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The 13 year old WoW player myth
Torak
Member Posts: 4,905
Here is an interesting article.
I though so mainly because of the years of reading comments on boards about all the "kids" who play MMO's like "WoW" (the infamous "12 or 13 years olds" who would have to number inthe millions according to some)
Apparently WoW / MMORPG's and virtual worlds are the LEAST popular games they play...
Take it for what its worth, I didn't write it so think what you want.
www.massively.com/2008/09/18/keen-teens-not-on-mmogs-virtual-worlds-study-finds/
Comments
I don't really think people are commenting on physical age more like mental maturity. Just my two cents.
What does age even mean?
I've met more fun, mature people in WoW than on Xbox Live or PSN.
WoW is not for kids, whoever says that anyways?
Total time played: 9125 Days, 21 Hours, 29 Minutes, 27 Seconds
Time played this level: 39 Days, 1 Hour, 24 Minutes, 5 Seconds
Of course the WoW player base is not made up of kids anymore. The game is four years old - they all grew up into "big kids" or young adults... <.< >.>
Seriously though, I think people are referring to mental age. I have met my fair share of mature and immature players. WoW seems to have a community filled with both, which is expected because of its number of subscriptions.
indeed i've come across many lil 12y-o twats whose faces i just wanted to bash in, lol, but i've found that some of the more immature people i've come across on any mmo were actually not younguns, but instead stubborn old men *chuckles*
war is peace
freedom is slavery
ignorance is strength
big brother is watching you
I've only confirmed a few people I've played with on WoW was under the age of 16. Also, only 2 of them were immature, the others were very mature and only revealed their age when they knew that they would not be ridiculed because of this idiotic stereotype.
Truthfully, the worst and most immature players that I have personally encountered were over 21 and couldn't stop drinking beer for 2 minutes.
In fact, one guy drank an entire 6 pack over the course of one instance run and thought it was hilarious to break my sheep nearly every pull.
I've played with 15 year olds who have been extremely mature for their age, and conversely people in their 30's who have acted like spoilt brats. Age is irrelevant.
Dude my 10 year old brother managed to level a char from 1-70 on his own without any help... i think thats what poeple are talking about..
It's not so much their physical age that makes people thinkthey're 12, it's the way they act. I have a few nephews and nieces that are around that age and they don't care much for mmos, most are content with their ps3 or xbox 360 for their gaming and use the pc mostly for their chatting and contact needs.
The way some people act in games they'd never do out in public because they know that if they pulled that same shit in a bar or on the street they'd get the shit kicked out of them. I've been to a few net cafe places in the last 10 years and I've seen groups of people come and play mmos together and none of them act they way they do in real life. I've seen them spout nonsence over vent and type complete garbage into the chatbox as well as being completely belligerant online but once removed from that aspect and you sit them down on a patio and have a drink and just sit back none of it is presnet.
No required quests! And if I decide I want to be an assassin-cartographer-dancer-pastry chef who lives only to stalk and kill interior decorators, then that's who I want to be, even if it takes me four years to max all the skills and everyone else thinks I'm freaking nuts. -Madimorga-
My 2 cents is that when i played I did encounter alot of immature players, but i never immediately thought they were teens. Immaturity can be found at any age.......
You should've seen some of my Marines during shore leave!!! LOL
Played : WOW, LOTRO, COH/COV, EQ2, SWG, and WAR.
Playing EVE Online and AOC.
Wtg for SW:TOR and WOD
I think I once had a guild member leave my party because his mom was sending him to bed.
Multiple times I had a guildmate take a 10 minute AFK to put the kids to bed.
I don't think that's an unusual experience.
In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own.
-Thomas Jefferson
People act immature in WoW, or on the internet, because they are mature the whole day in real life. And while teens don't need to be mature all the time, adults have to. Or at least I'd say that's my theory.
I've been playing WoW since the open beta and my experience has been diverse, in the area of "ages" of players.
I've been in two LARGE (I mean pretty darn large, like over 300 people) raid guilds, that were all adults over the age of 18, in one, and 25 in the other. Although, I actually found that MOST of the players in those guilds were actually over THIRTY. O.o I'm 45, and I have to admit....I like playing with people closer to my own age.
HOWEVER....I have also met a couple of WONDERFUL young teens that had NO problem whatsoever "fitting in" to my predominantly adult gaming circle. Both were very very bright, mature young people, with a sharp wit, and they were good players too. One was a young man who named his first toon, a rogue, "Hidden." The second had a druid named, "Krantarage." "Hidden" has since grown up. He's 20 now, I believe, and recently went to CHINA to study. I still hear from him once-in-a-while, and it's funny....but I have to say, I am proud to have gotten to know him. Quite a brilliant young man, he is, and I have a lot of fun memories of our guild times together.
On the flipside of that coin....I have met some adults that made me want to SMACK their mommas. >: I think they must have been parented by baboons. They had NO respect for others and were essentially selfish imbeciles.
So....age isn't the only or even a GOOD way to judge anyone. Your chances of finding more mature people to game with over the age of 25 is BETTER, but not exclusive to that age bracket.
Anyway....there are a LOT more older people that play WoW, from my experience, than what some people care to believe.
Oh yeah...one of the guilds I was in, Get Off My Lawn, at one time had a couple in their early 60s that played together. WOOHOO...ya gotta love THAT!!
President of The Marvelously Meowhead Fan Club
This sounds very similiar to a speach of a known pedophil defending himself in a courthouse.
REALITY CHECK
Like a few people have already said...age is very relative.
I use to teach tennis part time, and I had these two cousins, age 11 and 13, who played WoW and when they would win a point, or playing doubles, would say something to the extent of "omg we're pwning!". It gave me shivers each time. I would also overhear conversations between them about the game, it put my playing them into real perspective.
