connecting online
August 12, 2005 11:34 AM Subscribe
Games or activities to play with a 14 year old boy online? Something not that violent and where we can interact.
My father and his family are in the middle of huge life change. They are moving from Minnesota to a Caribbean island. My little, 14 year old, brother has gone down early and he is incredible bored. My little bro is your typical shy funny geeky 14 year old boy. My Dad is busy settling in is office and my step mom and sister will not be there for a few more weeks. It will get easier when school starts but for now he is lonely and homesick. I live 1000+ miles away but I am hoping to find a way to connect with him online. I’m not opposed to violent games but it would not be cool with my father or stepmother.
My father and his family are in the middle of huge life change. They are moving from Minnesota to a Caribbean island. My little, 14 year old, brother has gone down early and he is incredible bored. My little bro is your typical shy funny geeky 14 year old boy. My Dad is busy settling in is office and my step mom and sister will not be there for a few more weeks. It will get easier when school starts but for now he is lonely and homesick. I live 1000+ miles away but I am hoping to find a way to connect with him online. I’m not opposed to violent games but it would not be cool with my father or stepmother.
Literati, a.k.a. Scrabble
Yohoho! Puzzle Pirates
Teen Second Life
All lots of fun, but my main suggestion is to get the both of you digital cameras and Flickr accounts, and get into photography. It's an activity that extends offline, you can join groups or mailing lists that will give you assignments to do, it'll give him a reason to look at his new home in a different way.
posted by lia at 11:51 AM on August 12, 2005
Yohoho! Puzzle Pirates
Teen Second Life
All lots of fun, but my main suggestion is to get the both of you digital cameras and Flickr accounts, and get into photography. It's an activity that extends offline, you can join groups or mailing lists that will give you assignments to do, it'll give him a reason to look at his new home in a different way.
posted by lia at 11:51 AM on August 12, 2005
You might consider Neverwinter Nights. While the single player game does have considerable violence, (of the fantasy variety,) some players have used the built-in toolset to create persistant worlds --online, on-going fantasy worlds where players can interact.
The tricky part would be going on the NWN forums and asking around for a persistant world that focuses on role play and other non-violent activities. But it wouldn't surprise me at all if you were able to find several to choose from. Each persistant world would also have it's own community to interact with and be a part of, which would be an added bonus.
Good luck, in any case.
posted by zueod at 12:00 PM on August 12, 2005
Gunbound does involve guns, but is so ridiculously cartoony and silly that it'd be hard to complain.
Yes, yes, yes! I second Gunbound. It's like Worms, execpt online and filled with trash-talking 14 year olds! It is addicitive though, and I lived with two people who lost six months of their life to that game...
They've moved on to Maple Story now.
posted by SweetJesus at 12:09 PM on August 12, 2005
Yes, yes, yes! I second Gunbound. It's like Worms, execpt online and filled with trash-talking 14 year olds! It is addicitive though, and I lived with two people who lost six months of their life to that game...
They've moved on to Maple Story now.
posted by SweetJesus at 12:09 PM on August 12, 2005
A Tale in the Desert is non-violent, and is very intriguing. It's a MMOG, like Puzzle Pirates (mentioned above)
posted by thanotopsis at 12:22 PM on August 12, 2005
posted by thanotopsis at 12:22 PM on August 12, 2005
Lia, can you suggest some Flickr groups which give assignments? I hadn't heard of that, and I bet my son would love that. I might, too.
posted by Invoke at 12:55 PM on August 12, 2005
posted by Invoke at 12:55 PM on August 12, 2005
Yeah, you know gunbound was based off worms which was based on scorched earth? Well, they made a 3D version of scorched earth
Little tanks taking turns shooting each other. Violent, I suppose, but not as bad as say, CS.
What sort of games does he like? If he is a true geek, he'd probably into that D&D card game, Magic, which has a free online version .
posted by eurasian at 1:04 PM on August 12, 2005
Little tanks taking turns shooting each other. Violent, I suppose, but not as bad as say, CS.
