Is there a way to remove a child account and replace it with a adult one? My child is 13 and still cannot play online (Xbox settings are all set high enough)
Forum Discussion
21 Replies
ietxmmyrusEA Staff
Hello again, everyone, thank you for the continued information.
To clarify a bit, every Gamertag posted in this thread so far is connected to an underage EA account which will prevent it to connect online. To quote our help article:
Each country sets their own requirements for who is considered to be an “adult.” If your child is younger than the age for where you live, they will automatically have a child account.
In most countries, that age is 13. Expand the list below to see if it's a different age where you are.
Australia: 13
Belgium: 16
China: 16
Denmark: 16
Finland: 15
France: 16
Germany: 14
Hungary: 16
Ireland: 16
Italy: 16
Japan: 13
South Korea: 18
Norway: 15
Poland: 16
Portugal: 18
Russia: 14
Spain: 14
Sweden: 16
The Netherlands: 16
Other than above: 13Once your child is at the minimum age to have a full access EA Account, they can “age up” their child account. When they do, they will be able to play online modes and use other features.
Keep in mind that when they have a full access account, games still have individual ratings. These ratings may stop them from accessing all of the game’s features and modes until they are of age for the game, too.
If your child is of age as per above table, they would have to log in to the Origin client once to age up their underage account. They will automatically be prompted to do so after successfully logging in. Please keep in mind that underage accounts can only log in with their Origin ID, not with an email address. (Technically they don't have an own email address, only the connected parental one used for communication).
- This is a cop out. How come my child can play Titanfall 2 multiplayer (Pegi 16) but cannot play Star Wars BF2 multiplayer? Clearly there is something wrong. Titanfall 2 is respecting the parental control settings and is not trying to take on the role of parenting our children for us. That is the difference.
Please fix this, or give me a refund. €70 for a game that is ALL about multiplayer only to find out we are intentionally blocked from multiplayer. It's totally unacceptable. It's more than that, its illegal in the EU. You've sold me a product and service that is not as advertised. Pretty sure their reasoning is based on the law but I'm not an expert at it.
If you bought the game on Origin you can refund with EA.
https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/origin/origin/what-s-the-great-games-guarantee/
If you bought it via the PS store or MS store you can refund via there.
Otherwise you'll have to return it to the retailer for a refund.
- Which games do work (outside Titanfall)? Quite weird to hear those work but this one doesn't.
I just read this in account linking FAQ on EA site:
"If it’s a sub-account that shares Xbox Live Gold or PlayStation Plus, you won’t be able to connect it to your EA Account to play online."
but my son's Xbox account is a sub account of mine and he plays online in Plants VS Zombies just fine. Also, his Origin account does not show any linked accounts and mine does. Is this what's stopping him from playing online?
What say you, EA?
- Ox,
did you sign in to your child's account on Origin to see what his age was set to? - He didn't have an account despite being able to play EA games. I tried registering one using same email as his xbox email to see if that does anything. It's showing no connected devices where mine shows xbox as a connected device. Looks to be completely separate account with no link to his xbox account.
I wonder can I specify what EA account xbox uses? Apparently you can't if you sign up for the Origin account with the same email as his Xbox Live account. it will automatically use the xbox live account with that email. I don't see any "connected devices" with mine, but my origin account sees my Xbox live account as a "connected account" where my child's account doesn't see any connected accounts at all. the article I referred to earlier was this: https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/account/linking-your-origin-account-with-your-psn-id-and-gamertag/
- Sorry I meant connected accounts.
He has an EA account somewhere. Loading up Titanfall 2 multiplayer says "searching for EA account" and then connects no problem. So it is finding an EA account and that account has permission to play a Pegi 16 game.
I think we are banging our heads against a brick wall. There is clearly a bug here that needs a code fix. If a child is under the approved age, is there a way that a parent can access the game purchased online so that the child can play online with their friends through the parents account? For instance, I have an XBOX One S, my daughter has an account and I have an account. We purchased SW Battlefield II for my daughter on her account, she is underage and unable to play online. Can I access Battlefield II through my account on the same machine for online play?
