Under 13? {Editorial}
Posted Monday, October 6th, 2008 4:24 pm by Max
Well all know that Twin Skies is going to be an MMO. Why start with that opening line, Max? Well, with MMOs comes some very unsettled ground, namely in the department of who should and shouldn’t be playing them. With the growing number of violent and suggestive video games on the market, that line is significantly blurring, but the concern is still ever present. With the recent announcement of the coming Under 13 service for Twin Skies, it might be time to examine wether or not it’s right for children to be playing a game like this.
First off, let’s start off with the age grouping of Under 13. I think that with the games and other things our society has portrayed recently, we need to change the age grouping. I would probably say around 10 and under now, as most thirteen year olds are surrounded by things a lot worse than the content originally thought to mature for them. The safety concern is still there, but with the amount of internet safety that is taught today, any middle schooler with a brain should figure out not to meet people online. I mean c’mon, give these kids more credit!
Now that that’s out of the way, time to move on to the meat of the problem, content. Twin Skies is a fantasy MMO, so slaying beasts and collecting X amount of bear parts is just a requirement, that’s a staple of the experience. There also maybe some monsters or creatures that are rather grotesque and might induce fear in someone. That’s probably why a game like World of Warcraft achieved a T rating, which is another way of saying for 13+. However, a lot of people play WoW with their children, so ratings are easily ignored.
The guys over at Twin Skies are trying to work on the site to be geared to 13 and under in some way, but let’s hope they don’t have that as a center of their focus. Adam has been quoted saying that the age they are targeting is 13-17 and even into adulthood, so we know they won’t gear too many things down for children and preteens. But that brings up the question why even try for a 13 and under area of the site? Most likely, the culprit is attracting the largest possible audience to increase revenue and the like. Knowing Adam and Donna, they are trying to deliver the best game possible, and worry less about who is buying into it. But still, why shoot for an Under 13 section?
There is another reason for having an Under 13 portion. If they are attracting that audience, then their parents would want a way to know that they are safe online. From my experience, most parents are only slightly worried about the content, though they will list it as one of the leading reasons for not allowing their children to play MMOs. However, an underlying cause is safety. Preventing child abusers, which sadly are many on the internet, from harming their children, if there is an open chat system they will most likely say no, as it is easier for children to talk and meet complete strangers. Thus, the Meteor team might put locks on children’s accounts, much like they did on Neopets.
Introducing swear words to kid’s eyes might also be something to be wary of. A lot of teenagers think it’s cool to just swear immensely and then send it into general chat for all to see. It’s a fact of the stupidity that is adolescence. Putting tough sensors on children’s accounts is also part of the plan, well in this writer’s opinion it will be. Without it, there might be a lot of cursing younglings playing Twin Skies.
One last, serious point is addiction, which a lot of people who play MMOs can attest to. At some point, it takes over your mind, and the only thing you can think about is what class to play next and what you need to do next. It happens to almost everyone, worse to some than others. Since kids are easily excitable and take things to far sometimes, it happens to them more often. Thankfully, parental locks are easy to put on games, and Meteor Games is more likely than not going to implement them. However, the best way to combat it is make sure you check on yourself and your kids and see if you can think of anything else besides the game.
There are a lot of reason Twin Skies, and MMOs in general, are not great for children under 13. But, the fact of the matter is that it is just a game and most kids, if monitored, can healthily enjoy it. So let’s hope that the Under 13 service will be great for Twin Skies, and let us older folks still enjoy it’s 13-17 goodness!
