DDO, Parental Control, Kid suitability
- Thread starter Igognito
- Start date
Thumbed_Servant
Well-known member
Hello,
As far as I know there aren't any Parental Controls. The game base is by and large friendly, but I would coach any children playing alone that should they receive or see any inappropriate messages they should try to screen shot it and most definitely report it to you, the parent. "Ctrl-P" will take a screen shot of the game and place it in the Dungeons and Dragons folder in the Documents system folder. The game content itself doesn't really have anything that I would worry about children seeing; even in places where there is something gruesome the graphics are so muted as to make it not gruesome. Maybe supervise any children under the age of 10? These are my thoughts and experience with the game and I hope you find them helpful.
unforgiven_broken
Active member
"purge the heretics*Some adventures are a bit of a wrong lesson for a child, but otherwise it is all in the spirit of a game
One good example!
Well it´s an online game, so I think parental control in terms of interaction with other players is more of an issue than the game content itself, which is mostly kid-friendly as others have said.
How young are we talking ?
There is some depiction of blood in the game, not sure if that can be turned off in the graphics options. But it´s cartoonish in style anyway.
How young are we talking ?
There is some depiction of blood in the game, not sure if that can be turned off in the graphics options. But it´s cartoonish in style anyway.
gravisrs
From DDO EU servers
Steam says PG12.
References to alcohol, smoking, evil things and creatures, violence, online interactions - all is rather for 12+ kids at least.
True, could interaction be limited to a friend list? Guild members?
And then comes the question, who controls the friends list...
Anyhow, compared with Warcraft 2, Starcraft Broodwars and Heroes of Might and Magic that I used to play online DDO is a group of angels :-D
And then comes the question, who controls the friends list...
Anyhow, compared with Warcraft 2, Starcraft Broodwars and Heroes of Might and Magic that I used to play online DDO is a group of angels :-D
DDO Gaming
Well-known member
create a family guildship and only run family quests so your children are reasonably protected from the noise.
As for age...well plenty have gamers have run quests with young children so...
vryxnr
Well-known member
The ESRB rating for this game is T for teen, due to Violence, Blood, Alcohol, and Suggestive Themes.
I'm not aware of any options to turn off blood, or to change or remove dialogue or images related to alcohol, violence, or the few sexual references and suggestive themes. In addition, there are also times where slavery is a topic, and fantasy forms of racism, and as mentioned above, one quests where religion is weaponized to persecute and murder. The game is not glorifying these things imo, but they do exist.
The biggest danger though is the other people. I've had a 9 year old join one of my raids (with their father present) and it was a good experience. But some players definitely don't have a filter and some will even go out of their way to be nasty. However, DDO's playerbase is no where near as dangerous as players in other multiplayer games that many children play (some may think fortnight, but some of the vilest things I've heard there came from children's mouths! Roblox on the other hand has an actual predator problem). I think the most important thing is that you and your child have conversations about these things so that if something happens and you're not nearby, that they know how to handle it safely.
I'm not aware of any options to turn off blood, or to change or remove dialogue or images related to alcohol, violence, or the few sexual references and suggestive themes. In addition, there are also times where slavery is a topic, and fantasy forms of racism, and as mentioned above, one quests where religion is weaponized to persecute and murder. The game is not glorifying these things imo, but they do exist.
The biggest danger though is the other people. I've had a 9 year old join one of my raids (with their father present) and it was a good experience. But some players definitely don't have a filter and some will even go out of their way to be nasty. However, DDO's playerbase is no where near as dangerous as players in other multiplayer games that many children play (some may think fortnight, but some of the vilest things I've heard there came from children's mouths! Roblox on the other hand has an actual predator problem). I think the most important thing is that you and your child have conversations about these things so that if something happens and you're not nearby, that they know how to handle it safely.
Nebless
Well-known member
No, there's a general chat that only covers that area (no world chat) and the help and trade channels I think are world wide. What you could probably do is totally turn OFF chat and in the options when you first start playing disable the 'accept party, guild, challenge etc....' requests so he's not getting any 'pop up's' on the screen.
I don't think there's a specific 'friends list' channel, but there is a Guild channel so if you could turn everything else off and just leave that one open if he has questions.