- Yes you can do that by setting the xbox as your home console, which it will be by default.
But she will be using your account and seeing your friend list. I would not advise adding her friends to your list, it could be seen as a bit weird by the other parents.
You should also add a pass key for online purchases.
It gets them playing but it is not ideal. There are other games i definitely do not want them playing which they will have access to on my account. This is the frustrating part about it, I have a child account and use the parental controls and screen time for a reason. Now I have to give them access to an adult account and have no monitoring tools or screen time limitations . Enforcing an age restriction in this way is actually counter productive.
As I have said already Titanfall 2 respects the parental controls. It appears to be that SW BF2 developers got very lazy and instead of integrating with parental controls they just took the easy option and do a check against the date of birth.
If anyone from EA is even reading this thread, this is a bug no doubt about it. Please patch the game to respect parental controls. I just spent the last 40 minutes discussing this with their support team and I don't think anyone truly cares at EA. Adding my chat dialog below to get a sense of how their support team is responding to these situations.
Suraj: Thanks for contacting EA Help, my name is Suraj. How may I assist you today?
you: Hi Suraj, I would like to get my son online for BF2 on Xbox but none of the parental settings are allowing him to get online
you: I've done my fair share of research and I can't seem a viable way of being able to get him access
Suraj: Hello there!
Suraj: Can I get your name to address you better?
you: sorry about that, my name is josh
Suraj: Nice to meet you Josh
Suraj: Please do not worry , I realize your concern and I'll try my best to assist you in this case.
you: Truly appreciate it
you: So, I have gone through the following article
you: https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/faq/not-able-to-connect-to-online-play/
you: but none of this helps
Suraj: May I know your son's gamertag?--Adding rest of transcript to spoiler tag to keep the forum clean
Spoileryou: <RemovedToProtectHisAccount>
you: I tried managing his EA account to try and "age him up" but I cannot get an email address to log in and accomplish that. Reset his password but can't seem to log in anywhere with just his ID
Suraj: As i can see the account is an underage account
Suraj: There are some limitations in an underage account , one of which is that the person can notgo online
you: Why does EA create this restriction even though I've given him the control to do this?
you: He has no issues with other games going online
you: Just with BF2
you: Reading in this forum post, it looks like other EA games doe not have the same restrictions
you: https://answers.ea.com/t5/Bug-Reports/Xbox-Attempt-to-connect-to-online-error-code-524/m-p/6534339/highlight/true#M3703
you: Before purchasing this game, I never found any sort of documentation that child accounts would not be able to access online abilities
you: Based on this article, if I give them access via Parental Controls then they should have access in the game
you: https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/account/give-your-child-access-to-games-on-their-child-account
you: Further in that article it states what games a child can play online but I feel this list is not properly maintained. For instance, you have NHL/Madden/FIFA 17 but not the 18 versions
Suraj: I totally get your point however using that account , you won't be able to access online features
you: I don't understand why not.
you: If I, the parent, have given consent for my child to do something, why then does a company offering a service have the ability to contradict my consent?
you: Additionally, on the games list, EA allows Battlefield 4 which is rated as MATURE
you: BF 2 is rated as Teen and is not allows?
you: This does not make sense, at all
Suraj: These are the rules which are made by servers team
Suraj: If you have any issue . Please let us know and we will surely share your feedback with our team
you: I have a major issue
you: I find the reasoning completely lacking of any sort of empathy or understanding of the customer
you: Nor does it have any sort of actual logic
you: My problems are as follows:
you: 1. There is 0 documentation or advanced notice that a parent can't control the ability for their children to access features within a game. The documentation that does exist actually contradicts the explanation you provided
you: 2. You allow access for a MATURE (Battlefield 4) game to child accounts but do not grant access to a Teen rated game. This seems completely backwards
you: 3. As a parent, I should have ultimate control over my child. This means their accounts, access to what they can and cannot play. I find the inability to manage their account as a privacy issue.
you: 4. An actual explanation on WHY a child account is not able to play BF2 online. Is it because they can be exposed to online chat? This is where restrictions in the parental controls on the actual accounts come into play.
