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Parental advise?

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    Master Commander
    May 8, 2016, 1:14 a.m.
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    Howdy,

    So my son is turning 13 years of age June of this year 2016. He has asked me how old he has to be until he can play secret world? My response is, "you need to be 45 years old!!" He reminds that I am not even that old. To which I respond, "exactly!!! I should not even be playing." This has stalled thee inevitable.

    So, my son loves Minecraft. I don't think he will dig tsw. I think once he hits savage coast he will find it too difficult. Except, that we could play together. Which could be fun.

    This would be the first mature rated game I would be giving him permission to play. My first reaction is "No, he shouldn't play. Too soon." But then, tsw is a unique MMO. With a unique community. Honestly, this is the only mature rated game I play.

    I am thinking 14 might be better... Or maybe, I should let him try it? He wouldn't be a Dragon... Templar parents don't allow that.

    Then... If he does play, should his last name be Rimmer? Would he be a hologram?

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    Retired 114 posts
    May 8, 2016, 1:38 a.m.
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    It is your child and your choice. Here's my thought with someone who deals with this kids of this age range on a daily basis.
    Being as I teach 11-13 years olds currently, and have taught older grades before, if you feel comfortable with him playing use it as a teaching tool.
    What I've seen is so many adults and parents treat teenagers as kids. They want to be adults, they want to understand the world and be treated as adults, but still have less responsibilities since they're still kids.
    Use it to talk about the greys of morality, how people can use you for things, why order is important, and why doing the wrong thing for the right reasons can be permissible. (Cassandra notably one, Che isn't as good as he appears, Why John believes he's right, etc.)
    Use it to promote teamwork, to promote good interpersonal skills. To promote math (lord knows adding up all the BB and Mops can get crazy), to promote goal setting.
    Gather all the lore with him, talk about the stories, why things happen, how history affects the now.
    Games are not just games but teaching tools. As a teacher I use their knowledge of games to connect it to what I'm teaching, or allow them to use it to show me their knowledge in what I'm teaching.
    I have no children myself, so I can't speak from the parental side of it, but from a teaching aspect, the game could be used as both an activity for you to bond over and have fun with as well as a way for you and your son to open up dialogue as he grows into a young man.

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    Standard Bearer
    May 8, 2016, 2:45 a.m.
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    I... like what Rock-y said, but, I neither have children, nor especially like children- unless they're someone elses, I can be the weird uncle who tells'em bad jokes that make their parents go WHAT, and most importantly give 'em back. I'm often, yeah, a bad joker.

    That said, if 13 is too young, and 14 is old enough, when he's 14, that'll be too young, and 15 will be old enough, etc. It depends on his own relative maturity as well as age, it's not an 'age' bracket. That, however said, I will remind that ODO is 18+ years, because, well. We DO do bad jokes sometimes. 🙂

    And now, sorry, I'm imaging a 13 year old meeting Sacharrisa and all I can hear in my head is 'Hehe, heh, boobies' in a Beavis and Butthead voice.

    Hey, I can only say what I'd've done at that age!

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    Master Commander
    May 8, 2016, 10:40 a.m.
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    Good advise! Thank you Rock-y.

    We recently started watching Godeater on Hulu together. I didn't feel Godeater really deserved a mature rating. I wouldn't let my son watch Game of Thrones though. There seems to be various degrees of what falls under the rating mature. As a parent, This makes it a bit more difficult to sift through the grey.

    I want my son & I to be able to communicate. So far, so good. I remember hating being disrespected as a kid just because I was one. Maybe, letting the leash out here will help aid the communication to continue.

    I may test the waters a bit here... So, Thank you. One issue I do have is membership. The bonus rewards make playing kinda fun again. I am not sure how to approach that. It is kinda unfair for me to have a membership and him not to. Yet I don't think paying for a membership wise until he made it to Tokyo. Make him earn it.

    I'll probably wait for another deal on Steam. Probably buy the version that comes with issues 5,6,7 & 8. I think that orochi disruptor is worth the collectors edition price.

