I limit Guild Wars to two hours a week, Sunday evenings with my son. Just the two of us. Really I only make the time to play because it's bonding time with a 25 year old who still likes me, at least when I can play a decent necro ;-)
But seriously, parents don't understand MMOs for the most part and this family is classic. They don't understand why he can't tell them how long it will take, and why he can't just pick the task (raid? quest?) back up where he left off "tomorrow night." They are expecting him to self-regulate when clearly he's not able to, then they are mad about it. Life is hard enough without allowing this kind of mess to develop.
Who bought him the game and pays his subscription fees? Geez...
Unless the son truly is an adult, it's quite likely that the parents have been paying for WoW at some point. Quite possibly they're to blame for letting their kids get into the game in the first place. My parents never let me play anything more than "edutainment" games on the computer - like Carmen Sandiego - and never let me have any video game systems, and I'm no worse off for it. (Granted, I suspect that these days it's harder to keep your kids from games than it was in the late 80s and early 90s, what with all the stuff available online.)
No, I don't think the parents have a clue about how an MMO works. If they did, they wouldn't be asking him "How long will it take?" and "You can do that tomorrow night."
It's a great example of turning a kid loose with something you don't understand yourself, and once the brain has wired weirdly, looking shocked...
It shouldn't be hard to keep them out of subscription-based games. You just don't subscribe and pay the monthly fee.
Parents: They need some help.
See you are where you are now because of Carmen Sandiego, right?
Heh. Well, I'm where I am because my parents knew when and how to put their foot down. They gave me reasonable but solid boundaries. I'm hoping, having grown up a child (or at least teen) of the Internet, I'll be aware enough of stuff to know when and how to tell my kid (assuming I have one) "no."
My parents rail against adults who try to be their kids' friends, and I'm in complete agreement.
BWAHAHA. How pathetic. This is why I've never even APPROACHED World of Warcrack, or whatever else people are playing these days. I have enough distractions as it is. (And, bonus, it saves me some money.)
I would really like you to work with this family. You've nailed it all and could help them get out of the negative patterns...I totally see you doing it.
(Did you like the way that every time Dad would try to take some action he'd start yelling for "MOM!! MOM!!! MOM!!)
Gawd, I had a headache for all of them after listening to it. Such a typical US family too... :/
Inre: Mom Mom Mom!; that's trained behavior. So, to the atavistic dingbats above who said things like "if that was mah oy I'd whuup him", you'd be a lot smarter to whuup yourselves. I mean, seriously, the kid was programmed to do this stuff, or else he wouldn't still be doing it at whatever age he is.
And sure, you know, maybe I could talk to this family. Except I'm a little abrupt, and I'm not exactly a shining star of stability myself... some days I'd rather like to just dump out my top five issues and manifestations for you to pick through, Z, but at the same time I really don't think this is the right circumstances for that. And using text just isn't really going to help nearly as much as real voice so I'll skip that.
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But seriously, parents don't understand MMOs for the most part and this family is classic. They don't understand why he can't tell them how long it will take, and why he can't just pick the task (raid? quest?) back up where he left off "tomorrow night." They are expecting him to self-regulate when clearly he's not able to, then they are mad about it. Life is hard enough without allowing this kind of mess to develop.
Who bought him the game and pays his subscription fees? Geez...
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You Dad! I learned it by watching YOU!
- Parents who use the Internet have children who use the Internet -
Did you see the recent South Park about the Internet going off?
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WoW is heroin and Dad is trying to flush it down the toilet.
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It's a great example of turning a kid loose with something you don't understand yourself, and once the brain has wired weirdly, looking shocked...
It shouldn't be hard to keep them out of subscription-based games. You just don't subscribe and pay the monthly fee.
Parents: They need some help.
See you are where you are now because of Carmen Sandiego, right?
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My parents rail against adults who try to be their kids' friends, and I'm in complete agreement.
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(Did you like the way that every time Dad would try to take some action he'd start yelling for "MOM!! MOM!!! MOM!!)
Gawd, I had a headache for all of them after listening to it. Such a typical US family too... :/
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And sure, you know, maybe I could talk to this family. Except I'm a little abrupt, and I'm not exactly a shining star of stability myself... some days I'd rather like to just dump out my top five issues and manifestations for you to pick through, Z, but at the same time I really don't think this is the right circumstances for that. And using text just isn't really going to help nearly as much as real voice so I'll skip that.
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You can dump your top five issues on me anytime you want me to dump my top five on you.
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