World of Warcraft is an online game where players can assume the role of heroic fantasy characters and explore a virtual world of mystery, magic and adventure.
Website URL: us.battle.net/wow
World of Warcraft FAQs
People of all ages can play World of Warcraft. If you are under the age of 13, you can only play using your parent or guardian's account.
By creating an account, you agree to comply with Battle.net's Terms of Use. If you are under the age of 18, you also agree and acknowledge that a parent or guardian has reviewed and accepted the Terms of Use on your behalf.
Parental controls
World of Warcraft has parental controls that help you monitor and manage a child's access to the game. You can control:
- Play-time Limits – The daily or weekly hours your child is allowed to play World of Warcraft.
- Play Schedules – You can create customised play-time schedules. For example, you can set a schedule so your child can only play afterschool and on weekends or weekends only.
- Real ID – Enabling Real ID gives your child access to additional social features, including cross-game chat. If Real ID is activated, the real name associated with the account (yours or your child's) will be visible to others.
- Voice Chat – World of Warcraft has built-in voice chat. You can manage your child's access to voice chat, by selecting from either Listen and Speak or Listen Only.
- Play-Time Reports – You can choose to receive Play-Time Reports delivered to your email address each week. These reports include details on a child's play time, including login and logout times and the duration of each play session.
- In-Game Purchases – World of Warcraft allows you to purchase in-game items using real money. You can choose whether or not your child can use this feature.
To set up or manage Parent Controls visit Battle.net's Parental controls page.
Right: an example of World of Warcraft's Parental Controls.
BattleTag™
A BattleTag is a nickname you can choose that will be used to identify your account across all of Battle.net—on Blizzard websites, in Blizzard forums, and in World of Warcraft, as well as other Blizzard games such as Diablo® III.
If your child chooses to become BattleTag friends with another player, they’ll have access to a number of communication tools with the anonymity of an online handle. You can mute the account using the Parental Controls system so your child will no longer be able to view or participate in player-to-player communication, including chat channels and private messages.
To learn more about this feature visit Battle.net's BattleTag page.
Above is an example of World of Warcraft's Real ID.
Real ID
Real ID is an optional feature designed to connect players across Blizzard games, including World of Warcraft. To learn more about these features visit Battle.net's Real ID page.
Right: an example of World of Warcraft's Real ID.
By default, if you use Real ID:
- accepted friends and friends of friends can see your first and last name
- no one can see your account name (your email address)
- friends can see your online status
- friends can see your rich presence information (what you are doing in World of Warcraft and other Blizzard Entertainment games)
- friends can see your broadcasted messages
- friends can see which characters and games you are playing across supported Blizzard games.
You can adjust your ReaI ID settings via Battle.net's Account Management or the Parental Controls system.
To report abuse directly to World of Warcraft's support staff, you can right click on the person's name in chat or right click the player's portrait, and select the option to Report Player.
Right: an example of how to report a player on World of Warcraft.
Mature Language Filter
Under the Interface Options, Social Settings, you can enable the Mature Language Filter. This selection automatically censors any profanity.
Ignore the player
If you right click on a player's name in chat, you can select the Ignore option. This adds them to your ignore list, and prevents any messages from that character reaching you. To remove someone from your ignore list, open your social pane (Default: O), and select the Ignore tab at the top. This shows your currently ignored players and allows you to adjust the list.
Leave the channel
Should you wish to remove yourself from a chat channel entirely, simply type /leave X, where X is the number of the channel you're in. For example, if your chat window shows '[1. General] [Spammer]: I like to spam a lot!', you'd remove yourself from that channel by typing '/leave 1'.
Report spam
If one or more players are spamming a chat channel repeatedly, you can right click their name and select Report Spam. This feature temporarily ignores them for a set amount of time and automatically forwards the reported chat on to Blizzard Entertainment's support team for further review. If a player is severely disrupting a channel, Blizzard Entertainment advises this is the most efficient way of bringing the matter to the attention of staff. This feature is for use within game spam, as opposed to personal or public harassment.
Game Subscription
Once you've purchased the game, you can create an online account that gives you free play time for an initial 30-day period. To continue playing after 30 days you need to purchase a subscription. Subscription can be purchased using a credit card, PayPal, Prepaid Game Card or Payment One.
More information on subscription options and payments can be found at World of Warcraft's Subscription Options page.
Right: an example of a World of Warcraft pre-paid card.
In-Game Blizzard Shop
You can browse and purchase mounts, pets and some account services from directly within World of Warcraft through the Shop interface using the default payment method set in your Battle.net account (a credit card, PayPal, or a Prepaid Game Card). You can choose whether or not your child can use the shop via the Parental Controls system.
You can visit us.battle.net/wow for more information, including:
- Blizzard Support provides general support information
- Blizzard Entertainment's Privacy Policy outlines World of Warcraft's privacy guidelines.