Breakfast Topic: Are children welcome in your guild?
by Martha Widra 
Sep 15th 2010 at 8:00AM
Children are so much fun and a joy to have around, right? Maybe that's true in real life (at least for a lot of people), but in a guild setting in World of Warcraft, children present some difficult situations. I've been the "guild mom" for two guilds with child members (one who is between the ages of 8 and 15), so I've had a lot of experience.
We all have seen children in a guild. Many beg or ask for gold. They want to be run through instances or helped to level. They ask silly questions. And their reading levels may not be high enough for them to follow the quest text. Guild chat may be filled with: "Can someone help me level?" "Can I have some gold?" "Are we there yet?" And everyone has to watch what is said in guild chat.
Helping children to become strong guild members requires a commitment of time from other members. Some guilds do not want to give that time, so they say "adults only." Other guilds welcome children and work through the problems. All this requires some planning, some commitment of time and lots of patience. The good news is that as time goes on, children mature, and they may become a core of solid members for the future who know how to pass on the lessons they learned to the next generation.
Are children welcomed and helped in your guild? Does your guild restrict membership to adults only? Are children allowed, but everyone hates it when they are online?
Filed under: Guilds, Breakfast Topics, Guest Posts
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 9)
Alex Sep 15th 2010 8:08AM
Well I don't mind if children join my guild. The most required thing is mature behavior and the ability to work with others.
Oscar Sep 15th 2010 9:27AM
^^^^ This, as long as they're mature it shouldn't matter. A few years back one of the guilds I was in ( a casual family guild) were discussing different topics in guild chat and age came up, we each said our age all were over 18 except for one who stated she was 15, 2 seconds later you saw *(guild member name) was removed from guild* followed by the guild leader saying it was an adult only guild.
The person kicked was very mature never begged for anything, if anything all she ever asked of the guild was if anyone wanted to quest with her ( I happened to be questing with her when she was kicked). I proceeded to apologize that she was kicked and gave her the reason the guild gave, and continued to quest with her. She took it well, she was very mature about it. She added me to her friends list and we'd quest together every once in a while.
pancakes Sep 15th 2010 9:42AM
My guild adopts a similar tact. If you're mature enough to not tip off anyone that you're five, then we really couldn't care less. Age does by no means determine skill or maturity, as I'm sure many of you can attest.
Slick Sep 15th 2010 10:37AM
See, a lot of people go with the "mature behavior" as their criteria instead of age. But there are guilds out there like mine that even that doesn't work. We are an adult only guild, not because we have any innate issues with kids, but because we are Mature but wish to act immature.
Our raids are a time of release from having to act like adults - so we ACT immature and we get vulgar - but we still get the job done.
It's hard for kids to fit into this because most kids are either actually immature, or are mature and won't lower themselves to acting immature.
Not to mention that in a very social guild, it's difficult for the kids to relate to the adults and vice-versa.
Aaron Sep 15th 2010 11:16AM
The most immature guilds I've been in put MATURE PLAYERS ONLY in big flashing neon signs on their guild sites.
Things that make you say "HMMMMMM".
;-P
VSUReaper Sep 15th 2010 11:49AM
My guild is a mature guild, and will accept people under the age of 16 on the condition that we are able to talk to their parents to make sure they understand what their child is being exposed to. (we judge age based on voice - I know its not perfect, but /shrug).
So far, the only kid we have had to admit is the GM's son, and hes more mature than some of the 30 year olds in the guild.
El Pollo Grande Sep 15th 2010 8:09AM
Ironically enough, I think our guild members are too childish to allow kids in! We're a 'serious' raid guild, so members largely comprise of 20-something males. Guild chat tends to resemble a sports changing room, I'd hate to expose minros to that atmosphere.
Noselacri Sep 15th 2010 8:27AM
A locker room scenario you say...?
Sign me up.
Jinx Sep 15th 2010 9:26AM
I prefer to liken our guild chat to a mild 4chan.
Foxfyr Sep 15th 2010 9:37AM
Shouldn't Minros be able to decide for himself?
Josin Sep 15th 2010 10:23AM
Same here. I know I wouldn't want my kids in my guild... NOT a good environment for children.
El Pollo Grande Sep 15th 2010 11:19AM
I spotted the 'minros' when I posted, and wondered if anyone would be childish enough to point it out in a thread about children. I know I would have been.
Anyone wanting to sign up to 'the locker room' (you crazy yanks!) should email me. I think you can do it through this interface, right?
Minros Sep 15th 2010 12:26PM
No, it's cool. I understand.
jaenicoll Sep 15th 2010 12:38PM
So Jimmy, Have you ever seen Spartacus? Have you ever been in a Turkish Prison?
Pad Sep 15th 2010 8:09AM
Our guild has a couple rather mature-ish teenagers and I think we're all pretty happy to have them around. Generally though...no kiddies allowed.
kooda Sep 15th 2010 11:04AM
Same with my guild except i am the mature teenager, i joined my guild about 3 months before an age limit was put in place (16+) so I'm currently the youngest there there's no indifference though everybody goes about there business and speaks freely.
Dril Sep 15th 2010 11:25AM
@Kooda: this. "Children," by and large, are not age-related but maturity rated. No one ever asked me how old I was when I raided heavily (15) and since I had a deep voice, most people thought I was 30 anyway. Christ, the worst guild I've ever been in (with terrible "banter" that consisted of titanic racism and general arseholery to pugs) had a grand total of one "minor" in it; me. I left after a week.
The best players and people I've spoken to have almost universally been under-20, with one exception.
Imnick Sep 15th 2010 8:10AM
I think you are giving younger players a lot less credit than they deserve.
Kids are inexperienced perhaps, but they aren't stupid. A child of 8 might not understand (but why are they playing this 12+ rated game?) but simply tell a child of 15 that they are being annoying and politely ask them to stop and they are likely to shut up.
I started playing this game 5 years ago when I was 13 and never once begged for gold or pestered people for boosts in dungeons. For a long time in Wrath I was in a guild with many members under the age of 18 and they never used guild chat to spam requests for free items or dungeon runs.
Agism is a large problem in this game, as many guilds ask for members of 18 and up. Personally I think that people need to realise that they are essentially playing a children's game and putting such high priority into the age of their members rather than their actual maturity is just silly.
Rai Sep 15th 2010 8:14AM
I would rather dungeon with yourself than some of the asshats I've met through the dungeon finder.
muagen Sep 15th 2010 8:32AM
A "children's game"? That's rather arguable, given the themes and events that transpire between level 1 and level 80. I mean, we've (kinda) killed gods and dealt with essentially crowning a new Lich King. That's not even touching on the subject of murdering people over difference of opinion / racism.
That aside, agism occurs because a few reekingly bad apples are always in the mix-- usually teenagers who are just grasping the idea of memes and copy-cat-cool. Having been in several levelling guilds, I've seen first hand the bullying, clique-heavy community of which these turds are capable. No thanks.
I realize that not every kid embodies this particular blend of unclassy, but, having been burned before, I'd really rather not take a chance at this point.