Runescape going under 13 and Parental Controls Dashboard

Thanks to a topic on the TruthScape forum I finally understood what the "Quick Chat Only" worlds are for! Apparently these are COPPA compliant and officially safe to play for children under 13. Makes perfect sense to me now.

The topic provides an extract from this article:

"Adam Tuckwell is the “Safety Minister” and Head of PR at Jagex. He was proud to talk to me about Runescape's effort to make the game a safe environment for under children under the age of 13. Previously, players had to to be 13+ to play the game. Runescape launched the under 13 game in June. This provides a Quick Chat interface, and children under 13 can only see Quick Chat text from other players of the under 13 game. This game is Coppa compliant, and have been awarded Best in Class by the IWF (Internet Watch Foundation). Since the launch of the under 13 game, Jagex has seen a 40% increase in Runescape registrations.

In the Quarter 2 or 3 of 2009, the Parental Controls dashboard will be launched. This provides parents with the means to set how often and how long their children can play Runescape, set various chat settings and have various controls over their children's Friends List – such as the ability to add friends with or without parental approval."

Apart from the "Quick Chat Only" worlds the article reveals plans to introduce the Parental Controls dashboard to the game. I support this move wholeheartedly. I know many parents who forbid their children to play Runescape because of its addictive nature. The Parental Controls dashboard should fix that. Well, I personally think that it is much more effective to provide your child with interesting alternatives instead of bluntly forbidding access, but I know it is not the case in many families, so better this way than having children play excessive hours.