United Kingdom Online Safety Act

Salutations everyone!

If you are a resident of the UK, you are likely aware of the Online Safety Act - a new piece of legislation designed to protect adults and children from harmful content online. As part of its implementation, many companies now require age verification for users to access certain areas of their platforms, including Microsoft.

Since February, Microsoft has been gradually implementing chat restrictions to minecraft players based on age verification. As a result, any players under the age of 18 now require parental permission to access chat. Similarly, any players over the age of 18 must verify their age to access chat.

Any player without parental permission or age verification may still be able to see in-game chat messages on Potterworld, but you will not be able to send messages, use commands, or click links in chat. Since commands are essential to many aspects of Minecraft and Potterworld gameplay, you can follow the below steps to regain access to chat if you have not done so already:

Players under 18:

1. Sign in to your parent/guardian account at account.microsoft.com/family.
2. Check that your child’s account has been added to the family group.
3. Select your child’s account profile and go to “Privacy” settings.
4. Update all chat related settings to everyone/enabled.
5. Save your changes.
6. On your child’s device restart the Minecraft launcher (this may take a few minutes to update the settings).

Players over 18:

1. Check your inbox for an email from Microsoft inviting you to verify your age. Alternatively, head to account.xbox.com/settings and look for a prompt.
2. Start the verification process and follow the prompts to take a picture or scan an official ID document as required.
3. Complete the following steps and wait for confirmation.
4. Check your privacy settings are updated.
5. Restart your Minecraft launcher (this may take a few minutes to update your settings following verification).

If you do not wish to verify your age or you do not have parental permission to use chat, we have made some changes to ensure most aspects of Potterworld are still playable. The Jeremiah and Scarlett NPCs in the Great Hall ensure that player customisation, travel, housing and more are still accessible to players who are unable to use commands. If you have shift click enabled, you can shift right click to open the /me menu and shift left click to open your quest book. Unfortunately, classes are not supported at this time for players without access to chat. You may also notice other restrictions if you do not have access to chat and commands. If you are unable to use chat, you are welcome to use our support ticket system here on the website to request support from our staff team.

NOTE: Restrictions on chat and social features as a result of the UK Online Safety Act are designed to reduce unwanted interactions and give families more control. The above changes are entirely optional and you should only update your child’s parental settings or verify your own age if you are comfortable to do so.