MSE News: 'Immoral' games which tempt kids to spend cash face OFT probe

Former_MSE_Helen

"The OFT has launched an investigation into whether children are being unfairly pressured into making in-app purchases..."

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'Immoral' games which tempt kids to spend cash face OFT probe



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Takeaway_Addict

Again an article with no views from the majority of posters on previous threads. Parental responsibility should overcome any charges a game may pose and none of them are hiding the charges.

wantmemoney

Areas where children are being targeted need special rules and closer policing.....well done Moneysavingexpert.

There is a well known psychological blame game that con artists (and others) very often use in situations like these. They blame the victims.

The victims (often children) will be blamed to make them feel guilty in order to get them to accept responsibility for the harm they have suffered.

MRshelf

The Simpsons Tapped Out App by EA has a very disturbing message when you cancel an in-app purchase.

I cannot provide a screenshot as i am too new of a forum user however it reads

"The Store, Purchase Cancelled, We are all heartbroken, Maggie is crying. so hey --congratulations! YOU MADE A BABY CRY."

I know its parental responsibilty to control their childs usage of in-app purchases.. but i dont feel messages like that are appropriate

ZhugeEX

Takeaway_Addict wrote: »

Again an article with no views from the majority of posters on previous threads. Parental responsibility should overcome any charges a game may pose and none of them are hiding the charges.

I agree, but when some of the in app purchases cost £70 one off and have messages like above when you cancel or don't buy... well it's understandable how kids can just pay without realising.

But parents also need to accept responsibility as well by making sure they understand how it works and installing parental controls correctly.

ILW

I thought an adult had to give a password to allow these ourchases. If that is the case, they are unfit to have children.

wantmemoney

There is a well known psychological blame game that con artists (and others) very often use in situations like these. They blame the victims.

The victims (often children) will be blamed to make them feel guilty in order to get them to accept responsibility for the harm they have suffered.

There's also another tactic you often see throughout these forums.

They will try to hijack and derail the thread from the main topic by blaming parents for being the problem.

hanlou007

Parents responsibility - end of

ZhugeEX

ILW wrote: »

I thought an adult had to give a password to allow these ourchases. If that is the case, they are unfit to have children.

On Apple products you just enter in your password once for something, and for the next 15 minutes you can buy anything without even confirming it.

Apple make it difficult for people to get around this unless they actually research it themselves.

MrsBartolozzi

It's not that hard to remove your credit card details from Itunes...

Pincher

All they have to do is to make it compulsory to default to Pay As You Go, and you can top up as much as you feel like from credit card or debit card, manually. Make the kids do chores for top-ups. Let's see how much they want that doggie in the "window" now.

If you must have a linked credit card, they should go through address and age verification, like PayPal.



What does this teach us?

Level 1. Table dancers are charming to you only because they want you to keep paying.

Level 2. It is more profitable to be a table dancer than a patron.

Level 3. The house makes even more money by exploiting table dancers. So both dancers and patrons are victims.

Level 4. The world is a predatory nasty place. All you see is the Age of Kali made manifest, full of deceivers and humans in chains of devouring.

Level 5. Finally, we perceive dynamic equilibrium in the chaos, as predators in turn are devoured, as the Worm Oroboros show us the true nature of our existence.

So rejoice, fellow creatures of the cosmic dance, as we devour each other in obedience to the universal iTune.