world of warcraft question

[SBmom]

<p>Parent here… My 10 year old son wants me to get him “World of Warcraft.” Appropriate? Scary? Violent? I would like some opinions/examples of content since I don’t know anything about it.</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

[Eloquence]

<p>More like… it’ll eat up his life</p>

[SBmom]

<p>addictive?</p>

[mj93]

<p><a href=“World of Warcraft - Wikipedia”>World of Warcraft - Wikipedia;

<p>

Although widely popular (with 9 million players), World of Warcraft has received a fair amount of criticism. Stories of game addiction are a common source of criticism. In June 2005 it was reported that a child had died due to neglect by her World of Warcraft-addicted parents.[47] In August of that year, the government of the People’s Republic of China proposed new rules to curb what they perceived to be social and financial costs brought on by the popularity of games such as World of Warcraft. The measure would enforce a time limit on China’s estimated total of 20 million gamers.[48] The Chinese government and The9, the licensee for World of Warcraft in China, have likewise imposed a modification on Chinese versions of the game which places flesh on bare-boned skeletons and transforms dead character corpses into neat graves. These changes were done as a result of the Chinese government seeing it highly due to attempt to “promote a healthy and harmonious online game environment” in World of Warcraft.[49]
Dr. Maressa Orzack, a clinical psychologist at McLean Hospital in Newton, Massachusetts, was interviewed August 8, 2006, stating that of the 6 million subscribers “I’d say that 40 percent of the players are addicted.”[50] The 40% figure was not derived from a scientific study overseen by Dr. Orzack, but rather came from “a forum that Nick Yee runs”. She added in an August 2006 interview that “even if the percentage is 5 to 10 percent which is standard for most addictive behaviors, it is a huge number of people who are out of control.”[51] Also, according to Dr. John Grohol, a colleague of Orzack’s, “Dr. Orzack is not claiming that up to 40 percent of World of Warcraft gamers are addicted based upon any actual evidence or surveys of players. This is just her opinion, based upon her own experience and observation of the problem.”[52]
After Blizzard started offering free trial gameplay accounts, players started receiving increasing numbers of spam sent by bots in the virtual mailboxes of their characters, advertising virtual gold, honor, and experience selling services.[53] One study shows that this problem is particularly prevalent on the European realms.[54] In patch 2.1, Blizzard responded to this by adding additional anti-spam mechanics including whisper throttling, and the report spam function.
A Beijing-based software company has filed a lawsuit against the creator of the “World of Warcraft” and the game’s local operator for allegedly using its Chinese character fonts illegally.[55]

</p>

[Big_Brother_1984]

<p>More addictive than crack. Don’t do it. Just don’t do it.</p>

[mj93]

<p>Try a similar game that has less negative press… idk, you could probably even find one with an educational component.</p>

<p>Oregon Trail, for example. search it on google.</p>

[TritiumKnight]

<p>

@mj93

Try a similar game that has less negative press… idk, you could probably even find one with an educational component.</p>

<p>Oregon Trail, for example. search it on google.

</p>

<p>Not at all similar…</p>

<p>No, he shouldn’t be getting addicted at WoW only at 10…Wait till he’s at least 13.</p>

[SBmom]

<p>THANK YOU!!</p>

<p>I will not get it.</p>

[indianbasketball]

<p>No, first its crazy nerdy, he will start becoming socially reclusive people will streotype him, hey i streotype people on it. Very addictive, his grades will slip and its a monthly charge, so its expensive too. I hvae friends who used to get good grades, then got addictide to the game and now they get crappy grades.</p>

[InquilineKea]

<p>lol, the CC Cafe isn’t the best place to ask such a question :p</p>

[sigurros]

<p>World of Warcraft is fine in moderation. The gameplay itself has nothing too violent, but obviously he would be exposed to a community with many people ages 15-25 so he might encounter some things there… I would get it for him and let him see if he likes it or not. I personally did not find it addictive but my brother did so I suppose it varies from person.</p>

[backtothefuture]

<p>If he really wants it, he’s gonna get it. You wouldn’t want him to get addicted to the game WITHOUT your supervision.</p>

<p>If I were you I would talk it out so that he wouldn’t feel upset and start getting rebellious because that time is coming near… Work it out, let him have the game but make sure you know what he knows and vice versa.</p>

<p>And hey, he may get tired of it. I did.</p>

[Vail]

<p>I’ve been thinking about posting here, and I would like to get into more details, but I don’t have the time right now (class starts in 11 min.), but for starters, why not try a free MMORPG? That way, you’re not paying $10 to buy the software, and $15 a month to keep on playing. Furthermore, some people find it hard to continue playing these games for too long because they (admittedly) tend to be of a somewhat lower quality than one of the ones that you Pay to Play.</p>

<p><a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_free_MMOGs[/url]”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_free_MMOGs&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“Free MMORPG Game List”>Free MMORPG Game List;

<p>I’d recommend Fly for Fun (AKA: Flyff), but then again, I’m slightly biased since I do play Flyff (or used too, college is taking up a lot of my time -_-). Anyway, it has “cutesy” graphics and a general lighthearted atmosphere, which may be a lot better than the “hardcore” and sometimes excessively violent atmosphere of some of the other MMORPGs (like 2Moons).</p>

[hockeydemon05]

<p>Yeah, don’t get him WoW, not now not ever.
FLYFF is ok, my ex’s brother played it a lot, I recommend getting him a Wii with the sports package, or maybe wait till he’s like 12.</p>

[rockermcr]

<p>^ The problem with what you said is that it’s possible that the Wii either won’t exist anymore in two years, or that Nintendo will announce that they’re creating a new console. I wouldn’t recommend buying him something that will be outdated soon after he gets it.</p>

[GoldShadow]

<p>Nintendo’s not going to make another console right away, that would be ridiculous. The Wii didn’t come out until almost 6 years after the cube. The cube didn’t come out until over 5 years after the N64.</p>

<p>I give Nintendo’s next system another 6-8 years before it comes out. Right now is a decent time to buy the Wii… but personally I don’t think it’s got any really great games out for it yet. That’s the only problem.</p>

[rockermcr]

<p>Yeah, you’re actually right. I was probably thinking of Apple.</p>

[Vail]

<p>

^ The problem with what you said is that it’s possible that the Wii either won’t exist anymore in two years, or that Nintendo will announce that they’re creating a new console. I wouldn’t recommend buying him something that will be outdated soon after he gets it.

</p>

<p>Uh, wasn’t it Microsoft who rushed the seventh generation on us?</p>