My step-brother's ds showed this to my dd (he's 11, she's almost 9) yesterday while she was playing at their house and set up a player or account for her. Now she wants to play it but I'm not liking the vibe I'm getting from her description of it. Generally, I trust my step-brother and his wife's judgement but they do allow their ds to do things that I don't think I'll allow my dd to do at his age.

Anyway, I don't have any idea where to look for parental opinions of it or to find an age rating for it. Can any of you help me out with your personal experience or even what you've heard about it? I've told her she can't play until I find out more about it.

By Cat on Monday, June 19, 2006 - 09:06 pm:

Both my boys do, my nephews do (ages 15 and 12), many of their friends (all ages 9-14) and my oldest brother even has an account (he'll be 40 this year, but he's just a big kid). All internet rules apply for my kids, including not giving out ANY personal info. The game is monitored for language and hacking (Robin's account was hacked twice last week and his password stolen--once by someone that came across as an official in the game, but really wasn't). It can be a little dark. I don't know if this would be an accurate compairison or not, but I think it's kind of like Dungeons and Dragons. Watch her play if for a while (or your nephew if you'd rather form an opinion before letting her play) to see what you think. You can also create your own account to get a feel for it. Our biggest issue is that this is ALL the boys want to do right now. I have to kick their little butt's out of the house! lol I'm really curious to see other's opinions.

By Colette on Monday, June 19, 2006 - 09:25 pm:

My dd plays it, but she's 15. I would not let my 9yr old play it.

As far as playing on the computer, ps2 or whatever, I have a rule, you get one hour per day, total. Usually they do 1/2 hour on the computer and half on the ps2. If you want to earn extra time, you can, but I do something like, one hour extra of electronic media for every hour you play outside. Now if they went crazy and played outside for 3 hours to get 3 extra hours, then I would have to change the rule, but so far this is working for us.

By Kaye on Monday, June 19, 2006 - 10:03 pm:

My 10 year old wants an account and we have said no. I don't think he has the maturity to not give out personal info. I think he would feel like he wasn't, but still wouldn't make good judgements. Although our computer is in a common area, it isn't somewhere I would sit and read over his shoulder.

We are considering letting him have an account, when he shows us his maturity and responsibility, by feeding the dog without being asked and doing his "school" work (stuff I require). My son turns 11 in oct.

By Mommmie on Monday, June 19, 2006 - 11:21 pm:

My 11-year-old has been playing it for 3 years and is a high level player. Many of his school buddies also play and they hook up online. One teacher also plays but I think she's just checking up on her students.

I sat with him for the first year or so and watched. It's monitored pretty well. No cuss words and the star out other words too. He has never been hit on by another player in a perverted way. He had one player ask him, "May I ask you where you live?" and I pointed out to my son only an adult would phrase it that way, not a child. Since I sat with him so long he knows what info to not give out and, really, except for that one question, most people don't ask stuff like that. They are into playing the game. I still watch him though and have even logged on from another computer to check up on him.

It's a great game. You create a character and then you figure out a way to make money and build up your skills. It's set in medieval times so you have weapons you carry and can build up - swords and whips. You also gain armor. It's great for math skills, life skills (buying and selling and being an entrepreneur, avoid not getting scammed, managing money), typing, reading and writing.

You can go out in the wilderness to battle others. If you die you lose all your stuff. You have a bank you can store quite a few items and you learn not to take valuable things into the wilderness. The graphics are not that great so it's not a bloody gore type game at all. Battling raises your attack level and when someone dies and they drop all their stuff you can pick it up!

Pay players ($5/month) can also create their own homes and can have parties. Working on your home builds up your construction skill.

The game is based out of London and they do a good job with it. They have updates and add things all the time. There are also quests you can do by going to the runehq website and following the unbelievably complicated steps to follow a quest and get the prize.

You can go to youtube and do a search for runescape. A lot of folks post little videos of them playing.

I love runescape!

By Tink on Tuesday, June 20, 2006 - 04:00 pm:

Thank you for the input. I'm still on the fence and I'm going to have my DH do some looking around after setting up a character to see how it fits with our idea of what is acceptable for her age. Thanks again!