WoW Rookie: Putting a leash on playtimes for young players
by Lisa Poisso 
Dec 17th 2008 at 2:00PM
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.
WoW Rookie feeds you the basics to get you off to a good start in the World of Warcraft, from tips on character creation to tactics to keep your account safe.Filed under: Tips, Features, WoW Rookie, Account Security
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Licister Dec 17th 2008 2:08PM
I once thought of using this option to control my playtime :P
But I realised I wouldn't be able to follow it and I would turn it off if I really wanted to play -.-
Ed (Sindarin, Hydraxis US) Dec 18th 2008 7:22AM
Yeah, I went as far as trying to use it to control my playtime, but I found it too annoying to be booted off without warning, it's easy to lose track of time - this was before you could set alarms in WoW, of course. ;)
Firestride Dec 17th 2008 4:36PM
Same here: give me some warnings!
Chris Dec 17th 2008 2:22PM
I see a little mistake in that chart. I don't think you want your kid to stay up all Sunday night playing WoW!
rob Dec 17th 2008 6:35PM
lol yeah also why do they have to get off at 6 on friday?
Kakistocracy Dec 17th 2008 5:18PM
Why not? You know that groggy feeling you get when you first wake up in the morning? It can totally be avoided by not going to sleep.
solidrock Dec 17th 2008 2:23PM
I'd like to set something like this up for myself as well but my schedule is always changing. I wish there was a way to just set the amount of hours you can play on a given day.
For example: 1.5 hours/day for weekdays then 5 hours/day for weekends
Dez Dec 17th 2008 7:25PM
Haha this reminds of when I used PControl to get shape up in school by going to bed at reasonable time, I let my older brother keep the pass to it XD
I remember once I begged him for the pass so I could join a rare opportunity, thankfully he was nice. :P
flameflash82 Dec 17th 2008 2:28PM
See, assuming WoW lasts, I know my son will want his own account eventually (we share right now and wife shares with daughter though daughter isn't as interested in the game.)
Does any WoW parent actually use this? I know I would give some parental aggro in their shoes if you get knocked off automatically.
Sure it makes you watch the clock, but if *I* can't keep track of it when playing how is it fair to make my child keep track of it or else get auto-booted? That's my job to keep track of him.
Relisanna Dec 17th 2008 2:39PM
I use it when my daughter loses track even after being reminded. Sign in, set it to boot her off, listen for the groan as she gets logged off. Yes, it's my job to keep track of her, but it's HER job to take responsibility for her own actions. Getting logged of is a consequence of not paying attention. At worst, she'll come back to a corpse.
flameflash82 Dec 17th 2008 2:43PM
Good. That I like. Able to manipulate it after the:
"just one more pull dad!" doesn't fly I like.
Now there's a tip to add to the main post with an edit.
native Dec 17th 2008 2:39PM
this seems like a prime example of the blind leading the blind.
Josh Dec 18th 2008 1:44AM
I couldn't have said it better myself.
eblume Dec 17th 2008 2:43PM
No Bri-Owned jokes?
(On a side note, it appears that WoWWiki doesn't have a Briowned page. Very odd.)
glen2004 Dec 17th 2008 2:43PM
I use this to limit my son's access times to WoW. It does work fairly well.
However, I would prefer if I could expand the windows of time he can log in while limiting the number of hours per week or day that he can play. It would be nice if I could do it that way so he could plan when he'd like to use his hours around his homework and chores.
ChanceC Dec 17th 2008 2:44PM
That's a neat little design of the moon and the sun in the picture, but that's just about all I got out of this article.
Guapa Dec 19th 2008 8:17AM
ChanceC, simply have your mom and dad read the article, they might be able to get something out if it :-)
dumb Dec 17th 2008 2:54PM
this is a really dumb waste of time filler article. We all know this exists. It's not news for WoW and it's not an interesting perspective. Please try to keep away from articles like this when you need filler and stick to more interesting topics like playing WoW at work. This article offers no new information, no interesting perspective and it does not even offer an easily made personal connection as the article is written in an almost entirely informational style. Please when you need filler, don't just regurgitate information from the Blizzard Account Page.
Frank Dec 17th 2008 3:24PM
well, the name of the column is "wow rookie," so it's not a waste of time for those who it's intended for. if it's old news to you, why not just keep scrolling instead of harshing on it?
JMCampbell Dec 17th 2008 3:52PM
Actually, this was new and news to me.
Thank you for this article.
Now if only I could implement it with the wife, it would be really useful.
Whoever suggested limiting the number of hours, but not necessarilly the times, that's a great idea.