The average age of players in WOW is 28.3 with a standard deviation of 8.4. If you assume a normal distribution, the tail of mean - one standard deviation is 15.9%. Thus, you have a 84.1% chance of a WOW player to be 28.3 - 8.4 = 19.9 years old or ABOVE.
That are pretty good odds and you certainly can establish a all adult guild easily in WOW.
But they don't live by their own rules and do not punish the people who act like total jerks.
I have seen this far to long in World of Warcraft and i know a few people who have reported the behavior but nothing happens so the few who act out like total egoistic jerks with no respect for others keep on with their behavior as they like. Spam, foul language, sexistic statements etc.
So to get some peace is to eather leave the chats or leave the citys or put these people on ignorelists.
The mmo's will die because the Gamemasters etc don't go in and slap the gamers who act bad and i think the GMs have been told not to because it's all about the money the owners make and to put a lid on it as they use to do with almost everything in the game.
Why haven't you found a niche group of people, who are like you, who you can call your "mature friends", and form a guild with them? Like you said, people of your age stick with your own, so what's the problem?
Or is the problem really with you, maybe you just don't fit in well, maybe you're too picky, too uptight? I know I'm assuming here, but apparently there are so many "mature" adults that want to play with other mature adults. You see those complaints on the forums all the time, you see them complain about people ingame, etc.. Yet they never seem to find each other, they never seem to be able to form a guild of Mature Adults and just be happy.
Or better yet, I think I know what the problem is. You've tried forming a guild with mature adults, but you realized mature adults can be more childish than real kids. You realized the drama you have to endure with mature adults are unbearable, it's like having to deal with your wives & g/f's 24/7. Ever seen a grown 40 year old male try to argue with you about loot? My gosh it's horrible.
IMO, try to play these games as....games, rather than a social outting or a groupie pow wow at starbucks. You'll bump into nice, decent folks, but you will also bump into immature people. It's all part of a MMO, because remember, it's a massive multiplayer online game. Whenever you put massive amounts of people together, you're bound to find people you dislike. Just like in rl with a group of friends, there's always 1-2 people you can't stand. But you can't do anything about it because they're friends of friends. Kinda like in a guild, you can't do anything about people you can't stand because they're friends of friends.
My friends and I are adults and like to surround ourselves with other adults as you do OP. Like you said, there's times when you just don't want to talk infront of kids (it's not our jobs to raise someone elses kids right?). We always group together and make our own legions. Before recruiting to the legion, they must first login on our ventrilo server as an "age verification" check. It's worked fairly well and in most cases they stick around on vent with us and shoot the shit which is always a good way to get to know everyone. I've yet to come across anyone under the age of 18 that sounded like they were over 18 and vice-versa. So, it's been a pretty full proof way to weed out those we want to surround ourselves with when we game. Never underestimate the power of VOIP
I will agree with the others, play MMORPG's that are more off the beaten path, P2P and are notable for having a greater deal of complexity. (and the less mass marketing the better)
You won't avoid all drama, adults can bring a lot of that to the table as you are well aware of, but look towards games like LotRO, EVE, and some others for a slightly better open world experience.
I particularly enjoy EVE's community, even our asshats are entertaining, and I never feel like I'm involved in a childish situation.
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
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Sorry but avoiding games is just dumb. You only hurt yourself doing that.
There are a lot of really good games out there that kids play, don't deny yourself those games, you can enjoy them as well.
Couple of really good suggestions I saw on here:
1. Turn off General Chat
2 Join an Adults only guild
If you can't find one, start one.
I am 38, have a group of friends that play in the games people keep saying avoid. We have static groups we play with, only other adults. We enjoy our games emensely.
Don't avoid games, play them as an adult would. You can CHOOSE who you spend time with. Ignore and Squelch work very very well, even in wow, even in ddo, even in every game I can think of.
Not that i look for them (HONESTLY!) but ive found pre teens have more manners . Its the god awfull 15-19 year olds that shoot there interweb mouth off .
