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Family Forum / Parenting / Mothers / May 2008How Can a Kid's "RUNE SCAPE" Addiction Be Handled or Broken?
Any parents have any helpful hints on how best to handle a teenager's or child's addiction to RUNE SCAPE and similar games? I've heard an unpleasant story about 2 boys who live in the Midwest. One is in middle school, the other in his 3rd year of high school. They are currently SO involved in Rune Scape that: *They will alternately ignore, talk back, negotiate, whine & whimper to their parents if the parents try to get them off the game at any time.. even to do their homework, or just to go to bed! In some cases, including trying to get them to go to school the next day, they will lay down flat on the floor and refuse to move. *They will stay up all night, if they can get away with it, playing this game... if they are coaxed and argued to bed, they may fake sleeping until the parents are asleep, then they get up again and play it some more. *They will not do their homework AT ALL, if it interferes in their Rune Scape session... The first thing they do when they get home is log-on to Rune Scape. You cannot get them to agree to, let's say, do the homework first and THEN play Rune Scape. *They will try to stay up SO late, that nobody can wake them up the next morning for school, which seems to be just fine with these kids, because then they can stay home & play Rune Scape all day! The main difficulty seems to be, that with the rewards, 'prizes' of nonexistent winged helmets, magic swords, etc., offered for valiant battle winners who have "slain" the most "monsters", Rune Scape is much more exciting than going to school or anything else that's going on in the family home. When the boy's mother asked the younger boy about what the big attraction was for Rune Scape, the boy answered: "It's the most important thing in my life! Don't bother me when I'm playing it!" There is a way to defeat the game by "BLOCKING" it, but the boys have learned some kind of trick that gets around the block so that by the next day, they're both on Rune Scape again! Ideas? Thanks. ----Ed http://breast-pumps.net > Any parents have any helpful hints on how best to handle a teenager's > or child's addiction to RUNE SCAPE and similar games? I've heard an [quoted text clipped - 37 lines] > > Ideas? Thanks. Yes, take away the cables until they return to normal human beings. And stop this ridiculuous idea of TV and pcs in bedrooms. Bedrooms are for sleeping in. Marc >> Any parents have any helpful hints on how best to handle a teenager's >> or child's addiction to RUNE SCAPE and similar games? I've heard an [quoted text clipped - 42 lines] > sleeping in. > Marc Turn off the modem. I'm not familiar with Runescape, but I am familiar with WoW. If there is a subscription involved, stop paying for it. Preventing access to the game is the quick and dirty way to deal with the issue. I'd say the RuneScape addiction isn't the main problem, though. The main problem is the kids learning scheduling, time management, and respecting the household rules. >> Preventing access to the game is the quick and dirty way to deal with the > issue. I'd say the RuneScape addiction isn't the main problem, though. The > main problem is the kids learning scheduling, time management, and > respecting the household rules. And the p arents enforcing them and setting the example themselves. > Yes, take away the cables until they return to normal human beings. Or lock the computers with a password they don't know. > And stop this ridiculuous idea of TV and pcs in bedrooms. Bedrooms are for > sleeping in. > Marc What if the child (or adult) is using the computer in his/her bedroom to write The Great American Novel or a revolutionary computer program or web site? Or, more prosaically, writing a paper for class? For some people, a quiet bedroom may be the best place for them to work. Besides, it will not be easy to enforce a policy against laptop computers in the bedroom. Whether a child should be allowed a computer in his bedroom depends on how he is using it. Three of my boys played Runescape two winters ago. Many of their friends were also playing. When they weren't playing, they were often discussing the game, their characters and their progress. I asked about it, and it sounded kind of fun. One of them urged me to try it, so I did. Soon I was just as 'into it' as they were! It was so fun sharing stories of what had happened to us in the game, what we were working on, the different ways we were building our online characters. At that time, we were taking many long drives for wrestling tournaments, and it was amazing how short these drives seemed when we were all animatedly discussing Runescape. My oldest son lost interest in the game after a while, and started focusing on his bass guitar. The 2nd boy only played a little bit once the weather warmed up. I stayed on it longer than them! My 3rd son, when no one cared about the game anymore, stopped playing also. We did other things that winter... sledding, snowboarding, etc. But the Runescape phase is a fond memory for all of us because we enjoyed it together. Advice on how to make them cut back? Stop payment on the membership (5 bucks a months) if they abuse the privilege. > Any parents have any helpful hints on how best to handle a teenager's > or child's addiction to RUNE SCAPE and similar games? I've heard an [quoted text clipped - 37 lines] > > Ideas? Thanks. The RuneScape folks themselves offer some practical advice: http://www.runescape.com/kbase/viewarticle.ws?article_id=2664 And, as others have written, stop paying for it or disconnect the network connection during homework and sleep hours. [snip commercial web site advertisement] -- "I write all kinds of things, there's a million words awiating [sic] publication." -- Edvins Augusts |
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