Mama Bear Posted May 22, 2008 Share Posted May 22, 2008 I'm not game savvy. I know enough to read about ratings on packages, that's about it. My nearly 13yob wants to play this. Can you give me the skinny? The low down? The whatever it's called that I need to know? Any suggestion re: other games are also appreciated. TYVVVVVVM. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j.griff Posted May 22, 2008 Share Posted May 22, 2008 This has been discussed before, here are some links :)http://www.welltrainedmind.com//forums/showthread.php?t=24643&highlight=runescape http://www.welltrainedmind.com//forums/showthread.php?t=11420&highlight=runescape http://www.welltrainedmind.com//forums/showthread.php?t=538&highlight=runescape Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin in Tx Posted May 22, 2008 Share Posted May 22, 2008 I would discourage it, based on our personal experience. PM me if you want details why. Robin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sleepy Posted May 22, 2008 Share Posted May 22, 2008 I don't see you "around" much, so I just wanted to say Hi :seeya: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nakitty Posted May 22, 2008 Share Posted May 22, 2008 I have been playing for almost 3 years and would totally let my 13 yo play....in fact, I do allow my 9 and 7 year olds to play....though they are not allowed to have chat on.:001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lynn Posted May 22, 2008 Share Posted May 22, 2008 Very addictive, there is no end, no finish line, so the game goes on and on. I realte it to the dungeon and dragons obsession. You can communicate with other players and I don't know if this is an optional feature. I believe you want to get more and more point to make it to the next level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Mungo Posted May 22, 2008 Share Posted May 22, 2008 I play and let my kids play. I think it's important for parents to learn a game so that you know how it does and doesn't work. My kids have a bunch of their real life friends (who live all over, poor military brats that they are) on their "friends list" and they are only allowed to chat with those on their friends list. eta: did you know a recent study showed that as far as games go more people had lost their jobs over an addiction to computer-based solitaire than any other? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*LC Posted May 22, 2008 Share Posted May 22, 2008 You have more game savvy than I do. I thought Runescape was the user name of someone you wanted to ask a question. Obviously, I have no worthwhile opinion. Good luck on making the decision. LC P.S. My 13-year-old came home from a slumber party wanting a facebook account. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin in Tx Posted May 22, 2008 Share Posted May 22, 2008 I have been playing for almost 3 years and would totally let my 13 yo play....in fact, I do allow my 9 and 7 year olds to play....though they are not allowed to have chat on.:001_smile: You might want to keep your eye on this... most the kids know how to hide their chat activity (for example, my dd told me about this... when a friend who wasn't allowed to chat was online, she would type some quick signal to let everyone know that her parents had entered the room, and everyone would be silent until given the all clear signal so that her parents would think she wasn't chatting - something like that - I might not have all the details right, but I do know that kids who weren't allowed to chat figured out a way to do it without their parents being able to tell). Not that your kids are doing this, of course... just that it's pretty common knowledge on runescape and they'll probably encounter the idea at some point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pamela H in Texas Posted May 22, 2008 Share Posted May 22, 2008 Well, I've given my opinion in the past. I'm so against it I can barely articulate myself about it! Type of game Addiction Content (if you are more conservative) Hacking, dishonesty, stealing, manipulation is worse on that game for some reason Chat Just research before you allow it. All families and kids are different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C_l_e_0..Q_c Posted May 22, 2008 Share Posted May 22, 2008 eta: did you know a recent study showed that as far as games go more people had lost their jobs over an addiction to computer-based solitaire than any other? ooh! I just scored over 11,000!!! At solitaire! :-) I'm such a loser... :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joanne Posted May 22, 2008 Share Posted May 22, 2008 Well, I've given my opinion in the past. I'm so against it I can barely articulate myself about it! Type of game Addiction Content (if you are more conservative) Hacking, dishonesty, stealing, manipulation is worse on that game for some reason Chat I don't disagree with Pamela often. But on this one, my opinion is: Mostly harmless fun. Impose computer/screen limits, coach them if you can on how to play. I haven't played in a couple of years, but I know the game very well. (A level 96) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nakitty Posted May 22, 2008 Share Posted May 22, 2008 You might want to keep your eye on this... most the kids know how to hide their chat activity (for example, my dd told me about this... when a friend who wasn't allowed to chat was online, she would type some quick signal to let everyone know that her parents had entered the room, and everyone would be silent until given the all clear signal so that her parents would think she wasn't chatting - something like that - I might not have all the details right, but I do know that kids who weren't allowed to chat figured out a way to do it without their parents being able to tell). Not that your kids are doing this, of course... just that it's pretty common knowledge on runescape and they'll probably encounter the idea at some point. Ahh yes...I most definitely do keep my eye on them....and, since I play the game too, I would certainly know what to look for. I will add that, like Mrs Mungo, my kids ARE allowed to chat with real life friends on the game....it is easy to do, you can set the chat parameters to "friends only"... