Early in my time in MMOs, playing Dark Ages of Camelot, I knew families played together. More often than not, when playing DAoC, I, as a healer named Feirea, was healing Monolith, a character played by my brother. We bonded and became friends, in ways we couldn’t do at home, in a virtual world. It wasn’t until WoW though that I met a parent who played with a child.

His name was Zeus (not really, but close enough) and he had a son who *desperately* wanted to play “Daddy’s Game”. Now, Apollo, as we shall call the son, wasn’t quite 4. Which is a tad young to be engaged in most of the activities in an MMO not to mention the players. So Zeus packed up one of his toons and moved him out to the middle of nowhere Teldrassil, left the chat channels and taught Apollo how to fish. Fishing in WoW is fairly simple, you click on a hot keyed button then click on the bobber when it splashes. Apollo not only grasped the concept, but *loved* it.

When fishing in WoW, there are variant levels of skill, and at the time as you skilled up, you could move to new locations and catch better fish. Each time Apollo out leveled the zone he was in, Zeus would move Apollo’s fisher to a new zone of the appropriate level, and the fishing would continue. Of course, after a while the random character Zeus had picked for Apollo to play had maxed out fishing, a feat not many WoW players would do, because fishing was so mind numbingly boring.

By the time I met Zeus and Apollo, Apollo had reached the tender age of 6, and every single character Zeus played had max fishing. Not to mention thousands of gold from selling Apollo’s fish on the Auction House. Zeus would buy the most expensive non-combat pets for every one of his characters, not because he wanted them, but rather because Apollo liked to have a pet out while fishing. Zeus liked to brag and call Apollo his little gold farmer.

One night, Zeus signed on and told the guild, “Sorry guys, i can’t raid tonight. Apollo scored a perfect score on his spelling test today, and we promised him he could fish tonight if he did. It’s really time to start thinking about his own account.” Not only had Zeus taught his son to “play WoW” by teaching him to fish, but he had also off-loaded a very dull and repetitive task that many players complain about, was using his son’s play time to “farm gold”, but also was using this as a reward for his child for doing well at school and behaving!! Talk about a win-win situation.

These days Apollo is nearing 8 years old and is finally playing the actual game with a great deal of help from Zeus. He plays a hunter, who skins and picks herbs, and still fishes. He only tames pets that eat fish. He has acquired the turtle mount, found from fishing in Northrend pools, for all of his father’s high level characters. He can’t wait to be high enough level to get one on his own character.

I have told many people about Zeus and Apollo, and most people think it is silly or just funny. A few people have had wildly insightful comments. One friend said “How interesting. I mean, in ancient times you had children to help you fish, farm, hunt, etc. And here it is happening again, only in virtual worlds.” I was floored by how accurate this comment was. Thanks to the fish selling so well on the auction house Zeus was a very wealthy person in game, but almost all of it gained from his son!

More recently I came across a group of people who play. A father, mother and two children, both in their teens. The father had originally started playing WoW to check and make sure it was appropriate for his two children, who wanted to play. Needless to say, within a month Dad and kids were engrossed in the game to the point that he purchased computers for the kids so that all three of them could play at once, together. (Apparently before that there had been a great deal of side seat playing and arguing and Mom was convinced to approve the expenditure to keep the peace.) After a few more months, Mom decided to try out this game that had so consumed her family.

As a bonding experience Dad and Kids re-rolled and played with Mom. Dad played a tank, Mom played a healer, and both the kids played dps. A nuclear family present both in game and out of it. They generally run dungeons together, but occasionally join a larger raid. Mom is quick to point out that her kids are very smart, well behaved, and are never in any trouble, mostly because she knows where they are. They are in Azeroth, with her. Dad beams with pride as they execute a complex fight to perfection. The kids, in true sibling rivalry fashion constantly battle to top the dps charts and take less damage or die less often than the other one. Family time is WoW time. Chores must be done, or Dad doesn’t tank. School work completed and doing well or Mom doesn’t heal.

I see in them bonding between a family that is on par with my bonding with my mother, built over years of playing games, reading books, watching movies, and generally being silly together. Perhaps we are looking at a new generation of families that will bond over video games.