WoW Rookie: Putting a leash on playtimes for young players
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When school's out, WoW's in ... Is that the usual state of affairs at your house? If you want to limit the times when your kids can log in – protecting evening study time and bedtime, or setting weekend, holiday and vacation limits – then you need Blizzard's parental control feature. Parental control settings allow you to choose blocks of time that an account is and is not accessible for play. Players cannot log in during restricted hours, and they'll be automatically logged out if they play past their allowed time window.
The parental control is part of the account user interface on the web. Anyone who has access to an account's log-in and password can set up parental controls on the account. Once parental controls have been created, they may be modified only with access via a parental control password.
Unfortunately, parental control settings are not character-specific. Setting parental control limits affects every character on a given account. But if your child has her own WoW account, setting up parental control limits is an easy way to set limits on your young player. If you've been sucked into the game yourself, you could even use parental controls to remind yourself to cut things off at a reasonable hour!
Blizzard keeps setting limits simple by suggesting several pre-made schedules. Some limit access to evenings and weekends, others to after school and weekends, and still others to evenings only. You can choose a schedule with an automatic one-hour break at regular intervals or restrict access to weekends only. Of course, you can also come up with a completely individualized schedule to suit your family. Be sure to consider revising schedules for holiday and vacation play.
Get all the details of setting up parental controls at Blizzard's Parental Control FAQ.
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