Parental Controlsprovide parents and guardians with easy-to-use tools to set up rules for Blizzard titles. With these tools, parents can manage play-time and access to World of Warcraft and StarCraft II in a way that fits their family’s situation.
Basics
- How can I manage my child’s account with Parental Controls?
- How do I access Parental Controls?
- How do I set up Parental Controls for more than one child?
- How do I remove Parental Controls?
Communication
- How can I restrict posting on the forums?
- How can I restrict using World of Warcraft in-game chat?
- How can I restrict access to Battle.net voice chat?
- How can I restrict use of the Real ID feature?
Play-Time
- How can I manage my child's play-time?
- How does a time limit work?
- How do I set up a time limit?
- How do play-time reports work?
- Can I set different time limits for different World of Warcraft characters?
Schedules
- How can I manage when my child is able to play?
- How do I set up a custom schedule?
- Are there preset schedules that I can use?
- Can I set different play schedules for different World of Warcraft characters?
- Can I set different schedules for each game on the same Battle.net account?
Real Money Auction House
- How can I manage my child’s access to the Diablo III Real Money Auction House?
- How do I set up Real Money Auction House access?
Troubleshooting
- What do I do if I don’t know my child's Battle.net account name or password?
- What if I lose my Parental Controls access email?
Basics
How can I manage my child’s account with Parental Controls?
You can use Parental Controls to:
- Adjust your child’s play-time schedule.
- Set play-time limits for World of Warcraft or StarCraft II.
- Enable or disable access to the Diablo III Real Money Auction House.
- Enable or disable access to Real ID and Voice Chat.
- Generate weekly play reports that will be delivered straight to your email.
How do I access Parental Controls?
You can access Parental Controls through the link in your Parental Controls email. If you have not set up Parental Controls, visit the setup page to get started.
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How do I set up Parental Controls for more than one child?
If each child has their own Battle.net account, you will need to set up Parental Controls separately for each of them. If you use the same email address to set up Parental Controls each time, you will receive an access email containing all of your children's links in one place for easy management.
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How do I remove Parental Controls?
You can disable all restrictions on the Parental Controls, which allows the player full access to the game.
If you choose to completely remove Parental Controls from the account, you'll need to fill out and submit an Account Verification Form via a support ticket.
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Communication
How can I restrict posting on the forums?
An account’s ability to post on the Official Forums for World of Warcraft, StarCraft II, Diablo III, and Battle.net can be revoked by changing the Allow Forum Posting option. If this box is not checked, an error message will be shown when the account tries to post on the forums.
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How can I restrict using World of Warcraft in-game chat?
An account’s ability to chat with other players can be revoked by changing the World of Warcraft Account Mute option. This covers all written chat in all channels, including Real ID. When a player on the muted account tries to message another player or talk in a channel, they will receive an error message.
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How can I restrict access to Battle.net voice chat?
An account’s ability to communicate through voice chat can be revoked by changing the Voice Chat option. Players on the account will not have the ability to use voice chat in-game.
If you select Listen Only, World of Warcraft players will be able to hear others in voice chat, but not speak.
Note: Use of third-party voice-chat applications such as Teamspeak and Ventrilo will not be restricted with this option.
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How can I restrict use of the Real ID feature?
An account’s ability to use the Real ID feature can be restricted by changing the Enable Real ID option. If this feature is disabled, players on the account will not have the ability to add RealID friends or communicate with other players through Real ID chat. When you disable Real ID through Parental Controls, Real ID friends will be converted to BattleTag friends. BattleTag friends will be shown a handle rather than a real name. If RealID is re-enabled later, any lost Real ID friends will need to be re-added manually.
Note: The RealID name that is displayed will be the real first and last name associated with the account. This could be your name or your child's name, depending on which name is registered to the account.
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Play-Time
How can I manage my child's play-time?
Time limits can be set up on your child’s account to limit how long they can play World of Warcraft and StarCraft II. These time limits can be set up on a daily basis, weekly basis, or daily and weekly basis and will work together with custom schedules.
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How does a time limit work?
