What Level is Your Daughter? The WoW Method for Raising Kids and MMO Characters

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That’s when it hit me: I just changed my character’s pants.

I suppose a bit of background information is in order here. I have an amazing two-year old daughter who is simply the light of my life. She is at that age where she seems to be doing new and amazing things every single day and I can’t help but equate everything in my life to her in some way.

I’m also in the final stages of leveling my second character to 80 in World of Warcraft, and my character, in his mid 70’s, is also at a stage where he seems to be capable of new and amazing things every single day.

So, when I upgrade a piece of equipment and stuff it into the dark recesses of my backpack to be discarded, I can't help but think of exchanging a soiled diaper for a refreshingly clean one and tossing it into the diaper pail for later disposal.

This revelation opened the proverbial floodgates to a slew of similar discoveries. It turns out that leveling an MMO character is really quite similar to child rearing in many ways.

In the beginning, a new MMO character is virtually helpless. He can only take on the simplest of enemies and tasks, and can only wear the most basic of equipment. Most new characters benefit greatly from the help of those of higher levels, either through monetary contributions or travel assistance, quest help, etc…

A baby is equally helpless, completely dependent on its parents for the most basic needs.

Just as your MMO character is constantly upgrading their equipment for bigger and more effective items, so too does a child go through clothing at an astonishing rate. My daughter outgrew countless outfits before she even had a chance to use them. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to disenchant or vendor them, I had no choice but to pass them on to the next upcoming adventurer.

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MMO characters also need constant training. I faithfully teleport my Druid to Moonglade for training every time he gains a new level. Children are the same way. Each year, parents faithfully deliver them to a new classroom so that they may acquire the knowledge appropriate to their level of development. Public school training may not run you several gold the way it does in an MMO, but there are costs involved. Anyone who’s ever bought school supplies knows what I’m talking about.

I’m also constantly reading guides to how to play my character. From mount collection to raid boss strategies, I’m constantly in search of outside advice for how to play my character.

Next to my massive collection of video game strategy guides is my equally-massive collection of books on parenting.

Page two has more on careful companion choice and pet collection habits.