What sort of games does he like? If he is a true geek, he'd probably into that D&D card game, Magic, which has a free online version .
posted by eurasian at 1:04 PM on August 12, 2005
I'd look at World of Warcraft, if you wanted a game to play with him. The flickr idea sounds great, though. Caribbean? He should definitely take the opportunity to explore.
posted by rfordh at 1:43 PM on August 12, 2005
posted by rfordh at 1:43 PM on August 12, 2005
Response by poster: Thanks for all of the good ideas. I already have a flickr account which I love - I just sent him his own account.
posted by mmm at 2:04 PM on August 12, 2005
posted by mmm at 2:04 PM on August 12, 2005
Definitely Games.com. I don't know any parent which would object. They have Monopoly, Scrabble, Boggle, even Battleship all of which have a private game feature where it can just be the two of you. Battleship has very nifty little explosion and sinking sounds. Warning, Yahtzee, my personal favorite is EXTREMELY addictive, especially the special "Painted" version. Play at your own risk.
posted by Ugh at 2:11 PM on August 12, 2005
posted by Ugh at 2:11 PM on August 12, 2005
I really enjoy all of the PopCap Games.
Three of them are games you play with others online. PsychoBabble is my favorite; everyone competes to assemble phrases using the same set of words.
posted by deanj at 3:33 PM on August 12, 2005
Three of them are games you play with others online. PsychoBabble is my favorite; everyone competes to assemble phrases using the same set of words.
posted by deanj at 3:33 PM on August 12, 2005
I'm also going to suggest something not game like.
Get a pair of USB 2 video cameras (make sure your machines work with 2.0), AIM, and posibbly microphones. If you're away, and not going down anytime soon, it's absolutely amazing to have a "video chat" with family. You'll both need high speed, but it's not the video chat you remember (1 frame/second)...it can look damned good and be a way for you to "visit" without actually going there. I do this with my niece and it's a great way to interact.
posted by filmgeek at 3:35 PM on August 12, 2005
Get a pair of USB 2 video cameras (make sure your machines work with 2.0), AIM, and posibbly microphones. If you're away, and not going down anytime soon, it's absolutely amazing to have a "video chat" with family. You'll both need high speed, but it's not the video chat you remember (1 frame/second)...it can look damned good and be a way for you to "visit" without actually going there. I do this with my niece and it's a great way to interact.
posted by filmgeek at 3:35 PM on August 12, 2005
Get a pair of USB 2 video cameras (make sure your machines work with 2.0), AIM, and posibbly microphones.
You don't necessarily need USB2 or AIM. You can go with an older machine, a "cheapo" brand vidcam (Creative Labs sells ,and has sold, many), and most other major label IM products. I tend to like Yahoo's implementation, as they combine it with games and themes. We had a great time a couple of Christmases ago with our extended family, as we wanted to show them the new baby, but couldn't yet make the trip across country. We used <40.00 cameras, Yahoo IM, and microphones.
posted by thanotopsis at 3:44 PM on August 12, 2005
You don't necessarily need USB2 or AIM. You can go with an older machine, a "cheapo" brand vidcam (Creative Labs sells ,and has sold, many), and most other major label IM products. I tend to like Yahoo's implementation, as they combine it with games and themes. We had a great time a couple of Christmases ago with our extended family, as we wanted to show them the new baby, but couldn't yet make the trip across country. We used <40.00 cameras, Yahoo IM, and microphones.
posted by thanotopsis at 3:44 PM on August 12, 2005
invoke, A Day In The Life is a group that has you document an entire day every month, Friday Food Fiesta has weekly food themes, JPG Mag (run by our own heather and fraying) has a one word theme per issue. It's not a Flickr group per se but Photo Friday sends out one theme a week, you can either go take photos for that theme or pick one from your archive that fits. You can also look for groups that fit interests you guys have (birds, fire hydrants, etc) and then decide to take photos for a week to submit to those groups. Hope you and your son, and mmm and her brother have fun!
posted by lia at 7:18 PM on August 12, 2005
posted by lia at 7:18 PM on August 12, 2005
free online golf game - http://www.shot-online.com/
posted by juniorbonner at 2:02 PM on August 13, 2005
posted by juniorbonner at 2:02 PM on August 13, 2005
This thread is closed to new comments.
I know a fair number of people into Puzzle Pirates too.
posted by effugas at 11:43 AM on August 12, 2005