Useful Resources for Parents

Various resources are available for parents interested in learning more about MMOGs, although many focus on more general concepts like teen gaming or teens and the Internet, and not MMOGs specifically.

Common Sense Media
http://www.commonsensemedia.org

This site offers "family friendly reviews" of games and other media.

Teenagers Today (Resources Page) http://www.teenagerstoday.com/articles/

This collection of web articles is produced by iParenting Media, which also publishes a magazine called Family Energy: Your Guide to Raising Healthy Kids. Their list of information covers all sorts of issues that parents may be facing with their teens.

While much of these articles are related to parenting teens in general, some of these do apply directly to teens and MMOGs. Teenagers Today has an article called, “Side by Side: Exploring Virtual Worlds With Your Teen.” There are also some good articles on privacy issues, cyberbullying, and internet strangers.

Social Study Games
http://socialstudygames.com/

This is a collection of information (mostly articles) about the Social aspects of MMOGs. If someone is interested in learning about how people behave in virtual worlds, this may be a good place to look.

Pew Internet and American Life Project
http://www.pewinternet.org

This organization provides some useful research about teens and the Internet. This information is not designed to provide advice, but parents may still find it informative.

“The Daedalus Project: The Psychology of MMORPGs” by Nick Yee
http://www.nickyee.com/daedalus/

Nick Yee has done some interesting studies on MMORPGs, which is another term for MMOG. The RP in MMORPG stands for Role Playing. The Daedalus project focuses on learning more about the people who play games like World of Warcraft.

This includes demographics of players, motivations for playing, and other issues that are related to players interactions with one another. If a parent is trying to understand how a player behaves in an MMOG, then this is a very good resource.