Looking for opinions on RuneScape

My son is 10 years old and has asked if he could play the online game
"RuneScape". Apparently, most of his buddies from school play and have
asked him to join them. His only internet experience so far has been
just looking for information for school assignments or just to find an
answer to a question and a little bit of email. All of this has been
done with one of his parents looking over his shoulder. If we let him
play, he'll probably be closely supervised at first, but then if it
looks alright, we'll give him so time to play without us monitoring
every step. We would of course talk to him about the dangers of
chatting with strangers and tell him not to provide personal
information online. He's a very responsible kid that heeds warnings
like this very well. I'll be checking it out this evening, but I'm
interested in hearing some other parents' opinions on it to help me
decide.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

Annie

annie wrote:
My son is 10 years old and has asked if he could play the online game
"RuneScape". Apparently, most of his buddies from school play and have
asked him to join them. His only internet experience so far has been
just looking for information for school assignments or just to find an
answer to a question and a little bit of email. All of this has been
done with one of his parents looking over his shoulder. If we let him
play, he'll probably be closely supervised at first, but then if it
looks alright, we'll give him so time to play without us monitoring
every step. We would of course talk to him about the dangers of
chatting with strangers and tell him not to provide personal
information online. He's a very responsible kid that heeds warnings
like this very well. I'll be checking it out this evening, but I'm
interested in hearing some other parents' opinions on it to help me
decide.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

I don't know about RuneScape in particular, but World of Warcraft is
similar (online, interacting with other players) and my
nearly-30-year-old husband often has a hard time making appropriate
choices when it comes to the game (as in, he will stay up too late
playing, or play during the day when he could/should be doing other
things, or he will play for long periods of time until his eyes are
glazing over and he realizes he hasn't eaten or been to the bathroom in
a good 8 hours...). If it's difficult for an otherwise-responsible
adult to manage online role playing games, it would only be more
difficult for a child.

I would set strict parameters - only X minutes per day, only after all
homework and chores are done, etc. I would also make sure that he
continues to get enough exercise by playing outside and whatnot. It's
too easy to become a "game potato." Maybe his friends could come over
and they could make cardboard swords or whatever and they could play
"RuneScape" in the back yard. I'll bet if you get them a few
refrigerator boxes to make a fort out of, and snacks, they'd have fun.
See what you can learn about the plot of the game, and try to re-create
it in an active, face-to-face interaction rather than via the computer,
way.

I think if I had a son interested in video games, I would limit him to
only playing it on rainy days! I wish DH would listen!!

Amy

I would strongly suggest finding a self-contained roleplaying computer game
first instead of an online one. It is very easy to feel that if you're not
online every minute, you're going to miss something in an online game,
because, well, you will. Most of the online games have stand-alone
equivalents, and I'd suggest trying this and seeing how your son does as far
as time limits etc first. Even if there's not a direct game equivalent for
RuneScape, there's probably something very similar out there, even by the
same publisher.

--
Donna DeVore Metler
Orff Music Specialist/Kindermusik
Mother to Angel Brian Anthony 1/1/2002, 22 weeks, severe PE/HELLP
And Allison Joy, 11/25/04 (35 weeks, PIH, Pre-term labor)

Amy wrote:

I don't know about RuneScape in particular, but World of Warcraft is
similar (online, interacting with other players) and my
nearly-30-year-old husband often has a hard time making appropriate
choices when it comes to the game (as in, he will stay up too late
playing, or play during the day when he could/should be doing other
things, or he will play for long periods of time until his eyes are
glazing over and he realizes he hasn't eaten or been to the bathroom in
a good 8 hours...).

Yours too? ;-)

If it's difficult for an otherwise-responsible
adult to manage online role playing games, it would only be more
difficult for a child.

My husband wouldn't even consider allowing our
11yo to play. The exception might be playing on a closed
server where there was some control over who was playing.

I would set strict parameters - only X minutes per day, only after all
homework and chores are done, etc.

I don't know about RuneScape, but one of the tricky
things about WoW and EverQuest and similar games is that
as you progress through the game, you need other people
to help you on your quests. When they help you, you owe
them some help too, so there start to be scheduling demands.
If the guy who helped you on your last quest needs help
Tuesday night at 8pm for his quest and you're not willing
to be there, next time you go looking for help you might
not find it. You *can* play on your own, at least for
a while, but people will naturally want to join guilds
and interact with others and so forth, and that can
lead to a lot of issues. It's not like it's the same
game if you put in a half hour here and there as it is
if you do more. It kind of sets up a difficult situation.