If your after a mature crowd i would sudgest Fallen Earth. They made a game for adults thats complex and deep and its still fairly new.
I should probably have a less "open world" view to mmo's and seclude myself more from the masses. I have never been a fan of the ignore option since it also includes people that perhaps just had a bad frustrated day and got out of line. The reference to banging my head against a wall is probably more accurate then I at first thought. I used to seclude myself from the masses far more in the past and that is probably the reason I had less frustration than I do now.
I am a wanderer at the moment though, switching mmo's a lot in search for one that feels right again. Because of this I tend not to seclude myself too much because I am a new player in those mmo's and need to find the likeminded individuals. Seclusion does not make finding those persons an easy task.
Anyway, thanks for the food for thought so far, keep them coming!
I think that's where your problem lies. To start with you segregating yourself as "me" from "them" thinking that because of your age your somewhat better than them.
What I would suggest is trying to keep an open mind and not think of people as "kids" or "adults", think of every person as an individual. Truth be told I've spoken to very mature 14-yr-olds in groups and some extremely immature 40-year-olds. It all depends on time and place imo. I find some people get online to shed the confining clothing of everyday life to be the opposite of what they are in real life. So you would actually be surprised of some of the interesting people I have met and some of the people I had to put on ignore.
Me? I have survived Barrens Chat and Valkrum Dunes chat that was "The Barrens" before WoW came on the scene. I know that "the younger crowd" can get very annoying, insulting and sometimes downright mean. I do get in touch with some of the hints that previous posters have said ie:turning off local chat, the ignore button and sometimes the off button for my computer. Sometimes it helps me to just step away when things get too stupid. But again, if I wasn't cool to younger person A then I would of never met older person B...Oh just go watch the EVE butterfly effect video!
Bottom line: Keep an open mind, you never know who your going to meet. If you put yourself within a niche, your only going to meet people within that niche. And last but not least, if all else fails, turn the bloody game off! If your are like me, an adult 30-something, then you probably have the never ending list of adult things to do. I just like to escape from it sometimes...heh heh.
I should probably have a less "open world" view to mmo's and seclude myself more from the masses. I have never been a fan of the ignore option since it also includes people that perhaps just had a bad frustrated day and got out of line. The reference to banging my head against a wall is probably more accurate then I at first thought. I used to seclude myself from the masses far more in the past and that is probably the reason I had less frustration than I do now.
I am a wanderer at the moment though, switching mmo's a lot in search for one that feels right again. Because of this I tend not to seclude myself too much because I am a new player in those mmo's and need to find the likeminded individuals. Seclusion does not make finding those persons an easy task.
Anyway, thanks for the food for thought so far, keep them coming!
I think that's where your problem lies. To start with you segregating yourself as "me" from "them" thinking that because of your age your somewhat better than them.
What I would suggest is trying to keep an open mind and not think of people as "kids" or "adults", think of every person as an individual. Truth be told I've spoken to very mature 14-yr-olds in groups and some extremely immature 40-year-olds. It all depends on time and place imo. I find some people get online to shed the confining clothing of everyday life to be the opposite of what they are in real life. So you would actually be surprised of some of the interesting people I have met and some of the people I had to put on ignore.
Me? I have survived Barrens Chat and Valkrum Dunes chat that was "The Barrens" before WoW came on the scene. I know that "the younger crowd" can get very annoying, insulting and sometimes downright mean. I do get in touch with some of the hints that previous posters have said ie:turning off local chat, the ignore button and sometimes the off button for my computer. Sometimes it helps me to just step away when things get too stupid. But again, if I wasn't cool to younger person A then I would of never met older person B...Oh just go watch the EVE butterfly effect video!
Bottom line: Keep an open mind, you never know who your going to meet. If you put yourself within a niche, your only going to meet people within that niche. And last but not least, if all else fails, turn the bloody game off! If your are like me, an adult 30-something, then you probably have the never ending list of adult things to do. I just like to escape from it sometimes...heh heh.
