For the past few weeks, a bad actor has been actively creating free accounts with offensive pet names and then earning high scores in specific games so that those pet names are shown to all players. We have been removing these names as fast as we can find them. Unfortunately, this person refuses to stop and at this time we have been forced to take more drastic steps.
We have now reduced the number of letters shown in our high score lists and high score displays in the arcade for pet names down to three, matching the Usernames. This is not a long-term solution, as we know that players work hard to get onto these lists and enjoy seeing their pets displayed, but it will effectively stop the problem.
Our pet name system relies on a bad word filter, aka a blacklist. We block hundreds of bad words and words that we don’t want to see in pet names. And for over twenty years, this has worked. The vast majority of players give their pets fun names that expresses their creativity and love for their pet. Unfortunately, people can say very bad things with common words that are not bad words by themselves.
We are looking into longer term solutions that will maintain our players ability to use fun and creative names, while preventing the abuse we are seeing here. We hope to roll these out in the new year.
We do apologize to all players who have had to view these offensive names. We value all our incredible players and see Webkinz World as an inclusive, welcoming space for everyone.
The Webkinz Team
Makes sense! I wonder if in the long term they can just shorten names based on whether it’s a free account or how long the account has been active and leave the other names as normal. I feel like a lot of bad names are from free pets, even medallion pets. Maybe a name generator/drop-down or a very short character length limit at adoption for these types of pets might help in all areas of the game not just the arcade but it might not be a very popular change.
maybe for a future change webkinz can put the users initials like real arcade games do along with the pets avatar.
Thank you so much for addressing this. I’ve been so sick & tired of seeing homophobic names every time I go to the arcade. It really sucks that one person can just ruin the experience for everyone and make so many players (and their children) uncomfortable. I appreciate what you guys are doing! ♡ Thank you so much, Webkinz!!
Thank you very much for doing this, we players appreciate this very much. I’ve seen quite a few of these names appear on many of the high scores for different games, and it makes me feel sorry that these virtual pets are being given those kind of names (just the pets, not the person who gives them those names). Nobody needs to see a bad word name/mean names on the leaderboards. Thank you for shortening the leader/high score pet names down to just three letters. We appreciate you keeping us users safe and ensuring Webkinz stays a happy and secure place for us and our pets ^U^
A big thank you for acting on this issue. Kids are here for fun and games…not to be objected to some of the names I’ve seen. Let the fun begin!
Well done, Ganz!
I really appreciate you addressing this. Doing my dailies shouldn’t have me stressing over the fate of the world and I’m glad users can still celebrate their high scores.
Thank you so much. I appreciate all you do to make Webkinz a fun, safe, and carefree place for all of this. Your vigilance is much appreciated.
** all of us
This is WONDERFUL news! THANK YOU very much Webkinz!! VERY happy to see this.
Thank you, Webkinz, for your watchful eyes and constant vigilance that keeps these games safe and fun for players of all ages. WW has always been a safe and happy place to relax from the stress of the day. Shame on those thoughtless players who think their actions are amusing when really words can have the most damaging effects. Thanks again, Ganz – perhaps this is why WW was down for a while yesterday.
Oh yes, that is probably why!