World of Warcraft anyone?

[spima3]

Anyone play this? and can you give some insight?

DS12 has a 10 day trial subscription for this and really likes it as one or two friends also play.

However, it is running out and he wants to use his b'day money to subscribe to it. He said it is only $19.99, but from what I have read, that is ONLY for 30 days.

What happens after that? Does he have to keep on paying $19.99 a month to play this?

One, he doesn't have enough money for that, and there is no way I would let him anyway, so can someone give me the price breakdown?
TIA, lori

 

[Desiree]

I believe it's $14.99 per month and it is possible to buy gift cards to use monthly. I've seen them at Best Buy I think.

That way you don't have to use your debit card or a credit card for the monthly payments.

 

[aka-mad4themouse]

A 60-day game card costs about $30 and can be purchased at places like Best Buy and Gamestop. You can also get an online subscription for prices that range from $15/month for 1 month to $13/month for 6 months.

DS17 plays. It's addicting. He pays for his addiction himself.

 

[SpecialK]

I just pulled the plug on WoW for my 12-year old. I think the majority of the players are high school and older. I didn't think it was appropriate for my 6th grader to be interacting with older kids in an on-line game. It is addicting - my son has a friend who wants to do nothing else.

You'll also find that he won't be able to get to certain worlds or levels without upgrading software. It's a pricey hobby IMO.

 

[edandcolleen1995]

Word of warning here.

I play MMO's (that is the type of game World of Warcraft is)

12 years old is too young. There is many sexual chat, emote (things your character does on the screen) and topics that really are not right for a kid that young.

Back to the topic and off my soapbox.

You have pay monthly to play the game. Either buy a gamecard with 30 day, 60 day etc on it, or have to give a credit card to the company to be billed monthly.

 

[Dax]

I can offer some insite..

I have been a WoW player now for 3 years, this month. I figured I would play the trial, and uninstall it. Well here I am, still playing.

The cost, is $15 a month. This cost is for maintenance of the game and they do a VERY good job of it.

As for age appropriate-ness, I will say that the language can be...crude. The game is full of adult and teens, and yes even younger. There is a language filter, which should be used at all times. Also, there is a feature to set a timer of when he can and cannot play. This can all be controlled by you and unable to be changed.

Blizzard respects privacy, and I have NEVER had an issue with my credit card being charged, but I think the gift cards are a good idea too. He can earn his time to play by earning the gift cards that way if you feel he cannot play, the subscription does not get re-upped, until you add more time via the card.

It is a teen rated game, but I have played with kids around ten, and they are a joy to play with, sometimes more so than the adults. Its a great way to talk to other ppl and make online friends.

If you have any other questions, let me know.

 

[Papa Deuce]

Word of warning here.

I play MMO's (that is the type of game World of Warcraft is)

12 years old is too young. There is many sexual chat, emote (things your character does on the screen) and topics that really are not right for a kid that young.

Back to the topic and off my soapbox.

You have pay monthly to play the game. Either buy a gamecard with 30 day, 60 day etc on it, or have to give a credit card to the company to be billed monthly.

Well, as a 4 year player of WoW, I can say that this is true, but not a whole lot. Also there is a bad language filter that is turned on by default.


I would also say that 80% or more of the people who play are older than 12 - even if they don't act like it.

I personally am in a guild where the youngest player I know of is 32 years old. Our guild was formed to recruit only players aged 30 and up.

 

[SKWDW]

Anyone play this? and can you give some insight?

DS12 has a 10 day trial subscription for this and really likes it as one or two friends also play.

However, it is running out and he wants to use his b'day money to subscribe to it. He said it is only $19.99, but from what I have read, that is ONLY for 30 days.

What happens after that? Does he have to keep on paying $19.99 a month to play this?

One, he doesn't have enough money for that, and there is no way I would let him anyway, so can someone give me the price breakdown?
TIA, lori

Lori--

I suggest you do an Internet search on World of Warcraft (WOW) addiction, prior to letting your son go beyond the trial period. The MMOs can be very addictive, especially ones as well-developed as WOW.

A family member (he's in his mid-30's) got in way over his head and ended up losing his job as a result of his WOW addiction. Just like any other addictive behavior/substance, some can participate and walk away whenever they want. Others cannot.

IMO you should NOT pay the monthly subscription fees for WOW. If your DS has to pay to play, that would probably limit his playing time/interest.

Good luck!