Nicely written, but I do not consider myself better than a child, just different enough that I see no reason to interact with them on a regular basis. Not better, just different. I don't go to a playground to interact with children so I can meet their parents, I interact with adults in adult situations. I do understand what you mean though, ignoring a child simply because it's a child is stupid. A mature child can be a nice person to group up with, but no matter how you look at it, a mature child is still a child and compared to someone old enough to be his or her parent that mature child is childish. I am just tired of being surrounded by children all the time.
In the real world we can see straight up who is a child and who is not, in a virtual world that luxury is nonexistant. Whoever you meet in the game may be a small child and keeping that in mind constantly can become tiresome. Also children tend to be more vocal in their emotions than adults which is something that can become very annoying to me. I don't look down on them for being what they are, I just wish to find a place within the virtual environments where I can act my own age and not be constantly confronted with that kind of behavior.
So in short: I am not bashing children for acting their age, I just wish there were easier ways to get out of the kindergarden and still enjoy the game.
The main problem lies with me though, it's like loving that one painting for years and then notice a small flaw in it . After that you can't seem to overlook that flaw. Somehow it gets bigger and bigger untill you can't enjoy that painting anymore. The thing I need to find is a way to stop my fixation on that flaw so I can enjoy the bigger picture again. So far I have seen good suggestions that will help me with that. The simple fact that I have written this down instead of just thinking about it already helps me find solutions.
So again I thank all of you that have replied so far.
Nicely written, but I do not consider myself better than a child, just different enough that I see no reason to interact with them on a regular basis. Not better, just different. I don't go to a playground to interact with children so I can meet their parents, I interact with adults in adult situations. I do understand what you mean though, ignoring a child simply because it's a child is stupid. A mature child can be a nice person to group up with, but no matter how you look at it, a mature child is still a child and compared to someone old enough to be his or her parent that mature child is childish. I am just tired of being surrounded by children all the time.
In the real world we can see straight up who is a child and who is not, in a virtual world that luxury is nonexistant. Whoever you meet in the game may be a small child and keeping that in mind constantly can become tiresome. Also children tend to be more vocal in their emotions than adults which is something that can become very annoying to me. I don't look down on them for being what they are, I just wish to find a place within the virtual environments where I can act my own age and not be constantly confronted with that kind of behavior.
So in short: I am not bashing children for acting their age, I just wish there were easier ways to get out of the kindergarden and still enjoy the game.
The main problem lies with me though, it's like loving that one painting for years and then notice a small flaw in it . After that you can't seem to overlook that flaw. Somehow it gets bigger and bigger untill you can't enjoy that painting anymore. The thing I need to find is a way to stop my fixation on that flaw so I can enjoy the bigger picture again. So far I have seen good suggestions that will help me with that. The simple fact that I have written this down instead of just thinking about it already helps me find solutions.
So again I thank all of you that have replied so far.
I have to say we are on the same wavelength there.
I realize that some people have declared that there are children who are mature and adults who act childish.
but in the end what we have is a mature child and a childish adult.
A mature child is great and a joy but they are still children. A childish adult is never great and sadly is an adult.
I like children a lot but have no interest in having them. To that end, when I visit my friends who have children is is very fun to interact with them as they are very mature and well behaved but I would not want to be with them all the time because "adult time" is more interesting and rewarding for me.
Still, I would rather play in a family guild with really nice kids than a hardcore guild with adults with questionable maturity.
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I have to say we are on the same wavelength there.
I realize that some people have declared that there are children who are mature and adults who act childish.
but in the end what we have is a mature child and a childish adult.
A mature child is great and a joy but they are still children. A childish adult is never great and sadly is an adult.
I like children a lot but have no interest in having them. To that end, when I visit my friends who have children is is very fun to interact with them as they are very mature and well behaved but I would not want to be with them all the time because "adult time" is more interesting and rewarding for me.
Still, I would rather play in a family guild with really nice kids than a hardcore guild with adults with questionable maturity.
I find that Roleplaying Guilds tend usualy to be more adult oriented and mature (membership not necessarily topically).
