'My son spent £3,160 in one game' (BBC article looking at exploitative MTXs)

[oni-link]

BBC Article

Last week we told the story of the family whose children emptied their parents' bank account buying players in the video game Fifa.

It generated a big debate about whether parental controls are sufficient, how much responsibility lies with mum and dad - and the ethics of encouraging young players to spend money within games and apps.

Following the BBC's report, deputy Labour leader Tom Watson tweeted calling for "tighter regulation" in gaming, saying there were "considerable fears that gaming is a gateway to gambling".

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The article then goes on to list numerous examples of children being duped, tricked and exploited into spending obscene amounts of money on digital tat

I have a 22 year-old disabled son, who has cerebral palsy, complex epilepsy, autism, learning difficulties and the approximate cognitive ability of a seven-year-old child.

He is unable to do any bilateral activities so relies heavily on his iPad and PlayStation for entertainment and educational activities.

He has recently been playing a game on his iPad called Hidden Artifacts which involves finding various items and matching them to the description.

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He has been charged £3160.58 between 18 February and 30 May 2019, clearing out his entire savings.

I contacted iTunes, who were extremely helpful but were unable to refund the amount and suggested I contact Blastworks Ltd, the app developer and game provider. [Under European rules, Apple users in the EU can request to cancel an order within 14 days of purchase].

I have phoned and emailed several times but have had no response.

It is extremely distressing that vulnerable people, such as my son, become victims of what is thought to be an educational game.

I have tried tirelessly to recoup his life savings but constantly come up against a brick wall.

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EA:

My 16-year-old son spent nearly £2,000 of my money on EA's NBA basketball game.

He used my bank card and I didn't realise until I had a payment declined.

He accessed the app via Google Play.

EA made no response to me and Google Play has a disclaimer about kids using parents' bank details without permission.

My daughter had to use her university savings to pay the bill for this and it has caused huge damage to our family.

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Clash of Clans:

This happened to us a few years ago when we were very new to all this. We are technically savvy but didn't think to put a password on and my son, who was 12, ended up spending around £700.

It was on his own phone and he managed to download Clash of Clans through a Google Play account, enter his own children's bank card details and buy lots of in-game items.

We didn't realise until we checked his bank statement and it was virtually empty. He did not realise the connection, that it was real money leaving his bank account.

We never got our money back, apart from a token amount as a gesture of goodwill.

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Fake currently being used to bamboozle children:

I installed Mini Golf King on my phone for my son who is five. He knows he's not allowed to spend money in games, yet this game successfully tricked him into spending £300 on in-app purchases.

Fortunately, my card issuer blocked some of the transactions, but a purchase for £75 went through, along with a few smaller ones.

When my son realised that he'd spent real money, he was completely inconsolable, saying he was so sorry for being naughty and he thought they were pretend coins.

My refund request via Google Play was automatically rejected.

I explained that my son is autistic, and his disability makes him vulnerable (he doesn't really understand the concept of being manipulated and he wouldn't necessarily understand why people who make games want money).

Google said I should contact Mini Golf King, which said it did not generally refund in-app purchases once the purchased items had been used.

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Fortnite:

When he was 15, my boy spent almost £1,000 on Fortnite.

The issue was it was small cumulative amounts that don't seem significant until you add them up over eight months.

He doesn't have Fortnite any more... and my car will be clean for the next 15 years!

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I'm glad this is finally getting more and more press, and it is often times children and the vulnerable that are likely to fall for the physiological tricks these games use to turn players into payers

The whole article is worth a read and has more examples

Hopefully regulation of some kind is coming

 

[Cess007]

EA: "Surpriseee!"

 

[Wein Cruz]

God damn a lot of these parents really need to look into their parental controls.

The guy with a mental capacity of a 7 year old... how was he not appointed a guardian to handle his finances? Damn i feel bad for him.

 

[SixelAlexiS]

I've spent 0€ in MXTs, feels very good!

 

[unAimed]

I've spent 0€ in MXTs, feels very good!

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I don't have cancer, feels very good!
/s

The lack of empathy is disturbing sometimes...

 

[LewieP]

I do think these games can be designed in exploitative manners, but I don't understand why parents would give children unrestricted access to their payment details.

 

[mael]

I do think these games can be designed in exploitative manners, but I don't understand why parents would give children unrestricted access to their payment details.

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They don't willingly.
They give access to the phone, the phone has the access and they don't make the connection between the phone and then bankaccount until it's too late.

 

[Dekuman]

It is a surprise for parents.

 

[catswaller]

ah tight another dozens of teenagers give parenting advice thread.

Please try to consider this structurally: If some products are vastly more likely to let your kid accidentally spend $500000, there is probably something unique to those products that can be addressed.

 

[carlsojo]

The responsibility rests with the parents. Don't give your kids access to your payment details period.

 

[Shifty1897]

damn a lot of these parents really need to look into their parental controls

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Exactly. Growing up it took an act of God and a mound of documentation if I wanted to use my parent's credit card to buy something online. It maybe happened 3 times.

