How did you pay for WoW as a teen?

[gaymer77]

I didn't have that issue since I was 28 when WoW came out and I started playing. I have had guild members who were either younger or unemployed/students in college who would get game cards with spare change they had or they'd just have their parents pay for it with their card.

[Msi]

Started on a private server, bought the real shit after 1 week. I was 12 so my parrents paid for it.

[RoKPaNda]

I was 18 when WoW came out so just had it bill my debit card automatically every month.

By and large, yes, in the US. Teenagers typically start working at 14 years old. And there are some jobs which can be done at an even earlier age. (I delivered newspapers starting at 13 and occasionally mowed lawns.)

And on the contrary, having a job is a key moment for many teenagers. First interview, first paycheck. These are celebrated milestones. Child labor laws limit the maximum amount of time teenagers can work during the week but it's a good exercise in responsibility: balancing school, homework, work, friends, family, and money.

Might be regional. Anywhere that I lived in the US it wasn't typical for someone to start working before 16~ and most people DIDN'T get a car right at 16.

[Your Mommy]

With the 2 months prepaid cards, just like everyone here I assume!

[Kynario]

I played on private servers.

Same, couldn't afford WoW, parents wouldn't give me their card, or money.

Unfortunately Blizzlike private servers was the only thing I could play on (my friends too).

[Sevryn]

My mum paid it for me. I was a bit of a trouble causer as a teen so my mum did anything to try keep me inside lol

[dispatchcrab]

The average age of a wow player back then was 26. That would mean that almost everyone had a credit card to pay for it. Their own credit card.

Have you got a source for this? the study that was done in 2013 found 51% to be early 20's so I would say quite a few more would be have been pre 20's in the vanilla days.

I love statistics

[Zephire]

Bought game cards. Had just moved to a shared appartment. Rent was low and school had a lot of freetime... I got the money from tax payers. Like every other student at the age of below 20 where I live.

Was basically the only thing I spent money on so was not a big deal what so ever. Sad part is that now, some 15 years later, I could more or less say the same. It's what I spend money on, the WoW subscription :P

Have you got a source for this? the study that was done in 2013 found 51% to be early 20's so I would say quite a few more would be have been pre 20's in the vanilla days.

I love statistics

Source? I mean, if it was done 2013 wouldn't that mean those who played then was in their early 20's? Does anything say that those gamers actually played the game at all back at launch? Maybe they were newcommers.

[dispatchcrab]

Source? I mean, if it was done 2013 wouldn't that mean those who played then was in their early 20's? Does anything say that those gamers actually played the game at all back at launch? Maybe they were newcommers.

The study said they were in their 20's, I then said it showed the players were in their early 20's...you ask the question wouldn't that show they were in their early 20's?

Go back to school

[BigZik]

Allowance at first, a job once I turned 16.

[vitor210]

Most of us started WoW at a very young age, and we didn't have our own credit cards. How did you pay for WoW when you were young? I basically had a friend pay for me, because he owed me monies. What about you?

NGL I'm always fascinated how you guys would even be able to get a computer at a very young age, let alone convince your parents to pay WoW for you. I grew up with the only computer being my father's that he used for work back in the 90s. It was only when I got to high school at 16 that I got my own laptop but no way my parents would pay me the sub. So I only joined WoW on my last year of college when I actually started working and I was able to pay my sub; this was in MoP days btw

[Zuben]

I had a small irregular income and was always strict with how I spent my money. Back then the most bang for buck were the pre-paid 2-month cards, which suited me just fine as constant subbing has never been my thing.

[korocota]

My group of friends would work on weekends and summers thanks to my dad's influence from ages 13 to 18 on one on his friend's farms for decent money (some of my friends earn less per hour now, if thats an indicative), so that got us covered for wow and other expenses the whole year and still save some cash.

[Foxhoundn]

Started playing on official servers when I was 19 (December 2006) and already had an IT job so never really had to worry about that

[Incarnia]

Bought prepaid game cards with my allowance. Didn't have a lot in allowance, but enough to cover the cost.