Also certain games have more mature adults; especialy those that are more difficult and time consuming.
I currently play Fallen Earth and it seems to be mostly adults and I am in, you guessed it, and RP guild so I beleive 95% of people I regularly come into contact with are adults (though I cannot check IDs).
As an older gamer (older than the OP), I understand where you are coming from and I feel your pain. All you can do is to look for people you enjoy playing with and hang out with them as much as possible.
Years ago I would have told you how age doesn't matter. But that was back when people spoke to one another in writing. Now that things are done in vent for most organized play, oh my. I feel like I am in a junior high school locker room and I can't stand it. Hell I didn't like it when I was in junior high.
There is also a multi-game guild called The Old Timers Guild, or something like that (I am not a member), that you might enjoy.
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Just to be clear, I agree with the OP and some of the other like-minded posters in general; I just don't find simple age to be a useful limiter.
For example, a real-life friend of mine allows his son (12) to play an online game, but he plays with him and is just on a different computer in the same room most of time. You will not encounter a nicer, more polite or better behaved player. Conversely, the most immature, obnoxious, childish and rude individual it has ever been my displeasure to interact with in an online game was a married man in his mid-40s with multiple children. (and it wasn't just in-game, his age and family were apparent in part because he behaved the same way on voicecomms)
So while I can understand and even agree with the idea of an age-restricted game, I don't think it would really solve the problem. Only careful association in-game with specific groups and communities can do that.
Just to be clear, I agree with the OP and some of the other like-minded posters in general; I just don't find simple age to be a useful limiter.
For example, a real-life friend of mine allows his son (12) to play an online game, but he plays with him and is just on a different computer in the same room most of time. You will not encounter a nicer, more polite or better behaved player. Conversely, the most immature, obnoxious, childish and rude individual it has ever been my displeasure to interact with in an online game was a married man in his mid-40s with multiple children. (and it wasn't just in-game, his age and family were apparent in part because he behaved the same way on voicecomms)
So while I can understand and even agree with the idea of an age-restricted game, I don't think it would really solve the problem. Only careful association in-game with specific groups and communities can do that.
I agree that an age restriction does not work. When I look at the people around me most if not all let their children play game with age restrictions well above the age of their children. I am not asking for such a thing either though, I may at times get extremely frustrated with the general attitude and childlike behavior I encounter in games, but I am just looking for a way to deal with it.
Place two games in front of a 12 year old, one is for all ages and one is for adults only. Which one do you thing the average kid would choose?
I should probably have a less "open world" view to mmo's and seclude myself more from the masses. I have never been a fan of the ignore option since it also includes people that perhaps just had a bad frustrated day and got out of line. The reference to banging my head against a wall is probably more accurate then I at first thought. I used to seclude myself from the masses far more in the past and that is probably the reason I had less frustration than I do now.
I am a wanderer at the moment though, switching mmo's a lot in search for one that feels right again. Because of this I tend not to seclude myself too much because I am a new player in those mmo's and need to find the likeminded individuals. Seclusion does not make finding those persons an easy task.
Anyway, thanks for the food for thought so far, keep them coming!
doesn't that loose the point of playing mmo's somewhat though?
I think this is why ppl say lotro has a good community. When i played i found that it had the same kids/idiots that every other game of its kind had, but there was no reason to interact with them(not a good thing). Or else it could be that the low population the game has means that they've moved on now
Also as you have said being in an adult only guild or any guild for that matter doesn't mean that much in this sense.
And avoiding f2p completely is not a complete given, bounty bay i found had a good community apart from 2 very vocal ppl. Also planeshift and AO seemed ok and until recently i would have said ddo aswell.
There is also a multi-game guild called The Old Timers Guild, or something like that (I am not a member), that you might enjoy.
Yes, I recommend The Old Timers Guild and a guild I met during my stay in Fallen Earth called The Older Gamers. I found FE to be a very mature game and this to be a very mature guild. Don't ask me to comment on FE, but I really liked some of the people I met there, unfortunately I didn't meet enough people period.
