What My Six Year Old Has Learned From CoX

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And five'll get you ten it becomes a "Dev's Choice".

*imagining Sister Flame cheerfully whaling on the Clockwork King*

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

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Which one? I'm thinking there'll be several choices...

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If you ever bring your kids over to Virtue, I'd love to team with them. They're awesome.

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We pop on Virtue once in a while. Flame likes to play on Freedom, Virtue and Guardian (I think we're redside on Virtue).

Congrats on the level 35, LoveGoneCold. Flame is bopping along and just dinged 25. We only play about two hours a week right now and I made a mistake of introducing NBA Jam to Flame, so she has a new distraction now.

The user made content is looking pretty interesting. I know my eldest has some serious ideas about story lines and at a fresh 11, I think she has some serious potential as a creative director or something.

As for Flame, she is on a "let's get a big group" kick right now. So, I try to get us on a big team when we pop on Freedom. I hate leading, so I won't form one myself. i am also not sure where Flame wants to head next. She's very much a creature of habit and would prefer to stick to Pocket D, Atlas Park or Steel Canyon.

She is looking forward to the Halloween event. When that rolls around, all three of my daughters go into serious CoX mode and trick-or-treat constantly. That is probally their favorite event, next to monster "arresting".

More when I got the time. Flame and the others want to take a logn bike ride.

Wait till she starts learning mythology from things like the Fir Bolg or Dannan.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow City of Heroes is a game about freedom of expression and variety of experiences far more so than it is about representing any one theme, topic or genre.

Take her to Cimerora!

Roman history, here we come! (Until she gets to Social Studies class and starts asking about the influence of the Nictus in ancient history.)

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

I forgot about this thread. So many good stories. Thanks again for sharing them with us. :-)

I love this thread. SO much. *warm fuzzy feelings*

Has Sister Flame gotten her Halloween badges and costumes yet?

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I hadn't seen this thread until today. So many great stories here, and I thought I would share one with you.

My 12 y/o son has been playing Co* with me for over two years now. Over this time, he's learned all about enhancements (TOs, DOs, SOs and IOs). Now he's even starting to figure out sets. He got his first purple drop just the other day. Talk about being excited.

He has severe ADHD, and unfortunately, has to take medicine. He's been six years on the same dosage , but since the beginning of the school year he just can't seem to keep out of trouble: talking in class, disrupting the class, play pushing in the hallway, etc. Silly stuff really, but it's been landing him in detention A LOT. So, his doctor reviewed his medication and decided it was time to up the dose a little.

When I was explaining this to my son, he stared out into space for a moment or two and then said, "So this is like when your enhancments go red and you need to upgrade them."

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Has Sister Flame gotten her Halloween badges and costumes yet?

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We have a ToT playdate scheduled for Wednesday night. Monday was Grocery night and Tuesday night is dentist time, so Flame and I have made plans to do some serious Trick or Treating on Wednesday. She hasn't got a costume yet (She's only ToTed a for a short time), btu she really wants a "girl" costume. The Halloween event is a big hit with her. I think she likes taking down the big monsters more than ToTing. I know she wants to do Lusca when she reaches a high enough level.

With the CoX holiday events, we acutally have to plan our CoX time. All my girls love the events very much. With only two accounts to share between Dad and three daughters, I have to be fair. My little one, almost 5, has really gotten into CoX since the summer. Her and Flame can now play together while I have to sit and watch.

This works out well because my eldest has been making noises about playing together. Even those she's 11 and getting to the "I want to do my own thing" stage, she still wants to play with her old man. Being the good father I am, I am levelling up her Elec/Elec blaster so she can "go and see the Romans", as she calls it. I'm also quietly re-speccing her toon so she won't have as much problems with endurance. She's too stubborn to push the EASY button and pick a different powerset.

I'm also using CoX as a math exercise tool for my eldest. She's needs a little reinforcement on some concepts, so I get her to figure out how much XP is needed for the next level and how much the Auction House will take if she sets a price. It's working out okay, but not as well as using CoX to help with reading skills and problem solving.

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I hadn't seen this thread until today. So many great stories here, and I thought I would share one with you.

My 12 y/o son has been playing Co* with me for over two years now. Over this time, he's learned all about enhancements (TOs, DOs, SOs and IOs). Now he's even starting to figure out sets. He got his first purple drop just the other day. Talk about being excited.

He has severe ADHD, and unfortunately, has to take medicine. He's been six years on the same dosage , but since the beginning of the school year he just can't seem to keep out of trouble: talking in class, disrupting the class, play pushing in the hallway, etc. Silly stuff really, but it's been landing him in detention A LOT. So, his doctor reviewed his medication and decided it was time to up the dose a little.

When I was explaining this to my son, he stared out into space for a moment or two and then said, "So this is like when your enhancments go red and you need to upgrade them."



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Heh. Good story.

And puberty will do things like that. In addition to higher dosage, if you haven't already, consider also more behavioral therapy wherein there is practice in relaxation and focus techniques. If behavioral therapy can do the trick by itself, then it's better than using more meds.

This thread makes me happy.

