Some of you may recall, that awhile back we decided to no longer allow people under the age of 13 onto the game because of legal liability issues, and also because our audience is generally more mature.

However, as we go on, we think it is best if we revert back to our original rules regarding the age(s) of our players. Many of us started playing games like HP when we were younger, and bringing in younger players helps keep games like this alive as they have more time to play on a daily basis, and fewer outside obligations.

So, you may notice that we have made some changes to the registration process, and to the TOS and Privacy Policy to reflect this. When you make a new account, it will now ask you for your date of birth before you can enter your email address. This is because if you are under 13, you must enter your parent's email address instead, as we must not collect the personal information of players under 13, in order to comply with COPPA (the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act).

HOWEVER, PLEASE BE AWARE THAT THESE CHANGES WILL NOT AFFECT OUR CURRENT RULES. HP WILL BE KEEPING THE CURRENT PG-13 GUIDELINES, AS WE HAVE FOR MOST OF OUR LIFE.

Since some of the topics that come up in chats, forums, and messages may not be child-appropriate, we are providing parents with the option to block their children from using these features if they so choose to. This is because we did not want the addition of children under 13 to affect our current and loyal players in a negative way, as we understand and respect the need for more mature content rules.

Since there have been updates to the privacy policy and terms of service, I suggest that everyone reads them. However, I don't foresee the changes affecting everyone currently on the game, since they should all be over the age of 13 anyway.

If you have any questions about the changes, please don't hesitate to ask me or any other moderator/admin! We will gladly explain the new system to you, or answer any questions!

Have a great day!