Guild Wars 2

Weindrasi.3805:

Some things to be cautious of:

-She is a young girl, right at the age where she will really start feeling the effects of media pressure on women, to be sexy and unhealthily skinny. Guild Wars 2 is no exception when it comes to negative media—the female characters are often hyper sexualized (see female humans, female norn). Make sure she has a healthy understanding of what is real and what is not, a good body image, and the awareness to resist the casual sexism inherent in a game like this.

God people like you are the bane of my existence. Get real for a minute. A little girl isn’t looking at a video game character and wondering why her kitten doesn’t look like that. And something tells me your definition of “unhealthily skinny” is what normal guys would call a banging body.

The only sexism in this game is YOU.

Danikat.8537:

When I was her age I would have loved GW2, and definitely preferred it to WoW. (Which is a shame because when I was 11 Warcraft 2 was one of my favourite games and I was convinced a Warcraft RPG would be the best thing ever.)

I also agree with the people who said unless she has a specific reason to want to play WoW get her to try GW2 first so you’re not paying for a sub on a game she might get bored with quickly.

But IMO the most important thing is to let her make her own decisions and remember that it’s more important that she’s having fun than that she’s doing things “right” or is good at the game.

My first RPG was Eye of the Beholder, when I was 8. I didn’t have a clue what I was doing and even at the time I knew I was terrible at it. I spent most of my time wandering in circles and I don’t think I ever got past the first two levels. But I loved playing it.

That inspired me to play Dark Sun, Lands of Lore, various Ultima games…it wasn’t until I was playing Baldur’s Gate and Ultima Online that I really began to think about and understand stats, weapon choices etc. It definitely made a big difference to how I played and what I was able to achieve in the games, but I think if someone had tried to explain all that to me earlier or had told me I could only use certain races/classes because they were the ‘right’ choice I would have lost interest.

(This goes for anyone incidentally, regardless of age. I was literally biting my tongue when my husband got GW2 and decided to start with an elementalist and a Mesmer because I knew he’d struggle more than if he chose a simpler profession. But I let him get on with it and even after he tried a warrior, guardian and thief the Mesmer became the one he took to 80 and uses for 90% of the game. If I’d pushed him to start with a warrior I doubt he’d ever have gotten there.)

Darksun

The world just doesn’t know…

Also my kids think it’s hilarious, they used to watch me play GW1 and they liked it when I used tonics to turn into stuff. Literally the ONLY reason I ever used that crap. I remember destroying a stack of bunny tonics from Nick because I have no patience for Party Animal(?)

Anyway, they’re under 6.

Omar Aschi Popp.7496:

Danikat.8537:

When I was her age I would have loved GW2, and definitely preferred it to WoW. (Which is a shame because when I was 11 Warcraft 2 was one of my favourite games and I was convinced a Warcraft RPG would be the best thing ever.)

I also agree with the people who said unless she has a specific reason to want to play WoW get her to try GW2 first so you’re not paying for a sub on a game she might get bored with quickly.

But IMO the most important thing is to let her make her own decisions and remember that it’s more important that she’s having fun than that she’s doing things “right” or is good at the game.

My first RPG was Eye of the Beholder, when I was 8. I didn’t have a clue what I was doing and even at the time I knew I was terrible at it. I spent most of my time wandering in circles and I don’t think I ever got past the first two levels. But I loved playing it.

That inspired me to play Dark Sun, Lands of Lore, various Ultima games…it wasn’t until I was playing Baldur’s Gate and Ultima Online that I really began to think about and understand stats, weapon choices etc. It definitely made a big difference to how I played and what I was able to achieve in the games, but I think if someone had tried to explain all that to me earlier or had told me I could only use certain races/classes because they were the ‘right’ choice I would have lost interest.

(This goes for anyone incidentally, regardless of age. I was literally biting my tongue when my husband got GW2 and decided to start with an elementalist and a Mesmer because I knew he’d struggle more than if he chose a simpler profession. But I let him get on with it and even after he tried a warrior, guardian and thief the Mesmer became the one he took to 80 and uses for 90% of the game. If I’d pushed him to start with a warrior I doubt he’d ever have gotten there.)

Darksun

The world just doesn’t know…

Also my kids think it’s hilarious, they used to watch me play GW1 and they liked it when I used tonics to turn into stuff. Literally the ONLY reason I ever used that crap. I remember destroying a stack of bunny tonics from Nick because I have no patience for Party Animal(?)

Anyway, they’re under 6.

My 4 year old daughter loves to watch “her” Norn guardian run around as a pig, courtesy of the tonic from Kessex Hills. If she was a bit older I’d build her a pc so she could do it all herself. I hope this game lasts that long (and I’d imagine it will).