Irresponsible parents are trying to shift the blame.

 

[Deleted member 721]

I feel bad for the autistic kid

 

[Bear]

Surprise mechanics working as intended.

 

[cw_sasuke]

Parents not doing their job again - its 2019, educate yourself.

 

[LewieP]

They don't willingly.
They give access to the phone, the phone has the access and they don't make the connection between the phone and then bankaccount until it's too late.

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You literally just described them willingly giving children access to payment details.

 

[mael]

You literally just described them willingly giving children access to payment details.

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What I'm saying is that the system is designed to obfuscate the link between the apps and the bank so that parents that have other shit to deal with do not suspect the link.
Not the most complicated of cons and certainly not the easiest to spot either.

 

[funky]

Apple pushing the responsibility of refunds to the developer seems real scummy.

 

[Deleted member 8196]

I mean lol

Maybe, don't let your fucking cc on the console so your son can't spend money on MTX?
You are litterally letting them free access to your bank account, come on

 

[oni-link]

Parents not doing their job again - its 2019, educate yourself.

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I wonder why we never see stories about kids buying cars without their parents permission, or £2,000 of sweets, or a couple of grands worth of clothes on their parents credit card

It always seems to be digital MXTs for some reason, I wonder why that is

Hmmm

 

[ApeEscaper]

Why can't platform holders make it harder for kids to buy microtransactions

 

[Deleted member 1726]

Surprise mechanics, Fun for all the family.

 

[Hasseigaku]

Why can't console manufacturers make it harder for kids to buy microtransactions

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They can, they just don't want to.

 

[Deleted member 8196]

I wonder why we never see stories about kids buying cars without their parents permission, or £2,000 of sweets, or a couple of grands worth of clothes on their parents credit card

It always seems to be digital MXTs for some reason, I wonder why that is

Hmmm

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lmao at this analogy

I do think these games can be designed in exploitative manners, but I don't understand why parents would give children unrestricted access to their payment details.

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Exactly, if the parents are dumb and they don't pay attention to their kids it's their fault.

 

[oni-link]

lmao at this analogy

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Not really sure why it's funny

If it was just bad parenting then why don't the kids with bad parents blow massive sums of their parents money on other items?

 

[ASaiyan]

Following the BBC's report, deputy Labour leader Tom Watson tweeted calling for "tighter regulation" in gaming, saying there were "considerable fears that gaming is a gateway to gambling".

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It is sad that this can even be suggested with some credibility.

Pay-to-win lootboxes and other predatory MTX need to be regulated out of existence.

 

[jaekeem]

I will never understand victim blaming, when we are talking about a trash monetization practice that abuses children and those psychologically susceptible to gambling addiction

do you want this crap to continue? do you like having loot boxes? you know how it ends, if this garbage bullshit goes unchecked? overbroad government regulation.

 

[id.]

I do think these games can be designed in exploitative manners, but I don't understand why parents would give children unrestricted access to their payment details.

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It was clearly a mistake on their part, no?

I never understood posts like this, because it's obvious the parents are saying that they made a mistake or didn't even realize it to begin with. If I leave my house unlocked on accident and I get my shit stolen, it sounds odd to say, "Yeah, he really shouldn't have robbed you, but I don't understand why you kept your door unlocked."

 

[Militaratus]

Platform holders should prevent their users from making any purchases until parental controls are fully setup, with an additional setup to set a max limit on spending on their account and give additional warnings if that limit is above $/€/£ 150. On top of that, every time the user spent (another) $/€/£ 150 they need to enter their password and enter the current total amount spent this month, which is displayed in big letters.

 

[Nere]

God damn a lot of these parents really need to look into their parental controls.

The guy with a mental capacity of a 7 year old... how was he not appointed a guardian to handle his finances? Damn i feel bad for him.

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Yeah it's the parents fault, the companies employing those predatory methods are not at fault at all.

 

[Deleted member 8196]

Not really sure why it's funny

If it was just bad parenting then why don't the kids with bad parents blow massive sums of their parents money on other items?

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Because kids are more willing to spend their time on consoles or going around buying cars for 2k bucks or sweets?

 

[.exe]

I wonder why we never see stories about kids buying cars without their parents permission, or £2,000 of sweets, or a couple of grands worth of clothes on their parents credit card

It always seems to be digital MXTs for some reason, I wonder why that is

Hmmm

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S U R P R I S E
M E C H A N I C S

 

[Transistor]

I do think these games can be designed in exploitative manners, but I don't understand why parents would give children unrestricted access to their payment details.

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Many times the parents trust their children, and that's fine. Unfortunately, though, when faced with an exploitive and addictive practice like microtransactions, even the most trustworthy kid can be tempted.

 

[unapersson]

I do think these games can be designed in exploitative manners, but I don't understand why parents would give children unrestricted access to their payment details.