I don't want to sound like a jerk OP, but if you further want to seclude yourself I would recommend Dragon Age: Origins. It has a great story, good graphics and handles just like a MMO. You also get to hand pick your party members and might even get lucky with one or two of them. There is no monthly fee and definitely no children involved.
But seriously, I do understand your angst with immaturity in online gaming communities. But it could get worse, a lot worse. Have you ever played an online shooter with voice chat? Ugh. That can get hairy especially when your team is losing and there is some pre-pubescent tween screaming at the top of his lungs that we suck and we are lowering his gamer score. That is painful.
So look on the brightside and look for some solutions. Right now I'm playing warhammer. The client is free and you can play for free forever, there is lots of pvp and the people that I have met so far seem cool. The game itself...meh. But it not a big freakshow like I've mentioned before.
Good luck to you in your gaming and I hope you find what you are looking for.
I agree with the OP and other like-minded people. It's not a hatred for kids, so much as a desire to be around people you relate to and vice versa. People you can shoot the shit with during travel periods and talk about "grown up" things, like work, politics (assuming all are of like mind. Nothing kills a good vibe like a political debate between diametrically opposed viewpoints, but I digress), and so on. I, too, am 37 and not to sound mean or anything, I don't give a rat's ass if you think your parents suck, because I probably agree with them.
Those of us who so choose visit the local pub on occasion to relax, have a drink, and hang out with other adults and do what adults do in those situation. Nothing wrong with seeking something analogous to that in the game.
"You'll never win an argument with an idiot because he is too stupid to recognize his own defeat." ~Anonymous
Age of Conan was supposed to be the big adults only dream game but I believe they tamed the breasts and blood somewhat
so as to gain younger clients. Not that I care so much to see breasts flashed here and there. It was a fine thought for a game to be adults only with grittier storyline and adult centred concepts over kiddie funtime cartoon worlds with fairy tales and pink houses.
I think your(or our) best bet would be to look at the more complex games such as eve or ryzom that are out atm or more likely loook to the ones that are coming to offer something to the more mature audience
I tried Ryzom a few weeks back and was greeted with childish banter in the chat window.
There is no way to escape it I am afraid. Join a guild with like minded people, like the Old Timer's Guild or the like. They accept 25 an older applicants and cover tons of online games, even FPS. They were a great fit for me and make playing a game much more enjoyable.
Other than that, we just have to hope that parents actually start to do their job as a parent rather then letting their kids run free on the internet.
Comments
If age is the issue, play WOW.
The average age of players in WOW is 28.3 with a standard deviation of 8.4. If you assume a normal distribution, the tail of mean - one standard deviation is 15.9%. Thus, you have a 84.1% chance of a WOW player to be 28.3 - 8.4 = 19.9 years old or ABOVE.
That are pretty good odds and you certainly can establish a all adult guild easily in WOW.
The mmo game owners setup rules!.
But they don't live by their own rules and do not punish the people who act like total jerks.
I have seen this far to long in World of Warcraft and i know a few people who have reported the behavior but nothing happens so the few who act out like total egoistic jerks with no respect for others keep on with their behavior as they like. Spam, foul language, sexistic statements etc.
So to get some peace is to eather leave the chats or leave the citys or put these people on ignorelists.
The mmo's will die because the Gamemasters etc don't go in and slap the gamers who act bad and i think the GMs have been told not to because it's all about the money the owners make and to put a lid on it as they use to do with almost everything in the game.
Sad but true!
Why haven't you found a niche group of people, who are like you, who you can call your "mature friends", and form a guild with them? Like you said, people of your age stick with your own, so what's the problem?
Or is the problem really with you, maybe you just don't fit in well, maybe you're too picky, too uptight? I know I'm assuming here, but apparently there are so many "mature" adults that want to play with other mature adults. You see those complaints on the forums all the time, you see them complain about people ingame, etc.. Yet they never seem to find each other, they never seem to be able to form a guild of Mature Adults and just be happy.