When the preset time limit is reached, the account will be automatically removed from the game.
Daily time limits start counting at 5:00:00 AM and end at 4:59:59 AM the following morning in your selected time zone. Weekly limits start counting at 5:00:00 AM on Sunday and end at 4:59:59 AM on the following Sunday in your selected time zone. A time limit will begin counting 30 seconds after the account logs into the realm list or character selection screen. If the account waits in a queue to log in, that time will not count toward total play-time.
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How do I set up a time limit?
To set up play-time limits:
- Check Limit Daily/Weekly hours to….
- Enter the daily or weekly limit for the account in the boxes.
- Click Save Settings.
You are not limited to selecting only a daily or a weekly limit. Daily and weekly limits can be used together to give you more control over an account’s play-time.
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How do play-time reports work?
A play-time report is an email with information on the amount of time that a World of Warcraft account has played over the previous week, broken down by login and logout times. You can receive a play-time report even if you have not set up a schedule or time limit on the account.
To receive play-time reports:
- Confirm your time zone.
- Check the box next to Send my child's play-time report to….
- Click Save Settings.
You will receive a confirmation email at your Parental Controls email address. Reports will begin arriving on the following week.
Note: This feature is only available for World of Warcraft at this time.
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Can I set different time limits for different World of Warcraft characters?
Time limits apply to all characters on a World of Warcraft account. Play-time on any character is counted against daily and weekly limits. If your child reaches the limit playing one character, they will not be able to play using a different character until the limit resets.
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Schedules
How can I manage when my child is able to play?
Custom schedules allow you to manage what times of day and which days your child is able to play World of Warcraft and StarCraft II. Daily and weekly time limits will work together with these schedules.
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How do I set up a custom schedule?
To set up a custom schedule:
- Check Enable the Play-Time Schedule.
- Click the green or red boxes to schedule what times are available for play.
- Click Save Settings.
Days of the week are presented in half hour blocks. Green blocks mean your child can play World of Warcraft during that time, while red blocks indicate times when they can’t play. Clicking on a green block will turn it red and vice versa.
It can take up to 30 minutes for a schedule to take effect after you have saved it. If your child is playing when you save your changes, they will need to log out of the game before changes will take effect.
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Are there preset schedules that I can use?
Several preset schedules exist and can be easily modified into a custom schedule. Some examples are After school & weekends or Weekends only.
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Can I set different play schedules for different World of Warcraft characters?
Play schedules apply to all characters on a World of Warcraft account. If you have set up a schedule for an account, no character can be logged in during blocked periods.
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Can I set different schedules for each game on the same Battle.net account?
Parental Controls and play-time limits apply to all game accounts on a Battle.net account.
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Real Money Auction House
How can I manage my child’s access to the Diablo III Real Money Auction House?
Parents in regions where the Diablo III Real Money Auction House is available will be able to prevent access to it if they choose. If access to the Real Money Auction House is blocked for an account, it will still be able to access the Gold Auction House normally.
Note: If auctions are in progress when access to the Real Money Auction House is blocked, those auctions will continue as normal. Players on the account will not be able to view or interact with them until access to the Real Money Auction House is re-enabled.
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How do I set up Real Money Auction House access?
To toggle Real Money Auction House access, check the Real Money Auction House checkbox.
Accounts that already have Parental Controls attached when Diablo III is added to that Battle.net account will have Real Money Auction House access automatically disabled.
Accounts that have Diablo III before attaching Parental Controls will keep Real Money Auction House access until the feature is manually disabled by Parental Controls.
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Troubleshooting
What do I do if I don’t know my child's Battle.net account name or password?
Customer Support will be able to help you recover access to the Battle.net account.
Note: If the account has an authenticator (mobile, physical, or dial-in), you will need access to it in order to set up Parental Controls. Once Parental Controls are set up, you only need the link in the Parental Controls email to manage the account.
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What if I lose my Parental Controls access email?
You can request a new Parental Controls access email by visiting the retrieval page. The links in any previous Parental Controls verification emails you received will no longer work.
If you require further assistance with Parental Controls, please contact Customer Support.
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