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Topic: Sex, Lies, and... Runescape? (Read 5589 times)
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Kitsune
Terracotta Army
Posts: 2406
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TwitchGuru has an article juxtaposing the 'yay, fun cheap game for kids!' image against the realities of MMOG life. The jaded part of me has a, 'Well duh, jerks are on the interweb, don't let your kids wander around unsupervised, morons' view, the softer side admits that everything the writer mentioned is true, and the realistic side doesn't see any way for anyone to be able to sufficiently police a game to keep people from being bastards to each other. The only solution that I can consider at all workable would be to have a 'for kids' server where: 1. You can't type, can only communicate in set phrases ala Toontown. 2. Can't PVP without consent. Duels only. 3. Can only sell items to other players for fixed, fair prices set by the devs. Even then, people will somehow manage to screw others, but slapping in those draconian steps should stomp out the easiest scams and griefs. And you can bet that such a server would be a ghost town, with the younger players flocking to be on the 'adult' server, while the adults avoid it like the plague. Except the creepy ones. On a side note, with more and more 'free' MMOGs popping up every day ('free' being of the 'free to play, but you pay us for supar sekrit lewts and powerz' variety) it may not be a bad idea to dedicate a forum to the genre, covering things like Runescape, Frapplez, Anarchy Online, etc.
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Trippy
Administrator
Posts: 23657
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On a side note, with more and more 'free' MMOGs popping up every day ('free' being of the 'free to play, but you pay us for supar sekrit lewts and powerz' variety) it may not be a bad idea to dedicate a forum to the genre, covering things like Runescape, Frapplez, Anarchy Online, etc.
Given schild's dislike of all things MMOG-related (and PC-gaming related for that matter) be happy there's even an MMOG board.
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schild
Administrator
Posts: 60350
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Har! I just bought my first EA game in 8 years! And it was a PC Game! Sure, it's taking an hour to install, but I will have my sweet, sweet Command and Conquer.
And it's not a dislike of things MMO related. I dislike anything that's TOO afraid to be innovative.
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MahrinSkel
Terracotta Army
Posts: 10859
When she crossed over, she was just a ship. But when she came back... she was bullshit!
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Where have they been the last ten years? Most of this reads like something out of The Realm from 1996-97. Luring, super-rare gift promo items worth ridiculous amounts, obsession with stacking up gold that is inflating so fast you're really moving backwards, childish and nearly nonsensical pseudo-sexual hazing, all of it is old news.
But then, at least the population of the game can be forgiven for not knowing that history, some of them were still in diapers.
--Dave
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--Signature Unclear
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Kitsune
Terracotta Army
Posts: 2406
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I agree that this is nothing in the least new. The twist seems to be that the child demographic is being actively courted into the pit of retarded vipers that is the online community by the Runescape people. Even adults (in the legal sense of the word, no accounting for maturity) can wind up with very unhealthy behavior from MMOGs, just look at the gibbering man-child whose cat-filled apartment gave rise to the might that is 'catass'. And if adults can get fucked up by dealing with your average fantasy online game, what chance to ten-year-olds have?
I certainly don't feel that games should be lobotomized 'for teh childrens!', but if you're going to market a game at children, you'd best have made sure that there are at least SOME safeguards in the game that little Timmy doesn't get ganked and scammed in less than an hour.
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Venkman
Terracotta Army
Posts: 11536
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Unlike newer child/tween-focused MMOs, Runescape didn't seem specifically designed for them. It's like UO-lite that works in a browser, and it became popular with kids because it was a) free; b) browser-based; and, therefore, c) allowed them to treat their school or local library like an internet cafe. I always felt it was an adult game that happened to be played by kids.
Webkinz, Club Penguin, Nicktropolis, these are designed for kids. Yes, they can be haxxored. Yes, bad stuff still happens. But they are far more protected for the normal variety player than WoW or UO.
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Surlyboi
Terracotta Army
Posts: 10966
eat a bag of dicks
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And it's not a dislike of things MMO related. I dislike anything that's TOO afraid to be innovative.
Then you hate the electronic gaming industry pretty much as a whole, huh?
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Tuned in, immediately get to watch cringey Ubisoft talking head offering her deepest sympathies to the families impacted by the Orlando shooting while flanked by a man in a giraffe suit and some sort of "horrifically garish neon costumes through the ages" exhibit or something. We need to stop this fucking planet right now and sort some shit out. -Kail
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Numtini
Terracotta Army
Posts: 7675
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So the author is shocked that a game with a lot of 13 to 16 year old boys has a culture dominated by immature, obnoxious, sex obsessed, conformist, tribal, highly competative behavior? Behavior dare I say, of an adolescent nature?
Oh count me as shocked.
