Tell me about World of Warcraft PC game please?

[NickiFury]

Ds's mate keeps telling him to get it because it's great and they can talk about it and play together on play dates. Ds is 11 so age wise fine I think. But which one? There's loads of different ones on Amazon. Is there a beginners one? Help!!

Thanks .

[TooMuchCantBreathe]

Before you do have a good Google. Wowc can be an all consuming game. It has been the subject of investigation (panorama I think but don't quote me) caused lost jobs and ended marriages. I'm not saying don't get it just be well informed of the pitfalls. I've personally watched it ruin one life just because it's sort of addictive.

[NickiFury]

Really? Maybe I will leave it then.

[BertieBotts]

Bollocks. Yes it can be addictive but no more than any other game, TBH.

Monitor his time on it and he'll be fine. (Sorry I can't advise on which version, I don't play it, DH used to but got bored of it recently).

[HeartHasShattered]

Buy the battle chest and start there. That has the first three, so will keep him happy for a while. Then you can start adding on more expansion packs, if you like.

The chat can be... Adult. I'd keep your eye out. It can be fine, but equally, it can be pretty bad, as with any game.

The female characters are also rather typically dressed... Maybe something to talk about with him. Huge boobs and tiny outfits are the standard by far!

[NickiFury]

He's actually really good at self regulating his screen and PC time so hopefully that side of it would be ok.

I will take a look for The Battle Chest then. Thanks very much

[TooMuchCantBreathe]

Bertie you may not have found it but other people have. I'm sure many play it without issue but enough people have had problems with this particular game over and above the usual that there have been programmes made, support groups run and an awful lot of information given over the years. I'm glad you don't have any sort of problem but that doesn't mean others won't so a friendly warning to read up before buying is not out of place and certainly isn't "bollocks"

[SevenZarkSeven]

DH & I play WOW because quite frankly we are a bit sad and I can't be bothered to pretend otherwise

It is perfectly possible to play without interacting with anyone, I have managed it for years by dint of just ignoring anyone who tries to talk to me.

So let's make that sad AND antisocial

It's no more addictive than anything else. And it's perfectly reasonable for an 11yo there's nothing "dodgy" in there IYSWIM.

He can run around with his mates in there and have a good time. I think it's fine

Which to buy - if he wants to be with his friends it depends what level they are, he might have a bit of work to do before he can get to where they are and meet up with them + they will be progressing as well. Unless they will start out new characters with him at the time or come back and help him level up (catch up).

HTH

I put it in the "good clean fun" category BTW and I'm a reg on feminism and not put out by the storylines / attire of female characters etc (star wars online or whatever it's called I am looking at you ).

[BertieBotts]

What makes it more addictive than other games of this type? I was assuming that it's just its popularity and media attention which makes it stand out over other options, but I am happy to be corrected. I just think it leads to a false sense of security to say (for example) that WoW is addictive but that Final Fantasy Online is not. They operate to a similar model so why would one be more addictive than another?

I don't play MMORPGs because I find them deathly boring so no personal experience but I have a lot of friends and DH who play them.

[LoathsomeDrab]

The game itself is fairly innocuous, unfortunately the other players aren't. I've seen some pretty vile stuff being said both in general chat (the chat channel for the zone your character is in) and whilst in groups for doing battlegrounds (combat against other players of the rival faction) or instances.

Misogynistic/homophobic/xenophobic chat and rape jokes are not unusual. It's no different to any other un-moderated online chat, sometimes it's fine and sometimes it's not. There's also a built in voice chat system now but I think parental controls allow you to restrict access to that.

If you do buy it, don't bother getting it from Amazon. You can buy it as a digital download direct from the official site for just £9.99 for all content aside from the most recent expansion pack. That includes 30 days of game time as well, after which it requires a subscription of £9.99 a month (or slightly less if you buy blocks of three or twelve months).

You can get a free trial version as well which allows play up to level 20 (current maximum level is 100) and limited interaction with other players and some restriction with regards to game features.

[Alibabaandthe40nappies]

I play a different MMO, and it has a much more adult but child-friendly community than WOW.

There is no way I would let my child play one, because the chat is totally live and unmoderated - you can turn off swearing I expect but the subjects discussed are exactly as Loathsome describes above. Totally unsuitable for children.

[SevenZarkSeven]

How do I manage to not see or get involved in dodgy chat? My chat window is there

[SevenZarkSeven]

although tbf I am usually concentrating on the game rather than what randoms are wiffling on about in the corner of the screen

[TooMuchCantBreathe]

Bertie I don't want to go into the ins and outs of addiction, gaming or anything else. I was just letting the op know that there have been problems that she might like to check out before purchasing not opening a debate. As I said I have seen someone become massively addicted to this game so don't think it's unreasonable to pop up and say "take a quick look before you buy" when someone mentions it.

[Siarie]

Some of my best years were spent on wow, it's great.

[SevenZarkSeven]

Just had a look and most of my setting are standard, voice chat is disabled. There are also a host of chat options including mature language filter and spam filter.

Just asked DH and he says he hasn't noticed general chat having dodgy stuff in it apart from maybe once or twice and they got stamped on.

It really may well be which server you're on!

I've been playing since 2006 but not constantly

HTH.

[BertieBotts]

Exactly - that was my only point - that MMORPGs have their own set of problems, one of which can be that they can be addictive. It's not unique to WoW.

DH plays but has voice chat set up through another program so he only speaks to people he knows rather than randoms.