Or better yet, I think I know what the problem is. You've tried forming a guild with mature adults, but you realized mature adults can be more childish than real kids. You realized the drama you have to endure with mature adults are unbearable, it's like having to deal with your wives & g/f's 24/7. Ever seen a grown 40 year old male try to argue with you about loot? My gosh it's horrible.
IMO, try to play these games as....games, rather than a social outting or a groupie pow wow at starbucks. You'll bump into nice, decent folks, but you will also bump into immature people. It's all part of a MMO, because remember, it's a massive multiplayer online game. Whenever you put massive amounts of people together, you're bound to find people you dislike. Just like in rl with a group of friends, there's always 1-2 people you can't stand. But you can't do anything about it because they're friends of friends. Kinda like in a guild, you can't do anything about people you can't stand because they're friends of friends.
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My friends and I are adults and like to surround ourselves with other adults as you do OP. Like you said, there's times when you just don't want to talk infront of kids (it's not our jobs to raise someone elses kids right?). We always group together and make our own legions. Before recruiting to the legion, they must first login on our ventrilo server as an "age verification" check. It's worked fairly well and in most cases they stick around on vent with us and shoot the shit which is always a good way to get to know everyone. I've yet to come across anyone under the age of 18 that sounded like they were over 18 and vice-versa. So, it's been a pretty full proof way to weed out those we want to surround ourselves with when we game. Never underestimate the power of VOIP
I will agree with the others, play MMORPG's that are more off the beaten path, P2P and are notable for having a greater deal of complexity. (and the less mass marketing the better)
You won't avoid all drama, adults can bring a lot of that to the table as you are well aware of, but look towards games like LotRO, EVE, and some others for a slightly better open world experience.
I particularly enjoy EVE's community, even our asshats are entertaining, and I never feel like I'm involved in a childish situation.
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Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Sorry but avoiding games is just dumb. You only hurt yourself doing that.
There are a lot of really good games out there that kids play, don't deny yourself those games, you can enjoy them as well.
Couple of really good suggestions I saw on here:
1. Turn off General Chat
2 Join an Adults only guild
If you can't find one, start one.
I am 38, have a group of friends that play in the games people keep saying avoid. We have static groups we play with, only other adults. We enjoy our games emensely.
Don't avoid games, play them as an adult would. You can CHOOSE who you spend time with. Ignore and Squelch work very very well, even in wow, even in ddo, even in every game I can think of.
Not that i look for them (HONESTLY!) but ive found pre teens have more manners . Its the god awfull 15-19 year olds that shoot there interweb mouth off .
If your after a mature crowd i would sudgest Fallen Earth. They made a game for adults thats complex and deep and its still fairly new.
I think that's where your problem lies. To start with you segregating yourself as "me" from "them" thinking that because of your age your somewhat better than them.
What I would suggest is trying to keep an open mind and not think of people as "kids" or "adults", think of every person as an individual. Truth be told I've spoken to very mature 14-yr-olds in groups and some extremely immature 40-year-olds. It all depends on time and place imo. I find some people get online to shed the confining clothing of everyday life to be the opposite of what they are in real life. So you would actually be surprised of some of the interesting people I have met and some of the people I had to put on ignore.
Me? I have survived Barrens Chat and Valkrum Dunes chat that was "The Barrens" before WoW came on the scene. I know that "the younger crowd" can get very annoying, insulting and sometimes downright mean. I do get in touch with some of the hints that previous posters have said ie:turning off local chat, the ignore button and sometimes the off button for my computer. Sometimes it helps me to just step away when things get too stupid. But again, if I wasn't cool to younger person A then I would of never met older person B...Oh just go watch the EVE butterfly effect video!
Bottom line: Keep an open mind, you never know who your going to meet. If you put yourself within a niche, your only going to meet people within that niche. And last but not least, if all else fails, turn the bloody game off! If your are like me, an adult 30-something, then you probably have the never ending list of adult things to do. I just like to escape from it sometimes...heh heh.