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Not sure that is necessarily the case, they're often just using devices that require payment details for their store. Then surreptitiously use those details for other purposes, e.g. enabling in app purchases. You could say parents need to be more aware of that distinction, but these companies are getting away with some shady practices at the moment. It's both deceptive and underhanded.

 

[oni-link]

Because kids are more willing to spend their time on consoles or going around buying cars for 2k bucks or sweets?

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The fact you can accidentally blow 2k on MXTs and it's a lot harder to do that with sweets, or anything else, is actually the problem

 

[Turin Turambar]

Most people aren't tech-savvy, unlike people here. They don't even know that there are parental controls in their devices in their first place. Nor they bothered to inform themselves.

This kind of story has appeared from time to time over the last five years, and they are all the same, mom and dad didn't have parental controls enabled.

 

[Defuser]

Why isn't there 2FA/OTP CC on MTX? That would most of the time prevent kids from sucking out their parent's card and alert them at the same time.

 

[headspawn]

I wonder why we never see stories about kids buying cars without their parents permission, or £2,000 of sweets, or a couple of grands worth of clothes on their parents credit card

It always seems to be digital MXTs for some reason, I wonder why that is

Hmmm

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Because they connect a credit card, ignore all warnings, ignore parental safety features and then let consoles babysit their kids to a ridiculous level?

If those things you mentioned are really available to easily purchase and a parent left them unsupervised with a device to directly purchase, you can bet your ass they would.

 

[Kainé]

It's a surprise mechanic for the kids and the parents!

 

[LewieP]

It was clearly a mistake on their part, no?

I never understood posts like this, because it's obvious the parents are saying that they made a mistake or didn't even realize it to begin with. If I leave my house unlocked on accident and I get my shit stolen, it sounds odd to say, "Yeah, he really shouldn't have robbed you, but I don't understand why you kept your door unlocked."

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I'd have sympathy for you, but I wouldn't expect the company that made the lock to pay to replace all your stolen stuff.

 

[Friskykillface]

I had to tell my cousin to remove his card from his Xbox one since he has a 7 year old son, it's easy to buy anything if you don't have restrictions.
I told him to just buy year codes when his subscription is about to expire and points cards when he needs it, which is digital through amazon x GameStop so it's instant

Some parents legit don't look at their bank statements x accounts unless it's the end of the month, it's insane

 

[Flandy]

I wonder why we never see stories about kids buying cars without their parents permission, or £2,000 of sweets, or a couple of grands worth of clothes on their parents credit card

It always seems to be digital MXTs for some reason, I wonder why that is

Hmmm

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You reminded me of this story lol

https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/23/asia/bali-boy-credit-card-australia-flight-intl/index.html

 

[cw_sasuke]

I wonder why we never see stories about kids buying cars without their parents permission, or £2,000 of sweets, or a couple of grands worth of clothes on their parents credit card

It always seems to be digital MXTs for some reason, I wonder why that is

Hmmm

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Games are a relative new medium and the industry is an easy target because of the lack of regulations.

 

[Niks]

mtx apologists out in force. Papa EA would be proud.

 

[Kill3r7]

I don't have cancer, feels very good!
/s

The lack of empathy is disturbing sometimes...

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I might have some empathy for the kids but I have zero empathy for the parents. I say this as a parent myself. You can't hand your kid your credit card or access to a bank account and be surprised by the outcome.

 

[mael]

The fact that there are not similar issues with Amazon's 1 click purchase or eBay and other online shops out there should show how this issue is not just bad parenting.

 

[oni-link]

Because they connect a credit card, ignore all warnings, ignore parental safety features and then let consoles babysit their kids to a ridiculous level?

If those things you mentioned are really available to easily purchase and a patent left them unsupervised with dosing to directly purchase, you can bet your ass they would.

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No they wouldn't

The problem is it a lot easier to keep spending on a game, and then rack up huge debts, because the games are literally designed for this to happen. Kids are less able to cope with this and are more likely to keep on going

No child is going to buy thousands of pounds worth of anything with their parents card without those psychological tricks coming into play

It's bonkers some of you can't see this

 

[Kyrios]

Parents need to do a better job and not overlook parental controls or make sure purchases need a password before purchasing something if the feature is available, especially with credit card access. These things prey on kids (especially where the game kind of revolves around these things) and I feel a lot of parents obviously don't know about them until it's too late.

 

[MasterChumly]

I wonder why we never see stories about kids buying cars without their parents permission, or £2,000 of sweets, or a couple of grands worth of clothes on their parents credit card

It always seems to be digital MXTs for some reason, I wonder why that is

Hmmm

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Seriously the victim blaming in here is just absurd. Literally nowhere else can you just accidentally let your kid blow 10k. The problem is with the app developers and Apple/google.

 

[oni-link]

mtx apologists out in force. Papa EA would be proud.

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Yeah it's the same in every thread

 

[Scuffed]

Keep the articles coming! The more stories the more pressure.