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

[Terahertz]

My cousins of like 5 and 11 play WoW. Both my aunt and uncle also play WoW and let them play when they're allowed to. Never heard any problems.

[Deleted]

My friend got glad at 14. Age and skill/maturity aren't necessarily linked.

[Raptor With a Saber]

Hey guys, I need you to make a pare...Abort it also always remember adoption is an option

any other questions are irrelevant


BUT honestly fun stuff aside no reason not too wow is a fun time killer

[Tziva]

at 13 he's lying about going to friends' houses, he's sneaking a drink of alcohol or worse. girls his age have tits and put out.

you people are out of touch with reality.

Yes, but you wouldn't go out and buy him beer or encourage him to fuck his classmates, either. Having experienced or accessed things inappropriate for his age group doesn't mean a parent isn't obligated to still do their due diligence in parenting.

[TJ]

Depends really, realistically speaking he might get too attached to it and not know boundaries, being a kid and all. It's your choice and I'm sure you know more than me but I'd think about it.

[fizzbob]

Yes, but you wouldn't go out and buy him beer or encourage him to fuck his classmates, either. Having experienced or accessed things inappropriate for his age group doesn't mean a parent isn't obligated to still do their due diligence in parenting.

put your fucking strawman up, the point was 'disabling chat' is a stupid suggestion. it's suggesting that you shelter him from the world his peers have created, a world he's already been part of and it's suggesting he's too fucking stupid to turn it on.

it's what shitty parents do. my point was, nothing he sees in trade is going to be shocking, there is no reason whatsoever to block it and it's just lazy parenting. good parent tries to figure out a way to teach their kid to not add to the cesspool that is wow trade or even the internet.

i wasn't saying to get your kid drunk, i was saying that your suggestion was idiotic

[Kevyne-Shandris]

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?

The moral stance you have on the subject you already decided by allowing the kid to play with you, even when Blizzard/ESRB doesn't rate the game for players that young.

So why do you need strangers advice on a moral decision?

---------- Post added 2012-11-18 at 04:01 PM ----------

nothing he sees in trade is going to be shocking

Maybe in your world and this day and age.

In my day, if a parent saw a kid post half the things said in tradechat today, their hide would be tanned. What a kid did after 18 years-old and out of the home was up to them, but at home and underaged, the rules of home applied...and society even expected it. Kid screams in your yard and the neighbor comes over asking to pipe it down, the parent didn't stand there arguing over kids rights, he would take junior in and lecture him about appropriate behavior.

That's called community policing.

[TJ]

Maybe in your world and this day and age.

In my day, if a parent saw a kid post half the things said in tradechat today, their hide would be tanned. What a kid did after 18 years-old and out of the home was up to them, but at home and underaged, the rules of home applied...and society even expected it. Kid screams in your yard and the neighbor comes over asking to pipe it down, the parent didn't stand there arguing over kids rights, he would take junior in and lecture him about appropriate behavior.

That's called community policing.

Times have changed, maybe not for the better but they have. In my day just shows your age, no amount of complaining will change it.

[Deleted]

he's 13, he's cursing, talking about sex, learning how to make bombs out of paint cans that blow toys up, etc

you're not risking anything at all by buying him an account, he's into more shit than the average parent will accept is possible, it's up to whether you wanna spend $30 a month on wow and want to lose some control over what he does on his account

---------- Post added 2012-11-18 at 01:42 PM ----------



at 13 he's lying about going to friends' houses, he's sneaking a drink of alcohol or worse. girls his age have tits and put out.

you people are out of touch with reality.

Girls at 13 put our O: damn ..
I feel old now

[vep]

Ofcourse it depends on how much influence something can have on you, but that depends on how you are as a person. And also, listening to hardcore music doesn't make life any better than a video game imo, it is music that usually has the most influence on the majority of the people, and usually it's bad depending on what music you are listening.

Yes, it depends very much from person to person how much influence something can have on them. But on the music point, I was just making reference because music was and still is that one thing that lets you escape reality from time to time, just enter your own world and be happy. And also, metal/rock/punk is not hardcore. They have their hardcore sub-genres but in them selves they are not hardcore. For example - K.I.S.S.'s "Rock and roll all night" is an awesome song which is in no way hardcore or suggestive in a bad way. It's mostly people's generalization that metal/punk/rock is "bad", "satanic", "suggestive" and similar crap. But it's really not. I actually passed a history pop quiz because of Iron Maiden's song "Alexander the great"....
Edit: Also! Gotta add that some of the most famous ballads in the world are from rock n roll bands

(Gotta state that I'm a huge metal fan but I still enjoy other kinds of music and I love discussing how different stuff affects the development of certain persons character and while doing so I try not to push my point of view into people's faces. But honestly, in my country, I've never heard that a biker or a rocker killed someone or did something bad to end up in the newspapers. We just enjoy and want to be left enjoying our music. Most of us are actually very nice persons )

[Deleted]

The moral stance you have on the subject you already decided by allowing the kid to play with you, even when Blizzard/ESRB doesn't rate the game for players that young.