The typed chat channel probably won't be the biggest worry, but I'd keep him away from any voice chat.
The player controls the friends list.
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I played as a duo with my young son (10 - 14), but we only talked between ourselves and I'd have to say that's the best way to do.
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While it will depend on the child's maturity level, I'd have to say 12 and up to play on their own.
Xgya
Well-known member
You can create private chat channels by using the /joinchannel *insert channel name* command.
If you rearrange the chat window so you only post in that channel, and then make sure only friends join it, you can have a very small circle of people that can chat with each other.
It's not fool-proof, but it works.
gnarledmaw
Member
There are adult players that have unintentionally admitted that they dont understand what happened in there, I dont think there are many kids that understand the story well enough to realize anything other than some elves got chopped.
gnarledmaw
Member
To some degree it depends on your lifestyle, the maturity of the child, and what the child is actually doing when "playing".
One of my children "played" at 3. The hobbit would strip down to her underwear and swim in the harbor. Thats it, that was the entirety of gameplay. I gave that character an underwater breathing item and that little hobbit just loved swimming around. No questing and couldnt read.
Another child played a good bit around 6. We live on a farm. The kids help me butcher, hunt, and cook. Blood is no more scary or forbidden of a concept than that of "chair" or "water". That really wasnt an issue and the fact that the game became too difficult for them at about 8th level of difficulty (6E) that they couldnt go into anything with any of the more scary representations limited what they were seeing.
If someone is brought up to have breakdowns over the depiction of something smoking or the presence of alcohol then those people will never likely achieve an age level maturity that allows them to play in perfect psychological safety without some sort of safety mask layers being implemented. Maybe this is a money making opportunity for SSG. Instead of portals to airships, they could sell "portal to safe space x25".
Often I just sat and supervised while talking to them. Its one thing to spend time with them while they play and its all together another to leave it up to SSG to babysit in a virtual public space. Some years back there was far more filth being openly broadcast from the Lobster on my primary server than anything I ever heard or saw in a group.
unforgiven_broken
Active member
I Frankly never paid enuf attention but its already in the name
Alrik Fassbauer
Active member
To anyone, and especially to kids, this game - like too many others - gives the impression that conflicts can ONLY be solved via violence. There simply is no social interaction. None between NPCs and PCs whatsoever, apart from "quest giving", and there is no actual Diplomacy at all.
In this game, Diplomacy works merely as a skill that reduces monster hate, so to say, but nothing else, which gives a very shortened view on what Diplomacy actually is. Same goes for the other few social skills DDO has. Every social aspect of the rules set has been tailored to fit into the needs of an Action-RPG, which DDO actually kind of is (at least it fits into that formula, apart from having a few strong non-fighting skills like disarming traps), and that's why I view DDO and most other MMORPGs I know of as "fighting games".
(Personally, this is why I moved away from Action-RPGs and from "traditional RPGs" in general.)
In general, I do not like the shortened view that "all conflicts can be solved via violence". To me, this is a very shortened view on what society actually is and can do. Conflicts can be solved by a lot of other ways, depending on the sort/kind of conflict. "Home Sweet Sewer" is - as far as I can see - the *only* real example within the whole game teaching a non-violent way of solving a conflict. Oh, and perhaps "The Faithfully Departed", too.
In this game, Diplomacy works merely as a skill that reduces monster hate, so to say, but nothing else, which gives a very shortened view on what Diplomacy actually is. Same goes for the other few social skills DDO has. Every social aspect of the rules set has been tailored to fit into the needs of an Action-RPG, which DDO actually kind of is (at least it fits into that formula, apart from having a few strong non-fighting skills like disarming traps), and that's why I view DDO and most other MMORPGs I know of as "fighting games".
(Personally, this is why I moved away from Action-RPGs and from "traditional RPGs" in general.)
In general, I do not like the shortened view that "all conflicts can be solved via violence". To me, this is a very shortened view on what society actually is and can do. Conflicts can be solved by a lot of other ways, depending on the sort/kind of conflict. "Home Sweet Sewer" is - as far as I can see - the *only* real example within the whole game teaching a non-violent way of solving a conflict. Oh, and perhaps "The Faithfully Departed", too.
Terpilar
Well-known member
Surely you mean DPS