Kids in NS2

2

Comments

  • Kouji_SanKouji_San Sr. Hινε Uρкεερεг - EUPT Deputy The Netherlands Join Date: 2003-05-13 Member: 16271Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue
    Neoken wrote: »
    Since when is 8 years old too young for first person shooters? I was gunning down Nazis in Wolfenstein 3D by that age, and I turned out fine, right? RIGHT?
    RIGHT!

    *pats Neoken on the head*
  • ScardyBobScardyBob ScardyBob Join Date: 2009-11-25 Member: 69528Forum Admins, Forum Moderators, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Shadow
    Playing video games, that's ok.

    Playing online video games, I'd say no.

    The amount of harassment that occurs in online multiplayer games is so great I'd rather not subject a child to it.
  • A[L]CA[L]C Join Date: 2010-07-25 Member: 72801Members
    My 4 year old plays on my server occasionally. He loves being gorge, understands how to use wasd and mouse to move and look, heals his teammates and structures and even gets a few kills most rounds. Ok so ns2 probably isnt the best game for him to be playing, but on the positive side it has helped him learn his alphabet. He asks me how to do something and I'll call out the letter to press and he has to find it.

    I don't let him have sound, and he can't read, so other players language doesn't matter. The server is a 20 player server, so his impact is less than on a smaller server.
  • sjusju Join Date: 2013-03-17 Member: 184042Members
    Consequence of age is something only a parent can advise on.

    We all learn differently, however, if I was American and I lived in a land where guns were readily available and gun crime was the highest in the world, I'd never let my child near a game involving guns.
  • NailoNailo Join Date: 2013-05-06 Member: 185138Members, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Supporter
    @amoral honestly I'm not sure if letting him talk will make people think he isn't a troll. Due to certain cicumstances, his speech is still a little off. examples: Lerks, he calls them leeks. I know a few people who play music or random noice on the mics and It annoys alot of people whenever I've seen it happen. I'll consider letting him talk with others if I know some of the people, but I too want to avoid him being exposed to too much of those who are too free with their words. Thanks

    @Chizzler Thanks for the advice and rest assured that most of the time, I'm always monitering them while they play. Right now my siblings are fine as to what objectives they need to do, its just they need to improve their aim and figure out how to properly play the lifeform's they choice, aka, not be on the ground as a lerk.

    @Hamlet I gave them Minecraft last year for their birthdays, they loved it and continue to play it. Then they fight when one puts lava over another ones house and so on and so forth. Unfortuantly I'm having issues where portal 2 crashes my computer on startup. Also if it was anything like Portal 1, my siblings are not at the age where they can solve complex portal puzzles. All of the things you've stated about NS2 are true, which is why I went for a rookie server, where it should be ok to be bad. My siblings have also been told numerous times by me that they should never even attempt to be commander in a game with actual people on it. Combat mode aside, I was hoping to figure out a basic way to get any team to recognize a real child playing and be kind enough to let him/her play without expecting said child to really do much. ^_^

    I've always had faith in this community and I've seen its kindness many times, which is another reason why I let them play, because I'm sure alot of you would let my little sibling play alongside you, heck you might even help him get better.

    @Bicsum, I can assure you my family for the most part ignores tv. Why watch the weather channel when you can google it? Why sit through commericals just to watch 1 episode of Avatar: he last airbender when you can watch the entire series, for free and without commericals online? XD
  • GISPGISP Battle Gorge Denmark Join Date: 2004-03-20 Member: 27460Members, Playtest Lead, Forum Moderators, Constellation, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Squad Five Silver, Squad Five Gold, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Onos, WC 2013 - Gold, Subnautica Playtester, Forum staff
    Snatch em while they are young :)
    Didnt have multiplayer / internet games playing doom, quake and stuff. So the envioment have changed alittle, so i would be more concerned about the players speaking ill towards your little fragger, than any grafical images.
    But yeah, find yourself a regular server where you know the people running it. You know, just in case.
  • 0ni0ni Join Date: 2012-08-30 Member: 156991Members
    Nailo wrote: »
    @Oni Hahahaha I might be worried for your kid XD I'll take you up on that, is your steam name the same as here? Also I've not seen a server with NG before, what's it stand for? National Gaming? Nitro Gaming?
    My steam name is Oni yes, but there are a lot of Onii on steam so here is my steam profile. NG is National Gaming, you can access our servers directly from our main page on the right side here.
    Have fun teaching children to kill, they'll need those skills when the zombie apocalypse happens.
  • amoralamoral Join Date: 2013-01-03 Member: 177250Members
    Neoken wrote: »
    Since when is 8 years old too young for first person shooters? I was gunning down Nazis in Wolfenstein 3D by that age, and I turned out fine, right? RIGHT?

