How long do you spend?

Justask

Hi folks this has probably been asked a 100 times.

But my son has just signed up to World of Warcraft and seems to want to spend far to much time on it!
Maybe im just over reacting but i'd love to hear the amount of time you spend on the game?

silvine

Average session 2-3 hours and I'm not even a high ranking player.

Justask

Thanks fot the replies!

Hes only 13 so im a bit concerned but i will keep a close on him not that hes going to be happy with that but tough!

2 Espressi

Don't forget, you can use the Parental Controls in the WoW account management section to set a schedule, so you can set when, and for how long Jr. can play.

https://www.wow-europe.com/en/info/faq/parentalcontrols.html

I tend to play for an hour or two, a couple of times a week, but that's a lot less since my daughter was born.

KilOit

For 4 years i'd play from when i came home from work till about 11 in the evening, roughly 5-6 hours a day and 10 or so hours on weekends, i quit about 9 months ago from boredom and in that time i had to regain my friends back.

I will go back in the expansion but i quit my top 200 guild to join a very casual guild, no more late nights ever again,

Be very careful with a 13 year old starting on this game, i was 21 when i started and it still took a hold of my life, make sure he doesn't make excuses not to play with his real life friends.

Ptard

Kaidan wrote: »

For 4 years i'd play from when i came home from work till about 11 in the evening, roughly 5-6 hours a day and 10 or so hours on weekends, i quit about 9 months ago from boredom and in that time i had to regain my friends back.

I will go back in the expansion but i quit my top 200 guild to join a very casual guild, no more late nights ever again,

Be very careful with a 13 year old starting on this game, i was 21 when i started and it still took a hold of my life, make sure he doesn't make excuses not to play with his real life friends.

I personally lost all my real life friends because of this game, different situations for different people though.
Keep an eye out,
even more so if there's something worrying him in real life.

Justask

Hi folks...

thanks for all ur replies.

I didnt realise there was a parent control on it!

It seems to be a very involved game, but im a mum and im not suppose to understand it

I had a chat today with my son and we cam to a deal that hes going to play it for 1 hour a day and 2 at the weekend!

I'll take it from there.

Many thanks again

Columc

Get involved and play with him maybe

Komplett-Tech: Ryan

Columc wrote: »

Get involved and play with him maybe

Oh God no. I've played with a guy who had both his parents, and sister playing with him. A family fued over some epic's just isn't worth it.

Kiith

Kid 1: It's mine.
Kid 2: No, its mine.
Mom: Your both grounded.
Kid 1/2: It's yours

That would be the weirdest group ever.

StinkyMunkey

Very addictive tbh, im a casual WoW player, buts thats only because my job, wife and child keep me away from WoW (thats not a bad thing:D). But if i was younger, i could see myself spending every waking minute playing WoW.

magicianz

Just as a heads up, once he hits the level cap(which will be 85 by the time he is up there I would imagine) he will probably want to start raiding which does require more of a commitment depending on the level you go to. It could be anywhere from a 4 hour session one night to 5 nights a week! It is a big part of the game when you reach the highest level and many people do it. I would max it at 2 days a week personally! While it is fun to the players, it can be quite harmful to social lives if not managed well and watched esp. At that age

Again, all your choices but that's my 2 cents

Ivan

This is a very relative subject it really depends on a lot of factors. How long has your child been playing WoW for, how much experience has he had with MMOs/Computer games in general/how close is he with his real-life friends/how much time does he have, outside of school, with his real-life friends?

Potentially if you do it right, it will improve your relationship with your child but equally so, if you do it incorrectly, it will only damage it. Speak to your son, understand what he gets out of the game and try to provide/encourage alternatives for acquiring the same benefits from other sources.

Being open and honest with him does wonders, but only if you are there from the start. Understand the game and what he takes from it and you will have immense success. Coming in midway through his experience and trying to dictate what he can and cannot do will instantly make you the enemy and only create distance between the two of you.

Understanding the game yourself will do wonders for your ability to
A) Appreciate what he means by "just 10 more minutes, I'm doing something really important here" and "yeah, yeah; whatever you say mom!".
Understand that, depending on a lot of circumstances (AGE/maturity/friendships/other social activities) your son may find WoW to be the ultimate escapism. It is important to identify this early, as if you treat the situation incorrectly then he will only resent you and try to circumvent your authority at every available opportunity (which will only serve to distance you from one another).

