Sign in & create an account

One page does both jobs. When you are signed out, Log in and Sign up free in the header open it, and a switch at the top of the form moves between Log in and Create account without losing where you were headed. Below the form is Browse sessions without an account, because you can look around before you sign up.

Create an account

1. Choose Create account

   Use the switch at the top of the form, or open the sign-up page directly.

2. Fill in the form

   Enter Display name (optional), Email and Password (8+ characters), then press Create account. Or press Sign up with Google instead and skip the form.

3. Confirm your email when asked

   We send a link to your address. If the form tells you Check your email to confirm your account, then log in., open the link first, then log in. Posting, messaging and listing wait until the address is confirmed either way; see Confirm your email.

4. Pick a username

   Once you are in, the first thing the site asks for is your username. See Choosing your username.

If sign-ups are full

Sign-up is open to everyone, up to a number of new accounts at a time. When that number is reached, creating an account, with a password, an email code or Google or Apple, reads Sign-ups to Waypoint Realms are full right now. Leave your email and we'll tell you when there's room. Enter your address and press Tell me when there's room. The form says Thanks — we'll email you at your address when there's room. When there is room again, people on the list get an email headed There's room on Waypoint Realms now.

If sign-up is by invitation

At times, sign-up to Waypoint Realms is by invitation. While it is, an account can only be created with the email address an invite was sent to, however you sign up, and the sign-up form says so under the button: “Sign-up to Waypoint Realms is by invitation right now. Sign up with the address your invite was sent to, or request an invite.” Three ways in:

• Open the link in your invite email. The form then shows You're joining with an invite for your address, and the email field is locked so a typo can't turn into a refusal.
• Or go to Enter your invite code. The code is printed in the invite email, just under the button.
• No invite? Use the invite request page that the refusal names: enter your email, and optionally your name and what you play, and we send one when it is your turn. A refused sign-up reads Sign-up to Waypoint Realms is by invitation right now. Request an invite at /beta.

If you have an invite but the sign-up reads Waypoint Realms is full right now. Your invite still works — we'll email you when a place opens up., there is nothing to do but wait for that email.

When sign-up is open to everyone, none of this applies. The form has no note under the button, an invite link or code page offers Create an account, and the invite request page takes you straight to sign-up.

Log in

1. Choose Log in

   It is the default when you arrive from Log in in the header.

2. Enter who you are

   Type your email or username and your password. Your username works exactly as your email does.

3. Decide on Remember me

   The Remember me box is ticked to begin with. See below.

4. Press Log in

   You land in your home workspace, which for most members is Home, or back on the page you were sent here from. If you use two-factor authentication, one more step comes first.

A wrong email, username or password reads Invalid login credentials. under the password. It is the same message whether or not the account exists, on purpose.

Under the form, Continue with Google signs you in with a Google account (and Continue with Apple, wherever the site offers it). On the Create account side the same buttons read Sign up with Google.

How long you stay signed in

• Remember me ticked: this browser keeps you signed in.
• Remember me unticked: the sign-in ends when you close the browser. Use it on a shared or borrowed computer. A browser set to restore your last session on restart brings the sign-in back with it.
• Either way, a sign-in lasts 30 days. There is no idle timeout, so using the site doesn't keep it alive past that. After 30 days you are signed out and sent to Log in to start again.

To sign out sooner, open your avatar menu in the header and choose Sign out.

Forgot your password

1. Choose Forgot password?

   It is beside Remember me on the Log in form.

2. Ask for a link

   Enter your email and press Send reset link. The page then reads Check your email. We never say whether the address has an account.

3. Set a new password

   Open the link. On Set a new password, fill in New password and Confirm password (at least 8 characters) and press Update password.

A used or out-of-date link shows Link expired and Send a new reset link. If you signed up with Google you may not have a password yet; you can add one under Profile → Security, below.

Change your email, password or sign-in methods

Open Profile → Security. Sign-in methods lists Email & password, marked Connected or Not connected, and each provider the site offers, such as Google. A provider you haven't linked has a Connect link and a linked one has Disconnect, which is greyed out when it is your only way in. Email changes your address with Update email, and a link goes to the new address to confirm it. Change password (or Set a password, if you signed up with Google) takes a new one of at least 8 characters.

A sign-in from a new device

When someone signs in to your account on the website from a kind of device it hasn't used before, a different browser, system or a phone instead of a computer, we tell you at once in two places: a New sign-in to your account notification, in the Safety & moderation group, and an email to your account's address. Both name the device, such as “Chrome on Windows (desktop).” Your very first sign-in doesn't send one, and neither does signing in to the iPhone or Android app.

If it was you, there's nothing to do. If it wasn't, change your password now, from the email's link or Profile → Security. A new password signs out every device. Sign out everywhere, on the same page, does that without changing it. Then turn on two-factor authentication.

On your phone or computer

Each app also has its own help inside it, with the rest of how signing in works there.