Child account issues - playing online and adding friends
This isn't even so much an issue as it is a really heated complaint. Seeing as how I'm afraid that if I have to talk to another person on the phone I might start shouting obscenities, I thought maybe putting something here - with the hopes that someone "in charge" might eventually see it and realize the absolute stupidity of how it works - would be somewhat therapeutic.
Today we bought four Humble Bundles, paying just enough to get Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare. My kids (aged 5 and 8) had been watching videos of playthroughs of the game and thought it was fascinating, and we're always up for games we can play with our kids during their computer time, so why not? We didn't even care about the rest of the games - just that one. They were excited and so were we, so we went about making them two kid accounts on Origin. I saw the mention of limitations of social interactions but figured, hey, that's a good thing - and that like other games and systems, that we would perhaps be able to specify friends (many other games and online things like this allow parent accounts to set specifications and require them to approve friends or other interactions, which I'm fine with). We get the games installed and loaded up and lo and behold, we can't start games with them or interact with them from our parent accounts in any way, shape, or form. At all. Even a little.
Frustrated, I contacted Origin help. The associate who called me informed me that there was no way to convert child accounts to "adult" accounts (something for you folks with older kids to remember, once they get older) and that they would indeed not be able to have ANY social interaction with others - including participating on the servers in PvZ, seeing or talking in chats, and adding friends of any type including our parent accounts. We cannot request they join games from our accounts, nor can they request such for us.
Okay, frustrating enough on its own. I asked what the resolution was - and was informed that I would have to request a refund from Humble Bundle (which is backed up about three days apparently), then have their accounts deleted and remade and lie about their ages so that we can play with them. That, of course, has the side effect of leaving them open to being able to talk to people. (Luckily, we are diligent and monitor their online activity carefully, what little they are allowed.) I initially wanted to simply delete their accounts immediately but the representative insisted that they would have absolutely no access to online server games, and that they would not be able to see or participate in ANY chats in ANY game that was on their Origin account, so they were effectively safe - until then, wouldn't it be better if we kept their accounts and the games in them, and waited until Humble Bundle sent the refund to make new accounts for them?
Fine. I agreed, because it seemed stupid to have gotten them excited about the game and then leave them not able to play it at all. The representative assured me that they would be in single-player games only and would not be able to play in any form of multiplayer game. I agreed based on that assurance and the call ended.
My husband reaches over to the computer my older son is logged in on. Goes right into the servers no problem, joins a multiplayer game, and points at the chat - which is clearly visible.
Thank you, EA. We now have paid for two copies of a game we cannot play with our children, that we will now have to seek to get a refund that we may not even be able to get because we HAD to redeem the codes in order to open the game to make Origin accounts to find out all of this wasn't even possible (HB says on their FAQ that they cannot refund bundles if you've already redeemed the code), and we have to wait likely a week or longer just to see if there's anything we can do. Until then, you've lied about whether or not our kids would have access to public servers and to online chats, and we're really, REALLY angry. I'm done with EA, which really bites, because I kind of loved The Sims.
Ball's in your court, support staff. Who, exactly, is going to make this right - or at least TRY to help without lying baldfaced to us?
ETA: Husband pointed out something I neglected to mention - we cannot log into their EA or Origin accounts from the website, and it's as if their accounts don't exist for that purpose (also via the representative I spoke to). So.. We can't do ANYTHING about their accounts. For reference, we were having trouble logging into the website and I figured it was us mistyping the password or something, so I sent a password change request and it still hasn't shown up to the child's email or mine. And yes, I have checked spam on both, and I know both were typed in right, because I have the confirmation email in my account. So let's discuss how helpful this isn't, too.
You can buy physical copies of Sims expansions in a retail store and then register the codes on your child's account.
When setting up a child account, you will get the following message:
While you can use Origin to launch and play your favorite games, please note that this limited access account will not let you access social features, purchase games through the Store, or log in to EA websites.
We are unable to change account details for a child account after it has been created. Once the child account reaches adult age (which varies per country, most countries have the age between 14-16), it will automatically be upgraded to a full account.
WORKAROUND FOR CONSOLE PLAYERS BY @jhic2214:
FOUND SOLUTON to child not allowed to invite friends on XBOX. I was having a similar issue with my 8 year old's account. He could connect to PVZ on XBOX but was not allowed to play with friends or join the multiple player games. The solution was not EA, the issue is with XBOX's Family settingshttps://account.xbox.com/en-US/Settings. Go to your family's "Privacy & online safety" section, select your child, select "XBOX One Online Safety", and then allow your child to add friends and join multiple player games. I hope this helps some one.Thanks for this!
