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MMO Family: Lessons from an MMO-light summer
Ever find yourself telling your kids to log off while you're holding your smartphone in one hand and have one eye on your email/Facebook/Twitter/browser/game of Angry Birds or Plants vs. Zombies? I admit it, I caught myself doing that back at the beginning of summer, and it happened to be around the time I stumbled on an article from David Gelernter titled Make it a Summer Without iStuff. Around the house, we stay on top of gaming time and try to stick to hard limits so that it doesn't dominate the day. But summers in New England are fleeting, and having been inspired by Gelernter's article, we decided to cut back on gaming even more. What I noticed during our dialed-down summer is that there's a lot more to it than just shutting off the iStuff and that MMOs might not be the "mental purgatory" that Gelernter says is created by iToys. Let's take a look in this week's MMO Family!
MMO Family: Pirate101 and the Pixar effect
Back at the ranch, it's been a pretty busy (and off the grid) summer. We've spent the bulk of it at the grandparents' house at the beach, complete with snorkeling, beach combing, hikes to a nearby island, and lots of late nights discussing the finer points of the Harry Potter series. That made for many late nights, but a couple of weeks ago, I suddenly didn't have to struggle to get my kids to go to bed. Turns out, they wanted to play a certain game to wrap up their day, and that game was Pirate101. What's interesting is that they liked it for different reasons than I do, and I actually found myself rethinking my approach to games by watching them play. In this week's MMO Family, we'll look at some first impressions from a kid's-eye view and explore how KingsIsle is able to hit all of the right notes (again) to make a compelling game for both kids and adults.
MMO Family: Clone Wars Adventures' tale of two card games
Even though Clone Wars Adventures is a kid-friendly MMO, I've always been a fan of the title, partially because it sort of came out of nowhere and launched soon after it was revealed and partially because it's done a terrific job of matching content and itemization with the TV series. The Darth Maul content update was a household favorite, particularly because the pint-sized players in the family got a chance at going face to face with one of Star Wars' major baddies after seeing him on the animated show. Talk about an epic moment for a CWA fan! The most recent update, though, left me scratching my head a bit. Clone Wars Adventures has had a trading card game called Card Commander for quite a while. Recently, though, SOE added a completely new trading card game called Card Assault. What's the new game like, and why would an MMO have not one but two card games? This week's MMO Family will take a look at the new game and theorycraft on why we're neck deep in cards!
MMO Family: Moving beyond the mundane in kid-friendly MMOs
We're about to enter the "dog days of August," and lately, I've felt as if I'm in the dog days of kid-friendly MMOs. There are many titles to choose from, yet many of them feel all too familiar, and after a while, they start to blend together. Of course, there are some that push the boundaries and shine, and I've been trying to cover those in this column. But in this week's MMO Family, I'd like to get my rant on and look at a few characteristics of kid-friendly MMOs that really need to go. They've outlasted their welcome and are holding back the genre, so I'm calling them out!
MMO Family: Jumping into learning with JumpStart
When the subject of kid-friendly MMOs comes up, it almost always ends up with a discussion about whether there's any educational value to them. Many of them are safe, provide fun, and bring families together, but actual learning doesn't seem to be the focus. And some games that do focus on learning end up starchy and bland. JumpStart, however, is one of those MMOs that tries to bring together fun and education for kids who are in preschool and elementary school. It launched a couple of years ago, and the world has expanded quite a bit since then. Does it deliver on both fun and learning? Read on for some first impressions!
MMO Family: Open-world combat and old school gaming in Free Realms
There are many times lately when I've experienced the full power of the generation gap. As my kids get older and more game-savvy, I sometimes find myself trying to catch up with how the younger generation games compared to how I did it during the good old days of gaming. So it was a pleasant surprise to see a little taste of old school gaming in the latest update to kid-friendly MMO Free Realms. The normally peaceful Shrouded Glade has come under attack, and players have been swarming to the zone to help turn back the tide of invaders. It's a prelude event that will usher in some new content to the game, and it features several fun activities while the event continues, but the most notable change is the introduction of open world combat. For the first time in Free Realms, the bad guys are out and about in the Glade rather than corralled safely away in instances. That's brought some interesting changes to how players are interacting in game. In this week's MMO Family, we'll look at the Shrouded Glade event in Free Realms and see how it's bringing a little throwback-gaming to the pint-sized gaming generation.
MMO Family: Roblox first impressions
In last week's MMO Family, we had the chance to talk to Roblox CEO David Baszucki and hear how he took a physics-based simulation program and turned it into a successful game design tool that's enabled players of all ages to build and explore an endless variety of game worlds. But what exactly is Roblox? It's been compared to LEGO and Minecraft, but there's actually a lot more to it than that. In this week's MMO Family, we'll dive into the game for some first impressions and explore why everyone, both young and old, should check it out!
