Change Chief Name and disable chat --- parental controls?

Hi new member here. I've searched through all the threads and forums, and get the general gist -- no at this time it's not possible to change a Chief name, nor disable chat. This HAS to be made a priority to do so. Here's why.

My son (who is 8), with my permission (since he needs my AppleID and GameCenter ID and password to d/l anything) downloaded COC from the app store about a month ago. We let him play it almost every day for a few minutes, he really likes it, even when he's getting creamed in battles, that's fine. I didn't pay much attention to it until today, I thought I'd check out how it works in detail. First of all, when he first downloaded it, apparently he put his whole real name in as a Chief name. Why doesn't it default to the GameCenter ID/Name? I'll be ****ed if my minor son is going to be exposed to the internet world like this. Who knows what weirdos are out there trolling for kids.

Secondly, apparently there is no way to turn off chat? Only to report someone after the fact?

These 2 items ring HUGE alarm bells in my parental head. Game is good one, but unless you immediately update it so that one can change the Chief name (c'mon, it's not like the username is THE key, right? you have to be using a GUID or something else underneath, otherwise that's extremely poor design), and turn off chat, then Supercell is opening itself up LEGALLY to be an accessory for enabling pedophiles to contact and talk to and find kids.

Thanks for addressing my concerns.

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Originally Posted by OWCHippy

Hi new member here. I've searched through all the threads and forums, and get the general gist -- no at this time it's not possible to change a Chief name, nor disable chat. This HAS to be made a priority to do so. Here's why.

My son (who is 8), with my permission (since he needs my AppleID and GameCenter ID and password to d/l anything) downloaded COC from the app store about a month ago. We let him play it almost every day for a few minutes, he really likes it, even when he's getting creamed in battles, that's fine. I didn't pay much attention to it until today, I thought I'd check out how it works in detail. First of all, when he first downloaded it, apparently he put his whole real name in as a Chief name. Why doesn't it default to the GameCenter ID/Name? I'll be ****ed if my minor son is going to be exposed to the internet world like this. Who knows what weirdos are out there trolling for kids.

Secondly, apparently there is no way to turn off chat? Only to report someone after the fact?

These 2 items ring HUGE alarm bells in my parental head. Game is good one, but unless you immediately update it so that one can change the Chief name (c'mon, it's not like the username is THE key, right? you have to be using a GUID or something else underneath, otherwise that's extremely poor design), and turn off chat, then Supercell is opening itself up LEGALLY to be an accessory for enabling pedophiles to contact and talk to and find kids.

Thanks for addressing my concerns.

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I hope your son doesnt play any xbox live or ps3 online. Its waaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyy worse because people have mics.

At least on this game they try to bleep out most anything but some things can be typed differently to get the desired word out.

There arent many games where you can hide the chat. If your son gets into a clan there is no way to stop whats being said there at all. To be honest the kids say some of the dirtiest things as well.

Supercell would not be liable as per this section in terms of service: Before accessing or using the Service, including browsing any Supercell website or accessing a game, you must agree to these Terms of Service and the Privacy Policy. You may also be required to register an account on the Service (an “Account”). By registering for an Account or otherwise using the Service, you represent that you are age 13 or older and you understand and agree to these Terms of Service. If you are between the ages of 13 and 17, you represent that your legal guardian has reviewed and agreed to these Terms. If you access the Service from a Social Networking Site (“SNS”), such as Facebook, you shall comply with its terms of service/use as well as these Terms of Service.

For getting the name changed try contacting support in game.

thanks for answers so far everyone.

I finally did find the Terms of Service doc, and yes, it says it's for 13 and up. OK, so let's take my example of my 8-year old son playing the game and replace it with the one where my 14 year old daughter is playing it (she wouldn't... this is so far out of what she's into... but for the sake of argument)... I would still want these controls. And let's be real, there are probably many many kids under 13 playing it.

No we don't have an xbox or ps3, just nintendo products (wii, 3ds, etc), which again, do not have explicit chat functions anywhere, that I am aware of. Also, in case somehow someone made a Mii that has personally identifiable information, it can be changed.

Not so with this game. I am less concerned at the moment with chat, although it would be nice to have a simple button in the settings/gears section turning it off (like music has) and telling my son to not turn it back on -- he actually listens (for now) -- than I am about the ability to edit one's Chief name after the fact. It's a fundamental flaw IMO.

I'll contact in-game support and see what they can do, but if they can't change some things, I'm afraid the game is going to be uninstalled until they become more aware of these aspects.

The ability to change your own name has been ruled out by the developers.
http://forum.supercell.net/showthrea...out-guidelines

Support would be your only chance, be prepared to wait 2-3 weeks for a response though.

