Parental Controls

From WoWWiki

Overview

The parental controls feature is located both on the World of Warcraft homepage and also found in the account management page. The parental controls feature, as the name suggests, allows a parent to moderate a childs time on the game. However, it is used for other purposes as well, such as:

1. Some people activate the parental controls for themselves when they know they need to cut down on playing time and this feature helps keep track of time and manage yourself.
2. People use this as an extra security. They can set it to lock while at work or asleep so when they are away, if somebody managed to hack their account, they wouldn't even be able to play anyway.

World of Warcraft's parental controls were designed to provide parents and guardians with easy-to-use tools for creating play schedules for their children. With these tools, parents and guardians can easily manage their child's access to World of Warcraft from any PC with an internet connection. No World of Warcraft after 8:30 on weeknights? Or, no more than three hours of playtime on the weekends? Our parental controls system enables parents and guardians to set start and stop times for any day of the week — access to the game outside of those set schedules will automatically be prevented. We've also provided a number of pre-set schedules, such as "weekends only" and "after school and weekends," to make things even easier.

The parental controls schedule is displayed on the parental controls page within the account management section of www.WorldofWarcraft.com. Every day of the week is broken up into 30-minute segments, and each segment can be set to "able to play" or "unable to play." As mentioned above, players cannot log in during a scheduled break, and if a player is already in the game when a scheduled break is set to begin, the game will automatically disconnect the player.

In-game voice chat usage can also be managed via the parental controls system. Parents and guardians who are worried about their children talking with strangers online can choose one of three voice chat settings: "Listen and Speak," "Listen Only," and "Voice Chat Off."

What are Parental Controls?

Parental Controls provide parents or guardians with tools to control the length of time and the time of day their child can play World of Warcraft. They also give parents the option to receive play-time reports that detail when and how long a child plays the game.

How do I set up Parental Controls?

Parental Controls for World of Warcraft are set up and managed though our Battle.net Account Management website. Simply log in to Battle.net Account Management, click the Manage Game button beneath the World of Warcraft account you wish to set up controls for, and then click Parental Controls link.

The first time you go to the Parental Controls section of the Battle.net Account Management website, you will be prompted to enter your child's Battle.net account name, password, authenticator code (if your child has one), and secret question and answer. If more than one World of Warcraft account is attached to the Battle.net account, you will be prompted to select which specific World of Warcraft account you wish to set up Parental Controls for.

Once you have done this, you will be able to set your Parental Controls password and email address. Please use an email address your child does not have access to and choose a password different from the one your child uses to log in to the game. After you set up the password, you will be able to set the play-time parameters, such as scheduled play time or daily limits, for that World of Warcraft account.

If you do not remember or are unable to provide all of the information above, for security reasons you will need to contact the Billing and Account Services department via telephone for assistance. Alternately, you can go to the Billings and Account Services page and fill out a request form here.

What if I do not know my child's Battle.net account name, password, or secret question and answer?

Our Billing and Account Services department will be able to help you recover access to the Battle.net account. Billing and Account Representatives are available Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. PST. Customers in the US should call 1-800-592-5499 and customers in Australia should call 1-800-041-378. Customers in New Zealand can e-mail billing@blizzard.com to request a call be placed to them. In Europe, please use the contact information here.

Why do I need a Parental Controls password?

The Parental Controls password is required to set up the World of Warcraft play parameters (such as daily limits or scheduled play times) as well as save any changes that are made to those parameters at a later date. Please do not share this password with anyone you do not want to be able to modify the play parameters you establish.

What if I forget my Parental Controls password?

You can recover the Parental Controls Password using the "Forgot your Password?" feature on the Parental Control page (https://www.worldofwarcraft.com/account/parental-control-retrieval.html). Using this feature will send a new, randomly generated password to the e-mail address designated as the Parental Controls e-mail address. If you can no longer access the Parental Controls e-mail address, please contact our Billing and Account Services department for assistance.

What is a play-time report?

A play-time report is an email containing information on the amount of time played on a specific World of Warcraft account over the previous week, broken down by login and logout times so you can see when your child was playing the game. You can receive a play-time report even if you have not set up a play-time schedule or limits on the World of Warcraft account.

