Survey: EVE with kids

Posted on 2010-07-31 by Ecliptic Rift

I’d like to know whether any of you play EVE Online with your kids. How old are they? What do you do together?

My six year old daughter has expressed interest in playing with me. Right now, I think mining might be her speed, though other carebear activities like mission running might eventually play a role, too. I explained that she could help me “get rocks out of the asteroids” and that she’d get to fly her own ship. I dunno if it might get as boring for her as it does for me (snore). Mission running could be interesting, especially if I just stick her in a Rifter and teach her how to kill the webbing / scramming frigates. “Control-click on the small red crosses, select Orbit, then F1.”

At the same time, I don’t want her wandering anywhere near Local chat. Too much inappropriate stuff for 1st Grade eyes. You know what I’m talking about, though I don’t think the Python Cartel can go into high sec at any rate…

But I’d like to hear any other experiences from folks who play with children, including nieces / nephews / siblings. What have you done together? What have you learned not to do together? Any particularly fun experiences (or, alternately, did it leave you both scarred for life)?

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  2. Addressing the EVE learning curve
  3. Questions raised by December survey from CCP
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  • http://twitter.com/tehmetalleer Tony Burgio

    Dude I don't have any kids myself but I can't wait to see the comments on this xD

  • http://twitter.com/DjWeideman David Weideman

    I think keeping her out of Local is a good idea. What about the Corp channel? If she's in there playing, maybe you can put out the word to keep it clean. When I played WoW, we prided ourselves on being a family-friendly guild, so kids could play without being inundated with stupidity. In addition to mining, what about salvage? Tell her it's like a treasure hunt.

  • http://podlogs.com/outofpodexperience/ Acute Dragonis

    My daugher thinks Eve looks pretty but thats as far as it goes…she is awesome with the computer but doesnt have the attention span to play this kind of game yet… Hello Kitty is all she gets atm :p

  • http://vivevirtual.blogspot.com Jaggins

    I think you are better off playing Wizards 101, Faunasphere, or Free Realms together. EVE is very adult, and the griefer culture is full of jerks who could be problematic to expose to a young child.

    Going for a moderated experience is a good idea with youngsters.

  • http://twitter.com/CrazyKinux David Perry

    At 11 months and 3 and half years old mine are a bit too small to dabble in Internet Spaceships yet. But that doesn't mean I'm slowly trying to get them interested in the game. And eventually, I would love to have them fly along side as we explore and exploit New Eden!

  • http://rift.chromebits.net Casiella Truza

    My kids are 6 and (about to be) 4, so the oldest has JUST reached the point where it's worth considering. :)

  • http://rift.chromebits.net Casiella Truza

    Free Realms does factor into our time together, plus Wii Sports and such. One wants to fly spaceships with Daddy, though you're right: EVE's community is not one I want her experiencing JUST yet.

  • http://rift.chromebits.net Casiella Truza

    Solo-ish corps are handy for this. ;)

  • Illectro

    I have a 5 year old girl and a 4 year old boy and both are perfectly capable of taking a frigate out at ratting in hi-sec belts. My daughter gets to play as a reward for good behaviour and I'll fly alongside and try to talk to her about the concepts involved (astronomy, distances, mathematics, economics etc). Her biggest problems are reading the tiny font and the huge amount of right clicking involved with some parts of the UI, so she doesn't choose to run missions on her own because it's hard to warp to bookmarks, and doesn't use drones.

    Kids will however spend hours and hours with the portrait editor when making a pilot, I created an alt account and they both have toons that they created on their own, but I've spent some time training them to be research alts, ready to spring into action when the kids have been good enough to warrant eve time.

  • Illectro

    Here's my daughter playing Eve – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8U9dH66NAf0

  • http://rift.chromebits.net Casiella Truza

    That is the most awesome EVE video ever.