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Eukara Vox -> Issue 43 - The Parents of AE (Clyde) (6/4/2009 15:14:17)
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The Parents of AE
by Clyde
While sitting around pondering what I should do next for my article, I came upon an excellent idea. Why not feature an article about Zorbak, he's a popular character right? Problem was apparently he was already doing an article about himself, so what was I supposed to do? How much Zorbak is too much? So in a last minute flash of genius, I realized I had an entire audience to capture in this article. This month's theme was about adults, err more specifically, it was about Parents. To bring you closer to a few random staff members you may or may not know, I decided to grab a few of them that so happen to have children who play Artix Entertainment's games.
I spammed them each with questions relating to the connection between parents, children, and AE's games. Some answered and some could not find the time to do it, either way I thank them for their attention. I got great answers and while I'd like to use them all, I'd fear that the Ezine would explode into tiny bits and no one would like that (well maybe Zorbak would). Now, I will show you their answers to my questions.
I interviewed the following people: Falerin, Eukara, Reverend Wyrm, and Maegwyn. You can try to guess who is who in the responses. *evil grin*
1. Did you get involved in AE through your child(ren)? Or did you involve your child(ren) into AE?
-Ha! I got involved with AE through a divinely directed advertisement on a game site 2.5 years ago. My kids weren't exactly old enough to be browsing through online games. I had gotten into a RP type game called Geneforge and was looking for another one like it made by the same company on the game site. While looking, I saw an advertisement for AQ. Thinking that it looked interesting, I clicked and got sucked in. Two months later I was into DragonFable, which is my favourite, and another month after that, I was on the forums.
2. As a parent would you recommend these games to any other parents? How about your child(ren)?
-I have recommended these games to other parents. My 'children' are my step-daughters, and they were already adults when my husband and I got married. They're both awfully busy with their careers and their families, so I haven't made a point of recommending the games to them. I'm kind of 'saving that' for when their kids are reading. I plan to get my oldest grandson involved in whichever of the AE games he finds most interesting as soon as he's reading just a little better - probably for his birthday this fall.
-Absolutely, on both counts. I purchased guardianship and x-guardianship for my nephew last thanksgiving. I also am an educator at a program for troubled youth. Several of my students have been introduced to AE from this perspective.
-I actually would recommend them, as the content is friendly, fun and not anything I would feel would worry the parents that I relate to and talk to. My older son likes to watch me play, pretending to be this pet or that character (He has a soft spot for Ash and thinks the knight-to-be needs some attention.). If he is interested he will get to play, but he isn't prone to fantasy type stuff. My younger son, once he is proficient in reading, will most likely play DragonFable or AdventureQuest. He is a lot like me in that he likes dragons, adventures, swords and stuff like that. He also likes to watch me play and loves the dragons the best out of everything in the games.
-Absolutely, the community as well as the games. Ae games are great for anyone 13 and older though some of the more in-depth storylines may be a bit much for younger children.
3. Do you notice the lack of child NPCs?
-Would you want you young children being constantly imperiled by undead armies. Most of Lores parents keep their children well away from the focus of unpleasant attention.
-Sure do, though Hans and Ash are a great step forward. Realistically most children wouldn't be in a position to offer quests and reward players so it's understandable in that sense.
4. How about forcing them to play?
-Forcing them? That isn't my style at all.
5. Which of the games do you believe are best for the children?
-DragonFable, hands down. The storyline is cut and clean, easy to follow. The ability to walk around adds to it. There are lots of cool creatures to fight/rescue. MechQuest would come in second. Mostly for those kids who love Transformers. My younger son would love MechQuest, but he has yet to see me play. Mostly because that is the game I play least. Not out of favoritism issues, but out of time constraints. I bet if I did play it more often, he would be all over that game.
6. Have you ever let your child(ren) test a release and ask for any comments to make it better? Have you ever considered/used said suggestions/comments?
-I have shown my biological children release content a few times but they are too young and inexperience to offer much in the line of play advice. My students on the other hand I have a very fond relationship with and I have often used AE as an object lesson about how new career options are out there that they never may have thought of, how their talent can be used to create new and interesting things, and have talked them through the creation process. As part of this I have gotten permission to show my students some unreleased AE content as it is being worked on. Galanoth an the entire AE team have been extremely supportive of this effort. AE has a strong interest in education as well as entertainment and this commitment has shown through loud and clear to my kids.
7. Do you believe the parent/kid connection helps make AE games better for the rest of the world's children?
-For the rest of the world's children ... that's a big question, and I'm not sure that I have a basis for answering this. I'd say that any time a parent and child have something in common, like playing the same game, that it creates a connection and sparks interesting conversations. Keeping the forums family-friendly means that we have forum members who are kids as well as forum members who are parents - so the dialogue spreads worldwide that way. Since the Artix Entertainment team also reads the forums, including player suggestions and general forum reactions, forum participation by both parents and kids certainly contributes to making the AE games better. I'm not sure that my answer exactly fits the question ...
8. When you first played AE games were you surprised at how child-friendly it was? Or were you shocked at the lack of child-friendly content?
-Mu. AE games have always struck the very looney tunes like balance between obscure humor that entertains adults and family friendly fun that appeals to kids. It is one of the best parts of working for these games.
-I'm a kid at heart and it's been very rare that anything has happened on any of the AE games I play that has made the games feel less child-friendly. AE games are great for the intended age range and they span the vast gamut from deadly serious to the ludicrously absurd. That variety of storytelling and gameplay is one of the best parts of AE games.
9. What was your child(ren)'s favorite NPC/Quest/Weapon/etc. In any of the AE games?
-As I said before, Ash is my older son's favourite character. He also has a liking for the cinder, but we are a cat loving family. He has asked me several times why Cinder can't be stronger. I have yet to give him an answer...
-HAHAHA! Both my son and daughter love Twilly and Zorbak the most. So much so that we have the stuffed versions! My daughter loves the baby dragon and anything dragon related on DF and my son loves "fighting big robots" on MQ. His favorites are the dino-mechas.
10. If you could, what would you improve in any AE game to make it better for your kid?
-In MechQuest, we're creating tutorials to make everything easier to understand when a kid (or anyone) first starts playing the game. We've gotten some great feedback from Artix himself, and we are continually working to ensure that everything is straightforward and easy to grasp. We also keep working to make the C-Mail more useful and informative. I think that the games are already really great for my grandkids, as soon as they have the reading skills to be able to understand what's going on. But my two-year-old niece has fun clicking the mouse on the MQ menu to make the player attack in battle even though she has no idea of the actual story - so there's fun to be had even for the youngest!
-Mu. AE games are great for kids and I have to imagine they will only get better. Now if you asked my father. He might say that the way to make AE games better for me is to give me a fat paycheck [;-)], but I am happy doing things I am doing.
-Since my sons are both 8, there isn't much AE can do without really messing things up for the older players. And I wouldn't ask them to change anything anyway. I really think that the games are fine how they are. My boys will grow up with these games as a big part of our household, so they will get used to everything and by the time they are gamers themselves (my poor husband) we will be set.
-For kids the age of mine I would love to see some more "simplified/innocent" quests or mini-games, quests that have less to do with fighting and more to do with counting or spelling. AE meets Sesame Street lol. Though mine are obviously much younger than the target audience and I would hate to see AE games change attempting to capture a younger player base.
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