On the other hand though, In the workplace now I sometimes see these two guys on lunch sometimes discussing WoW and I would say they are less mature than those kids when it came to how they talked about it. Imagine a mid-30s overweight guy and a skinny pimply 20 something year old eating lunch and complaining about how warriors are overpowered loud enough that anyone could hear.
I have also seen recruits make apps for my guild and talking to them on vent I can kind of gauge their age range, and have found teenagers to sometimes be much more calm and collected than some adults.
---sig---
Click this for lulz: http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/173737/page/6
21% of the 98% of of teens that play video games is still a lot.
It asked what their favorate type of game was so that doesn't mean that the others don't also play mmo's.
This sounds very similiar to a speach of a known pedophil defending himself in a courthouse.
Thillian, that was entirely uncalled for. I'm a 45 year old mother of three teens. Two of my children are pretty mature for their age, the other one...not so much. And I have to agree with having met people in their 30's "who have acted like spoiled brats."
The comment was made on a thread regarding the mature or immature behavior of gamers in online games. No one said anything that could even REMOTELY be construed as sexual or perverted in nature....until YOU.
President of The Marvelously Meowhead Fan Club
I haven't read your post or your link, but it's obvious that the higher the monthly fee the lower the number of kiddies will be playing, kids play those games as long as their parents are willing to pay, and unless the parents are rich and don't pay attention to their credit card statements, most kids can't afford p2p games, which is a good thing, just as an example, play any single free mmo out there, the player base will be 90% kiddies.
This alone is a good reason for the more mature player to play a p2p game like wow or WARHAMMER. And a roleplay sever on a p2p game will be even more mature, my guild is on Ostermark a USA roleplay server.
Dwarfs only need apply.
--- Razimus
Yeah, adults that forms a guild named Bros B4 Hoes has a mental age of about 14.
I have no doubt there are lot of kids on my server in WoW, though also a lot of late teen/early 20s which will likely be the main source of conversation in the trade channel. (There are of course many adults too- for instance, my guild seems to have like a 30-something leader) It is irritating that people dismiss the fact there is many teens playing WoW when it is blatantly obvious with a wandering around any of the cities.
This survey incidentally, doesn't really say anything. People that do play PC games, and more so mmorpgs are a minority as opposed to the console games.
This sounds very similiar to a speach of a known pedophil defending himself in a courthouse.
Thillian, that was entirely uncalled for. I'm a 45 year old mother of three teens. Two of my children are pretty mature for their age, the other one...not so much. And I have to agree with having met people in their 30's "who have acted like spoiled brats."
The comment was made on a thread regarding the mature or immature behavior of gamers in online games. No one said anything that could even REMOTELY be construed as sexual or perverted in nature....until YOU.
Yikes,
I agree there, where did that come from Thillian?
Anyway, interesting. Personally in 7 years of MMO gaming I couldn't even tell you the age of anyone I have gamed with. Personally I do not find it relevant at all in the gaming context. (I've played several MMOs with people from this board also) Everyone is younger then me anyway....except for girlgeek
I was actually surprised by the number of adults in the game. In around 3 years of play and being in guilds of up to 380 people I would say I ran into no more than 6 kids on vent.
It should be pointed out a cc isn't needed for this game if players can get hold of gamecards.
Additionally, I don't know whether this is just my server but are people really suggesting these people who 'beg', spam over and over for 'boosts' and all sorts are seriously 'immature adults'. I have no doubt there are many 'immature adults', in fact I'd maybe suggest that text can be intepreted in different ways- someone getting perhaps strongly emotional over something maybe seen as one of these. A for instance is someone shouting expletives at me: 'YOU NOOBIE' 'YOU RETARD'. (in fact, it was the tank who made the error but still..).
This sounds very similiar to a speach of a known pedophil defending himself in a courthouse.
Thillian, that was entirely uncalled for. I'm a 45 year old mother of three teens. Two of my children are pretty mature for their age, the other one...not so much. And I have to agree with having met people in their 30's "who have acted like spoiled brats."
The comment was made on a thread regarding the mature or immature behavior of gamers in online games. No one said anything that could even REMOTELY be construed as sexual or perverted in nature....until YOU.
Well but you've got to admit, it was a jolly good fun.
No offense, but every pedophil out there uses that argument to defend himself"She looked old enough to guess her 18 and behaved like 20. Who would expect she was only 13?"
But anyway, this whole thread is a mess. The article is biased. There is no way to make a relevant and accurate research about how many kids play what games especially mmorpgs
REALITY CHECK
A game like WOW and MANY others mmo encounrage 13 year old behavior. The main goal is LOOT. So everyone plays for loot and do not lie about it… While some are able to control their mouth, deep down, they are more then happy to get the latest epic pony gear for their tree elf.
Since some are more vocal, you get to hear them more often.
Most MMO don’t have death penalities or to the very least a way to shut a player down. So people tend to go overboard without realizing that they are acting like a retard. (Trust me, we all did it once)
In a game like Mankind or EVE… If you’re bright, you try to avoid acting like a retard or else you’ll soon discover that dying is not exactly good. Especially in low sec…
See people are no different then any living creature in this world. You give them the freedom to act without consequences and you’ll quickly discover that some will gladly brain fart and go retard. However, put them in a situation where anything they say can backfire at them, you’ll suddenly discover a completely different person. If I point a gun at your face and tell you to shut up, you will shut up. I tell you to shut up from the other side of the world, you’ll gladly tell me go f*** myself and that you are not afraid of me… until I show up at your door =D
WOW does not penalize people for being retards…
Kids ;-)