    I like how American psycho is smirking at me when I read that...

  • amoralamoral Join Date: 2013-01-03 Member: 177250Members
    Hamlet wrote: »
    At the end of the day NS2 is a competition. Mutually-exclusive goal attainment (I can only win if you fail). It's even the harder version: My team can only win, if we make yours fail. For the length of a round you are my enemy I try to defeat. Competitions are well-known to bring out the very worst in human behaviour. You don't unite people through some "friendly" competition - it's the fastest way to divide them. [mp3]

    If your siblings are turning NS2 into their personal MineCraft experience, why don't you let them play MineCraft?
    That's a game where fooling around is the whole point of the gameplay.

    Or introduce them to the Portal 2 Multiplayer Campaign?
    It's no competition and you win if you help each other and cooperate because BOTH players have to cross the finish line to make it to the next level.
    I think it's virtually impossible to generate a single drop of bad blood with Portal 2. There won't be wall-hackers or cheaters in Portal 2. They would be spoiling their own fun.

    NS2 on the other hand is well-proven to bath you in buckets of bad blood:
    Let's go through the (e)motions, shall we?
    Your sibling on my team = dead weight (and that's putting it friendly)
    A teammate helping your sibling on the opposing team = traitor
    Your sibling not reacting to any text or voice based orders = Can't he read? We got server rules against that!
    Your sibling hopping into the comm chair and fooling around = EJECT THAT §$%&ing RETARD ASAP! THIS §%& TROLL IS LOSING US THE GAME!!

    ...I guess you caught the drift.


    PS:
    Chizzler wrote: »
    [...] by 6 I was playing the original GTA [...].
    My biggest concern would be the language they're exposed to online which they could pick up.
    You can tell you are dealing with Americans when they complain about the language while committing vehicular mass murder for bonus points.
    Man, do I think you have it backwards...
    gee wiz mister, when I was a kid, all we had was the opportunity to play as a insanely greedy plumber who curb stomped sentient creatures while high on magic shrooms... come to think of it, my gta experience was slightly twisted, I remember blowing up chains of vehicles, then waiting for the first responders to show up for added carnage. friggin terrorist training game, that.
  • CrushaKCrushaK Join Date: 2012-11-05 Member: 167195Members, NS2 Playtester
    Neoken wrote: »
    Since when is 8 years old too young for first person shooters? I was gunning down Nazis in Wolfenstein 3D by that age, and I turned out fine, right? RIGHT?

    Of course, Patrick. You would never snap out of your mind and kill your friends and random hookers on the street.
  • |DFA| Havoc|DFA| Havoc Join Date: 2009-08-07 Member: 68375Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    Oh man, 8 years old has been in the DFA server a ton recently. When I first saw the name, I was skeptical about trolling as well, and unfortunately there isn't really any way to pick a name that is easily distinguishable from one a troll might use, because that is the whole point of trolling.

    What I would suggest, if you're always nearby monitoring, is just to provide a disclaimer at the start of each match or session. Hop on the mic, introduce yourself and your sib, explain that they will have voice chat turned off and won't be pulling any team-carry heroics, etc. If the response is hostile, just hop to another server.

    We actually used to enforce a no-swearing policy on the DFA server back in the NS1 days to make it kid/family friendly, and my own little brother was about 11 I think when I started letting him play with us. We obviously don't have the same policy any more, but we still have a friendly community and I don't think it'll be an issue for them to keep playing with us.

