Parents and Guardians

At a glance

What your teen will find

VanillaCity is a small online town. Players earn coins from odd jobs, fishing and arcade games, then spend them on clothes, furniture and pets, or open a shop of their own. It runs in a web browser and in Windows and Android apps. How to play and The town have the details.

Other real people share the town:

• Chat is public. Whatever a citizen types appears to everyone in the room. We keep chat for 30 days so staff can look into reports.
• There's no one-to-one chat. Citizens can send postcards and gifts from the Post Office or a blue mailbox.
• Friends lists show very little. You can see who's online and which part of town they're in (never the building), or that they're on the train.
• Money is only for play. Coins and VanillaBucks are earned in town. Here's how they work.

How we keep the town safe

• City rules. Be kind, keep it friendly, no sexual content, no scams, and never share personal details like an address, phone number, school or password. Read the rules.
• Word filter. Blocked words are starred out of chat, however they're typed. Repeat offenders get a visit from the police.
• Reporting. Any citizen can tap a person and choose Report. Staff read every report along with the person's last messages, and let the reporter know when action is taken.
• Staff have the last word. They can mute, remove or permanently ban anyone who breaks the rules.

Talking with your teen

• Pick a citizen name that doesn't include their real name, school or town.
• Nobody in VanillaCity needs their password, address, phone number or school.
• Show them how to report someone, and tell them they won't be in trouble for coming to you.
• No one should ask them to switch to another app, or to send or accept real money.
• Play together at first, and agree on playing times that suit your family. The town runs on real time, so evenings can slip away.

There's no parent account or parental-control dashboard yet, so screen-time limits on your teen's device are the best way to set boundaries.

What we collect

A citizen name, a password (stored only as a one-way hash), everything their citizen does in town, chat (kept for 30 days), a sign-in token, and an internet address used only to slow down abuse. We don't sell information or use it for advertising. Full details are on the Privacy page.

Under 13

VanillaCity isn't for children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect their information. Because sign-up relies on players telling us their age, we can't verify it. If you think a child under 13 has an account, let us know and we'll remove it.

In some European countries the age to agree to an online service is higher than 13 (up to 16). If your teen is under that age where you live, a parent or guardian needs to agree before they play.

Your rights as a parent or guardian

For your teen's citizen, you can ask us to:

• tell you what we hold;
• correct it, or delete the citizen and its data;
• give you a copy, or stop using it in ways you haven't agreed to.

We don't have your email address, so we'll need to confirm the request comes from the family, usually by having your teen sign in. More on the Privacy page.

Talk to us

Message the staff on TeamVanilla's Discord with any question, concern or request about your teen's citizen. Discord is a separate service with its own age rules and privacy policy.

If your teen has been hurt or threatened, or you're worried about their safety, contact local emergency services first. To report illegal content or the exploitation of a child, use the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at report.cybertip.org.