Suraj: These are the rules made by the government therefore we have to follow them
you: WRONG
you: You allow access to other titles
you: You cannot hide behind government restrictions IF you allow access to other titles
Suraj: https://www.ftc.gov/enforcement/rules/.../childrens-online-privacy-protection-rule
you: Link is dead
Suraj: Please check the above link
you: Link is dead
you: found the article that you reference and it states the following
you: This part implements the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998, (15 U.S.C. 6501, et seq.,) which prohibits unfair or deceptive acts or practices in connection with the collection, use, and/or disclosure of personal information from and about children on the Internet.
you: So are you saying that EA is disclosing information about ME when I am playing games?
you: Can you provide the specific text on why BF2 is a game being restricted for a Child Account by EA but allows other titles to be played by that same child account?
Suraj: We’ve done everything we could in this case. Would there be anything else apart from this concern I can help you with?
you: Wow. 0 empathy towards your customer
you: In fact, that article you provided states this as well
you: (b) Obtain verifiable parental consent prior to any collection, use, and/or disclosure of personal information from children (§312.5);
Suraj: I am extremely sorry if you felt that way
you: I would suspect that EA would care a little bit more about how they manage their customers with BF2. The public sentiment has not been great and now you are saying that there is nothing that can be or will be done
Suraj: I was just trying to help you
Suraj: I’m afraid but as much as I’d like to help it seems rather difficult. Is there anything else I can help you with?
you: The documentation everyone provides is so completely contradictory
you: Empathy means you understand your customer and truly trying to help
you: You feel their pain
you: However, this is not the case. You provide incomplete data and simply try to wash your hands of the situation
you: Anyone that is customer obsessed would challenge things that don't make sense. Would look at the customer's situation and the valid information that has been provided and try to understand the reasoning behind things further
Suraj: Since I’ve already provided required information regarding this case, I am now ending this chat session. Thank you for contacting EA Chat Support!
you: Right of course you areThis issue is really bothersome to me. Their documentation is awful and incomplete, incorrect, and misleading.
https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/account/give-your-child-access-to-games-on-their-child-account
In this article it has a section labeled:
"What EA games can I let my child play online?"
The games I found to be most interesting is the ability for CHILD accounts to have online access to Battlefield games. These games are rated as MATURE where BF2 is rated as Teen. Why would you grant access to a Mature game but not a Teen game?
In addition, they continue to try and hide behind COPAA. However, this doesn't explain why Child Accounts are allowed to play other games online. The same child account that can't play BF2 because of COPAA can play NHL 17 online. What's the difference?
I wasn't going to buy this game because of the micro-transaction issue. They rolled that back and got my interest. Now, my kids are not able to play online with their friends. I am jumping on the EA ban bandwagon. It's a shame because they continue to get such great IP but they continue to kill the experience with their lack of care for their customer.
- And COPA is American legislation. Those of us outside the USA should not be subjected to it.
Apparently there is a lot of work for companies to comply with COPA, so they would actually prefer you lied about your child's age and gave them an adult account. It's got nothing to do with protecting children, it's about them reducing the overhead of complying with legislation. It's disgusting behaviour. - Couldn't agree with you more here. I love Xbox because I can restrict my child's privacy settings in such a granular way where I don't really have to worry about them being exposed, too much, to the negative things online. EA is so far behind the times as it relates to the customer experience. Would love to see a complete change of attitude within the company.
- My son plays Plants Vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 with no problem. He can not connect with his account (which has no age restrictions) for Battlefront II. In fact, my Origin/EA account, which I'm using now, is mine, and shows my correct age (49). Additionally, the controlling Microsoft account (also, mine) has my child set with no restrictions other than I have to approve purchases.
In other words, with our current configuration, EVERYTHING works as it should EXCEPT Star Wars: BattleFront II multiplayer, which gives us this 524 error.
This whole process is ridiculously complex and confusing, and yes, VERY disappointing for a child who got this game for Christmas.