As for disabling chat or some form of parental control; it doesn't seem to be a popular enough request to have made on the sticky and a quick search doesn't return much but perhaps if you posted in the ideas forum it would be considered.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by OWCHippy

thanks for answers so far everyone.

I finally did find the Terms of Service doc, and yes, it says it's for 13 and up. OK, so let's take my example of my 8-year old son playing the game and replace it with the one where my 14 year old daughter is playing it (she wouldn't... this is so far out of what she's into... but for the sake of argument)... I would still want these controls. And let's be real, there are probably many many kids under 13 playing it.

No we don't have an xbox or ps3, just nintendo products (wii, 3ds, etc), which again, do not have explicit chat functions anywhere, that I am aware of. Also, in case somehow someone made a Mii that has personally identifiable information, it can be changed.

Not so with this game. I am less concerned at the moment with chat, although it would be nice to have a simple button in the settings/gears section turning it off (like music has) and telling my son to not turn it back on -- he actually listens (for now) -- than I am about the ability to edit one's Chief name after the fact. It's a fundamental flaw IMO.

I'll contact in-game support and see what they can do, but if they can't change some things, I'm afraid the game is going to be uninstalled until they become more aware of these aspects.

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I totally understand your point, but I hate to say none of this will change here or anywhere else more then likely.

This is how it is in probably 90% of games. This game is making over 2.5 million a day so one person quitting does nothing to them, not to mention I doubt your son is allowed to buy gems so in essence they are losing nothing except someone playing for free.

I dont mean this to come out wrong and I believe all games should have some way to turn off chat or mute mics but it hasnt happened yet.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by OWCHippy

Hi new member here. I've searched through all the threads and forums, and get the general gist -- no at this time it's not possible to change a Chief name, nor disable chat. This HAS to be made a priority to do so. Here's why.

My son (who is 8), with my permission (since he needs my AppleID and GameCenter ID and password to d/l anything) downloaded COC from the app store about a month ago. We let him play it almost every day for a few minutes, he really likes it, even when he's getting creamed in battles, that's fine. I didn't pay much attention to it until today, I thought I'd check out how it works in detail. First of all, when he first downloaded it, apparently he put his whole real name in as a Chief name. Why doesn't it default to the GameCenter ID/Name? I'll be ****ed if my minor son is going to be exposed to the internet world like this. Who knows what weirdos are out there trolling for kids.

Secondly, apparently there is no way to turn off chat? Only to report someone after the fact?

These 2 items ring HUGE alarm bells in my parental head. Game is good one, but unless you immediately update it so that one can change the Chief name (c'mon, it's not like the username is THE key, right? you have to be using a GUID or something else underneath, otherwise that's extremely poor design), and turn off chat, then Supercell is opening itself up LEGALLY to be an accessory for enabling pedophiles to contact and talk to and find kids.

Thanks for addressing my concerns.

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Hey Chief,

We do indeed change GameCenter names when appropriate. This is in rare cases where users come up with offensive names and are reported to the CS team by other users. These users can be banned or have their names changed to something cute, like "Fluffybunny." We will not release an update that allows to change their user names on their own for this exact reason. Introducing this to the game would cause an endless amount of problems in terms of offensive village names in the game. I'm sure you can understand the problem this would present.

In your particular case, I'll send you a PM so we can get it resolved. His village game is whatever he originally entered as his GameCenter ID when he first started playing. Once you log in to Clash with that name, it won't matter if you change your GameCenter name, that will always be your village name. I'll send you a PM with details on how you and I can fix this so his full name isn't showing up.

On chat, there is no way to turn it off, no. Offensive users are banned fairly quickly in my experience. It's not a perfect system and it's one we're considering revising. There are also some extremely strict filters in place that turns a lot of the offensive language, and even some random non-offensive language, into stars. Again, it's not the perfect system, but it can only get better.

I hope this addresses some of your concerns and your son will be able to continue playing. I can understand if he can't! Be on the lookout for a PM from me!

-Steve

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Zombiebender

The ability to change your own name has been ruled out by the developers.
http://forum.supercell.net/showthrea...out-guidelines

Support would be your only chance, be prepared to wait 2-3 weeks for a response though.

As for disabling chat or some form of parental control; it doesn't seem to be a popular enough request to have made on the sticky and a quick search doesn't return much but perhaps if you posted in the ideas forum it would be considered.

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thanks, that thread is a good resource. For chat, there is a top request for "mute"

"Add a mute button to global (basically to hide chat of a player)"

which if it is applied to all chat, would work as well.

I'll try support and see what they can do re changing village/chief name. I still strongly believe that this should be allowed (as well as the corollary, asking up front at the beginning of the game, that new users not use personally identifiable info) as a safety issue, PARTICULARLY for minors (13-17, or younger).

FYI SuperSteve took care of this. Kudos to him and the Supercell team for addressing my concerns individually.

Keep up the good work on both the game and this community forum.