Nicely written, but I do not consider myself better than a child, just different enough that I see no reason to interact with them on a regular basis. Not better, just different. I don't go to a playground to interact with children so I can meet their parents, I interact with adults in adult situations. I do understand what you mean though, ignoring a child simply because it's a child is stupid. A mature child can be a nice person to group up with, but no matter how you look at it, a mature child is still a child and compared to someone old enough to be his or her parent that mature child is childish. I am just tired of being surrounded by children all the time.
In the real world we can see straight up who is a child and who is not, in a virtual world that luxury is nonexistant. Whoever you meet in the game may be a small child and keeping that in mind constantly can become tiresome. Also children tend to be more vocal in their emotions than adults which is something that can become very annoying to me. I don't look down on them for being what they are, I just wish to find a place within the virtual environments where I can act my own age and not be constantly confronted with that kind of behavior.
So in short: I am not bashing children for acting their age, I just wish there were easier ways to get out of the kindergarden and still enjoy the game.
The main problem lies with me though, it's like loving that one painting for years and then notice a small flaw in it . After that you can't seem to overlook that flaw. Somehow it gets bigger and bigger untill you can't enjoy that painting anymore. The thing I need to find is a way to stop my fixation on that flaw so I can enjoy the bigger picture again. So far I have seen good suggestions that will help me with that. The simple fact that I have written this down instead of just thinking about it already helps me find solutions.
So again I thank all of you that have replied so far.
I have to say we are on the same wavelength there.
I realize that some people have declared that there are children who are mature and adults who act childish.
but in the end what we have is a mature child and a childish adult.
A mature child is great and a joy but they are still children. A childish adult is never great and sadly is an adult.
I like children a lot but have no interest in having them. To that end, when I visit my friends who have children is is very fun to interact with them as they are very mature and well behaved but I would not want to be with them all the time because "adult time" is more interesting and rewarding for me.
Still, I would rather play in a family guild with really nice kids than a hardcore guild with adults with questionable maturity.
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Point well taken.
I find that Roleplaying Guilds tend usualy to be more adult oriented and mature (membership not necessarily topically).
Also certain games have more mature adults; especialy those that are more difficult and time consuming.
I currently play Fallen Earth and it seems to be mostly adults and I am in, you guessed it, and RP guild so I beleive 95% of people I regularly come into contact with are adults (though I cannot check IDs).
Best MMO communities: Fallen Earth, LOTRO, and Eve.
Worst: WoW, Aion.
THE WORST: Darkfall. I do play it but man I cannot stand the community for the life of me.
Also take into account population can contribute to it. WoW has the most peeps so it makes sense you'll see more childish remarks.
I recall WWII online having a somewhat mature player base if you like Sim type war games. Ryzom is another that comes to mind.
As an older gamer (older than the OP), I understand where you are coming from and I feel your pain. All you can do is to look for people you enjoy playing with and hang out with them as much as possible.
Years ago I would have told you how age doesn't matter. But that was back when people spoke to one another in writing. Now that things are done in vent for most organized play, oh my. I feel like I am in a junior high school locker room and I can't stand it. Hell I didn't like it when I was in junior high.
There is also a multi-game guild called The Old Timers Guild, or something like that (I am not a member), that you might enjoy.
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Leave any global channels. WoW's trade channel for example.
Join a guild full of like minded people. Chat and quest with them.
Problem solved.
Well shave my back and call me an elf! -- Oghren
Just to be clear, I agree with the OP and some of the other like-minded posters in general; I just don't find simple age to be a useful limiter.
For example, a real-life friend of mine allows his son (12) to play an online game, but he plays with him and is just on a different computer in the same room most of time. You will not encounter a nicer, more polite or better behaved player. Conversely, the most immature, obnoxious, childish and rude individual it has ever been my displeasure to interact with in an online game was a married man in his mid-40s with multiple children. (and it wasn't just in-game, his age and family were apparent in part because he behaved the same way on voicecomms)
So while I can understand and even agree with the idea of an age-restricted game, I don't think it would really solve the problem. Only careful association in-game with specific groups and communities can do that.
