Not only does EA tell me what games my kids can play, but they also make it impossible to disable the nag telling him to login to services he can't access in the first place.
It's so annoying that he doesn't even want to play, which means I wasted money on the wrong bundle.
And the BEST thing is that they'll never ever read this post!
If you create a KID account, T,M,A rated games will not work. This is not EA, this is the law of the land. But I'm sure you don't believe me so just Google search COPA....matter of fact here's a link:
https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2000/06/commission-online-child-protection
Next time read the fine print instead of rushing to your conclusions.
Hey @8rqcme4acgji,
my name's Valgard and I'm a Community Manager for EA here in the boards.
I've read your feedback and I'm sorry that you and your son had a bad experience while using our products.
And I'd also like to explain the problem to you:
We here at EA offer the possibility to create restricted accounts or called "Underage account" for children 12 years and younger. When your child turns 13, he or she will be able to age up their account to an adult account.
You can read more about underage accounts here.
However, I'd like to ask your for a few more details.
As far as I know, an underage account shouldn't get notifications that ask the player to go online or use restricted features so I'd like to investigate this issue a bit further.
Again, I'm sorry for the bad experience and I'd like to make it up to you through helping you out here. 🙂
Please, when you answer, tag me with @EA_Valgard and I'll find my way back here to your issue.
Meanwhile all the best and a happy new year in advance!
Cheers,
Val
@Whoknew2014 - that's the whole point, censored //EA_Valgard.they KNOW he's too young to play yet keep prompting him to login for online services that he cant even use.
Next time think before rushing to troll.
@Whoknew2014 - you obviously have no clue, so let me spell it out for you:
1) You're wrong. I can and have bypassed age restrictions on web surfing, apps and games across multiple platforms for my children WHEN I DECIDE AS A PARENT THAT THE CONTENT IS APPROPRIATE FOR THEM. By denying me that option, EA is, in fact, telling me what games my kids can and can't play.
EDIT: The FTC allows companies to get "verifiable consent" from parents to waive COPPA regulations regarding their kids' personal information:
https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/plain-language/BUS84-coppa-6-steps.pdf
It has also approved several methods of gaining that consent, so EA really has no excuse other than simply being too cheap to implement:
Furthermore, COPPA restrictions apply to the exchange or display of identifying information -- as long as that information is not exchanged or displayed, they are in compliance with the act. That means obfuscating username, blocking access to chat, and hiding badges/accomplishments from other users and steps to make the servers COPA compliant....there is NO hard-set restriction in place.
2) I don't want to change any laws. I don't even want him to have access to online services. I just want to disable a nag
3) Try having kids before telling people how to be a parent, otherwise you end up sounding like a censored //EA_Valgard
I appreciate the gesture, but telling what I already know doesn't do solve the problem, nor does creating an adult account, as that would potentially give him access to content that IS NOT appropriate for his age....which defeats the purpose of having parental controls in the first place.
But, since you asked.....(and yes, he is signed into his account as a minor, I just blurred the username)
He has a sub-account on my PSN account that is linked to an EA account.
Pic1 (top) -- When the game starts, Playstation tells him he can't use the chat/messaging functions -- which is fine....no mention of online services or multiplayer play, which means the block isn't coming from Playstation.
Pic2 (middle) -- He's told he's unable to log in because his account doesn't meet minimum requirements, which means EA already knows he can't use any of their online services
Pic3 (bottom) - He's told he has to log in to his account to access online services, even though he was already told his account doesn't meet minimum requirements. And, yes, I know Multiplayer highlighted in the background. That's because all these nags occur as soon as the game launches and the UI is frozen from any input. We never have the option to NOT select Multiplayer, because that's the default option, even though EA already knows his account doesn't meet minimum requirements the second the game starts.
(continued below)
Pic3.5 (top) -- Note his avatar, which means he IS logged into his PSN account, which is how EA knows he's too young to use online services in the first place...yet he's still be prompted to login.
Pic4 (bottom) -- To further illustrate the issue, note that his avatar is still showing, which means EA still knows he's logged in as a minor, yet he's still being prompted to log in to use the features EA already knows he's too young to use.
@8rqcme4acgji Everytime you bypass the language filtering by typing a certain naughty word with an @ symbol, you're sending an email notification to a specific EA user. I think he/she might not want to get involved in this particular conversation.
Almost forgot the kicker.....
The system tries to log him into the EA Account it already told him he's too young to use AFTER EVERY SINGLE PLAYER MISSION, which means going through the exact same nag screens again even though the system has already told him he's too young to use the services it's trying to log him in to use.
