Comments on: Y’know, For Kids: Thoughts On Free Realms

By: Wow Cataclysm

Wow Cataclysm — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 05:00:56 +0000

Things have changed so much

By: Antonius

Antonius — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 18:53:30 +0000

@ Bret: Mwahahhahahaha!!!!
I would happily pay a sub and play any god-awful game if it had a Bruce Campbell class….
Imagine the class mechanics:
All Taunts would be Evil Dead Quotes;
Melee would be a Chainsaw Arm and Ranged WOULD BE MY BOOMSTICK!!!!!!

By: Hmm-Hmm.

Hmm-Hmm. — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 14:31:41 +0000

While Free Realms does seem extremely slick, well-presented and undeniably entertaining for kids, it’s this long list of ways to eke money out of children that alarms me.

Exactly.

Now I know you go on to ameliorate this, but the increasing presence of commericalising and marketing in society isn’t exactly a good thing (in my opinion). We are being exposed to and hence influenced by unwanted and unsought-for information more and more. That, and I wouldn’t ever let any young children of mine play an MMO anyway. There’ll be enough time for that later on in their lives if they so choose.

I’m not against games target at the younger audience per sé, though.

By: Bret

Bret — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 04:09:21 +0000

So, what would the classes be in a Hudsucker MMO?

I’m thinking evil janitor, naive mailboy turned CEO, clock operator, snappy fifties reporter dame, elevator operator, and Bruce Campbell.

By: N

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 03:51:30 +0000

For the love of whatever, any child that plays this will probably morph into a drooling ball of yarn within the month, a kid is safer on afghan weed than this kind of shit…

By: James T

James T — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 03:38:56 +0000

I approve of the Hudsucker Proxy reference. Grossly underrated, even if it was a bit sappy.

Too stylised to be sappy, I say. Excellent movie. The MMO, I don’t care about so much.

…This MMO, that is. A Hudsucker MMO would be… novel.

By: Weylund

Weylund — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 03:34:03 +0000

Today, all kids are destined to be gamers, except the weirdos. (Take THAT, 80s!)

The only question is, then: which games will I allow my child to build a fondness for? Strategy? RTS? Side scrollers? Insipid MMOs?

And for the parents making that last choice, we have a new gateway drug. Stand aside, Toontown! Go back to your hardc0r3 gamers living in pup tents in their parents’ basements, WoW! It now is, in the present and contemporarily: Free Realms.

Neat. I’m not gonna let my kids anywhere near it. I’ll have ‘em play friggin’ Platoon (remember, the one with the booby traps in the huts? Yay!) before I let them play an MMO from SOE. My seven-year-old has described a preference for Conan, and it will be HAD.

By: Raff

Raff — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 22:36:51 +0000

I wonder if SoE will ever make a game that isn’t mind-bogglingly devoid of good art direction. All their games are so ugly, it’s incredible!

By: malkav11

malkav11 — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 21:27:39 +0000

Also: if I were to have kids, I would absolutely want them to be gamers. Nothing ever got done kicking a ball around.

(And very little gets done playing videogames, I know, I know, but the better games are a far more enriching experience than -shudder- sports.)

The thing that I might not want them to get into is MMOs. They have a high addiction potential, the better ones have an ongoing cost, and they can easily suck up every bit of free time available. I know this all too well. Mind you, I wouldn’t be against them getting into MMOs around the stage of life I’m at – done with college, working full-time – but before then? Eh. Potential for interference with schoolwork and chores = high.

By: malkav11

malkav11 — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 21:23:40 +0000

If Sony can produce a free MMO that isn’t like mainlining pure grind – EVERY free MMO I’ve tried has been, Dungeon Runners included – they might be on to something.

And as I play EQII, my belief that they could pull a thing like that off increases.

By: Larington

Larington — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 20:20:28 +0000

Theres something about this game I find distinctly unsettling, mostly the whole microtransactions thing being setup with pester power in mind (Least thats the assumption any casual observer will make).

By: Moorkh

Moorkh — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 19:16:52 +0000

Hmmm… calculated commercial indoctrination for kids….

…yay, if’ll hook the next generation on PC games, I’m all for it! :)