RuneScape: need your pros and cons

[Lucy in Australia]

We are in the middle of our summer holidays here and some friends of DS11 have introduced him to RuneScape. Of course, now he wants to sign up (free account, which will limit his playing). Has anyone found anything objectionable in this game? I have had a fairly superficial look at it and it seems ok (a waste of time, maybe, but nothing offensive)TIA!

[Quiver0f10]

My older teens and DH all play. I haven't found anything that's off. My one complaint is they want to be on their computer 24/7 :D

[Pamela H in Texas]

I'm hesitant to put this here because I know some people don't like hearing anything negative about it, but it is EXTREMELY addictive. Doing anything on it takes a good bit of time and it encourages "side thinking." If you don't mind kids wanting to be on it a lot and talking about it even more, I guess that is your business but to me that is the very definition of addiction whether they are on for just a couple hours a week or a day.

 

Some other considerations for some people are magic and minor violence.

 

Kinda odd that those are secondary but that is how addictive the game is. Whenever I've seen it mentioned ANYWHERE, the addiction is what comes out. It has some uncanny power and it's not just about limiting a kid to 2 hours a week.

[Lucy in Australia]

Thanks for the quick replies! This is the kind of info I was looking for. I'm paying close attention to the warnings on the addictive aspect of the game. We've struck this problem with this child with other games and I'm wary of anything that might start the problem again. TIA!

[Pamela H in Texas]

Lucy,

 

I have a kiddo like that also. Frustrating. At one point, my ds was off of ALL games for MONTHS and still carrying on about one game. It was awful.

 

When my kids were little, I never had to limit anything. We had a tv, games, computer, what have you and they did those things occasionally without an issue. They naturally would prefer to do healthier things. Some switch flipped in this kiddo in regards to screens though and it's been tough since. Thankfully he's now old enough (almost 13) to battle WITH us but still, it's HARD.

[Pajama Mama]

The good points are that it is fairly safe. People can talk among themselves but it is monitored. If someone is found to have bad behavior they can get kicked out of the game. I like that it has quests. Ds has to do things in steps to figure things out. I guess it's almost like critical thinking(I said, almost). And it is fun. I played it a little myself.

 

The bad points are it's addicitveness and time required to complete things. I had alot of problems with ds becoming addicted at first. He is now allowed only a few computer hours a week(that doesn't include school use). What he does with those hours is up to him. If he uses them all on Runescape in one day then he's outta luck for the rest of the week. I like the quests but they do require alot of time to complete. You don't need to complete them on the same day. But some quests can take hours to finish.

 

If your child has some addictive tendencies with gaming then Runescape may not be for your family. HTH

[Peek a Boo]

my oldest wanted to play this too when he was 12yo. I noted that the site itself mentioned it was geared for TEENS. I told him we would discuss it when he turned 13 :-) And if he bugged me before that, I'd wait till he was 14.

 

I started allowing him to play the free version at 13, w/ strict requirements: chores and schoolwork needed to be complete and his attitude to his siblings before and after playing had to be impeccable [but that's the same rule we have for ANY outside activity]. A couple weeks before he turned 13 [before we had this discussion] I upped his chores ;-P

 

For Xmas, he requested the paid version --$5 a month. I went ahead and got it for him, but w/ the same stipulations. AND he had to allow me access to his account at any time. My money, my rules.

 

Yes, he can stay on there all day if we let him. But I can see an addictive factor in a LOT of other non-computer activities :-) i have noticed his creativity in drawing has increased since playing Runescape. He has been working on a BOOK for a year and half now. It was up to 33 pages in a Microsoft Document last i looked. He's revamped it a few times. he's started sketching out maps and character profiles since adding Runescape.

[MaryM]

As these games go, this is a good one, imho. Our ds started this at age 11 and played for about a year. Good skills learned in terms of marketing, economics etc. Addictive - sure all thee things can be if kiddo is not monitored or limited in some way but hey, the furture will/does involve computers and they can still teach stuff and in a fun way. Runescape is exceptionally well maintained and monitored by the administrators too.

 

Mary

[j.griff]

My problem with it is: It's basically a giant chat room. Sometimes, in order to make money to buy good armour or whatever other expensive thing you need, you have to turn the public chat on. There are constantly teens there just typing potty mouth stuff because they can- they are all constantly asking for a "hot gf" or "hot bf". If you have the public chat on people will follow you asking you to be there gf/bf and give them things, people use the emotion thingies (little dances and motions) to make it look like they are performing sexual acts on each other, etc. I don't know if anyone else has said anything about this or not, and I don't know if I'll be able to view all the posts before the server is too busy again, LOL.

Pros- the kids learn a little about how things are made- and it can help them develop internet social skills.