So why do you need strangers advice on a moral decision?

---------- Post added 2012-11-18 at 04:01 PM ----------



Maybe in your world and this day and age.

In my day, if a parent saw a kid post half the things said in tradechat today, their hide would be tanned. What a kid did after 18 years-old and out of the home was up to them, but at home and underaged, the rules of home applied...and society even expected it. Kid screams in your yard and the neighbor comes over asking to pipe it down, the parent didn't stand there arguing over kids rights, he would take junior in and lecture him about appropriate behavior.

That's called community policing.

Either your way over 50, from some random backwards place or delusional.

[Larwood]

13 is too late, not too early :P

[Sarella]

You shouldn't view playing wow as any different to him going along and joining a local "pee wee" baseball league, or a football team, or any other activity in which you can participate alongside him. I played hockey for 12 years from the age of 13 alongside players up to 70. I've been in a team where children played with their dads (and even grandfathers on occasion!) and as with any sport that has adult participants... it's not always been healthy to listen to!

The same should be seen in wow - it's an activity you can do together, and he will become exposed to the wrong kinds of things just as he would in a sporting event or the boy scouts. People calling you a bad parent for letting him play at 13 are misguided at best and moronic at worst. The game will not "corrupt" your son any more or less than other activities involving people or nature, but there is an elevated risk due to the anonymity of online play (which you will counter with parental controls!)

All in all I hope he appreciates the present, and that he doesn't get to the point he's too good to play with you and cringes when you try to raid together!

[Jokerfiend]

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?

If, I ended up playing an MMO again. I'd make my child farm for me. That would be his only job. I'd say MOOCH! If you want to play, then make sure I don't have to do dailies anymore.

And all your gold are belong to me.

[Kevyne-Shandris]

Either your way over 50, from some random backwards place or delusional.

Neither.

But I was raised in a family and locale that is stricter than San Francisco, that's for sure -- http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headline...san-francisco/ -- even by lose standards in this day and age, that's a tad extreme even for San Franciscans.

[silva367]

I would honestly give him his own account. If you two can play together it's a great idea.

Back when is was around 12 or 13, I showed my dad WoW and he really liked it. He ended up getting his own account and actually progressed further that I did at first. It may sound cheesy, but I think it really strengthened our father-son bond. After playing 5 almost 6 years together we still really enjoy it.

I'm not sure what my relationship with my dad would be if we weren't able to spend time together and play WoW and I'm really happy to have had the chance to play with him. Most of my friends that I played WoW with back than thought my dad was badass for playing video games with me so that was a plus too.

[Deleted]

You play with 13 year olds everyday in WoW, if you do any kind of random grouping activity.
OT: I'd say so, just make sure he understands what he's doing to a certain extent, don't need any more "What does this button do?" level 90's.

There was a thread were someone asked how old we are and we find out that most of WoW players are around 25 years old, but we also know that most of players own 13 years old kid brains !!! So, if u ask me, then yes, made him hes own account.

[Synstir]

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?

I wouldn't do it, speaking as a parent also.
I have a twin of 12 and they watch me play also and sometimes they enjoy riding and flying on my mounts; they have a lot of fun doing that.

But buying them an account? I would say no.

Not because of chat... but more because I think, personally, 13 is too young to engage in an MMO.
It is quite intensive and demands quite some time to be put in.
At 13, my personal believe is that kids aren't able yet to have good time management and aren't good at prioritizing things.
It could be that they will put in too much time into wow, at expense of other important things, like school for example.

Now, I know not all children are alike and probably you are one of the two best persons to decide wether wow is a good thing for your kids or not.
You know what it brought you and maybe, maybe, what it prevented in your live. You know your kids better than anybody on this forum, so pls discuss this with your spouce and take into consideration what consequenses wow had for you.

When it comes to kids: preventing is better than correcting.

[Suggs]

Im a gamer and my 6 month old son will grow up to be one too!, you should check out his mad skills on my keyboard....well when i say skills i mean being fixated on the neon lights while bashing it and dribbling all over the keys....its a start in fact i even do that myself still while getting over excited with certain games

[Deleted]

If, I ended up playing an MMO again. I'd make my child farm for me. That would be his only job. I'd say MOOCH! If you want to play, then make sure I don't have to do dailies anymore.

And all your gold are belong to me.

This.....was how my lot started

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