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pamela H in Texas Posted May 22, 2008 Share Posted May 22, 2008 I don't disagree with Pamela often. I know....well, there had to be SOMETHING. LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peela Posted May 22, 2008 Share Posted May 22, 2008 Dh and I have strong opinions about this one too. Ds (maybe 10yrs old at the time?) asked if he could play and after briefly checking into it, we said yes. Within a short time, ds was severely addicted...showing strong signs of addiction, couldn't stop thinking and talking about Runescape, wouldnt eat, completely obsessed. (We figure this is our kid with the addictive personality :) ) So, after a few months it got banned, along with any other ONLINE games along the same lines. His sister was banned too, but it wasn't so addictive for her. A few months ago, ds's street friends- boys all a bit younger than him- got into Runescape. We still wouldn't allow ds to play it at home, but we realised he was playing it to some extent at other kids' homes, and we didn't want to say he couldn't because we had no way of knowing if he was or not, IYKWIM, which put him in the position of easily being able to lie to us, not something we wanted to encourage. So we didn't say much, and watched what happened. Within a short while, the other parents had banned their kids from Runescape too. Ds had told them why he was banned from it. The boys all became incredibly obsessed, mean to each other, ds would come home in tears- he had shared his username/password and they were just horrible to him over it. The parents (3 sets) banned it. All was restored to peace in our street community :) There are so many great games on CDRom, we just buy them. it wont be the same for every kid, mine is obviously obsessive and addictive by nature, but I have seen it do horrible things to young boys, so tread carefully. You can always ban it. Another friend's teenage son got into Runescape, and when she went out in the evenings for work, she would take the cables for the computer, disconnect the internet, change the passwords...all sorts of things....incredibly, this kid overcame them all, cracked passwords, bought new cables and hid them, in order to get onto Runescape while she was out. Something about that game, I tell ya. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelli in TN Posted May 22, 2008 Share Posted May 22, 2008 My 13 year old just asked to play this. All of his friends do, so I was thinking of saying yes. But I dont' know. Y'all are freaking me out a bit!!! Peela is really freaking me out!! I guess when he asks I am "still thinking about it". He is obsessed enough over Tribal Wars and Webkinz. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pamela H in Texas Posted May 22, 2008 Share Posted May 22, 2008 Peela, thank you so much for sharing your experience. You made it much clearer than I ever could. And it obviously isn't just our children we think might have addictive personalities. I agree with you; there is something about that game. BTW, my son now agrees also....finally. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quiver0f10 Posted May 22, 2008 Share Posted May 22, 2008 My kids play and it is VERY addicting! We have to set time limits or they would play 24/7. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin in Tx Posted May 22, 2008 Share Posted May 22, 2008 Yes, the addiction was extreme in our house. Could just be my dd's personality, but I'm glad to hear she's not the only one with this problem. I will say that months after banning the game, my dd still has times she grieves over not being able to play anymore. I won't go into all the details about how frightening it all was (yes, what I witnessed frightened me... that is not too strong a word), but let's just say I rue the day she was ever introduced, and I rue the day I said yes, and I rue all the days that I wasn't paying close enough attention to what it was really going on and how it all affected her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jackie in AR Posted May 22, 2008 Share Posted May 22, 2008 My 13yo boys have played Runescape on and off for about a year now. They will play for a few weeks, take a break, then decide to play a little more. It doesn't seem to have had any addictive effect on them. But they have noticed, and mentioned to me, that there are other players on there who seem to be obsessed with it. ETA: Actually, I can't think of a time where they've played continuously for a few weeks. It is more like a few days or a couple of weeks, then they move on to something else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kpupg Posted May 22, 2008 Share Posted May 22, 2008 Can you give me the skinny? My kids and I all play Runescape. My biggest advice is set the controls so that your kids can only converse/trade/etc. with their friends list. This way, they won't see objectionable conversations by other players. Also, there are a couple of activities in the game that I prohibit -- PM me for details on those if you want. It's a good game to teach basic economics -- my kids have learned about supply and demand, invested effort and sunk costs, etc. Karen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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