MMORPGs

[6-eyed]

Have you ever played a massive multiplayer online role playing game?

If I ever have kids, I would let them play one for one weekend and have fun. Then I’ll take it away from them on Monday, and bar them from ever playing one ever again. Because I want to teach them a life lesson.

MMORPGs are the most addictive video games. In these games, the gamer builds a character from the ground up by leveling up, gaining points through lifestyle achievements, gaining new skills and upgrades. They get so involved with building up their video game character, they neglect their own real life. The gamers with the strongest, richest, most bad ass MMORPG characters are often the biggest losers in real life.

This is why I’m going to teach my kids that life is like a video game. You go to school to acquire knowledge upgrades. You athletically train to build strength and warrior upgrades, and improve your life bar. You unlock achievements by excelling in the professional world and making more money. When you make more money, you can buy more accessories and character upgrades for the real life. In life there are also secret codes and hacks that can advance you further along than your counterparts; just like a video game.

[Jessica]

yeah interesting idea. in a way we use this technique when we give children sticker charts with stickers as the reward.
i'd prefer to just adapt this as they grow, and start applying it to real life, than go through the weekend of game and then banning it.
that part seems complicated. what age do you do that at?
wouldn't they need some background in gaming to be able to get much out of it in one weekend?

[Undies]

I don't necessarily think MMOs are the most addictive games. I do agree that, at least for me, games where you're constantly building your character throughout the game are a lot easier to get sucked into. But that's a lot of games these days. Building a franchise in Madden is really the same idea. Even GTA has some minor RPG elements.

I've played one MMO, a friend got me into LOTRO about 10 years ago. And I got sucked in for a while, but really not as much as with some other games. I also was a big fan of final fantasy 12, which draws a lot from MMOs. But again, I've definitely been more addicted to other games. Probably any game that has the constant small rewards involved in growing a character would have the potential to become addictive. Or really any game that the player really enjoys, even if you aren't growing the character you're still growing your own skill at the game and thus performing better and getting similarly rewarded with incrementally better results.

[6-eyed]

yeah interesting idea. in a way we use this technique when we give children sticker charts with stickers as the reward.
i'd prefer to just adapt this as they grow, and start applying it to real life, than go through the weekend of game and then banning it.
that part seems complicated. what age do you do that at?
wouldn't they need some background in gaming to be able to get much out of it in one weekend?

The idea of banning it is so they don't become hooked to it. One weekend is enough time to get familiar with the gameplay, experience the achievement building, and have fun with it. Let them play the game too long, they'll get hooked on it, and give the parent a lot more shit for taking away their favorite toy.

I grew up deprived of cable TV, and was not allowed to play video games during a school week. I hated these rules at the time, but I'm glad my parents did that. I'm going to teach my kids that they need to think of life as a video game where you have 1 life, and you can build it up to make yourself the best character you can be.

[Undies]

so what about letting your kids play video games just on the weekends? or for only a specific amount of time each day? i agree with the general idea here, but i'm not sure that one weekend and then never again will really make the point you're trying to make. that seems like the kind of thing that would lead them to move out and play WoW for 6 straight years as soon as they turn 18.

[Din Djarin]

Limiting time makes more sense for sure.

[6-eyed]

My gaming time was limited to the weekends. I still got addicted during the weekend.

[Jessica]

yeah that's what i was thinking. in reality children are impossible to predict. some are banned from things and go crazy over them when they grow up, others are not banned and grow out of those things. i used to play N64 for hours and hours and now computer games bore the hell out of me.
i agree with the thinking here but i think having a hard plan on how to raise a child is destined to fail more often than not because you have to adapt the teaching process to the child and their own interests/personality.

[Din Djarin]

A valid concern at first instance but a too rigid 'solution' . Charged premise. No, banning such a game (or any other competitive online game, like Fortnite, racing, Fifa, or an online shooter, etc. etc.) altogether is not the ideal way to teach your kid a lesson at all imo.