 

[Dax]

Lori--

I suggest you do an Internet search on World of Warcraft (WOW) addiction, prior to letting your son go beyond the trial period. The MMOs can be very addictive, especially ones as well-developed as WOW.

A family member (he's in his mid-30's) got in way over his head and ended up losing his job as a result of his WOW addiction. Just like any other addictive behavior/substance, some can participate and walk away whenever they want. Others cannot.

IMO you should NOT pay the monthly subscription fees for WOW. If your DS has to pay to play, that would probably limit his playing time/interest.

Good luck!

Agreed, that is why you can set up a timer to limit play time

 

[edandcolleen1995]

Well, as a 4 year player of WoW, I can say that this is true, but not a whole lot. Also there is a bad language filter that is turned on by default.


I would also say that 80% or more of the people who play are older than 12 - even if they don't act like it.

I personally am in a guild where the youngest player I know of is 32 years old. Our guild was formed to recruit only players aged 30 and up.

Not sure what that means though? The OP should know that there is a bunch of things that go on, regardless of the players age, that is not appropriate for a kid. /filter won't help when you have elves stripped to their thong undies having cybersex and doing nasty /emotes.

Hey, I love my MMO's (long time eq1, daoc and War player). And a kid that age can sure play, but strongly suggest you have someone with them. My kid is 11 and I let him play only with me where I am grouped with him.

The OP clearly does not know what is going on (does not know how to sub and stuff), which is fine. But she/he should know that at their kids' age, it is not great to be there without supervision.

Maybe freerealms would be good mmo? My 9 year old daughter plays that and it is very kid friendly

 

[mrsv98]

Word of warning here.

I play MMO's (that is the type of game World of Warcraft is)

12 years old is too young. There is many sexual chat, emote (things your character does on the screen) and topics that really are not right for a kid that young.

Back to the topic and off my soapbox.

You have pay monthly to play the game. Either buy a gamecard with 30 day, 60 day etc on it, or have to give a credit card to the company to be billed monthly.

I respectfully disagree. DD is 9yo and has been playing for at least 2 years. We all play and it is a family activity we enjoy. We use the language filters and DD knows if someone is using "bad words" she is to tell us and we put them on ignore, problem solved. DD rarely plays alone, one of us is usually at least in the room if not also online.

I think as long as your child is supervised it will be fine. It is a time consuming game but it is a lot of fun and gives us a common interest.

 

[disneygirl_wdw]

I really like Guild Wars it's an mmorpg like World of Warcraft except it is a one time fee of $50 I believe and that is for the game and expansions. I honestly don't play WOW because of the monthly costs.

 

[Sparx]

its 10.99/month if you pay every six months. the more time you pay in, the cheaper it will be (like if you only pay for one month at a time, its more expensive.)

with someone so young, it might be easier for him to get addicted to it. (does your son get easily addicted to video games?) its a very very time consuming game, and if he really wants to be good at it, he'll have to play it a lot.

 

[spima3]

Well, thanks to all who replied.

Wow, didn't realize it could be so inappropriate for kids. I haven't seen that, but it's only been 7 days.

The cost alone would prohibit his play. We simply can't afford that kind of expense, and yes, he loves his games, so I think this one would become very problematic.

So he's going to have to find somewhere else to spend his money, which shouldn't be too hard.

 

[LilyWDW]

Here is an opinion from someone who has played MMORPGs for over 8 years (including Everquest, World of Warcraft, and Guild Wars).

1) These games are catered to a late teen + age group. Depending on the game the age range will change. Guild Wars usually has more mid teens since once you buy the product it is free to play (no monthly fee). Everquest runs closer to mid 20's+ due to the age of the game (average age in my guild would be closer to 30ish I would say). World of Warcraft seems to run somewhere in the middle, but still high teens and above.

This means that language can be a problem. A group of 25ish year old guys (or girls) isn't going to just change the way they play because there is a 12 year old around. And asking them to do so is, in my opinion, rude. That is why they have things like language filters and ignore lists built in to the game.

2)If you decide to allow him to play, I would limit it. Keep the filter on, allow him to only group/play with his friends, and not join a guild unless it is a guild that is 100% okay with a child there and willing to deal with it. A guild is a group of players that share a common goal. There are "family" guilds, "casual" guilds, "raid" guilds, and everything in between. "Raid" guilds are usually the most intense, have requirements for application and attendance, and don't change the way things are done because of some kid.