    Mr. Pyre, it will be interesting to see if he sticks with it. Then maybe y'all would consider an exception on the age limit for ODO. Then, maybe not...

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    Retired 18 posts
    May 10, 2016, 8:23 a.m.
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    Well I am also 'from the field' (educational psychology to be exact) and I am totally with what Emberien (Rocky?) has to say.
    There are some aspects in this game that I feel are unnecessarily stupidly exploitative, misogynistic costumes. But - no worse than you can see at the beach or at the municipal swimming pool if you think about it. I just think it's dumb to walk in to a dungon clad in nothing but a bellydancing outfit.
    I don't even think the love hotel would be too much for a 13 year old. The bits you don't really think you'd want to expose them to, will probably go right over their head.

    TSW has some cerebral challenges, and you learn to work with other people. strategy, tactics, puzzle solving. If you play together with the kid, it's a great opportunity in my opinion, not just to have them think about things, but also to connect on a new level.

    -P.

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    Retired 9 posts
    May 10, 2016, 6:34 p.m.
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    I was playing 18+ games when I was 12-13yrs old... Fairly hard puzzle games with adult themes.

    However, I'm fairly sure the TSW rules themselves says you have to be 18+ to play the game? On steam, you need to enter your birthday to see the store page for it! 😲

    I don't have kids, but I remember how I was as a teen. I also love minecraft so I don't think it's a totally different thing (tho geeze, i went back to playing it the other day and the way of moving around is a little different... throws me off.)

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    Knight
    May 10, 2016, 10:36 p.m.
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    Secret World can be dark and depressing at times. Too often our characters are late to the tragedy and feel powerless to change anything no matter how hard they try. Age is coming to an end, we cannot prevent the bomb going off in Tokyo, Kassandra King steals the sword, Tyler Freeborn is dead all along, we did our best in Kaidan only to be told that Dragon won. Honestly, at his age I appreciated stories with possibilities for happy ending more than grim horror tales.

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    only worth a pack of gum
    May 10, 2016, 10:42 p.m.
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    I think that you can have someone ready for mature concepts pretty early - there's also whether or not he'd take the time to be immersed in the storylines, or just skip cutscenes to get back to the fightin (for example).

    Having played with a lot of parents and child combos over the years in different titles, there's also the question of how ready you are to be letting your progeny loose in an online environment. I've seen perfectly sensible people properly lose their shit when someone said unkind things about their kid - and some groups can be really harsh.

    I think most other stuff has already been covered, it's ultimately going to fall to you and how you feel!

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    Standard Bearer
    May 12, 2016, 4:57 a.m.
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    On the age subject, Alphabethead-- I think backstage, we have the age limit for a reason. We can get seriously NSFW humor etc going on, and trying to mind our manners, even with just dropping casual curses and muttering in cabal chat, most of us are adults, who joke around (good lord tonight in US raid was INTERESTING O.O). Some of us do work-- not me, thank fuck, sorry, babies are cute, kids are ... kinda... teens are hormonal bags of OH MYGOD -- with kids, so having to force ourselves age appropriate would be bad. This isn't a hard fast rule, but most are in agreement, sadly.

    This is not an insult to your son, as a note: but most of us, we have to censor at work, school, etc, so being able to drop some age appropriate stuff is nice, and not self censor, is nice. This isn't a finalized 'rule' but most are in agreement.

    Hell, me? I'm ex navy, didn't serve too long, sadly, but I can curse like a seaman, and I look up to those who curse like sailors. I have a guy at my work, Walt, who's the most foulmouthed, motherfucking, not-giving-a-flying-fuck ex-Sailor I've ever met, he'd tell a customer who asked 'Can I grill this piece of meat' - 'Of COURSE you can, you can slap yer DICK on grill for all I care.' and tell his boss, after he asks him why they don't have more ground beef, 'Ya dumb fuck, haven't ya read the news? There's a shortage, get the fuck out of here, asshole!'

