Is it true that WoW is for 12 year-olds?Follow

I've never played WoW, but it was the first MMORPG that reattracted me to MMORPGs in general. It is a popular game no matter how you look at it and as much as I try to avoid it, it seems to be always on the number one spot in ANY MMORPG RANKINGS.

I was once talking to a friend and we were talking about MMORPGs in general. He doesn't like WoW. When I asked him why, he said it's because it is the game that "everyone has already been playing". I don't see his logic to be in any way, near sensible. I mean, if everyone plays it, it's probably a damn good game. So you're not gonna play a damn good game because... Everyone plays it?

I just want things to be cleared out and ask people in here the myths and truths about World of Warcraft.

Here are my questions:



1. Is it true that the game is so super-newbie friendly and easy that a twelve-year old kid can reach max level while soloing the whole entire thing?

2. Is it true that the majority of WoW players are 12-year olds? (Or at least super young, like 16?)



Those two are what I want to know from now. I think lots of people hate WoW because it's just too popular.

Thank you in advance.

Edited, Mar 16th 2011 4:21am by ViKtoricus

Are you making fun of young people? My teacher says it's not nice to make fun of people and she says I'm really smart. I saw you are posting for Rift? Are you an old person? My teacher says we have to be nice to people who are older than us. I hope you are not a bad man. She says that there are bad men on the Internet who try to trick young people. Is that why you want to know if there are twelve year olds in WoW? If you are a bad man, my teacher says I should not talk to you and should tell an older person.

Maz is old because he can drink beer and you can't drink beer until you are older. Maz, I think he is making fun of young people and that is not nice. People who are not nice are bad, so I'm telling you about him.

I'm 9 yrs old, wtf is this.

I thought I read somewhere once that the average age of a WoW player was early 30s? I could have sworn I read that somewhere.

1. Is it true that the game is so super-newbie friendly and easy that a twelve-year old kid can reach max level while soloing the whole entire thing?

Yeah, and I've grouped with them before. They often can reach high levels and they get the gist of things, but not the finer points that seperate good from bad. They often have short-sighted goals (Like wearing blue armor from 1-85) so they use the AH and go broke. From a grouping perspective they often do what they are expected or stereotyped to do. For example the term Huntard is sort of dead, but they, having read a few posts about how a lot of new players roll hunter, will make fun of the 'noob huntard' despite the fact that the hunter is appropriately geared/gemed. They also tend to join "Social" guilds because their short-fallings prevent them from actually raiding.

*This isn't to say that young players are bad - it's just a generalization.


2. Is it true that the majority of WoW players are 12-year olds? (Or at least super young, like 16?)

No. The population may be getting slighly younger with the massive influx of players over the course of Wrath, but I think that may be at least partially offset by the aging playerbase who started in Vanilla/TBC. It also depends a lot on who you associate with. In our guild vent I hear people complaining about thier bosses or thier kids or bills, etc... I can recall 2-3 people in the last 4-5 guilds I've joined who were actually young and concerned with kid stuff.

I've only met one person under the age of 18, and they were 15, but he was a pretty smart player and that was a few years ago so he it probably 17 by now. I guess I did run into one kid, but I never knew his name but he was annoying as **** in vent so he didn't last long with me.

Other than that, most of my guild is in their mid 20's to mid 30's. I'm sure I've met older, but I wouldn't really know, I don't go around asking everyone their age. I would probably get /smack(ed) by the women I asked!

^

The only kids I've met in-game (that I've known to be kids) are ones who are there because it's the easiest place to find their parents. ;)

By the time you are 16, you shouldn't be a dumba$$ anyway. If you are, then you'll probably still be one by the time you are 24.

There are plenty of mature teenagers.

Great, now I'll have to listen to him gloat over Skype next time we play 2v2, if he's not dead or something. Haven't seen him in a while.



Two things:

1. I keep trying to pronounce your handle every time I see one of your posts, but it doesn't taste right. Rhode I get, but kylle makes me think of a particular Easter brew.

2. Speaking of brews, I'm so not drunk enough for this thread.

Edited, Mar 16th 2011 7:03pm by Mazra

After starting on Rift, my RealID time has been severely limited, as has my WoW time.

But I'll definitely log on in the weekend.

There's no free trial?

There's no buddy/trial thing right now, but once the first free month is up here in two weeks and they start making some profit, they might start trials.

A quick google search for "wow player average age" shows results from a 2005 survey of just over 1000 people, which says that "84 percent of World of Warcraft players are male, and 16 percent are female. The average player's age is 28, and female players tend to be a few years older than male players." This particular statistic is quoted repeatedly by many sites, even in postings from 2011.

It's hard to tell how the average age might have changed in North America and Europe since 2005, and it's likely that including other countries (eg: China) might lower the average age.

For myself, I'm 52 and the few other players I know about are corporate workers also in their 50's, other than a Starbucks barista who is probably early 20's.