Best wishes,
Ericka

"Donna Metler" wrote in message
...
I would strongly suggest finding a self-contained roleplaying
computer game
first instead of an online one. It is very easy to feel that if
you're not
online every minute, you're going to miss something in an online
game,
because, well, you will. Most of the online games have stand-alone
equivalents, and I'd suggest trying this and seeing how your son
does as far
as time limits etc first. Even if there's not a direct game
equivalent for
RuneScape, there's probably something very similar out there, even
by the
same publisher.

The problem with this is that he wants to play with his buddies, and
he can't do that on a self-contained game.

I've played Runescape, and I disagree that you feel like you are
missing something if you aren't on-line. You can do what you want at
the pace you want. Of course it, like many video games, can become
addictive, and you would naturally want so set limits.

However, as the OP asked about Runescape in particular, let me give
her some specifics.

You must claim to be at least 13 to play. They do block cusswords
from their chat window, but offer little else in the way of
protection. They allow unknown words, and so people do say things
like "ur an asse" and "fauk you". There are no safeguards in place to
prevent him from typing, "Hi! I'm Billy, I'm 10 years old and I go to
Bobcat Elementary School!"

But other than the occasional mis-spelled cuss word, there isn't a lot
of bad stuff going on in a typical game. They fish, they mine, they
chop trees, and they fight. The fighting isn't gory -- you get a bar
over your head that goes down as your health does. You can talk
publicly to anyone, or privately to your friends. You can earn money
through skills, and you can trade.

Maybe you should get an account yourself and try it for a few days
before you decide.

Bizby

bizby40 wrote:
"Donna Metler" wrote in message
...
I would strongly suggest finding a self-contained roleplaying
computer game
first instead of an online one. It is very easy to feel that if
you're not
online every minute, you're going to miss something in an online
game,

The problem with this is that he wants to play with his buddies, and
he can't do that on a self-contained game.

The ability to play with his friends is the definite draw for him.
He's the kind of kid that everyone likes, but he doesn't have a small
close-knit group of friends. It's something that didn't used to bother
him, but it seems to be getting more important. I think his interest
in the game is more to have something in common with this group of
friends than anything. My feeling is that if I can determine that this
game is appropriate for him, then this might be a time to give in to
the "everyone else is doing it" plea.

I've played Runescape, and I disagree that you feel like you are
missing something if you aren't on-line. You can do what you want at
the pace you want. Of course it, like many video games, can become
addictive, and you would naturally want so set limits.

He already has limits for offline computer use and video games, and
this would have to fit into that.

However, as the OP asked about Runescape in particular, let me give
her some specifics.

Thanks!

You must claim to be at least 13 to play. They do block cusswords
from their chat window, but offer little else in the way of
protection. They allow unknown words, and so people do say things
like "ur an asse" and "fauk you".

I can live with that. They are just words afterall. He's decided on
his own that cuss words just make you sound stupid and he has no use
for them.

There are no safeguards in place to
prevent him from typing, "Hi! I'm Billy, I'm 10 years old and I go to
Bobcat Elementary School!"

But other than the occasional mis-spelled cuss word, there isn't a lot
of bad stuff going on in a typical game. They fish, they mine, they
chop trees, and they fight. The fighting isn't gory -- you get a bar
over your head that goes down as your health does. You can talk
publicly to anyone, or privately to your friends.

I think we'll restrict his chatting to private chats with friends.
Even though I believe he's the type of kid that would follow
instructions to not type "I'm Billy and I go to Bobcat Elementary
School", I still feel safer keeping the discussion limited to the
people he knows.

You can earn money
through skills, and you can trade.

Maybe you should get an account yourself and try it for a few days
before you decide.

I think we'll try it out tonight. Thanks for the specific feedback.

Annie

On 26 Apr 2006, annie wrote:

I think we'll restrict his chatting to private chats with friends.
Even though I believe he's the type of kid that would follow
instructions to not type "I'm Billy and I go to Bobcat Elementary
School", I still feel safer keeping the discussion limited to the
people he knows.

I haven't played RuneScape, but I think the chatting others were referring
to was communication within the game. There's the rub -- you cannot
completely control everyone on the server he's playing on, and they can
all communicate using the program's chat feature.

