We get it—video games can definitely be a distraction for kids, but did you know they can also be a powerful motivating force? By employing a few simple techniques, you can use your child’s favorite computer games to help motivate him or her to do homework, complete chores, treat others with respect and avoid fighting with siblings. Here are five tricks to help you use computer games as healthy rewards.
1. General Incentives for General Responsibilities
Games can be a great way to motivate children to complete their daily responsibilities, such as homework or making beds. Apply a more modern take on the “no TV until homework is done” approach that your parents used with you, and require homework or other tasks to be completed before your child gets to play his or her favorite computer games.
2. Extra Duties for Extra Time
As a general rule, your child’s daily game time should be limited. One technique parents have been using for years to get their kids to pitch in a little extra around the house involves allowing longer game time for extra duties, like taking out the trash or not fighting with siblings. Come up with a list of chores that match your child’s abilities, and assign a time reward for each one. Fun ideas could be “vacuum the stairs for 30 minutes of game time” or “wash the car for an hour of time.”
Photo by Lucélia Ribeiro
3. The Token Method
If you have trouble keeping track of how much game time your kids have earned, try out the token method. Your kids can use tokens that correspond to time value to “pay” you for time, so everyone always knows where they stand. You can use anything you like as tokens, but some fun choices include toy coins (such as the type party stores sell for pirate-themed parties), poker chips, bottle caps or, for different “denominations,” you could even use Monopoly money.
4. Mods or Expansions as Cumulative Rewards
Many games come with optional “mods” (modifications, often made by members of an online gaming community) or “expansions” (additional content, usually produced by the game company). These games add features, change the play environment or otherwise alter an existing game, keeping the player interested in an old favorite. As such, mods and expansions are great ways to offer cumulative rewards.
Wizard101 and Pirate101 offer Crowns as a way to unlock extra play zones and get new and unique items. With these Crowns, players can purchase cool pets or expand their gear collection, as some unique game items are only accessible by way of Crowns. In fact, Crowns work great as a reward system—if your child does chores for a week or even a month, he or she could earn a desired Crown, mod or expansion pack.
5. Surprise Rewards
You can use gaming as a surprise reward for spontaneous good behavior. If, for example, you see your younger child sharing without being prompted or your older child going out of his or her way to help a classmate, you could reward this with extra time on the computer.
Of course, choosing which way you reward your children is different for every family. But whether it’s a way to incentive chores or simply a way to let your kid know they’re doing a great job, using computer games as a reward can reap great benefits, for both you and your child.
April showers bring… May fan art! We love showing fan art submissions from our intensely creative Wizard101 community. Each month we like to feature Wizard101 fan art submissions through or official social media like Facebook and Pinterest.
We had many talented artists submit in the past few months, but here are some of our recent art favorites.
Want to submit something creative of your very own? If you are under 13 years of age, ask your parent or guardian for permission to send us your screenshot. If you would like to submit something, send the picture and your character name in an email to community@wizard.com! Please attach no more than three images per email, and please limit total submissions to no more than nine screenshots in a month. Try to only submit your very best images!
Before your child sets off on a magical adventure into the world of Wizard101, there are a few questions every parent should ask in order to ensure a safe and positive online gaming experience for their child.
- How can I be sure that my child isn’t chatting with strangers? One of our chat systems for younger players is a “Menu Chat” system that enables users to communicate with each other with the use of safe, preselected words and phrases in order to ensure that all exchanges are both safe and family-friendly. This option will be turned on by default if your account was identified as being under the age of 13.
- What steps can be taken to ensure that my child doesn’t charge money to my credit card? We have included a “Parental Controls” section on our website that enables you to restrict your child’s access to your credit card information. Simply choose a password that is only known to you, and your child will be prevented from making any online purchases without your permission.
- Are the Wizard101 message boards safe? You can rest easy knowing that we take your child’s online safety seriously. We have created message boards that are continuously monitored by our special team of moderators. Any inappropriate messages are either edited or deleted before they are ever posted.
- How can I be certain that my child’s online player name is appropriate? We provide all players with a pre-selected list of player names to choose from that are designed to reflect the personality of the user without being inappropriate or divulging private information.
- How is a Parent Account useful? Setting up a Parent Account will enable you to turn a variety of features and functions off or on, depending on the level of safety that is appropriate for your child.
- What is the Parent/Child Digital Consciousness Contract and how can it help keep my child safe? The Parental/Child Digital Consciousness Contract is an online tool that is designed to assist you in speaking to your child in order to establish awareness and enforce safe use of digital devices.