Seriously- Amid all the anger and whining on these forums, a nice thread about children learning from my favourite game online makes me really happy.

It reminds me of when I began learning from online games.

It actually started with Runescape.

I was into the whole 'ore' deal and such, figuring out which ores combined into which metal and stuff.

A few years later, in a science class, I seemed to be the only one that knew that copper and tin made bronze. It was a nice feeling.

But yeah, if anyone happens to roll a hero on Virtue, I'd be happy to team with them! My Elec/Elec Blaster could use some burnination. XD

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Heh. Good story.

And puberty will do things like that. In addition to higher dosage, if you haven't already, consider also more behavioral therapy wherein there is practice in relaxation and focus techniques. If behavioral therapy can do the trick by itself, then it's better than using more meds.

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I whole heartedly agree with this statement.

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This thread makes me happy.

Seriously- Amid all the anger and whining on these forums, a nice thread about children learning from my favourite game online makes me really happy.

It reminds me of when I began learning from online games.

It actually started with Runescape.

I was into the whole 'ore' deal and such, figuring out which ores combined into which metal and stuff.

A few years later, in a science class, I seemed to be the only one that knew that copper and tin made bronze. It was a nice feeling.

But yeah, if anyone happens to roll a hero on Virtue, I'd be happy to team with them! My Elec/Elec Blaster could use some burnination. XD

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My son's first "real" PC game was Age of Empire. The part I liked the most about that game was that it taught my son that there was more to an epic battle than just the battle. You need supplies, training, troops and everything else that is required in order to succeed in an epic battle. My son loves that game and has taught his grandfather how to play it. Even now, whenever they are able to get together, you can find the two of them linked together battling it out on AoE.

I thought of another thing that CoX is helping my daughters learn: social skills.

Flame and her older sister love to be in teams. The bigger, the better. When they first started accepting random invites, they were sometimes disappointed with what the team was doing. My oldest has learned to politely refuse the invite and makes sure that her LFT messages says "No blind invites.". She always says thank you and listens to the person with the star. She has also learned that if some one of the team is being a goof, they will get kicked quickly or she can tell the team she is leaving because she has something to do.

A white liar in the making.

Sister Flame is not a great speller yet, but she can read very well. When she gets private messages, she reads them and asks me to send a proper reply. She also says "Please and thank you" when joining teams. She's also learned that she gets more invites when she says "Level 21 Fire Blaster looking for some fun" as opposed to "Lvl 21 F blst need a team".

I also got a story about my eldest using her Internet Streetsmarts on CoX twice so far, but that's a little off topic IMHO. I'd rather talk about Sister Flame's responses to I13.

Dad: Hey Flame, I13 is coming out. They're putting all sorts of neat things in.

Flame: Like what?

I attempt to tell Flame about what is going in along with the rants about certain things on the forum. I can see Flame's eyebrow going up as a "Who the heck cares?" look followed by "How old are these people?" look cross her face. I stop my explination.

Dad: They're adding Shields and Day Jobs. You can be a cop, sort of.

Flame: Shields?! COOL! Day job? Like a vet?

Dad: Um... I don't know if they have any vet jobs.

Flame: Well, a vet would be cool because then my villain, Takes Care Of Pets, could be a vet when she isn't shooting people.

At this point, I had to stiffle laughter as I thought about a vet calling it a day at 5 o'clock, pulling on a pair of cat ears and a trenchcoat before going out to rob banks and laying some hurt down on people.

I LURVE THIS THREAD!

THAT IS ALL!



More stories! More stories!

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And puberty will do things like that. In addition to higher dosage, if you haven't already, consider also more behavioral therapy wherein there is practice in relaxation and focus techniques. If behavioral therapy can do the trick by itself, then it's better than using more meds.

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I whole heartedly agree with this statement.



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Me, too. "That which prescribes best prescribes least." And I sell pills for a living, so I feel compelled to chime in.

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<QR>

He has severe ADHD, and unfortunately, has to take medicine. He's been six years on the same dosage , but since the beginning of the school year he just can't seem to keep out of trouble: talking in class, disrupting the class, play pushing in the hallway, etc. Silly stuff really, but it's been landing him in detention A LOT. So, his doctor reviewed his medication and decided it was time to up the dose a little.



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This reminds me of that South Park episode where the kids were behaving badly so they were put on redelin (sp?) until it was realised they were just being kids then they were put on redel-out.

Which in turn reminds me of that Star Trek Next Generation pilot where Q shows the future where solders are kept in control by being drugged up.

Funny, the drug in COX gives you super energies whereas the drug here takes it away.

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Sister Flame wrinkled up her eyebrows. "But, doesn't that mean Mannacore has to get a job and she has to have babies now? They can't be heroes if they got no money."


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*Falls on floor, laughing butt off*

Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.

Our own version of PowerPack. I can see it now

*Cue wavy transition*

<Random Arachnos Henchman> Sir! We're surrounded!
<LR> Bah! They're but children! What can they do?

