Playing Parents

This is a fairly popular image. Pardon my stealing it.

Teo has been absent because he welcomed a brand new gold farmer / raid hunter into the world at 6PM last night. (She'll be a blood elf, of course, unless she rolls undead. But the statistics say elf.)

I'm sure one of us will take advantage of this ready audience and post a photo when photos are available. Hi baby Elsa Shu-Yi!

So, in honor of real life children, I talked to a few of my guild's parents about dual-boxing Life and WoW.

Five out of my five polled parents said the biggest change is time. They have to focus hard on managing time and juggling availability.

Stay-at-home mom Kristina says she only plays when her children are at school, napping, or catching up on their cartoons -- otherwise, she makes sure her husband is with them when she's planned an in-game activity. Single mom Tara gives her girls extra love, like going to the movies, so she's not just consumed by the game -- she works hard to get them settled with their own entertainments (or bed) if she has to raid. Daddy Rich actually took advice from Teo and only plays when his little girl is in bed or having quality time with mommy. He says "your playtime will be cut, and there's nothing you can do about it."

Keale plays after he's already spent time with his kids, and Eric has to coordinate every moment of his in-game time and even does his chores for the day when both his kids and his guild friends are in bed so he can squeeze every last drop out of both worlds.

Most of these parents have trouble scheduling things or doing spur-of-the-moment activities because they know they might have to run away in the middle. Over half told stories about fleeing to take care of something and coming back to the game to find a corpse. (Kristina's 5-year-old loves to announce when her mom is being attacked even when it's Kristina attacking the mob.) From the stories they told, apparently having kids makes you look like a huge noob, but it's just something you have to roll with.

Being a playing parent can strain guild relations if you're not with people who understand the whole "real life is important too" deal. Tara remembers when she got to a ZG raid 15 minutes late, only 2 minutes after they'd removed her, because she had to finish giving her girls their bath (they'd known the reason, and one guy had stood up for her since they were only on trash). Their response was harsh when she spoke up: "Because I said anything at all they gkicked me."

Eric had a more encouraging (though grosser) story: He had to go afk suddenly because his little daughter got out of bed and "used the floor as a potty." He said the raid understood and gave him the time to go clean.

Four out of five of the parents polled would let their children play WoW if they wanted, though the dads are a lot more nervous about it. Rich would be watching his little girl "like a hawk" and Eric would try to prevent his kids from playing as much as he does. Keale won't let his kids play at all, not even for the excuse of spending time together in-game: "After sitting back and noticing the time needed to play the game and how easy it is to lose 3 hours of time I will not let my children play. [It's] too much of an addiction."

In contrast, the women already let their girls play on their accounts (though there has been some trouble with the reading aspect of the game). Kristina's 5-year-old already talks like a pro, saying how she wants to play her rogue or DK, and now that Tara's kids are older she's thinking about getting them their own PC and account so they can play with her (she hopes IVV will welcome them like it welcomed her).

All of these parents said WoW gave them a great way to relieve stress from their day, but their kids always come first. It might rack up their repair bills and make them look inept in the middle of pugs, but I think Rich said it best: kids are "a great excuse to get away from the game and explore the real world."

So here's to parents and their RL quest chain: Children.

---------------------------

Beth Blevins is a former officer in In Vino Veritas.

She's a writer, artist and avid blogger.

Beth's been married since her junior year of college.