- What is cyberbullying and how can I be certain that my child is not becoming a victim when playing this free Wizard game? Cyberbullying refers to online bullying that occurs when messages or images are sent in order to embarrass or hurt the victim. For those under 13, it will be almost impossible to be bullied in game thanks to Menu Chat in Wizard101. Since all chat messages are pre-selected, you can rest assured that your child is protected from cyberbullying during his or her Wizard game experience. If your child has a more open form of chat, we have a special “Ignore” feature in game that can be used to silence bullies. Ultimately the best way (and the most fun way) to ensure your older child’s safety from cyberbullying in Wizard101 is to play the game with them and act as a guide that can intervene when needed.
- How can I be sure that my child is only being exposed to age-appropriate content? Wizard101 holds an Entertainment Software Rating Board rating of E10+, meaning it is deemed to be suitable for children and adults ages 10 and up. Additionally, we welcome you to try the game out for yourself so that you feel comfortable making a decision about whether or not it is appropriate for your child.
- What should I do if I suspect inappropriate interaction or behaviors while my child is playing this online Wizard game? Any suspicious activity should be reported to our Customer Support team immediately so the issue can be evaluated as quickly as possible. Please review our FAQ for more information on what is considered a reportable offense: https://www.wizard101.com/game/help-faq
- How can I learn more about keeping my child safe online? Below is a list of resources that are designed to provide you with more information and helpful tips in order to maximize the safety of your child’s online gaming experience.
We held a very special event over Memorial Day Weekend in Pirate101 called a Morph-a-thon. All Pirates were encouraged to log on, head to Bestia, and morph their pets in mass numbers in order to be entered into a giant drawing (with over 10,000 entries in total) for Crowns prizes and fun.
Before we list our winners, we’d like to cover a few fun facts from our Morph-a-thon event. Participation was so great that not one person (despite any amazing number of pets they morphed – over 100) held a greater than one percent chance to win. Those who did win are truly lucky Quackosauruses! ( . . . or is that Quackosauri?)
Despite participation in the event being through the Morphing tent roof (we swear we saw 99 Luft-buff-aloons going by over Skull Island), no new undiscovered hybrids were found! In the end we hope you made a lot of friends and had a lot of successful morphs. We’d like to give a special shout-out to Erin Aldridge, who helped more players morph pets than any other player during the event. Decius Duelmaster from the Pirate101 forums is indeed proud of all your participation. Great job to everyone! (Be sure to check our forums in the next couple of days for his thoughts and maybe a new hint!)
Three non-hybrid pets stood out from all the others as the most morphed pets:
- Mini-Minotaur
- Ebon Spectre
- Fire Toad
That’s not surprising though as the hybrids those pets make are very sought after! (Bullrog pet anyone?)
The most popular hybrid pets to morph over the weekend were as follows:
- Spooktooth
- Paper Dragon
- Monocorn
Interesting choices! Perhaps those are a bit easier to successfully make than a Bullrog?
And now . . . the time you’ve all been reading for! Congratulations to our grand prize winner with a very simple name . . . Autumn! Autumn had more than 10 entries into our competition, and it really paid off for her. Thanks for your participation!
Our other runners up, each getting a prize of 10,000 Crowns, were as follows:
- Erin Aldridge
- Amber Jones
- Tasha
- David Gordon
- Silver Roslyn
- Reliable Ashley Gunwale
- Fair Aurora
- Loveable Isabella
- Fearless Tyler Kidd
- Wicked Eric Johansson
Congratulations! Our winners ranged from only making one morph the entire weekend all the way up to well over 50. Great work!
Please let us know what you thought of the Morph-a-thon event in the comments below, and thank you for your participation.
Nothing beats stepping into the Spiral with your best friend by your side. Going through levels together, aiding each other in battle, and discussing ways to get further in the game is what makes your friendship so magical. There’s nothing quite like having a dueling partner who understands the ins and outs of your favorite game. Here are 10 things that are likely to happen when you play Wizard101 with your BFF.
- That bizarre moment when you coincidentally meet in the same Realm before giving each other True Friend Codes.
2. Then, the magical moment when you give each other a True Friend Code. #TrueBFs
3. You both share the same favorite School and prefer to always train there.
4. You can always count on your friend to teleport into your battle, no matter what!
5. Instead of spending your allowance on going to the movies or getting ice cream together, you each save up to buy Crowns.
6. When Halloween comes around, you both know without hesitation that you’re dressing up as Merle Ambrose and Malistaire.
7. You have a sense of pride when you see your BFF win a match and feel profound disappointment when he or she loses.
8. When you have a nightmare about Malistaire during a sleepover, you know you can count on your best friend to understand how scary that can be.
9. When your BFF becomes a Level 50 Grandmaster, you throw a party to celebrate the achievement.
10. Anytime you and your BFF do a PVP, you know there are no hard feelings. What happens in the Spiral stays in the Spiral.
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