SAFETY
IF SOMETHING ONLINE UPSETS YOU OR FEELS WRONG
- STOP PLAYING and tell a grown-up you trust. You are not in trouble.
- PRESS ⋯ NEXT TO THEIR NAME, THEN REPORT. Pick what happened. No typing. A real person reads every report. You can also press LEAVE THIS ROOM.
- If someone asks where you live, your school, your phone number, for photos, or to talk on another app: don't answer, and tell a grown-up.
- YOU CAN TALK TO CHILDLINE for free, any time, day or night: 0800 1111 or childline.org.uk
- A grown-up can report it to CEOP, the police team that protects children online.
- IN DANGER RIGHT NOW? CALL 999.
HOW TO TELL US
In the game: press ⋯ next to the person's name (in the room menu's list of players, on the end-of-match cards, in the TV's room menu, or on a knock), then REPORT, then the button that says what happened: THEY WERE MEAN · THEIR NAME IS RUDE · ASKED WHERE I LIVE OR FOR MY NUMBER · ASKED ME TO GO TO ANOTHER APP · SOMETHING ELSE. Nothing is typed and nothing about you is sent except which room it was. If someone asked where you live, for your number or to go to another app, the game shows you Childline and CEOP straight away.
By email: [email protected]. Tell us, if you can:
- the room code (or WORLD),
- the name that showed on the screen,
- what happened, and roughly when.
You don't need to tell us your real name, age or address. Children can write to us too, or ask a grown-up to.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT
- A real person reads every report within 48 hours: the mewebe.com team.
- We may remove a name from a scoreboard, close a room, give someone a made-up name, or keep a phone or computer out of every room. If we do, that phone or computer is shown a short reason the next time it joins.
- If a child may be at risk, we tell CEOP, and the National Crime Agency when the law requires it. We keep what we need as evidence.
- We tell you what we did. We never tell anyone who made a report.
- Not happy with what we did? Reply to our email and we will look again and answer within 14 days.
GET HELP NOW
- Someone is in danger right now: call 999.
- Someone is asking a child sexual questions, for photos, to meet, or to move to another app: report it to CEOP at ceop.police.uk/safety-centre. Children and grown-ups can both report there.
- A child wants to talk to someone: Childline, free and private, any time: 0800 1111 or childline.org.uk (for anyone under 19 in the UK).
- Outside the UK: call your local emergency number or police. In the USA you can report online exploitation of a child to the CyberTipline: report.cybertip.org.
HOW OUTFLANKED IS BUILT TO BE SAFER
- No chat, no private messages and no friend requests. The only words a player can show are the names they type (player, kingdom, team, war, level and bot names), and the game refuses some rude words. A picture uploaded as a War Games map is seen only by the players in that war.
- No ads and no tracking. Playing needs no account; an optional family account is made by a grown-up with an email address. See PRIVACY.
- Private rooms are not listed anywhere. When someone types a room code, the game says the same thing for every private room, real or not, and names nobody.
- A typed room code knocks. Only someone with the room owner's link walks straight in. Anyone who only has the code waits outside under a made-up name the game picks (like BRAVE OTTER) until the room's owner lets them in. If nobody does, they are told the same words after 90 seconds, whatever the reason.
- Invite links expire for new people after a day, and let in at most 8 new phones or computers a day. NEW INVITE LINK in the room menu makes a new one; the old one stops working for new people.
- The room's owner can keep someone out: KICK FOR TODAY (until tomorrow) or DON'T LET THIS ONE IN AGAIN (for good). PEOPLE WE DON'T PLAY WITH lists them, with LET BACK IN.
- The TV's QR code changes every 10 minutes and at every match, and the TV tells you when a phone it has never seen joins by it.
TIPS FOR FAMILIES
- Use nicknames. Your name is shown to everyone in the room, and in WORLD to people you don't know.
- An invite link is like a house key for a day. Anyone with it can walk in that day. Only send INVITE A FRIEND links to people you know in real life. People who only know the code have to knock.
- Only let in a knock if they told you the name on the screen. Say "what name does it show you?" before you press HOLD TO LET IN. Ask a grown-up first.
- If a link gets out (posted in a big group, shown on a stream or a video call), press NEW INVITE LINK in the room menu. People already playing keep playing; the old link stops working for anyone new.
- Streaming or on a video call with the TV in view? Turn on HIDE THE CODE WHILE WE PLAY in the TV's room menu (THIS TV). The QR code and the room code then leave the TV during a match. The QR code changes every 10 minutes anyway.
- Someone you don't know in your room? Press ⋯ next to their name: KICK FOR TODAY, or DON'T LET THIS ONE IN AGAIN. Then REPORT it if they did something wrong.
- What the game can't do: a "kept out" applies to a phone or computer, not to a person, so someone could come back on another device (they would have to knock). On a child's own tablet, the child is the room's owner. Mark only phones that live in your house as OUR PHONE: they can let people in.
- WORLD is where you play with strangers. Nobody there can send you messages, but they can see your name. Play WORLD together with younger children.
- REALM and War Games are played with real people too. Other players see kingdom names and war titles, and in REALM they can attack your island. Nobody can send messages there either. Play together with younger children.