3) If you want to be good at these games and see the end of them, it takes a LOT of time and work. In EQ I belonged to a raid guild and would normally play 5+ days a week at around 3-4+ a session. Often it was more then this as weekend events could go 6-7 hours while weekdays were closer to 3 hours.

4) It is $14.99 a month after his free trial to keep playing. You can purchase game cards at most locations that sell the game (Gamestop, Best Buy, Walmart, ect) and use these to pay as well.

 

[Dancemom03]

DD19 plays WOW and has for years now. A lot of her friends do too. I'm always surprised at how many people I'd never expect to be gamers do play WOW. Her $14.99 fees come out of my paypal automatically once a month but we really should buy bigger blocks of time to save a few dollars.

One positive thing I see about WOW is that accounts can be sold once a player tires of the game. When I look at the accounts DD19 shows me on this resale site, I am always amazed at how much folks are willing to pay. You may have to pay to play but at least when you manage to pull yourself away from the game there's a possibility to recoup those fees by selling the acct and maybe even net a tidy little profit...

 

[SandrA9810]

Depends on how big of a gamer you are, I wouldn't let a kid that young play by himself. Plus doesn't he have to be 13 to create an account?? 13 seems to be that magic number when a kid can do stuff on the web. We don't play mmo's, cost is one of the reasons, but it's nothing that has struck our fancy yet. Dis is addicting as it is...

There's plenty of fun RPG's out there that don't cost more than the game itself. If you pay for him to play till he's 18, that's like 800$ out of your pocket. And if he's played that long, there's no telling how much he'll throw into it once he's an adult.

 

[disneymarie]

I just pulled the plug on WoW for my 12-year old. I think the majority of the players are high school and older. I didn't think it was appropriate for my 6th grader to be interacting with older kids in an on-line game. It is addicting - my son has a friend who wants to do nothing else.

You'll also find that he won't be able to get to certain worlds or levels without upgrading software. It's a pricey hobby IMO.

This game is HE!! to our home. I had two that were addicted. The mid 20's boy was struggling with sorrow, and started this game, it is the first and last thing he did.
The 12 year old started, and the dang computer was on for hours and hours with them playing this game and arguing who turn it was.
I saw something about WOW detox, and that was when enough was enough. When into the roles, they could not remember chores, snippy mouths, would sit there hours.
Money got tight and I said oh, well glad to see that go, They are playing the game systems at home in moderation and back to human again. I literlly remember ds up for two days straight on it.
I would not even get started let alone a 12 year old. I was mistaken thinking dd would make friends and do something more then sit and read....So glad to see her reading again.

 

[LilyWDW]

You CAN play these games and not allow it to have a huge effect on your lives. I have plenty of friends in game who are successful business people, graduating college (including masters and doctorates), have relationships, and children to care for. They have lives outside of the game. However, there is a line between that and allowing it to go to far. Millions around the world play these games and the number that get "addicted" is an insanely small percentage.

One positive thing I see about WOW is that accounts can be sold once a player tires of the game. When I look at the accounts DD19 shows me on this resale site, I am always amazed at how much folks are willing to pay.

I don't know about WoW, but at least with EQ and EQII it is against the rules to sell the accounts and can get you banned and the bought account banned. Just a warning for people out there. If the company finds out that the account was sold they can and HAVE canceled the account. The buyer ends up finding their account banned and no recourse with their money. Also, many sold accounts are accounts with bad reps.

 

[Dancemom03]

I don't know about WoW, but at least with EQ and EQII it is against the rules to sell the accounts and can get you banned and the bought account banned.

I just called DD19 to ask about this b/c there are quite a few sites for buying & selling WoW accts online. According to all we can see, it is permissable to sell or transfer WoW accts as long as they are in good standing.

Out of curiousity she put in her server & character for an instant quote on one resale site and was quoted just over $150 if she wanted to sell to them. After then searching another character with the same gear/level it appears the markup for buyers is about $100 more. For the same account that'd be $150 if you're selling but $250 if you're buying.

A general search http://www.buymmoaccounts.com/wow-accounts/priest.php?faction=alliance turns up alliance priests selling for between $467 - $627. Wanna guess what she's NOT getting for her birthday next week...

So... now I'm thinking that searching resale values could be a good resource for someone who's undecided about what character to create. IMO, if you're going to put the time and fees into playing WOW anyway, you might as well choose a character that could be worth more once you do tire of it, but then that's just my view and I don't play...