    I do think keeping the voice chat turned off after the initial introduction is a good idea though. >.>
  • ZEROibisZEROibis Join Date: 2009-10-30 Member: 69176Members, Constellation
    Neoken wrote: »
    Since when is 8 years old too young for first person shooters? I was gunning down Nazis in Wolfenstein 3D by that age, and I turned out fine, right? RIGHT?

    But it children see people kill anything other than Nazis, this is why we can not eat poptarts in the shape of a gun. Our society is defined to only allow the killing of Nazis acceptable and anything else is R rated lol.

    What I always find interesting is how things are getting "more" violent when back in the old days death and violence was something you saw every day when you went outside and no we are worried about people seeing simulations of it on a computer screen. My, how humanity has changed in a few thousand years...
  • NailoNailo Join Date: 2013-05-06 Member: 185138Members, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Supporter
    hmmmmmmm well, its unfortunate that trolls are actually such an issue, I think next time I'll try introducing him like you said, hopefully it will go well, severely hope I will not receive a hostile response on a rookie friendly server. I will say right now Havoc that my little siblings only played NS2 with that name for this past weekend, any other time and it was someone else.

    Also, I've always kept myself and my siblings on rookie friendly servers, for my siblings its obvious, for me well, lets just say that 20 frames early game won't get me far,I stick to the rookie friendly until I get a better graphic's card.

    For the most part I find this community extremely friendly so my hope is that when I introduce him, I'll even ask if they would be kind enough not to cuss or if they prefer otherwise, to let me know so I can mute them personally. I myself don't care too much if they cuss when I'm playing but I'd prefer to avoid cussing and sexual references as much as possible where my siblings are concerned.

    Thank you Havoc for your advice as well as everyone else who made me laugh and reminisce about old school gaming be it GTA or Super Mario. I hope to meet you all on the battlefield one day, be it as friend or foe. My name in-game is Hex_Stravos, I look forward to chatting and killing with you all :)

    Also, nice to see you here Zero, usually I'm too busy trying to kill you on IBIS to have a good conversation with you lol
  • WakeWake Join Date: 2003-03-05 Member: 14351Members, Constellation
    Clearly children have no place playing games, least of all on the computer!

    I have to slightly disagree with you, I grant my 8 years old 15 minutes of playing when he's back from his 12 hours working day at the factory, I mean before he makes the dinner and clean the house.
  • amoralamoral Join Date: 2013-01-03 Member: 177250Members
    Wake wrote: »
    Clearly children have no place playing games, least of all on the computer!

    I have to slightly disagree with you, I grant my 8 years old 15 minutes of playing when he's back from his 12 hours working day at the factory, I mean before he makes the dinner and clean the house.

    child labor laws are ruining this country
  • Goliath VietnamGoliath Vietnam Join Date: 2013-01-07 Member: 178080Members
    NS2 >> rate M for mature :))

    Let your baby play Plant vs Zombies instead :D
  • Ghosthree3Ghosthree3 Join Date: 2010-02-13 Member: 70557Members, Reinforced - Supporter
  • OnosFactoryOnosFactory New Zealand Join Date: 2008-07-16 Member: 64637Members
    I've seen a 6 year struggle with Unreal, but flourish when they are 8 and can understand 40 health is not as good as 100 health.

    Then again, I've seen a 6 year old pretty much master DOW 1 - to the point they were playing on 'normal' - which can be a decent challenge.

    It's the people who flame 'it's a kid, kick them wholesale' that worry me - not a good attitude towards the younger generation.

    I don't know if game violence or bullying via social media scare me more.
  • HamletHamlet Join Date: 2008-08-17 Member: 64837Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    Neoken wrote: »
    Since when is 8 years old too young for first person shooters? I was gunning down Nazis in Wolfenstein 3D by that age, and I turned out fine, right? RIGHT?

    *compares avatar with message*
    Healthy by self-definition.
    If we go by that, Manowar is the best* metal band in the world.
  • SanCoSanCo Join Date: 2012-08-18 Member: 155744Members
    Internet

    No one cares if you play badly unless;
    - you act like you know shit while doing so.
    - they discover it's a kid playing.

    Seen it happen so many times in online games, some kid plays poorly and uses voice chat and entire servers can start to vote kick / ban really fast, while the next guy just as bad never gets noticed.

