Potential Concerns: Interacting with Strangers

It's possible for people to meet other people online through MMOGs, and it certainly does happen. However, meeting outside of the game is neither necessary nor common. The topic is important to discuss with your teen.

• Role Playing involves playing in character, so it is fairly normal not to chat about your other (real) self. Talk with your teen about what you consider to be "personal information".
  
  Unlike a "chat room", where the entire purpose is to chat, the chat interface in most MMOGs is primarily included for use in achieving goals in the game. This means asking questions about enemies or items. MMOGs give players something to chat about other than themselves. In game locations and quests, it is natural not to give out personal information in an MMOG than in a chat room
   
• Players choose their gender. Most "female" characters in an MMOG are actually male.
  
  Approximately 84% of people who play World of Warcraft are male. According to a study by Nick Yee, "In WoW, males are about 7-8 times as likely to gender-bend than females." (Yee, 2005) 25% of Men (over 18) play a female character, while only 10% of male teens (males 18 or under) do this.
  
  In the same study, 55% of female characters are played by a male, and less than 1% of male characters are played by a female.
  source: http://www.nickyee.com/daedalus/archives/001369.php
  
  There could be many reasons that this occurs. In a study that Yee did of players of EverQuest (another MMOG), players who played characters of the opposite gender gave the following reasons for doing so:
  • for role-play purposes 27.4%
  • visual appearance 25.6%
  • other 16.8%
  • to gain advantage in the game 11.8%
  • gender exploration 7.1%
    
  (Yee, 2001)
  
 
• source: http://www.nickyee.com/eqt/genderbend.html
  
 
• While chatting is possible, the main activity of players in an MMOG is playing the game.
   
  The incentives (completing quests to earn the reward of cool virtual items to improve your character's looks and abilities) in the game are such that most players are focused on advancing in the game.
   
• Encourage your teen to play with a friend or someone who can act as a role model (perhaps an older relative).
  
  I mentioned this in another section, but it applies here as well. Playing with someone who shares a similar set of moral values can help the player in evaluating their behaviors in the virtual world.