Well I personally have been playing RS for nearly 2 years and I'm 31 My
13 and 15 year old brothers got me involved in it and away it went.

The problem I find with RS is that it can be a very addicting game, and I
know from the argument my Step-Mother has with my Brothers it can be a huge
battle when the child wishes to continue playing but you don't want them
too. Also their are always the claims that they have to play NOW because
all their friends are on this very minute!

So as long as you can set very strict boundaries about how long your son can
play for and he will happily stick to it then that's half the battle solved.
RS is also very conscience of the fact that the majority of their players
are children so they go all out to make sure that the environment is as safe
as they can make it. They also encourage fair play and helpfulness and are
always banning people for rule breaking. There are player moderators as
well as moderators from Jagex (the makers of the game) wandering around the
worlds. As someone else said they do block cuss words but creative people
get around that, but you have an on screen option to report people for an
array of rule breaking, offensive language being one of them.

If you do decide to go ahead and let him play I would suggest that you leave
him as free to play to start with. There is soooo much to do on the free
world just getting your initial levels up on all sorts of things that it is
a waste of money to become a member straight off. It also means he can see
if RS is something he is going to like or not.

Also their is a very good manual linked at the homepage which makes for good
reading for newcomers too.

One last note concerning chat in the game. Their are several options where
you can turn the private chat off, or to just have friends talk to you, or
no-one. This is an invaluable feature.


--
Pip

My girls :
DD1 Jasmine - 5 weeks early - 21 March 02 -
"I'm a big girl cause I go to school kindy"

DD2 Abby - 8 weeks early - 3 Feb 05 -
Took her first steps on her 1st Birthday.

"Yes you can drive me insane just by talking to me!"


--
"annie" wrote in message
oups.com...
My son is 10 years old and has asked if he could play the online game
"RuneScape". Apparently, most of his buddies from school play and have
asked him to join them. His only internet experience so far has been
just looking for information for school assignments or just to find an
answer to a question and a little bit of email. All of this has been
done with one of his parents looking over his shoulder. If we let him
play, he'll probably be closely supervised at first, but then if it
looks alright, we'll give him so time to play without us monitoring
every step. We would of course talk to him about the dangers of
chatting with strangers and tell him not to provide personal
information online. He's a very responsible kid that heeds warnings
like this very well. I'll be checking it out this evening, but I'm
interested in hearing some other parents' opinions on it to help me
decide.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

Annie

annie wrote:
My son is 10 years old and has asked if he could play the online game
"RuneScape". Apparently, most of his buddies from school play and have
asked him to join them. His only internet experience so far has been

I wouldn't be worried so much about the rating (cuss words) or stranger factor
(if your child is smart with those kinds of issue). I would be worried that
MMORPGs are HIGHLY addictive. The games are made that way to keep you playing
and paying monthly fees. There will be constant incentive/pressure to level up,
get this or that upgraded weapon/armor/item, finish a quest, beat XY or Z baddy,
all for peer acclaim. Not to say they aren't fun. There is a really nice sense
of team work when you play together. The exploration and discovery of the
world, etc., is wonderful. But, even adults have a hard time controlling
themselves with regard to playing MMORPGs. Do you think your son is ready for
this kind of experience? Would he be satisfied playing only X minutes a day,
running around in tatters +1, while his friends are using
Super-Duper-Kill-Everything Platemail +20?

--
Jeannie
E-mail: jeannie at talisweb dot see oh em

"T Flynn" wrote in message
...
On 26 Apr 2006, annie wrote:

I think we'll restrict his chatting to private chats with friends.
Even though I believe he's the type of kid that would follow
instructions to not type "I'm Billy and I go to Bobcat Elementary
School", I still feel safer keeping the discussion limited to the
people he knows.

I haven't played RuneScape, but I think the chatting others were referring
to was communication within the game. There's the rub -- you cannot
completely control everyone on the server he's playing on, and they can
all communicate using the program's chat feature.

I find, also, that once you're in a game like that, the chat is often put on
the back burner and you just play, play, play.
Also, the OP said that the son is fairly good about being appropriate with
words he chooses, so it could be possible to enjoy an online game with
Johnny and Sam, your friends, as well as Joe and Bob that you don't know,
and if you find Bob to be kind of a jerk, it's really not hard to just
disregard what is being typed. But yes, the chat features in basically
every game I've played online is open to all who are connected and on the
same game and server.