MSE News: App games which tempt kids to spend cash could face fines

Johnmcl7

Pincher wrote: »

Ban Barbie dolls that need endless accessories while you are at it.

What about train sets, you have to buy mountains of tracks and switching gears.

All the industry has to do is make everything TOP-UP ONLY.
So the parents has to consciously use his/her credit card.
If you give your children your credit card details, whom do you have to blame?

The difference is some of the in-app purchases are ridiculously disproportionate, to take your example it's like buying a Barbie for £10 and finding to buy a hairbrush costs £500 and a new pair of shoes for £1,000. Some in app purchases for simple games are $99 and that's not a one off either, surprisingly even in the more heavily regulated IOS store these kind of applications are allowed. This is an extreme example but there are others that also have similarly huge in app purchases for very basic content:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtHgTOjSyWE

Of course I do believe parents are ultimately responsible, there's plenty of information online how to secure devices and it's not complex. However I do think action should be taken to limit the absurdly high in app purchases.

John

DCFC79

Yes I agree, as well as the parents being responsible the in app purchases need to be looked at as well.

AlecEiffel

This isn't a poke at anyone here, just a general statement on the subject, but I think its reached the stage where the 'issue' is so well publicised in the mainstream press that ignorance of the simple safeguards that are available to parents to control spend should cease to be a defence.