Posted by dkidwell on November 8th, 2005 — Posted in console games, parenting, pc games
Advertisers: Game On
Games have been, for the most part, ad free – fantasy environments where you could play and escape without addressing the media and a marketing blitz. And by the sounds of it, that’s all going to change.
Currently, my kids are exposed to marketing largely through TV and advergaming – Postopia and Nick.com with and endless march of simple games based around their latest products. At least that marketing is blatant. As a mom, I can remind them of the short lifespan of most toys that are heavily advertised.
IN GAME advertising is different tho. It’s likely to be awkward at the beginning, with in game billboards and such. But give them a few years, and it will be ubiquitous.
For our part, I’m going to use this as an invitation to a dialogue. We’ll start playing ’spot the ad’ games (points for the carefully hidden logo spots!) We’ll definitely talk about what ‘brands’ are, and how companies wrap themselves in mantras and passions “Just do it!” Poor kids are likely to hear the story of the Converse High Top, and will have to articulate what ‘cool’ means before Santa buys that latest and greatest ‘cool’ thing.
Why all the torture? To be ‘in the game’ and not just on the sidelines….
Posted by dkidwell on November 7th, 2005 — Posted in World of Warcraft, mmo
One of the most ingenius and wonderful things about MMOs are the creative arts that they inspire – in this case, an artist will take your character and create a fantasy portrait, for a mere in game commission. How clever…
Now, Bill over at Dubious Quality (whom both my husband and I fondly read) found this…
He quotes another blog, who will ultimately link to the actual artist…not sure what the rules for deep linking…but credit where credit is due and it’s worth the click adventure I’ve just sent ya thru…
Dubious Quality: WOW Photographers
No really, it’s worth it. Go, Bill’s link, then one more…..go!
Posted by dkidwell on October 14th, 2005 — Posted in ages 12 +, daughters, mmo
Avatale : free blogging host for blogs or webjournals
Now, this is promising.
Hello Kitty has been the reigning queen of cute scented erasers and little whatnots for 3 decades – that’s not a flash in the pan. With the Anime crazy of the 90s, we’ve got now 2 generations of girls growing up that, even when fully grown, still go ‘OOOH!’ when they see it.
Add a dash of that to a social networking experiment and the results have to be, at the very least, worth watching.
Posted by dkidwell on July 20th, 2005 — Posted in ages 0-3, mmo, pc games
Dark Age of Camelot was my first true MMO. Back in college I haunted MUDs, but managed to navigate around the early Ultima days in favor of Magic the Gathering and RTS and Lan games with the fellas. Maybe it’s because I live in Austin and knew too many people who worked for Origins, maybe it was because we were investing shamefully in boxes of MtG cards….either way, DAOC was the first MMO to really draw me in.
Gorgo, our youngest, was a mere babe when DAOC came out. In October of 2001 he was 2 years old. He’d been in my arms for months of Age of Empires and Diablo II – we were both used to extended nursing at the keys. He wasn’t nursing by the time DAOC launched (still strikes me as the most incredible software launch I’ve witnessed). But he was very very comfortable on the lap of a gaming parent.
He’s the 3rd of the bunch: my first had been born of the Age of Magic the Gathering, and Avalon Hill board games were the trend when my second was little. Gorgo, however, was reaching for the keys to bat randomly and coo at the masses of pygmies. He was born into a world where it was normal to have his dad emote gestures to him in game. He’d point out which mob I should go after. He’d giggle excitedly at the strange monsters and throw those piercing 2yo shrieks at me if I didn’t chase down the mob he intended me to engage. Guildies learned that if I wandered off, it was likely to appease the toddler (Lornadoone says, ‘just a sec, kid aggro’)
By 3, he was taking my mouse to adjust my camera angle (mom prefers a much closer camera focus than dad, who prefers to see more of the environment around him.)
He’s almost 6 now, and can play my characters reasonably well when the environment is set up for him. I miss the days of the little ones, and love reading the blogs of the mom’s with their newborns. One of the best I’ve seen can be found out at Womengamers.com.
Posted by dkidwell on July 19th, 2005 — Posted in World of Warcraft, ages 9-11, parenting, pc games
Raids in World of Warcraft can easily take 3-4 hours and with any luck, the group won’t fall apart, the servers will stay up, and your companions will be moderately competent. You’ll progressively move thru the various mobs and you’ll find that rare piece of equipment that you needed to flush out your armor set.
But if your a kid, or mom, for that matter, and the group just can’t seem to get organized until 8:30, you’re in trouble.
Folks will travel for the next 20 minutes to gather, someone will have to stop for game administrivia (I ‘have’ to check my auctions!) and by the time you are ready to launch, it’s 9:00pm.
Clouds gather on the horizon, and those first warning signs appear:
– Loud, exagerated yawns from the eager young stealther who dares not admit exhaustion
– Peevish commentary regarding that one player who’s addiction to the in game auction holds up the show an extra 20 minutes
– Requests for ’stamina potions’ (I need a COKE) will start pouring in, or worse yet…the dreaded ‘coke, coke coke coke’ mantra that evades the potential parental NO but aims to force the issue
By 10:30 your mount will turn into a pumpkin, and all that coordination and mad dash of tells is for naught…
It’s summer – but don’t be fooled. It’s still not wise to start a raid at 9:00pm.