How do I receive play-time reports?

On the Parental Controls page, confirm your time zone and check the box next to "Send my child's play-time report to…". Once you have done this you will receive a confirmation email at your Parental Controls email address, and a report will be sent the following week.

How do I stop receiving play-time reports?

At the bottom of each play-time report email is a link that will take you to the Parental Controls section of Battle.net Account Management. After logging in, you will be able to unsubscribe from these emails.

In what ways can I manage my child's play time?

There are a number of parameters you can set to manage your child's play time.

• Limit the total number of hours your child can play each day.
• Limit the total number of hours your child can play each week.
• Create a custom schedule to specifically set which hours of each day of the week your child is able to play.

What is a custom schedule?

A custom schedule allows you to set when your child is able to play World of Warcraft during the week. For example: You can allow your child to play from Monday through Friday between 3:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. every day. Daily and weekly time-limit parameters will work together with custom schedules, meaning that in addition to allowing your child to play between 3:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m., you can also restrict play time to a total of two hours per day or 8 hours each week, for example.

How do I create a custom schedule?

When you check the box labeled "Create a custom schedule for my child", you will see the days of the week presented in half-hour blocks. Green blocks mean your child can play World of Warcraft during that time, while red blocks indicate times when play is not allowed. Clicking on a green block will turn it red, and clicking on a red block will turn it green.

What are preset schedules?

Preset schedules are used to set a play schedule with a single click, and can be a good starting point for developing a custom schedule for your child. Some presets will limit access to evenings, weekends, or a combination of the two, while others establish half-hour breaks at regular intervals. You do not need to use a preset schedule.

What is voice chat?

Voice chat refers to World of Warcraft's built-in voice-chat feature, which allows World of Warcraft players to use microphones to speak to one another from within the game. Please note that there are third-party voice-chat applications such as Teamspeak and Ventrilo which also allow online game players to chat. The voice chat settings in World of Warcraft Parental Controls will only control the use of World of Warcraft voice chat and will not affect the use of a third-party voice client.

Once I save and submit a play schedule, when does it go into effect?

It can take up to 30 minutes for a schedule to take effect after you have submitted it. If your child is playing when you submit your changes, he or she will need to log out of the game before changes will take effect.

If I limit the total number of hours that can be played, when does the clock start ticking?

Daily limits start counting at 5:00:00 a.m. and end at 4:59:59 a.m. in the time zone that you have selected. Weekly limits start counting at 5:00:00 a.m. on Sunday and end at 4:59:59 a.m. on Sunday in the time zone that you specify.

As far as what activities in World of Warcraft count as play time, the clock begins ticking 30 seconds after your child arrives at the realm list (if applicable) or character-selection screen in the game. This means that any time spent after the first 30 seconds at the realm list or character selection screen will count towards the total time used. However, if your child is waiting in a queue to get to a particular realm, that time will not count toward the total play time. It is important to note that if your child needs to pause their play session, he or she should completely exit the game and not just log out of the realm.

Does the local realm's time zone change the schedule?

No, the hours of play are dictated solely by whatever time zone you select.

How do I set parental controls for more than one child?

If each child has his or her own Battle.net account, you will need to log in to each account separately and create a Parental Controls password in order to set up Parental Controls for their World of Warcraft accounts.

Can I set different play schedules for different characters on the same World of Warcraft account?

Play schedules apply to all characters on a single World of Warcraft account, and all characters on that World of Warcraft account will be subject to all parameters you established in Parental Controls. Play time on any character is applied to the daily and weekly limits, meaning if your child reaches the limit playing one character, he or she will not be able to play using a different character until the limit resets.

If I have more than one World of Warcraft account merged with a Battle.net account, will one schedule work for all of them?

No. If there is more than one World of Warcraft account attached to your child's Battle.net account, Parental Controls and play-time limits must be set individually for each World of Warcraft account. Please note that the daily or weekly limit you set for a single World of Warcraft account applies only to that individual World of Warcraft account. If your child reaches the limit on one World of Warcraft account, he or she would still be able to log in to play another account on which the limit has not been reached, even if it's within the same Battle.net account.

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