I agree that an age restriction does not work. When I look at the people around me most if not all let their children play game with age restrictions well above the age of their children. I am not asking for such a thing either though, I may at times get extremely frustrated with the general attitude and childlike behavior I encounter in games, but I am just looking for a way to deal with it.
Place two games in front of a 12 year old, one is for all ages and one is for adults only. Which one do you thing the average kid would choose?
doesn't that loose the point of playing mmo's somewhat though?
I think this is why ppl say lotro has a good community. When i played i found that it had the same kids/idiots that every other game of its kind had, but there was no reason to interact with them(not a good thing). Or else it could be that the low population the game has means that they've moved on now
Also as you have said being in an adult only guild or any guild for that matter doesn't mean that much in this sense.
And avoiding f2p completely is not a complete given, bounty bay i found had a good community apart from 2 very vocal ppl. Also planeshift and AO seemed ok and until recently i would have said ddo aswell.
Yes, I recommend The Old Timers Guild and a guild I met during my stay in Fallen Earth called The Older Gamers. I found FE to be a very mature game and this to be a very mature guild. Don't ask me to comment on FE, but I really liked some of the people I met there, unfortunately I didn't meet enough people period.
I don't want to sound like a jerk OP, but if you further want to seclude yourself I would recommend Dragon Age: Origins. It has a great story, good graphics and handles just like a MMO. You also get to hand pick your party members and might even get lucky with one or two of them. There is no monthly fee and definitely no children involved.
But seriously, I do understand your angst with immaturity in online gaming communities. But it could get worse, a lot worse. Have you ever played an online shooter with voice chat? Ugh. That can get hairy especially when your team is losing and there is some pre-pubescent tween screaming at the top of his lungs that we suck and we are lowering his gamer score. That is painful.
So look on the brightside and look for some solutions. Right now I'm playing warhammer. The client is free and you can play for free forever, there is lots of pvp and the people that I have met so far seem cool. The game itself...meh. But it not a big freakshow like I've mentioned before.
Good luck to you in your gaming and I hope you find what you are looking for.
Play safe,
Inktomi
More like IQ test and age verification for using internet. less than 100, younger than 21 = gtfo
Oh and just for the record: no this is not a joke.
I agree with the OP and other like-minded people. It's not a hatred for kids, so much as a desire to be around people you relate to and vice versa. People you can shoot the shit with during travel periods and talk about "grown up" things, like work, politics (assuming all are of like mind. Nothing kills a good vibe like a political debate between diametrically opposed viewpoints, but I digress), and so on. I, too, am 37 and not to sound mean or anything, I don't give a rat's ass if you think your parents suck, because I probably agree with them.
Those of us who so choose visit the local pub on occasion to relax, have a drink, and hang out with other adults and do what adults do in those situation. Nothing wrong with seeking something analogous to that in the game.
"You'll never win an argument with an idiot because he is too stupid to recognize his own defeat." ~Anonymous
Age of Conan was supposed to be the big adults only dream game but I believe they tamed the breasts and blood somewhat
so as to gain younger clients. Not that I care so much to see breasts flashed here and there. It was a fine thought for a game to be adults only with grittier storyline and adult centred concepts over kiddie funtime cartoon worlds with fairy tales and pink houses.
I tried Ryzom a few weeks back and was greeted with childish banter in the chat window.
There is no way to escape it I am afraid. Join a guild with like minded people, like the Old Timer's Guild or the like. They accept 25 an older applicants and cover tons of online games, even FPS. They were a great fit for me and make playing a game much more enjoyable.
Other than that, we just have to hope that parents actually start to do their job as a parent rather then letting their kids run free on the internet.
I'm fed up with children as well but what to do?
They are everywhere and I'm not really interested in playing an MMORPG filled with blood and gore because that tends to attract the immature crowd.
And sex in a online game?
No, I don't want that.
All those memories will be lost in time, like tears in the rain.