Ultimately, you need to look at it as an opportunity for the two of you to become closer. If your child was investing as much time in a sport, say basketball or football then you would (presumably) nurture the activity and show your support. With this in mind, you need to do just that. Show an interest but recognise (because if you do not, then bad things may happen because this can become an addiction) that you alone can dictate how he spends his time (only if you show an interest and therefore earn the right).

Things like:
You can play as much as you want as long as you have finished your homework/chores (If and only if, you check his homework and/or chores afterwards and visibily i.e. in front of him).

Children like routine and coming from school and jumping into homework is very easy if they know exactly what comes next i.e. playing World of Warcraft. At the end of the day, support your child if you try to battle him/her, you will lose and potentially, without ever realising that you were fighting in the first place.

Good luck. You'll need it.

Justask

Thank Ivan,

He has only been playing the game a couple of days...
And he has a very very active social life which has not or will not become affected.
I only came on to get an idea of the amount of time in people spend on this game!
I dont really need luck thanks i've done just fine up till now!

IMO this game CAN be dangerous if it is let take over!

I have done alot of reading up on WOW in the last few days.

Thanks for the replies

Ivan

Good for you and yours.

All the best, seems like he's in good hands.

Shougeki

RopeDrink wrote: »

Then again, back then my "WoW" was stuff like Syndicate on the Amiga 500 or StreetFighter in Arcades

/EndMush

Gauntlet :P

Overheal

Justask wrote: »

Thank Ivan,

He has only been playing the game a couple of days...
And he has a very very active social life which has not or will not become affected.
I only came on to get an idea of the amount of time in people spend on this game!
I dont really need luck thanks i've done just fine up till now!

IMO this game CAN be dangerous if it is let take over!

I have done alot of reading up on WOW in the last few days.

Thanks for the replies

Well, there are parental controls available: you can strictly enforce how many hours per day, even what time slots during the week you will allow the account to played inside of. you can find out more here: http://www.wowwiki.com/Parental_Controls

Generally, How much time does stuff take? Assuming they have a Toon/Playable Character already leveled up, the average Raid can take 3 hours on Average; with time needed beforehand to get ready: Repair armor, buy items, travel to the location of the raid, find a group to Raid with, etc. and a little time after to cool down and sell loot and get back to a City. So a Typical time slot would be 4-5 hours of available play time. More than likely, you want to give this time on the weekends: Friday and Saturday night; Sunday night. Theres a lot of Raiding going on during the week also, but you can find shorter Raids and there are 5-player dungeons to run - those typically only take half an hour to play, up to an hour if it doesn't go as planned. There's also Battlegrounds to play which take about 15-30 minutes apiece. 5-man dungeons and BGs can be played virtually on demand; and you could set a 1-2 hour block to accommodate those. And really the shortest amount of time to do anything is 30-60 minutes: there you are just doing Daily Quests and possibly a 5-man dungeon. An example of a daily quest is to travel out to a lake and collect a certain amount and type of fish; or head out to such and such encampment and fight 5 ogres.

I hope that kinda answers your question On average I would think I could easily indulge in 2-3 hours in the evening and around 4-5 on a Saturday.

StinkyMunkey

RopeDrink wrote: »

I absolutely detested that game

Then again I used to play a variation of it on the C64, was a carbon copy but all about ninja's instead, all I remember where impossible truckloads of enemies, sushi lying around and YinYang signs :rolleyes:

Come to think of it, "Renegade" on the Spectrum caused me to continuosly repeat play it - There was tremendous satisfaction out of an 80's game allowing you to fist a baddy in the face four times then grab them and repeatedly knee into the goolies until death :pac:

So, back on topic

The wild bunch on a sinclair spectrum 68k, now that was a game and a half. Only downside to playing it was it used to crash more than half the times i played it, but when it did work it built the foundation for my love of gaming:D.

Shanotheslayer

I personally don't believe that WoW is addict.

I've played to great hours before in order to do something, but that was by choice. I used to but raiding ahead of real life, but again it was by choice.

I've quit for a few months without any bother and have recently returned. I do things when I have nothing else going on.

I don't put the raiding before real life anymore.

As your kid is young, you wouldn't want him spending too many hours on it. But you don't want him on for 2-3 hours, then waiting for the next day so he can play again and do Sfa in between.

WoW is a great time consumer.

