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<font size="4" style="COLOR:#990000"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT:bold">Horse Isle
Parents Guide</span></font><br/>
<br/>
Welcome.&nbsp; We will try to make this brief.&nbsp; First off,&nbsp; thank you
for taking the time to check on your child's activities online.&nbsp; This is
the first, and most important step in protecting your child.&nbsp;<br/>
<br/>
<span style="FONT-WEIGHT:bold; COLOR:#990000">What Horse Isle Is:</span><br/>
<br/>
An online game that revolves around horses in a virtual world full of games and
adventures and other real players.<br/>
<br/>
<span style="FONT-WEIGHT:bold; COLOR:#990000">Horse Isle's Educational
Benefits:</span><br/>
<br/>
<span style="FONT-WEIGHT:bold">Horse education:</span> Game is based on many
real breeds of horses with accurate drawings of them and detailed information.<br/>
<br/>
<span style="FONT-WEIGHT:bold">Educational mini games:</span> There are many
mini-games in Horse Isle.&nbsp; The best "paying" ones, by far, are
educational.&nbsp; There is a geography game, a horse anatomy game, math games,
etc.<br/>
<br/>
<span style="FONT-WEIGHT:bold">Riddles / Brain teasers:</span> There are
hundreds of riddles and brain teasers in the game that the player may encounter.<br/>
<br/>
<span style="FONT-WEIGHT:bold">Lots of Reading:</span>&nbsp; The adventures in
the game all require quite a bit of reading.&nbsp; The player needs to interact
with virtual "residents"&nbsp; who may ask things of the player.&nbsp; Players
need to use lots of Reading Comprehension and Problem Solving to accomplish the
many adventures in the game.<br/>
<br/>
<span style="FONT-WEIGHT:bold">Money Management:</span>&nbsp; There are many
ways to make virtual money in the game but even many more ways to spend
it!&nbsp; There are some very rewarding goals in the game which cost a LOT of
money, and the only way to meet those goals is to save up smartly.&nbsp; Also,
virtual banks provide interest on player's virtual money when it is kept there.<br/>
<br/>
<span style="FONT-WEIGHT:bold">Horse Care:</span> To compete well in Arenas, and
to keep happy horses,&nbsp; players must care for their virtual horses.&nbsp;
This involves feeding, watering, petting, grooming, shoeing and sometimes taking
them to the vet.<br/>
<br/>
<span style="FONT-WEIGHT:bold">Getting along with others:</span> Since there are
many other players playing the same game, a player learns to interact with
others in a positive manner.<br/>
<br/>
<span style="FONT-WEIGHT:bold; COLOR:#990000">What steps does Horse Isle take to
protect my child:</span><br/>
<br/>
<span style="FONT-WEIGHT:bold">Rules:</span> Please view our <A HREF=rules.php>RULES</A> list.&nbsp;
Go through them with your child and make sure that your child understands each
and every one of them.&nbsp; These rules are all enforced to the best of our
abilities.&nbsp; Please stress to your child that someone could try to trick
them into giving away their account password.&nbsp; Reinforce that the password
should never be typed anywhere, except when logging in, and to never give the
password to anyone, not even siblings.&nbsp; Horse Isle staff will NEVER ask for
your password.<br/>
<br/>
<span style="FONT-WEIGHT:bold">"Abuse" system:</span>&nbsp; We have an "Abuse"
button set up in game under PLAYERS so if you or your child sees someone breaking the rules, it can be
reported to Horse Isle staff.&nbsp; Recent chat will be sent along with the report.<br/>
<br style="FONT-WEIGHT:bold"/>
<span style="FONT-WEIGHT:bold">Chat Filtering:</span>&nbsp; We try our best to
setup smart filtering of chat texts.&nbsp; If someone swears, our filters will
attempt to block that and warn the player.&nbsp; Each player is only allowed a certain
number of blocked profanity.&nbsp; After that, their account may be terminated.  
We even attempt to replace "chat speak" with its true meaning (lol=laughing out loud) 
and replace some borderline words with more child friendly versions.<br/>
<br/>
<span style="FONT-WEIGHT:bold">Moderators:</span>&nbsp; These are players in the game that have been hand-picked by the game administrators.  Their role is to be sure rules are followed and players are not going around the filter or harassing each other.  The Moderators are volunteers and have the ability to mute a player's chat if they are misbehaving.<br/>
<br/>
<span style="FONT-WEIGHT:bold">Administrators:</span>&nbsp; These are people that work directly on the game.  Administrators have the ability to also mute player's chat if a player is misbehaving, but they can also see all chat, including private messages.  These are the people that review the abuse reports sent in, the chat that is blocked due to the filter and answer any mail that is sent into support.  Every report and every blocked chat is reviewed by hand.<br/>  
<br/>
<span style="FONT-WEIGHT:bold">Content:</span>&nbsp; All of the content in the
game has been designed for ALL AGES.&nbsp; This means there is nothing in the
game that is violent or cruel, etc.&nbsp; Our goal has been to keep everything
rated "G".  There is no horse breeding in this game, so it avoids all of the language involved with that.<br/>
<br/>
<span style="FONT-WEIGHT:bold">No Advertising:</span> We have opted for a
pay-for-play revenue model rather than an ad supported one.&nbsp; This means
your child will NOT be subjected to any external advertising of dubious origins.<br/>
<br/>
<span style="FONT-WEIGHT:bold">Parental Controls:</span> We have built in
additional options for parents with young children.&nbsp; There is an ability to
block ALL CHAT, which limits the game's social enjoyment but keeps a child safe
from any chatting.&nbsp; We also provide the option of limiting a child's online
time per day.  These options are available with a subscribed account.  There is no automated way to do this yet.  Please email support via the Contact Us link if interested in these features.<br/>
<br/>
<span style="FONT-WEIGHT:bold; COLOR:#990000">What are the costs involved to
play this game:</span><br/>
<br/>
<span style="FONT-WEIGHT:bold">Free:</span>&nbsp; Players can play this game
completely free with a limited account.&nbsp;&nbsp; The limited account only
allows a certain amount of playtime per day and does not allow certain advanced
features, such as ranch ownership.<br/>
<br/>
<span style="FONT-WEIGHT:bold">$5mo OR $40yr USD:</span>&nbsp; Players have full
access to all of the game's features and support the game's continued existence
and development.&nbsp; Parental controls are also available with a paid
account.&nbsp; Subscription payments are safely, easily, and quickly paid via
PayPal.&nbsp;<br/>
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