Son and Runescape

patchwork_cat

HI
I wonder if anyone knows more about this game than I do. My son is very eager to sign up to pay to play. He has been using the free site for a while - despite the fact that I have my doubts ( don't know why). Last night he had his password taken and changed and somebody else took over his character, he has got it back now, but my query is if he signs up for pay to play and this happened again would the hacker have access to his bank account etc.
I have told him 'til I am blue in the face that he needs an unusual password for everything and not to disclose it, but you can't put an old head on young shoulders.

Am I being overly cautious in not allowing him to pay to play?Is it actually quite secure?

Rikki

My 10 year old is on the pay to play Runescape he has random passwords ( series of letters/numbers ) and changes them regularly. As far as I am aware they would have no access to bank details through his character details and password etc.

Jazzy_B

In December I was nagged constantly by my 10 year old daughter to join as many of her school friends were members. Eventually we gave in and made it part of her Christmas present, for a year. In the last month , she's asked if she could have the subscription money as pocket money, as she's gone off it.
She had no problems with hacking, but she's said a few people ask for your password.or offer a free trade for it.
I'm pleased she's gone off it. I didn't like the violence.
What surprises me is how savvy the kids are. I won't let her go onto chat rooms yet, unlike most of her friends who go on. I sense scary times ahead!

ka7e

My son, now 17, has had all the online games over the past 5 years. He started with Habbo Hotel but all the ones since seemed to have involved lots of violence, bad language and potentially dodgy characters!
There is no doubt they can be very addictive and boys, especially, can get over-involved. The ones that operate real-time interactivity between players can be as dangerous (and difficult to monitor) as any chatroom. My son got quite excited when he was playing online with much older, American teenagers - but we had to point out he could be "talking" to anyone and he should never give out any personal details. Even amoung groups of friends, there was no guarantee that the right person was logged in, any other family member or visitor might have access to an unsecure PC.
Happily, it seems to have been a rite of passage and he's now bored by them and more into MySpace!

beanielou

My son has had phases with Runscape , sometimes is on it all the time then not interested for a while then on again.
Boys do seem to be much more in to it all for much longer than girls.
I certainly had no worries about financial details
HTH

northern_star

beanielou wrote:

My son has had phases with Runscape , sometimes is on it all the time then not interested for a while then on again.
Boys do seem to be much more in to it all for much longer than girls.
I certainly had no worries about financial details
HTH

My son (14yo) has been just the same - he was keen for a while maybe a year or so ago and played it as much as allowed. However he then got 'hussled' by another player, lost all his possessions (or whatever they're known as ), went completely off the game and cancelled his membership. It did however teach him an important lesson! He has recently rejoined and is much less naive now and keeps the whole game thing in better perspective.

I think much depends on what games their peers are currently playing but with regard to the security aspect - I have had no cause for concern.

Februarycat

My son (13 yrs) is mad on this at the moment and so are alot of his mates, he has asked me if he can join as a member but I'm not sure if to let him join or what, like some of the other posters say they soon go off these games and move onto something else.

TIGs

My son is 8 and has been a member of rumescape for over a year, i pay his membership for him as i pay for his sister to go dancing so use it as a way to keep them equal.

He has never had any problems being hacked or anything but he is very sensible with his passwords etc, he will also report anyone he sees swearing or being unkind.

Make sure you pay with your credit card cos it works out cheaper than doing it over the phone with texts. Plus don't most credit cards have protection for fraudualant use over the internet so if someone did happen to get your card details you would probably get your money back.

TIGs

Its also very easy to cancel your subscription when you need to i have done this a couple of times when my son has got bored of it then rejoined him once he starts playing again. You get up to your full month you've paid for so you don't lose anything if you cancel it before the month you've paid for is up.

So you could give it a go and cancel it if you have any reason to.

patchwork_cat

Hi
Thanks everyone - at least I am not the only one that is concerned and also that my son is not th eonly one to be hussled - I think it may have taught him a lesson too. He has now paid to become a member and we'll see how it goes - has anyone had problems with going over download limits with this?

beanielou

No probs as yet going over download limits as yet.
It can be cancelled anytime through the month.