MMO Family: Roblox CEO David Baszucki talks blocks, building, and learning through play
Robots and blocks are always lots of fun, both for kids and grown-ups who like to channel their inner-kid. So the combination of the two, in a sandbox, user-generated environment, makes perfect sense, and it's the concept behind Roblox. In short, it's a physics-based MMO that gives users the opportunity to be an armchair developer and push the bounds of creativity in building their own worlds. But the game goes beyond simple block-stacking, and offers enormous potential for learning in such disciplines as computer science, architecture, and even marketing. In this week's MMO Family, Roblox CEO David Baszucki took the time to speak with Massively about the past, present and future plans for the game. He's taken a physics-based simulation and built up a successful and engaging game. Read on for highlights from the interview!
MMO Family: The state of the game (at school)
When you think of kids and video games, the question that always comes up is this: What are they getting out of playing them? Usually, MMOs, even MMOs aimed at kids, are big on fun but light on learning. So it was refreshing to see teacher Ben Bertoli launch a Kickstarter project to promote development of his personal project ClassRealm into what could be a potentially valuable tool in the classroom. So why haven't we seen more educational MMOs, and why has there been a gap when it comes to technology at home vs. at school? In this week's MMO Family, we'll look a few issues with gaming and learning.
MMO Family: How helpful are those ESRB ratings?
Quick, what's the ESRB rating symbol of your favorite MMO of choice? And if you know that, what are the content descriptors that account for your game's rating? If you got them right, bravo! According to the ESRB's official poll, 85% of parents with children who play video games are aware of the ratings system. For those not familiar, here's the deal: The Entertainment Software Rating Board began in 1994 with the goal of providing a standard set of ratings and descriptors to help adults choose appropriate games for children. But the real question is, are ESRB ratings accurate when it comes to MMOs? The poll also claims that 65% of parents regularly check a game's rating before making a purchase, but are those ratings as helpful when choosing an MMO for your children? Read on for a look at why the E, T, and AO symbols might actually deserve an F.
MMO Family: Mind your massively multiplayer manners revisited
In this week's MMO Family column, I want to dig deeper into something that came up as a result of the last edition, and that's the perception of younger gamers as generally being too immature, being too flighty, and lacking the social skills to be fun groupmates and guildmates in our MMOs. There were some great points all around, with some arguing that kids aren't good guildmates because of their age and others even arguing that some kids are more mature than adults. Let's look at things a little differently this week. Suppose you are guilded or grouped with your son/daughter/little brother/niece/nephew/best friend's kid/etc. You can't blow him off because of your relationship to him or her, so what do you do to make sure he or she isn't that kid who drives everyone crazy in-game? I'm revisiting one of Lisa Poisso's past articles to see what rules of age etiquette we can come up with in this crazy age of gaming.
MMO Family: Do kids belong in guilds?
In my regular columns at Massively, I enjoy taking a look at various topics surrounding family-friendly MMOs and common issues in guild management. So it seemed natural to take the two subjects and combine them for this week's MMO Family. Gamers are growing older, and we're seeing an increasing presence of younger players, even in the more serious "adult" games like Lord of the Rings Online and EverQuest II. For those who play MMOs with their children, it might seem reasonable to seek a guild tag for them, but that might not sit well with your guild peers. Should kids be allowed in guilds? Are there any benefits to sharing a tag with your children, or are they better off staying unguilded?
MMO Family: Is free-to-play bad for kid-friendly MMOs?
If you've ever gone shopping with kids, you know how much of a nightmare-inducing proposition it can be. Everywhere from toy stores to department stores to seemingly innocuous grocery stores, there's a battle raging between parents and their children, which usually ends with tears, grey hairs, and the infamous word, "Pleeeeeease??" (Pleeeeeease should actually have its own entry in the Oxford Dictionary because it has a completely different meaning from its polite cousin, "please"). The only thing that helps parents get through it is the knowledge that they get a respite once they get home. Not so anymore, though, because there's a second front that's opened, and the new battleground is taking place on our computer screens. Those high-pitched appeals that echo throughout the store aisles are now filling our family rooms, kitchens, and dining rooms. And while many people are singing the praises of the free-to-play model in MMO games, it's actually the biggest contributor to the begging-battles at home. Let's take a look at why free-to-play and kids MMOs are not a match made in heaven.
MMO Family: Kid-friendly MMO roundup, part 1
With all of the buzz centered around "grown-up" MMO titles like Star Wars: The Old Republic and Guild Wars 2, it's easy for the kid-friendly games to get lost in the shuffle. There may not be as many kid titles on the horizon, but for the games that are currently out there, there's been an amazing amount of activity going on in these virtual worlds. I decided to take a peek at some of my (and the kids') favorites, along with a few games that we've done first impressions on, to see what they've been up to lately. Since there are too many great kid-friendly MMOs out there to fit into one column, this will be the first of what will probably be many follow-up entries covering other games, so if you don't see your favorite family-friendly game here, fear not!