*Fifteen minutes later*

<Sister Flame> I want his helmet!
<Hero 2> I got a leg!
<Positot> I got a rock!
<BabyMage> Let's go hit Frostfire again! He's more fun!
<All> *YAY! ICE SLIDES!*

Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.

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Flame: Well, a vet would be cool because then my villain, Takes Care Of Pets, could be a vet when she isn't shooting people.

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*hysterical laughter*

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I thought of another thing that CoX is helping my daughters learn: social skills.

Flame and her older sister love to be in teams. The bigger, the better. When they first started accepting random invites, they were sometimes disappointed with what the team was doing. My oldest has learned to politely refuse the invite and makes sure that her LFT messages says "No blind invites.". She always says thank you and listens to the person with the star. She has also learned that if some one of the team is being a goof, they will get kicked quickly or she can tell the team she is leaving because she has something to do.

A white liar in the making.

Sister Flame is not a great speller yet, but she can read very well. When she gets private messages, she reads them and asks me to send a proper reply. She also says "Please and thank you" when joining teams. She's also learned that she gets more invites when she says "Level 21 Fire Blaster looking for some fun" as opposed to "Lvl 21 F blst need a team".

I also got a story about my eldest using her Internet Streetsmarts on CoX twice so far, but that's a little off topic IMHO. I'd rather talk about Sister Flame's responses to I13.

Dad: Hey Flame, I13 is coming out. They're putting all sorts of neat things in.

Flame: Like what?

I attempt to tell Flame about what is going in along with the rants about certain things on the forum. I can see Flame's eyebrow going up as a "Who the heck cares?" look followed by "How old are these people?" look cross her face. I stop my explination.

Dad: They're adding Shields and Day Jobs. You can be a cop, sort of.

Flame: Shields?! COOL! Day job? Like a vet?

Dad: Um... I don't know if they have any vet jobs.

Flame: Well, a vet would be cool because then my villain, Takes Care Of Pets, could be a vet when she isn't shooting people.

At this point, I had to stiffle laughter as I thought about a vet calling it a day at 5 o'clock, pulling on a pair of cat ears and a trenchcoat before going out to rob banks and laying some hurt down on people.

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That is just beautiful, _Wyll_. I hadn't even thought about something as simple and straightforward as a vet, and it makes me wonder if you go to the Rikti Monkey fights if she couldn't get such a badge.

I think it's great she's learning so many positives from being on the game as opposed to so many negatives she could learn from other games where fun might not be so emphasised.

Could I also heartily encourage you to use the Mission Creator when it's released to tell us a story about Sister Flame or Takes Care of Pets? I think it'd be a great way for her to learn about stories and writing and who knows, you may find a budding writer there.

S.

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<Sister Flame> I want his helmet!
<Hero 2> I got a leg!
<Positot> I got a rock!
<BabyMage> Let's go hit Frostfire again! He's more fun!
<All> *YAY! ICE SLIDES!*

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Priceless!

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That is just beautiful, _Wyll_. I hadn't even thought about something as simple and straightforward as a vet, and it makes me wonder if you go to the Rikti Monkey fights if she couldn't get such a badge.

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I forgot about them. When the girls get bored, they head to the fights and point to the monkey they think will win. You think you were watching the Kentucky Derby the way they shout at the screen.

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Could I also heartily encourage you to use the Mission Creator when it's released to tell us a story about Sister Flame or Takes Care of Pets? I think it'd be a great way for her to learn about stories and writing and who knows, you may find a budding writer there.

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Being an fanatic hobby writer, I could not agree more. Flame and I have started working on a Sister Flame mission arc for the creator. We work on it in small chunks whenever we have time to kill. First, I got her to tell me how she wants the story to end. Then, we talked about what will go on in the middle and at the start. We're still working on villains and challenges, but I know she wants Clockworks in there at a minimum.

She is still deciding if she wants it to be a "Sister Flame has been kidnapped by Clockworks and you have to rescue her so she'll fight with you" arc or "Sister Flame needs help to find her missing friends.". We've even tossed the idea of a Clockworks Civil War where a rival power has taken control of some of them and is going up against the Clockwork King. I think she's leaning toward the first one because she thinks a lot of people want to play with her (so she says ). She was quite disappointed to learn that "Defeat <<Boss Name>> In Dance Contest" would not be a mission creator option. She's also making noises about having War Witch in her story. She's got a lot of simple ideas that should work well.

As for my oldest daughter, she has a rough plot written out for the mission that she wants me to create for her. Should be interesting to see what happens with that one.

Mission Creator = Bigger Barbie House for my daughters to play in.

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She was quite disappointed to learn that "Defeat <<Boss Name>> In Dance Contest" would not be a mission creator option.

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I now want this more than any other game feature.

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She was quite disappointed to learn that "Defeat <<Boss Name>> In Dance Contest" would not be a mission creator option.

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I now want this more than any other game feature.

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Make it a clockwork boss and a robot dance.

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First, I got her to tell me how she wants the story to end. Then, we talked about what will go on in the middle and at the start.

[/ QUOTE ]That's about how I write plots. Figure out the stuff you know you want in, then figure out how to connect the dots. Good to see that there'll be another generation of plot writers.