WOW gets parental controls

By Ellie Gibson Published 24 November, 2005

So Ma and Pa can restrict play.

Blizzard has introduced an new parental control system for hugely popular MMOG World of Warcraft so that parents can restrict the amount of time their children spend playing.

All Ma or Pa have to do is log in to their kid's WOW account and then set up a parental control password. Then they can set up a play schedule to determine when the account is accessible - or choose from one of the preset schedules, which only allow play, say, after school.

There are also presets which force the player to take a one-hour break at regular intervals, or restrict account access to weekends and so on. There's no getting round it by switching characters, either - each schedule applies to all the characters registered to the account.

The parental control system is up and running right now and can be accessed via the WOW website. All we can say is it's a good job we don't live with our Mum any more and that this writer's boyfriend doesn't read the website.

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (12) Latest comment 7 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • BillGaitas #1 7 years ago

    This is jack_klugman fault

    "Look at the korean who died playing 28 hours non stop of something and the couple who left their infant in its cot and came back 2 days later or something and found it dead because of suffaction.

    As I remember both were incidents involving players obsessed with WoW. Ban this sick filth!"

    I bet someone in Blizard read that in the "Chinese Govt. backs survey" comments section.

    If only they were as fast as this making games
    Edited by BillGaitas at 24/11/05 @ 16:07

  • Salaman #2 7 years ago

    Yup ... glad I can decide my own game times.
    :-)

    Trying to do an instance with 4 of your (parental controlled) friends could be a challenge, eh?
    Hurry guys, our healer will be chucked out in 2 hours! Move! move!

  • rinoaMW #3 7 years ago

    "All we can say is it's a good job we don't live with our Mum any more and that this writer's boyfriend doesn't read the website. "

    well thats the point really... just who will find out about this? will little Jonny tell his mommy; "theres this new patch, mommy that lets you control when i play and force me to do my homework and force me to go to bed on time..."

    not likely...

  • Scurrminator #4 7 years ago

    It's okay, i'm sure that the 30 yr olds living with their parents (the ones that play WoW) are responsible enough.
    Edited by Scurrminator at 24/11/05 @ 16:08

  • jack_klugman #5 7 years ago

    This is jack_klugmans fault

    Finally! The recognition I demand!

  • DrDamn #6 7 years ago

    Parents are so overpowered. Nerf Parents!

  • rinoaMW #7 7 years ago

    i just want them to limit play so i dont have to sit in a queue of 500+ every night :)

  • matty_art #8 7 years ago

    The link is to the American site by the way guys, might want to change that.

  • BillGaitas #9 7 years ago

    Time to put my son on a Leash, not that he plays WOW.
    Edited by BillGaitas at 24/11/05 @ 17:25

  • jack_klugman #10 7 years ago

    Time to put my son on a Leash, not that he plays WOW

    Kinky.

  • Pirotic #11 7 years ago

    Makes sense to me, i love WoW but get torn away by having to earn money and other boring shite, if i was a kid i'd probably play it for 20 hours a day - i don't want some 12 year old out-leveling me :p

  • BillGaitas #12 7 years ago

    "i don't want some 12 year old out-leveling me "
    I guess Blizzard guys also think like that