Justask

Thanks everyone for the feedback it has been very helpful.
I cant believe the problems parents are having with their kids regardin this game.

My lad is getting on fine with it though, there has been only one incendent so far which resulted in him not been alowed to play WOW for 2 days! Dont think he will try pull the wool over my eyes again!...:D

At this stage he is playing 1 hour 15 mins a day and 2 on sat and sun..

Parents PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE monitor your kids on this!
The information i have read up on is a little scary.

Thanks again for all your feedback and advice

copeyhagen

Shanotheslayer wrote: »

I personally don't believe that WoW is addict.

I've played to great hours before in order to do something, but that was by choice. I used to but raiding ahead of real life, but again it was by choice.
.

Someones in denial!!

its extremely addictive in its nature
"one more hour and ill ding..."

Shanotheslayer

copeyhagen wrote: »

Someones in denial!!

its extremely addictive in its nature
"one more hour and ill ding..."

Behaviour Addiction :
The term addiction is used to describe a recurring compulsion by an individual to engage in some specific activity, despite harmful consequences, as deemed by the user himself to his individual health, mental state, or social life.


WoW does not effect my social life or any of the above.

Wolfe Tone

I cant imagine him getting anything done in an hour on wow.

Kiith

Shanotheslayer wrote: »

WoW does not effect my social life or any of the above.

You did say in the above post that you used to raid ahead of going out with your real friends. I'd say that would effect your social life.

Warcraft, like anything else, can be addictive. Some people have addictive personalities, and can easily be drawn in by these types of things. To be fair, its an increadibly ingrossing world, with a huge number of similarly mined people to play with.

I'd admit that, on release, i was addicted to the game. I played it 50+ hours a week, and when i wasnt playing it, i was thinking or reading about it (mostly when working). I had a crap job, only worked the weekends, and then i pretty much just played the game. And that's nothing compared to what some people went through.

Wolfe Tone

I'd admit that, on release, i was addicted to the game

How long where you in jail for? :L

copeyhagen

Shanotheslayer wrote: »

Behaviour Addiction :
The term addiction is used to describe a recurring compulsion by an individual to engage in some specific activity, despite harmful consequences, as deemed by the user himself to his individual health, mental state, or social life.


WoW does not effect my social life or any of the above.

thats bullsh1t, wow is addictive. i have been playing pc games since i was about 12, quake1 online anyone!

and never ever ever have i chose any game ahead of a social visit or seeing a girl or anything, except wow.

a few friends in college played and everybody quit when they realised how addictive it is!

i dont have an addicitve eprsonality whatsoever.

the game is designed to suck you in.

and kiith made a fine point there too

Shanotheslayer

copeyhagen wrote: »

thats bullsh1t, wow is addictive. i have been playing pc games since i was about 12, quake1 online anyone!

and never ever ever have i chose any game ahead of a social visit or seeing a girl or anything, except wow.

So because I'm not addicted to wow? It's bull****? Im currently playing a bit of wow now, in my SPARE time. Later I will be studying for my theory test, sorting out a college grant, playing football, then I'll come from after football, relax, get ready and heading into town.

Yes, I am addictive, wow as taking over my social life.

Do not think that everyone is addicted if you are.


Edit regarding Kiiths point: Yes I did raid before going out with my friends, but by choice. I preferred to play wow then do nothing other then hanging around on a cold street. I was about 15 then. I would weigh my option and see what I wanted to do.

AL][EN

I'm with Shanotheslayer on this one. Im what you'd class as a casual player. I play maybe 2 hours a night for 2-3 nights a week. I don't raid, I don't PvP and the highest character i have is only 68. That's certainly not an addiction sure id LIKE to play more WoW. Heck if i could get away with it i'd play 4 to 5 times that amount every week i just dont have time.

I do agree its one of the most addictive games I've ever played. It just sucks you in but the Alarm Feature thats built into the game clock is a handy tool to use. once the alarm goes off finish what your doing and log out. I might not be as simple as that for some people but thats how i manage.

][cEMAN**

How many of you log off wow to then log onto facebook and post crap for hours?

Wolfe Tone

' wrote:

[cEMAN**;67551009']How many of you log off wow to then log onto facebook boards and post crap for hours?

FYP

DRakE

' wrote:

[cEMAN**;67551009']How many of you log off wow to then log onto facebook and post crap for hours?

not mutually exclusive