If he doesn't have a clue, he should rent one. The game didn't contaminate the pure little cherubs. The little monsters brought that culture with them. I loathe the adolescent male culture that dominates in a lot of gaming, but you can't blame the game for that. Once again, it's the players that are broken.
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If you can read this, you're on a board populated by misogynist assholes.
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Lantyssa
Terracotta Army
Posts: 20848
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Heh.
Why, exactly, is the "involved parent" and author still letting their two children play if things are so bad?
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Hahahaha! I'm really good at this!
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Kitsune
Terracotta Army
Posts: 2406
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Heh.
Why, exactly, is the "involved parent" and author still letting their two children play if things are so bad?
They're either an idiot, a raging hypocrite, or a decent parent who's taken the time to edjumacate their kids about dealing with tools on the internet.
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Lum
Developers
Posts: 1608
Hellfire Games
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Kitsune
Terracotta Army
Posts: 2406
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Oh dear lord, they were responsible for that idiotic abomination? I feel a little dirty for having visited the site, then.
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Xanthippe
Terracotta Army
Posts: 4779
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That article is a steaming pile of crap.
It's true that Runescape is inhabited by children. Is it a protected safe space where one can drop off one's children? Nope. No place on the internet is as long as people can type freely.
Would I let my kids play it? Yep, and they have, although they prefer more polished worlds like WoW or CoH. However, they play next to me, partly so I can monitor their behavior, as well as other people's behavior to them.
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Sky
Terracotta Army
Posts: 32117
I love my TV an' hug my TV an' call it 'George'.
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I hate the Runescape. For being such a shitty game. I really wanted to roll up a pk to wtfpwn some of the brats that play here at the library. Couldn't make it past the tutorial, that game /sucks/.
We've had a couple issues arise. One is that some numbnuts republican banned chat in the library a decade ago 'for the children', and now nobody will touch the topic on the Board. So at least five times a week, our resident guard dog assistant harasses kids playing Runescape for 'chatting'. I've brought it up at several meetings, how unfair it is to allow kids to play Runescape but not chat. Ban Runescape or allow chat. Or even just ignore it in Runescape (like everyone but the assistant does anyway). It's completely tarded. Then the kids get pissed and trouble starts. /sigh
The other is computer domination. These kids are mmo addicts, they hover around looking for any free computer and drive away research users (though not as bad as the myspace thugs).
We don't monitor what they do, so I don't know how deep the problems go. A couple kids have been playing for years, so it can't be too bad imo. Though they are hilarious online thuglife-type gamers (and 14-15yr old, skinny, white kids).
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DataGod
Terracotta Army
Posts: 138
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"just look at the gibbering man-child whose cat-filled apartment gave rise to the might that is 'catass'"
ROFL, another contribution to civilization brought to you by the same town that started the gold rush (sadly also where I live, now if the Kings could just win that NBA Championship....)
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UnSub
Contributor
Posts: 8064
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Xanthippe
Terracotta Army
Posts: 4779
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Article part 2 is still a dripping pile of excrement.
I mean come on. "For the children" is so tired, especially when it's written by someone who obviously has none (but up until recently was one).
Trouble, oh we got trouble, Right here in River City! With a capital "T" That rhymes with "P" And that stands for pool, That stands for pool. We've surely got trouble! Right here in River City, Right here! Gotta figger out a way To keep the young ones moral after school! Trouble, trouble, trouble, trouble, trouble...
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Kitsune
Terracotta Army
Posts: 2406
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Uh, I believe the writer claimed to have two kids of their own. And the general lack of any semblance of the developers giving a fuck about the user experience certainly rings true about every MMOG on the market today.
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Hellinar
Terracotta Army
Posts: 180
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A lot of the scamming is driven by the games emphasis on the acquisition of items, regardless of how you got it. A more story based game, in which the history of you character and your items was recorded, would be much safer for children. Scamming would be less appealing if people could look at your stuff and see how you got it.
I’m biased in that I like the idea of story based play. I would like to see a MMOG based on the recording of characters stories in the world, rather than just item acquisition. In the days of Diku MUDs, that would have been too expensive in disk space. It wouldn’t be now. Such a world would be a lot safer I think, as it enforces some accountability, at least at the character level.
Scamming and cheating is empowered by making “what you have” the driving force of the game. Some games already use cheap versions of “how you got it” like “bind on pickup”. But with cheap storage, MMOGs could go a lot further in making you actions have a lasting record, and hence impact, in the world. That would teach kids, and adults, a lot about taking responsibility for their actions.
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Trouble
Terracotta Army
Posts: 689
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That's one thing I've liked about WoW. It's still an item-centric game, but the fact that most gear is bind on pickup IE you need to go kill something to acquire the gear you want, keeps scamming to a minimum. I've played games in the past where all items could be traded and in all cases scamming was something that ran rampant. Some people just see that as a legit way to acquire items in an item centric game.
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