- - - Updated - - -

NGL I'm always fascinated how you guys would even be able to get a computer at a very young age, let alone convince your parents to pay WoW for you. I grew up with the only computer being my father's that he used for work back in the 90s. It was only when I got to high school at 16 that I got my own laptop but no way my parents would pay me the sub. So I only joined WoW on my last year of college when I actually started working and I was able to pay my sub; this was in MoP days btw

Perhaps country and interest matters quite a bit for this? My dad has always been quite anti technology, and still to this day types on a keyboard with his index fingers. Haha. Charming, but yeah... Then Sweden has always been quite quick to embrace technology. I'm literally living in a village with 45 inhabitants in the middle of nowhere in Northern Sweden, nearest small town is a 20 minutes drive away, and next year our village will get fiber connection!
Mom on the other hand have always been very fascinated with it, and she was the one getting us kids a computer (they had some deal through her work which offered discount on computers), I was like 10 or 11 then. A couple of years later she bought me and my brother each of our own. They weren't new though, so they weren't that great. Barely enough to run WoW. After that both of us saved up as much as we could to buy upgrades ourselves. Which took us quite some time.
I'm 32 now, so don't have to struggle as much to afford upgrades. Old habits don't die easy tho, so I tend to wait until it becomes almost unbearable before buying upgrades, lol.

[Azerate]

Bought game cards. Had just moved to a shared appartment. Rent was low and school had a lot of freetime... I got the money from tax payers. Like every other student at the age of below 20 where I live.

Was basically the only thing I spent money on so was not a big deal what so ever. Sad part is that now, some 15 years later, I could more or less say the same. It's what I spend money on, the WoW subscription :P

Source? I mean, if it was done 2013 wouldn't that mean those who played then was in their early 20's? Does anything say that those gamers actually played the game at all back at launch? Maybe they were newcommers.

Not sure about the launch, but back when I started playing WoW in Wrath, I was almost 18 and I was among the youngest in the guilds I've been. Sure there were some teens/kids here and there, but the large majority were 25+ or more.

NGL I'm always fascinated how you guys would even be able to get a computer at a very young age, let alone convince your parents to pay WoW for you. I grew up with the only computer being my father's that he used for work back in the 90s. It was only when I got to high school at 16 that I got my own laptop but no way my parents would pay me the sub. So I only joined WoW on my last year of college when I actually started working and I was able to pay my sub; this was in MoP days btw

Well, it surely started with one PC at home, where I was allowed to play, and later on when dad upgraded his, I got his old pc as mine. That was around the age of 7-8. Got my own brand new PC at 10 or so. Those were a little bit different times (pre-internet) so giving a pc to a child was much different of a thing than it is now. Also, at around the age of 10, all kids in school had their PCs too, maybe with some 1-2 outliers per a class of 30. And no, this wasn't some rich neighborhood with millionaire parents, just regular people, probably on a more average end actually. I don't know, looking back on those years, PC was something like every kid had, maybe except those living in poverty. We're talking late 90s / early 2000s in Poland.

[franczy]

I had a allowance from parents till some age. After this i had to pay if off with student work.

You would be suprised how many game card i trow away this year when cleaning a attic. (no idea why i was saving those)



At least 80 or so of those boxes.

Not proud to say that I had to steal those card to be able to play the game.

[davesurfer]

I mean, it depends on the family I guess. Some will only cover the child's basic "upkeep" costs such as food, clothes, housing, etc. to incentivize part time jobs, but many will just keep giving "pocket money/allowance" to their kids so that they can purchase some things when they want to. I personally experienced the latter and I plan on doing the same for my kids too. Young years are for education in my opinion, and if I can afford it, I'd rather pay for my children's hobbies a couple years more and let them learn/study in peace than force them into work from early age. Either way, they will work through like 50+ years of their life. There's no rush.

I get that. I pay for most of my kids stuff, but I do make them earn money as a lesson in responsibility. They need to learn the value of money, trust me my kids are never left wanting. School is #1, but my 22 year old has expressed appreciation for the balance where he had to earn some money and understand the effort. It reinforced the value of doing well in college, as he doesn't want to work in fast food his whole life.

[Thage]

Didn't play WoW until after I'd graduated, but I funded my gaming hobby by selling cans of soda at school for $.25 less than the school vending machines. Got the ball rolling by saving up my lunch money for a couple days, bought a twelve-pack which I stored in a bag, and I'd divvy the cans out at lunchtime for $.75 a can. By the end of the first week I was running a tidy profit, and by the time I got caught and had to stop, I'd begun working summers with my dad anyway and saved up the cash for use over the school year. Plumber's helper money is good money at 16.

[Lodreh]

Started playing when I was 25, in 2004. Basically just paid for it out of pocket.

^QFT it was one of the two jobs I was working that paid for that and my wife's account.