MMORPG's.

My 8 year old son has expressed an interest in WoW. I don’t know much about it (other than what I learned from South Park, that is ), so maybe folks here can help me out.

One of my concerns is the cost. As I understand it, you buy the basic game and install it, then you have to pay a monthly fee to play, correct? I’ve also seen expansion packs on sale; are they necessary, and what do they do, exactly (yes, I get that they “enhance the game experience”, but what do they add to the game?). If I decide to play along with him, can I install it on a 2nd PC without running into problems, then pay the 2nd online fee? And if he gets bored for a while, do they have an option for suspending then later reactivating the account?

My other big concern is how appropriate it is for an 8 year old. Not the game play itself (he also plays Assassins Creed, Halo & Call of Duty, so a bit of violence in a game isn’t a big deal), but the interaction with other players. I spoke very briefly with a guy at a Game Stop while Christmas shopping, and he said that the hard-core players can be pretty hard on newcomers. They’re a bit like surfers in that regard, in that they don’t like anyone else intruding on “their” turf and will do their best to keep them out. He expressed some concern about whether an 8 year old could handle it.

So, in your experience, is it something an 8 year old can handle or should he stick with Minecraft (his other favorite)?

And yes, I know the answers are out there if I take the time to Google it. I’d rather get the opinion of people I “know”.

OK, so it sounds like the expansion packs are to take you farther in the game rather than adding content at the very beginning, right?

Would he be able to play on his own for a while, without needing to "join" a group?

And my question about sharing wasn't about sharing the account, but the initial install. Do I need to buy a 2nd set of install media if I want to create 2 accounts?

One last question: what's the "blizzard" that allows minors to play? How does it difer from a regular account in terms of playing the game?

WoW is *usually* OK for younger kids language wise, as there is a filter built into the chat system that defaults to on. You will, however, always find idiots who push what is acceptable - I caught two idiots in the middle of cybersex in a main hub, although this was late at night.

*Most* players I've run across - and I played on and off since a few weeks after the game was first released - are usually helpful and polite to newcomers. However much depends on what type of server you join.

There are three server types; PvP, PvE and RPG. Of the three PvE is probably the best option for someone new to the game, this disables player verses player combat unless you attack certain targets or walk into the home city of an opposing faction. (There are, unfortunately, plenty of players who love to go around attacking lower level characters then sitting on their bodies until they resurrect then killing them again and again.)
RPG servers are meant to be, well, role playing games. And in my experience some of the players on those servers can be a tad overzealous in 'enforcing' this.

WoW has several payment options, ranging from a monthly subscription fee using a credit card through to paying for several months at a time - which works out cheaper per month. There is also the option to buy monthly payment cards from retailers - if you have a kid then this may be the best option.
You MUST register an account with Battlenet to play, but you don't need to have a credit card to do so.

Note; It is illegal for companies to collect personal data about under 13's on the net, which is why Blizzard does not allow under 13's to open accounts. However there is nothing stopping an under 13 to use an account set up by their parents to play the game.
This, incidentally, is the exact same reason why you have to be 13 or older to register on Pro-boards.

As to the expansions, some elements of the other expansions are mandatory - especially Cataclysm which reshaped the original game world. These changes are free to download, being effectively patches. However, downloading patches is done through the games update system - and this is VERY slow in my experience, not least because of the size of many of the patches. So even if you get the game and all the expansions don't expect to be able to play the game the same day - last time I installed WoW it took 16 hours to patch. (They may have improved the system since then)

Guilds are not required to play the game - I managed to get to level 70 without one - however they can be very useful if you find a good one if only for being able to get some help and advice. This is especially true for when quest lines take you unto instances, as you are more likely to get help from the guild (either from others at the same general level or from a high level play who is willing to run lower level players through them so they get xp and items) than you are to find a good group through the 'looking for group' function. Guilds, if they are friendly, are also more likely to give advice to new players as to how they should be playing particular classes and roles within groups - for example it takes a degree of skill and a good understanding as to how the agro system works to use a mage in a group without getting yourself and everyone else killed in the process. (Which will get you kicked out of a group).
It is well worth the effort of doing some homework before picking a guild. Some are set up for different things - for example some are just interested in raids, others for instance runs. There is a list of guilds through the official WoW boards, and talking with if not playing alongside members of a guild will give you a good idea as to how well you would fit in and how helpful they are likely to be.
Many of the larger Guilds also tend to have their own message boards, which you can usually go look at to get a fair idea what that guild is like and how active it is.

Game accounts are either active or inactive depending on the amount of game time left in the account. Inactive accounts are frozen, but can be reactivated at any time. I took a long break from WoW of some 18 months, then added game time and found all of my characters were still there as I'd left them. I last played some 2 years ago, and the same would hold in that if I were to add game time to the account (and reinstall WoW on my system) my characters would still be there. So apart from in-game mail (which is only stored for 30 days) you can drop in and out of the game to your hearts desire.

There are two fractions in WoW, the Alliance and the Horde. Neither fraction can talk to each other or share mail in game - it comes out as gibberish. You can have up to eight characters per server, but on PvP servers you can only pick races from one or the other fraction not both - so if you start as a human (Alliance) you can't create, say, a Blood Elf character (Horde) while your original character still exists on that server. PvE servers allow you to have characters in both fractions at the same time and I think RPG also allows you to play both sides.

So no, there is nothing stopping you and the kiddie from having two different characters on the same account. Do note, however, that both of you would be able to play the others character. (Tip; If you are sharing one account the two of you should play on different servers. This way neither of you can give into temptation and steal money or items from the other. Of course this does mean that if you set up another account and wish to play together one of you will have to start a character from scratch as you can't mail anything to characters on other servers).

As far as I'm aware you can't export characters to another account. The best you could do is to mail equipment and money to a character created with a new account - IF they are on the same server. It is also possible to move a character between servers, but this costs real world money. You could ask Blizzard about this - in my experience their technical people are usually helpful, if overworked.

I'd say that your best option at this point would be to download the trial version, which while lacking in some of the functions of the full game will give a far better idea as to how things work and if this is the right game for you. If you decide to stay you can upgrade the account later, although I *think* this would require that you get a full copy of the original game.

Tip 1; Blizzard used to reward players who recruited their friends to join the game. This is something you should investigate prior to opening a second account, as you may be able to get additional game-time for one or both accounts or special items.

Tip 2; Read the terms and conditions that come with the game disk. I'm not 100% sure, but it is possible that it is legal for you to install the game on two different computers. In which case you won't have to buy the game twice. It is certainly legal to use one copy for two (or more) accounts - I used to help a friend out by levelling one of his characters from my PC when he was at work, and played my characters through his machine.

Way ahead of you on that, wv. At 8, there's no way I'd give him free rein on something like that.

I downloaded the free version last night. When I went to launch it, it automatically started downloading the patch, and you weren't kidding about how long it takes, Cyber. It started around 6pm last evening, and when I left for work this morning at 7:30 (1/2 hour ago) it was at about 69%. Granted my broadband isn't the fastest, but that's still pretty slow.

I'll give it a shot this evening and over the weekend. Help him create a character and see if it's something he'll like. Looking at the main web page, they seem to have a lot of good info to help me get going with it.

Thanks for the help!

I would not advise gw2 for a younger person, it is very pvp centric, and much more group based.
not to mention, it needs a much heavier pc.