    Internet; Full of idiots. Protect your kids.
  • WakeWake Join Date: 2003-03-05 Member: 14351Members, Constellation
    edited June 2013
    Well, no problem with kids, I mean as long as they use some voice pitch lowering gizmo ...
  • ampereampere Join Date: 2013-01-22 Member: 181237Members
    I really identify with parts of this thread. I may be 28 but I cannot aim well at all in FPS games and given that I am a grad student that is unlikely to change (I have better things to do). I like NS2. I have fun, but I also get owned most of the time by almost everyone. I've been looking at some of the discussion of "casual" play recently and I'm starting to think that I may not even meet the bar for that. I will be a perma rookie most likely. I will have fun as long as the people I'm playing with accept that although I am trying I will still probably get killed most of the time.

    I guess my point is I think this thread may be touching on something that doesn't just effect kids but also "extra-casual" players who are not that good at FPS games to begin with. I'm gonna start playing again soon (I've been busy) and I really hope I can find servers that are fun and not too competitive. Any recommendations would be helpful. I would be happy to play with the kids, they would still probably aim better than I do and I'm sort of looking for somewhere I can learn to khomm without pissing people off. ;-)

    Oh and another thing: Doesn't rookie turn off again after 30 seconds once you pass the 10 hour mark even if you turn it back on? Or am I remembering wrong?
  • WakeWake Join Date: 2003-03-05 Member: 14351Members, Constellation
    Ampere, you don't consider youserlf a kid at 28 do you ? :D
  • Metal ManMetal Man Join Date: 2011-11-13 Member: 132717Members
    I am 5 yars old and i play games all teh time with my brothers. They teach me how to furst parson shoot. I like to play online games because im bettar than all older people. When i talk on the mic they laugh at my voice and my small weewee but i tell them im only 5 so its okay my weewee small and laugh at theem
  • WakeWake Join Date: 2003-03-05 Member: 14351Members, Constellation
    SanCo wrote: »
    Internet ... Internet; Full of idiots. Protect your kids.

    I agree that there's a lot of idiots thinking that they may return the kids they bought on eBeh if they're not happy !
    It happened to me once, ffs, I stated clearly in the description that my kid worked from 3 to 8 deppe down a coal mine and couldn't stand plain day might !
    Bloody idiots, can't they read ?
  • NailoNailo Join Date: 2013-05-06 Member: 185138Members, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Supporter
    @ampere

    As far as I know or remember, I believe it cuts off after the first match, so every game you have to reset rookie mode again. Also, several members of my family are kinda like you as well, i.e. not the best in the world but still enjoy playing regardless. I myself define me as a casual gamer, even for NS2. I've never gotten into the competitive scene of any game so far. I only frequent a few servers, mostly staying in rookie friendly because my hardware doesn't help my gameplay at all ^_^ . I can't guarantee my siblings or me being on all the time but if you want you can add me on steam as a friend and we can hang out on NS2 or whatever.

    http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198079234051/

    that's my steam profile :)

    Also the best way to practice commander is too watch a few vids of NS2HD on youtube being a commander and then to hop on a rookie friendly server and then ask if anyone minds if you command and to make sure you tell them your a new commander :) Hope this helps
  • RollmansRollmans Join Date: 2013-06-16 Member: 185579Members
    edited June 2013
    The worst ones are the 11 year olds that constantly chatter about nothing, making it impossible to hear anything coming. =(
  • NailoNailo Join Date: 2013-05-06 Member: 185138Members, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Supporter
    My siblings are not allowed voice chat for that reason. They can't start annoying people if they can't talk back XD
  • DaniPDaniP Join Date: 2013-06-14 Member: 185555Members
    I am not really worried about the game content for childrens, they see tons of crap in cartoons that is worse, but more about the "nice language" used by others and for that reason online games are not the place to be for kids of that age.
    I am sures lots of people will disagree on this but I am also pretty sure that the majority of those don't have kids themselve.
  • Ghosthree3Ghosthree3 Join Date: 2010-02-13 Member: 70557Members, Reinforced - Supporter
    It isn't really the language that bothers me when it comes to kids playing online games, words are words, however like Scardy said, people are capable of quite great abuse online and I'm just not sure kids could handle that properly...
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