it; let him experience it and teach him the correct ways to deal with it (i.e. teach him not to let what people say get to him). That's what I would do if it were my kid.

[Emane]

Give it to him as a birthday gift.

[TidesOfBlood]

I wouldn't. I would buy him books instead. Give him a different path. Your child could do so much better without WoW in my opinion. At least I know I would of.

I deeply regret that I didn't listen to my father when he kept telling me to stop playing the warcraft franchise. All those years I consider wasted because i could have been doing so much better in school (high school and college). WoW doesn't teach you responsibility. The whole "take things into moderation" isn't really much of an argument.

People may berate me for saying all this but it's what you decide in the end. Just know that whatever you do from that point on, your actions will have consequences, good or bad depending on what you make your child do.

[Oerba Yun Fang]

I wouldn't. I would buy him books instead. Give him a different path. Your child could do so much better without WoW in my opinion. At least I know I would of.

I deeply regret that I didn't listen to my father when he kept telling me to stop playing the warcraft franchise. All those years I consider wasted because i could have been doing so much better in school (high school and college). WoW doesn't teach you responsibility. The whole "take things into moderation" isn't really much of an argument.

People may berate me for saying all this but it's what you decide in the end. Just know that whatever you do from that point on, your actions will have consequences, good or bad depending on what you make your child do.

Books don't "teach you responsibility" either. They're just a pastime, like video games. Don't blame the game because you couldn't control your gaming. :/

[Grimbold of Skullcrusher]

I'd go for it. About bad things he might hear in chat - I am sure at age of 13 he already heard em all in school

[rnbwtrout]

my nephew used to come over our house after school and watch me play until his mom picked him up. he was in elementary school.

he started to show some interest, so i let him create a character on my account. this was WotLK.

my sister bought him the game and by the end of WotLK, he was raiding ICC with me in our guild and even downed the Lich King, lol.

by the time Cata hit, he started to lose interest. he doesn't even log now. im glad. got the WoW itch out of him early.

[Oerba Yun Fang]

That said I'd suggest moderating your child's game time yourself to start with.

Well, yeah, I'm not saying to throw him to the wolves and see how it goes. lol

[draykorinee]

Get him a trial account, see how he gets on, then upgrade each expac so he doesnt go hell for leather to 90 and gets to enjoy the older content a bit, no need to blow a ton of money right away.

[Synstir]

Buy him an account and play with him. It will give you a unique opportunity to spend some quality time with your child. Consider it an option that most other parents, who care for their children, would kill to have.

In my personal opinion nothing beats spending time with your kids irl.
By this I mean be physically involved/engaged and not online in a virtual world.

I took my son out and just kick ball or riding a bycicle. This is what I mean by doing stuff together irl.
At the same time you won't be teaching your kid that interaction is something that is done true a computer, they have a lot of stuff which does precisely that already.
So in my personal opinion if you want to spend time with your kid, do it in a different way than online.

I know that if the parent is a gamer, he/she would like to spend time in the game... but as a parent, it is about the children and their need, and not your's.

I am not saying that playing games together is not good.... it is, if dosed properly; the only thing I am saying is there are better ways.

[TidesOfBlood]

Books don't "teach you responsibility" either. They're just a pastime, like video games. Don't blame the game because you couldn't control your gaming. :/

I didn't say that books teach you responsibility. I said that there could be better things done and books is one of them. Books have benefits, they improve your reading comprehension. And I'm not saying buy books like Harry Potter.

[mercutiouk]

Try and balance it with something you do together OUT of wow, take him the park and kick a ball around (or perhaps something a bit more interesting like racquets - bats like VERY oversized table tennis bats and try and keep a rally going, you get a nice bit of hand-eye co-ordination as well as running around like a loon, normally played on the beach but works in the park too) or get him into cycling. So long as you aren't encouraging your child to follow you into obesity etc (not assuming but it's one angle) then I don't see an issue.

Kids I think though likely get enough encouragement to sit fairly inert already without help but the bonding opportunity is a fair balance for it. I'll still be gaming (given chance) when I have kids (next couple of years) but they'll be getting a fair variety of exercise to try too (rock climbing, cycling, racquets, gym when old enough etc).

[Oerba Yun Fang]

I didn't say that books teach you responsibility. I said that there could be better things done and books is one of them. Books have benefits, they improve your reading comprehension. And I'm not saying buy books like Harry Potter.

Video games have benefits too (improved hand-eye coordination, better reflexes, decision making, team cooperation, even math and reading (GASP) skills), but I suppose we can ignore all of those because they're video games? Video games are not the demon popular media would like to make them out to be. There are positives to it as well as the negatives, just like all things, and the negatives are something largely in the user's control. I don't see why you seem to think video games need to be the bad guy. Why not video games and books? It doesn't have to be one or the other.

[Deleted]

Better buy him a bike, football / karate club membership. Or something appropriate to hes age. I'm sure he will thank you if you buy him hes OWN wow account, but I bet he won't brag with it in school.
Exposing your kid into such a...diverse community as wows, will ultimately be detrimental to hes well being. Wait until he is at least 15-16 y.o and more mature. It would be ashame if he wasted hes time playing online games, instead of going outside and play with hes friends.
That is my honest opinion, but you are the one that will choose in the end.

[Deleted]

I wouldn't. I would buy him books instead. Give him a different path. Your child could do so much better without WoW in my opinion. At least I know I would of.

Books, about... WoW.

I deeply regret that I didn't listen to my father when he kept telling me to stop playing the warcraft franchise. All those years I consider wasted because i could have been doing so much better in school (high school and college). WoW doesn't teach you responsibility. The whole "take things into moderation" isn't really much of an argument.

People may berate me for saying all this but it's what you decide in the end. Just know that whatever you do from that point on, your actions will have consequences, good or bad depending on what you make your child do.

Didn't you have a blast? That's what I'd ask a retired heroin or meth junkie.

---------- Post added 2012-11-19 at 11:56 AM ----------

I know that if the parent is a gamer, he/she would like to spend time in the game... but as a parent, it is about the children and their need, and not your's.

No its not; its both. It goes both ways. If you only interact with your child in doing what the way they prefer and that alone then your child will be coddled. You make it sound like the kid wouldn't play WoW voluntarily (like my chuckle to the ore farming dad) which isn't my impression of OP at all; he genuinely wants to gift the game to his kid as present for the kid to have fun (together with dad).

[Deleted]

I've been playing WoW for a good six years now, and since day one my oldest son has watched me play. When he was younger, I used to sit him on my lap while my guild and I raided, and recently I began allowing him to play on my account here and there. Since he's turning 13 next week though, would you say it would be a good idea for me to go ahead and finally buy him his own account?

Brings back memories My eldest had been watching me since day one aswell, he was nine at the time and i let him make some characters and play a bit. I found it a good way to get his social skills going at an early age, ofcourse i told him not to do anything like tell people his real name age or where he lives or anything but he loved it! He is 16 now and has his own account, still plays regularly but knows when to trake brakes for h/w and school etc. Imo its a good idea but its up to you ofc

[Mizzow]

I let my Brother play my account when he was 7, he now has his own account and is doing perfectly fine.

Hes 11 now, and if anything wow has helped strengthen his vocabulary, way of thinking and problem solving. He'll quite happily sit and research his class, work out his reforges and rotations by himself, hes even went to raid quite a number of raids and is the best warrior of his guild.

In my opinion, age in WoW means nothing, Ive met a ton of younger players both guildies and non-guildies that are more mature than most adults Ive played with