Guide for Whirled Parents

Welcome to Whirled! This section of the site is provided as an introduction for the parents of intrepid young players. It's also useful if you and your family play together.

Our goal to help make sure that your family can enjoy Whirled safely and without worry. Below, we provide information on what kind of experiences your family will have in Whirled. We also lay out what parts of Whirled are free, what parts may require payment, and how you can best manage the payments that you do make.

If you have any specific questions not addressed in this article that you'd like to ask about the game before allowing your family to give Whirled a try, please feel free to contact us using the Whirled Support form. We'll get back to you with an answer as soon as we can.

What is Whirled?
Whirled is a social gaming website where you can play games, chat with friends, explore player created rooms and make and sell your own creations to other players in the Shop.

Online games can create an enormously fun environment. People are, after all, far more fun to interact with than computers! The challenge comes with making these kinds of interactions a positive experience. Our approach has been to design Whirled so that it encourages our community of players to play and socialize together. Success in Whirled comes from making friends, playing games and creating items; players are not rewarded for being abusive or otherwise acting out.

Violations of Whirled's Community Standards and Terms of Service should be reported immediately. Please take a moment to review the Community Standards and Terms of Service if you have not done so already.

Whirled should be considered a PG-13 environment. As do many other websites and online games, Whirled requires that players be at least thirteen (13) years of age. While younger players might enjoy the games included on the website and chatting with our players, we believe it is equally important that each player have the maturity to react responsibly in uncomfortable situations created by other players.

Playing in a Social Environment
The challenge of an online community is that the same features that make it so exciting can also allow a small minority of players to act disruptively or irresponsibly.

As a company, we are committed to supporting a positive playing environment in Whirled. We constantly monitor and respond to player complaints from within the game. Our Agents take a "hands on" approach to resolving issues, including the removal of disruptive players from Whirled.

Unfortunately, this does not guarantee that players will be completely insulated from the inappropriate behavior of those around them. To date, however, we've found that it does create a more positive and enjoyable atmosphere.

If you're looking for entertainment for a child under the age of 13, we suggest Puzzle Pirates Family!

Getting Started
Whirled is a free website. You or your children can play on the website for free with some limitations for as long as you like.

Instead of a subscription system, access to additional features in games and purchases of items in the shop may be based on the purchase of a micro-currency called "bars". Each bar allows a player to purchase access to the specific aspects of the game that they wish to use. Because these features are purchased individually, it's possible to spend as much as or as little as you like.

For a beginner's guide to Whirled, read starting out.

Getting Help Online
Within Whirled, it is relatively easy for a player to ask for help or report violations of the rules by other players. For example, in a room with other players, you can click on the player causing the issue and then select "Report this player..." from the dropdown menu. From there, he or she can register a complaint or send a request for help to in-game support.

A complaint on a player will record the interactions the player is currently having. This information is used to determine how best to handle the complaint against other players. The information is forwarded to our in-game support staff, called 'Agents', who will address the issue as quickly as possible. The Agents are an important aspect of our efforts to ensure that the game continues to provide a positive atmosphere for all players. Members of your family should not hesitate to contact them if they need help.

Shop items have a "Report..." link and items in a room can be right-clicked to get an option to report the item. A window will popup and give you a chance to explain your complaint. You can also get help by clicking on the "Help" link in the upper left corner of the browser and then selecting "Contact Us" from the links under the tabs.

What Am I Paying For?
All Whirled players are able to interact with those around them and play the basic games that pay coins as a reward.

Paying players are able to use bars to purchase game expansion packs, rooms, groups, broadcasts, and items from the Shop.

Making Sure You Get What You Expect
It is important to us that the payments we receive for Whirled are made with the full approval of the cardholder. We have several features in place to prevent unwanted charges, including limits on the totals that can be charged, and a requirement that the credit card be present for each transaction.

In addition to the protection we provide, however, it is important for you and your child to take precautions. Perhaps most critically, your child should be reminded to never give his or her username and password to anyone. Our customer support team will not ask for this information under any circumstances, and anyone that does is undoubtedly planning to act maliciously. If anyone asks your child for this information, please immediately file a complaint against the offending user. Likewise, of course, your child should not give out real-life information such as phone numbers, addresses, credit card information, etc.

In addition to this, we recommend that you consider the following steps to prevent any unwanted charges:
 * Clarify with your child when payments are allowed.
 * Watch your children play on the website from time to time to ensure you are comfortable with the player(s) with which they are interacting.
 * Consider removing your credit card information by clicking on "Clear Billing Information" after making a payment. This will remove the credit card information from our systems.
 * You can also prevent your credit card information from being saved on our systems by unchecking "Save this information for future purchases" when making a payment. If you also ensure that your child does not have access to your credit card details, then they will be unable to purchase Bars without your permission. Whirled requires the CCV number on the back of the card as a confirmation each time a bar purchase is made to ensure that the card is physically present.
 * If your child is buying Bars, consider checking the total number of Bars they have to verify that the number is not unexpectedly high. You can access your child's complete history of bars obtained and spent at http://www.whirled.com/#me-transactions_2 at any time.  Please make sure that you are logged on with the correct email for your child.

What are the bar prices?
Pricing for Whirled bars are as follows:
 * 45 bars $4.95 (~ 11&#162; / bar)
 * 100 bars $9.95 (~ 9.95&#162; / bar)
 * 210 bars $19.95 (~ 9.5&#162; / bar)
 * 540 bars $49.95 (~ 9.25&#162; / bar)
 * 1100 bars $99.95 (~ 9&#162; / bar)

Payment can be made in a variety of ways, including credit cards, PayPal, and Three Rings Game Cards. For a list, please see our Billing FAQ.

Getting Banned
The support team is charged with maintaining a positive playing environment. This means that they are sometimes obliged to suspend or permanently ban a player from the game for their behavior. This action is not taken lightly. The following provides an overview of some of the likely causes of a ban.

Swearing, spamming (repeatedly saying the same thing or random letters/numbers, over and over to disrupt others' communication) and other offensive types of behavior are strictly prohibited by the Terms of Service. If your child swears, spams, uploads inappropriate content to Whirled, or otherwise offends other players, he or she will most likely be banned. Most initial bans are temporary, depending upon the severity of the offense, but repeat offenders may be permanently banned.

Scamming, or the practice of deceiving other players to hand over items on false grounds, is likewise strictly against the rules. Players who scam or steal from other players will also be swiftly banned, and may be permanently banned on a first or second offense if it is severe enough.

Other Issues and Further Questions
Please feel free to contact us with any other questions via the Whirled Support form while logged into Whirled with an account.

Useful Links
Please review these
 * Whirled's Terms of Service
 * The Whirled Community Standards
 * How to report players who break the Terms of Service and Community Standards
 * Agents
 * Support
 * Account security
 * Billing FAQ
 * Technical issues FAQ
 * Information about bans