MMO Family: What kids MMOs can learn from markers, Jackpot, and Chutes and Ladders
Play is important. Whether you're a kid or a grown-up, play has an important role in our lives, and video games are taking an increasingly large percentage of our playtime these days. But for kids' play in particular, there's always a question about the quality of video game time and whether or not it's actually just a waste of time. Kid-friendly MMOs are a relatively new segment of the MMO industry, but it often feels like they're just grown-up MMOs with kid-friendly graphics. Sometimes, the games are even stripped of the grown-up features in an attempt to make them easier, but that often results in a less than compelling game. Here's a quest; do it. Here's a creature; zap it. Here's a pet; hug it. Here are some clothes and decorative items; buy them. I may sound a bit jaded, but that's only because I think kid-friendly MMOs can be so much better than they currently are. To do that, we have to step back and examine how kids play, and studios must concentrate game design around that. In this week's MMO Family, I'll be looking at three areas of kids' play and exploring why games should look to Magic Markers, Jackpot, and Chutes and Ladders for inspiration.
MMO Family: Why safe chat isn't so safe (and why that's OK)
One of the toughest issues that game developers have to treat when it comes to kid-friendly MMOs is chat. I touched on this in a past column, but it's worth further discussion. If you're making a game where lots of players are interacting and doing stuff together, you need to allow them to communicate, otherwise you're pretty much making a single-player game with the other players as background scenery. On the other hand, when it comes to kids MMOs, having open communication means other players can use it to harass each other. Worse is the scenario of the deranged adult abusing it to exploit young people. As a result, virtually every kid-friendly MMO has some sort of filter in place that restricts what players can say to each other. But are these chat filters really that effective? Are kids better off without them? Let's take a look in today's MMO Family.
MMO Family: Four ways to improve kid-friendly MMOs
Right now, there's a small war going on in our house. It's winter, we're all cooped up inside, and we're interested in different games. What's particularly interesting is that my kids will tolerate most of the games I play and join in, except for one: Star Wars: The Old Republic. They aren't remotely interested in it, and any time I fire it up, they push back by demanding their favorite game, which is Minecraft. It got me thinking about why kids would prefer a 16-bit, block-shaped world to a glitzy, voiced-over, multi-million dollar title. Adult gamers love to hash out why they love one game over another, but what makes games appealing from a kid's perspective? Furthermore, we often see differences in kid-friendly MMOs and their features compared to games for grown ups, but can those features be improved?
MMO Family: Games of chance vs. MMOs
From childhood on, I've always been a gamer. But I grew up when computers were just emerging as something that didn't just belong in the bowels of the Defense Department. My games were primarily of the board game variety, with a smattering of classic card games, and my exposure to video games didn't begin until later on. Today, I see kids being raised on video games, and I see it as a good thing. "But board games are the good games," you might protest, and while they're still relevant today and I'm glad to see the recent revival in family board game night, a good portion of board games do not compare to what video games offer to children. This edition of MMO Family explains why!
MMO Family: LEGO Universe, autism, and heartbreak
Often when the topic of video games comes up, it's followed by comments about the negatives, such as violence, antisocial behavior, or inappropriate content. But if they do have harmful effects (and it's arguable how many players really are affected in a negative way), they can also be helpful as well, yet you rarely hear a news story about the good. I've written before about how companies like IBM have studied MMO guilds in order to improve team-building and organization within their company. More recently, MMOWGLI focused on global issues, such as the future of piracy, to study what solutions players could cooperatively generate. There are also positive benefits to children as well, and while we've touched on a few in recent columns, this week we'll focus on the impact LEGO Universe has had on autistic children. Sadly, the game will be shutting down in a few weeks, and while many parents are thankful for how much it's helped, they're also concerned about what will happen once the game is gone. Read on for a bittersweet look at how this LEGO-based game is leaving behind a legacy.
MMO Family: Heroing-up in Super Hero Squad Online
There's a growing number of great kid-friendly MMOs available, and one that I've been meaning to check out for a while now is Super Hero Squad Online. The game has only been out for eight months, yet in that short time, it's reached over a million registered users and added lots of new content and characters. I've spent some time in the game, along with my two young testers, to find out what the buzz is all about. We formed up a squad and set off to check out missions, the card game, our headquarters, and the opportunities for exploration out in the world, and our first impressions are found below. If you've ever wanted to know what the little super heroes eat or what holiday treats are available at the Parker household, you'll definitely want to read on!