Btw: I never played an MMO. I have played several singleplayer RPGs like Skyrim for example, that can take a lot of time. Also put a lot of hours in the online mode of Red dead redemption 2, wouldn' want to have missed it And of course the competitive online battles in Star Wars battlefront 2.

If a kid (or adult for that matter. It's not like they're above addictions :P) lacks discipline or is prone to overly focus on such a hobby its good to adress this. But to forbid it is a tragic way to go. I think the real life ananogy has potential

Anyway, 6-eyed: we also have a video game subforums now and I made a thread about The last of us 2

[Din Djarin]

yeah that's what i was thinking. in reality children are impossible to predict. some are banned from things and go crazy over them when they grow up, others are not banned and grow out of those things. i used to play N64 for hours and hours and now computer games bore the hell out of me.
i agree with the thinking here but i think having a hard plan on how to raise a child is destined to fail more often than not because you have to adapt the teaching process to the child and their own interests/personality.

I also once played mainly on the N64 (my first and only Nintendo console :-D ). Which games were your favs?!
I only had 4 games for it lol, but at the time didn't crave more and also played it for many hours (Mariokart, Goldeneye, Zelda Ocarina if time and last but not least a Star wars game of course teehee: pod racing)

[Jessica]

I also once played mainly on the N64 (my first and only Nintendo console :-D ). Which games were your favs?!
I only had 4 games for it lol, but at the time didn't crave more and also played it for many hours (Mariokart, Goldeneye, Zelda Ocarina if time and last but not least a Star wars game of course teehee: pod racing)

i liked the other star wars game better... i forget what it was called. it felt a bit like a puzzle solving game to me, having to fly around and protect the convoy and stuff. wrap a cable around one of those big four legged walker things. more about doing the right things in the right order..
mario64 and mariokart64 were favourites, and diddy kong racing.
Wetrix!
oh! pilot wings.

i'm looking at a list now. the star wars i had must have been shadow of the empire.
i tried to play mariokart with my nephews over the last few years though and i just get so bored. video games just don't do it for me.

[Jessica]

i played ocarina of time a bit but i think i rented that one, didn't own it, so i never got very far. i enjoyed how pretty it was. i used to spend quite bit of time in games like that just running around not trying to achieve anything.

[Din Djarin]

I have shot cables from A wings around those walkers in multiple games over the years haha. At one point I thought they put that standard in every Star wars game lol. I was not complaining though I really loved the podracing at the time, a great addition to the Phantom menace movie.

[Undies]

i never owned an n64, but one of my college roommates had one and i spent a lot of time playing mario64. i have it on emulator now. the controls are so bad by today's standards, but it's still a fun game.

the only other game he had was starfox. i have no desire to play it again, but i did beat it once back then.

[6-eyed]

I also once played mainly on the N64 (my first and only Nintendo console :-D ). Which games were your favs?!
I only had 4 games for it lol, but at the time didn't crave more and also played it for many hours (Mariokart, Goldeneye, Zelda Ocarina if time and last but not least a Star wars game of course teehee: pod racing)

Ocarina of time, Golden Eye, and Smash Bros are my favorite N64 games.

[tumbling.dice]

Oh I still have Ocarina Of Time. Indeed, I've bought several of the used cartridges and game consoles over the last few years...for the inevitable day the ones I originally bought stop working. The challenge for me these days are the great many glitches to be mastered; some are quite complex. They can be found on YouTube and are addictive as hell...to me at least.

[6-eyed]

Finding glitches in video games is always fun.

I once found a glitch in Golden Eye (n64) where all the mines you threw became the color of the surface you threw it on, and the rocket launchers turned green! I wish I could remember how I did it, and filmed it to upload for a few million views on YouTube.

If only I knew how much old video games would go up in collector value, I would’ve boarded old video games instead of baseball cards.

[Din Djarin]

i never owned an n64, but one of my college roommates had one and i spent a lot of time playing mario64. i have it on emulator now. the controls are so bad by today's standards, but it's still a fun game.

the only other game he had was starfox. i have no desire to play it again, but i did beat it once back then.

Wow, you haven't played Mariokart on N64??