My son and WoW private server...
Hello everyone.
I have been playing WoW for about two years.... since when my wonderful wife had the precious idea of giving me a copy of the game as anniversary present.
Little did she know... within the week the whole family was playing and leveling up... myself, son, daughter, and wife. Had to run out and buy one more computer to keep everybody happy.
Problem.
Yesterday my son innocently showed me how he had connected to a private server - following the lead of a friend. I immediately had him disconnect from that server and reset the realm list and the logon server.
A big discussion followed - and I am not sure I was able to get the point across. My son is a fairly intelligent and bright young man (going to be 16 in January, high honor roll since I can remember), but he seems completely unable to grasp the concept that playing on a private server is very much illegal and may have severe consequences.
I have been on these forums for a while - I never posted before... other posters always asked the questions and provided the answers I was looking for... but now I would definitely appreciate some argument and some supporting evidence against the use of private servers.
As a matter of fact, I am a bit perplexed myself: given the questionable legal status of private servers, how is it possible for private servers operator to so openly advertise, and publish or host web sites that can be so easily located...
I can, from a technical point of view, prevent my son from ever altering the realm and logon server list - thus effectively preventing him from connecting to that private server or one of the many other private servers.
On the other hand, I was wondering if anybody here has ever faced such a situation. How did you handle it? How did you handle the rebuttal "... well, a lot of people are playing on a private server... so it cannot be that bad... "
Thank in advance for any suggestions...
G
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Old 13-12-2007, 04:52 PM #2
inkmva inkmva is offline
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Well, it basically boils down to this:
Private servers generate no revenue from Blizzard and is, as such, basically the same as stealing a game in the shop. Wow is an expensive game but you only pay for how long you play it.
It doesn't really sound like your son would run out and steal a game in the shop simply because others do it, he just needs to make the connection that these two are practically the same.
(That being said, I have no problems with people actually mucking about on private servers. The problem arises when people stop playing and paying the real world of warcraft and only play the private servers in my eyes.)
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Old 13-12-2007, 05:02 PM #3
OneMadOgre OneMadOgre is offline
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Hello! My daughter is five so it's a while before she gets there. My understanding is that by running or playing on a private server you're removing Blizzard's property rights to govern their own code.
The effective quick metaphor I'd be using is an empathic one.
If when you logged into the WoW servers, everyone could see your toon, then copy it and play it themselves with the same name as your toon, how motivated would you be to continue to work on that toon? Copying my work and then pretending it's yours is dishonest.
or, more of a what's expected of you as a man in society angle...
As a man, you're judged by your deeds. What does it say about you as a man if you're led around like a sheep because "everyone is doing it"? "It's not a big deal, it's just a game" is the rallying cry of the weak. It's the same as saying "I'm too interested in doing something that feels good than I am in doing the right thing." Practice makes permenant, and if you practice being a thief, then every new theft is that much easier. I have higher expectations of you as a man, and frankly, you should expect more of yourself too. Easy is always tempting, but the measure of a man is the principles that he lives by.
As a dad, you already know why it seems really wrong to you. Someone taught you to value hard work, fairness, and doing the right thing even when it's hard. Those are lessons you're ready to give your son, you just need to find the words.
Good luck. I think you're going to be alright with it, because it's already in the core of who you are.
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Old 13-12-2007, 05:03 PM #4
ChaosSaber ChaosSaber is offline
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Could you not crackdown with the parental controls to simulate the effect of bring perma-banned for using a private server?
Blizzard does not make threats; they drop the hammer. Perhaps you should do the same to get the point across.
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Old 13-12-2007, 05:27 PM #5
xDarkDrifterx xDarkDrifterx is offline
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IMO - Blizzard is aware of these sites and could shut them down if the wanted. Yes, they'd just reopen another one shortly after if they only got shutdown and faced no criminal charges. So it's my belief that Blizzard considers them a slight annoyance but not something that's taking so much of their clientele that they need to pursue these individuals and their sites in a legal way.
I'm opposed to them personally and would never use one, but I've had friends who have messed around on some (that they set up themselves) to check out new content that they could just code in some stuff and solo Kara or w/e.
In the end, it's not worth the risk to me, and most people say that private servers kind of suck after a few days as most are vacant, and a large part of the pull of this game is the community which (I've heard) doesn't exist in such full force on private servers as they do on real realms.
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Old 13-12-2007, 08:12 PM #6
Giorgius Giorgius is offline
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Thanks to all who replied -- I found a couple of excellent ideas in OneMadOgre's post. In the meantime I learned that the PTR is back up and offering pre-made characters again... that will sure get the boy's full attention...