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> The mother then went on to accuse the games of being "completely predatory" in encouraging spending by younger users. "What grown-up would spend $100 on a che

by oefrha 6y ago

> The mother then went on to accuse the games of being "completely predatory" in encouraging spending by younger users. "What grown-up would spend $100 on a chest of virtual gold coins?" Don't know about Sonic Forces but a friend of mine in her early thirties has dumped north of $2k into skins in a mobile game. The difference is she has a lucrative job so she can easily afford that. I'm as baffled as the next guy and personally stay the hell away from microtransactions, but if she's happy and doesn't feel ripped off who am I to stop her. It's no secret that F2P, microtransaction-driven games are mostly funded by whales, and I suspect the vast majority of whales are like my friend here, or at least wasting their parents' money with approval. IMO the more conservative and likely more effective solution is better parental control, requiring approval for IAP by default (not sure how you implement that on devices not specifically set up as kids’ devices though).

XCSme 6y ago
From another point of view, some people are happy to support the devs of the game with IAPs, what is not cool is tricking people to spend money to play the game (eg. 1 coin to continue) or to progress in the game (eg. 100 gems to upgrade to a better weapon so you don't have to farm for 30 days).
alisonkisk 6y ago
> "What grown-up would spend $100 on a chest of virtual gold coins?" I'm extremely curious about whether this mother has an equally meaningless but less ethically sourced >$1K diamond and gold ring on her finger. Statistically, one should bet that she does.
- treesknees 6y ago
  At least that's a tangible good worth the money it costs (ethics and cultural norms aside.) Her point still stands, that most functioning adults would not spend $100 on something like that without at least thinking it through. But a kid with zero concept of earning income would certainly click that button with no extra thought.
jackson1442 6y ago
> IMO the more conservative and likely more effective solution is better parental control, requiring approval for IAP by default (not sure how you implement that on devices not specifically set up as kids’ devices though). If I’m remembering correctly, that is the default if you properly set it up as a kids account. Better literature is definitely needed about setting up an account for kids, perhaps a registration step that just asks “is this a kid or adult account.”
- treesknees 6y ago
  That's still not enough. Devices like iPads and iPhones aren't multi-user. So, if Mom or Dad are going to be using it, they're not going to set it up as a kids account.

by oefrha 6y ago

XCSme 6y ago

From another point of view, some people are happy to support the devs of the game with IAPs, what is not cool is tricking people to spend money to play the game (eg. 1 coin to continue) or to progress in the game (eg. 100 gems to upgrade to a better weapon so you don't have to farm for 30 days).

alisonkisk 6y ago

> "What grown-up would spend $100 on a chest of virtual gold coins?" I'm extremely curious about whether this mother has an equally meaningless but less ethically sourced >$1K diamond and gold ring on her finger. Statistically, one should bet that she does.

treesknees 6y ago
At least that's a tangible good worth the money it costs (ethics and cultural norms aside.) Her point still stands, that most functioning adults would not spend $100 on something like that without at least thinking it through. But a kid with zero concept of earning income would certainly click that button with no extra thought.

jackson1442 6y ago

> IMO the more conservative and likely more effective solution is better parental control, requiring approval for IAP by default (not sure how you implement that on devices not specifically set up as kids’ devices though). If I’m remembering correctly, that is the default if you properly set it up as a kids account. Better literature is definitely needed about setting up an account for kids, perhaps a registration step that just asks “is this a kid or adult account.”

treesknees 6y ago
That's still not enough. Devices like iPads and iPhones aren't multi-user. So, if Mom or Dad are going to be using it, they're not going to set it up as a kids account.