MMO Family: Family night at the MMO buffet

MMO Family is your resource for leveling a gaming-specced family ... From tips on balancing gaming with family life to finding age-appropriate niches for every family member, MMO Family offers you advice on MMO gaming of the family, by the family and for the family.

It's no secret how rich the world of family-friendly MMOs has become -- or then again, considering the general lack of regard and awareness for them even among gamers like us, perhaps it is. Certainly, there's no denying the sheer quantity of kids' games on the market. Even an entire year ago, there were already more than 200 youth-oriented virtual worlds and MMOs either in development or on the market. A year later, as we recently reported, "... Blizzard's World of Warcraft has the most number of players in the U.S. out of all the MMOs it tracked, just in front of NeoPets and Club Penguin. Other MMOs in the top five include Disney ToonTown and RuneScape." From where this writer sits, eyeballing the list of possibilities for our ongoing Parents Guide series about family-friendly games ... It's going to be a long, long run, folks.

Just last month, Beau Hindman wondered if kids' games are getting taken as seriously as they deserve. "Do the experiences they give match the experiences that one might get in an 'adult' game like Darkfall or Vanguard? Should we dismiss kids' games as nothing more than a toy, to be enjoyed for a bit and giggled at?" Beau thinks they do -- and we think he has a point.

While we wouldn't want MMO Family to become a news feed for kids' games, we started wondering if maybe readers hadn't picked up on not only how popular but how developed these games actually are. Take Free Realms, the first game profiled in our ongoing Parents Guide series. Free Realms is celebrating its first anniversary this week, having just crossed the 10 million registered player mark. Our look back at FR's first year -- the friendly and social atmosphere, the collectables and achievements added, the mini-games, the mounts, and of course the inexpensive subscription fees -- paints a picture of a something-for-everyone approach to kids' games that works for grownups looking for less frantic, theorycrafted gaming action, too.

Here at the home of MMO Family's intrepid game-testing kid adventurers (it's slave labor, we tell you!), the after-school excitement is all about the new features going in at Wizard101. Players are diving into new pet-themed mini-games, wing mount that increase speed up to 40% and collecting items to craft gear, treasure cards and furniture. There's even a downloadable puzzle mini-game available for iPhone. MMO Family's testing crew is clamoring for what awaits on the test servers for Wiz101's upcoming expansion: a new pet system that allows players to hatch, customize, race and have their pets contribute to battles. It's the pet advancement system of your dreams, right here in a ... kids' game.

Of course, no one can deny the juggernaut that is RuneScape, a game targeted toward older teens. RuneScape just introduced the largest update in the game's history. What's that? You've been searching for a game that could create on-the-fly content to challenge your particular character? It's over here in RuneScape, which now offers randomly generated "customized rooms" that adapt to fit the skill level and abilities of the players who enter.

Of course, not all kids' games offer that type of depth. Those that don't, though, make up for it with polished game play. Kung Fu Panda World (yes, modeled after the movie), still in sneak peek mode, is part of an explicit mission at DreamWorks Animation to increase the quality of browser games. Even Disney's Pixie Hollow, a sweet little 2-D game we've dibsed for an upcoming Parents Guide, is evolving. Without getting into a debate over the species and origins of the creatures in question, female fairy characters are now being joined by male "sparrow men" -- broader options, broader audience.

If your kids are clamoring to play with you but you don't relish the idea of corraling them into an age-appropriate area of your own MMO of choice (although if they're dying to play what you play, we urge you to give it a try), don't write off so-called kids' games. Some of the crafting systems are more complex (and many are more varied and entertaining) than those of your standard adult fantasy or action MMO. There's depth of content: combat, collection/achievements, exploration, pet and housing management. The graphics most definitely don't suck. And the company? Yes, you'll meet plenty of other adults hooked on these games, too. It's not theorycrafting for so-called Elitist Jerks -- but family fun even a seasoned gaming parent could love? Yes, indeed.

Got a budding fairy or sparrow man in the family? Stay tuned for our upcoming Parent's Guide to Pixie Hollow, next time around at MMO Family.

MMO Family offers advice on MMO gaming of the family, by the family and for the family. Send us your questions and observations about gaming and parenting to lisa (at) massively (dot) com.