    He's... my rolemodel 😀

    I.. want to be him, when I'm his age... Zero fucks to give, and, yeah. He's a badass motherfucker.

    *True Story

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    Master Commander
    May 13, 2016, 2:11 p.m.
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    Thank you PYRE, AWOL, Megilliot, Akkikins & Annalies!

    I went ahead and signed him up. He has been soloing in Kingsmouth. Last-Human is his name. He is a better player than I. He went Blade/Rifle. He seems to be breezing through it. I remember Kingsmouth being kinda difficult.

    The kids in my sons middle school are probably worse then most sailors. So the swearing issue is kinda resolved by just getting him to understand that people swear a lot... & he should choose to not be like everyone else. Personally, I think it is funnier to talk like Yosimite Sam. "Great Hornytoads!!!" "What in Tarnations!" "Ya Lousy Varmit!" "Dang Nab It!"

    I appreciate the advise. The Internet is a scary place. However dark Secret World is, I have found the tsw community to be friendly and helpful.

    We will see how long he plays... He doesn't know the sword is Excalibur yet... I am not sure he understands what Excalibur even is. He thinks that he is going to equip THAT sword after he finishes the story mission. He is excited about it. Which... TSW should have totally done that!!!

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    only worth a pack of gum
    May 13, 2016, 2:44 p.m.
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    Honestly, I disagree here. In so many games, you'll get given Excalibur, Anduril, the ultimate weapon of doom, and they're all unique and incredible - and everyone has one. Personally, I like that we are bees. We're one in many - we may be special, but we are not alone.

    It does look frickin awesome though, I wish there were more skins like that!!

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    Master Commander
    May 14, 2016, 2:05 a.m.
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    It would be nice, if we could use, Excalibur, for at least one mission.

    Otherwise, I agree. We do have wings, though...

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    Retired 13 posts
    June 21, 2016, 8:32 a.m.
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    I just joined this cabal a couple of days ago, I know this is an old thread, but I am curious how gameplay has been with you and your son. I am impressed with the honest and well thought out responses from our fellow cabalists. What a genuinely warm and helpful, sometimes uproariously funny group of humans. €:)

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    Master Commander
    June 22, 2016, 4:08 a.m.
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    Well today is his birthday! So, Thank you. Synchronicity. He spent most of the day playing Uncharted 4 today.

    To answer your question... The boy has made it to scorched earth. He has mostly ql 6-7. We are due for a normal Ankh dungeon run. He is currently working on his skill 10 head tailsman, so we can get him through last train to Cairo. After he gets his major tailsman skill 10, I'll buy him a copy of The Park. He has focused strictly on blade & Ar.

    Kinda waiting for Steam Summer sale... Do you guys know if I buy tsw ultimate edition on steam will that discount collectors edition issues in store? Kinda like issue 15 ce...

    It seems the game is easier for him then it was for me. Maybe, it is because Blade is that good soloing...
    Maybe, it is because he listens and doesn't waste his time skilling up unneeded stuff early on. I think they made the game a bit easier by giving new players better gear & rewards... Plus we been hitting up those normal dungeons.

    The boy seems to enjoy the game. It has given us quite a bit to talk about. It has given him a diversion from mine craft. Given us another game to play together.

    The TSW community is great period. Your right, this cabal is full of thoughtful, reasonable, warm hearted human beings. That was the deciding factor for letting him play.

    We will see if he sticks with it. I am not going to pressure him. He just kept asking me how old he had to be when he could play tsw. Thanks for asking!

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    Retired 9 posts
    June 25, 2016, 11:17 a.m.
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    The ultimate edition comes with 1 month/30days membership so yea you'd get the discounts in the store for 30 days... and yes it's on the steam sale at the moment
    store.steampowered.com/app/359380/

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    Master Commander
    July 5, 2016, 4:06 p.m.
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    We got thee ultimate edition & the park. Buying thee ultimate edition does discount the collectors edition issues. So it is roughly 1680 fun com points for issue 10 or 11 CE. That is with the membership discount.

    Thank you.