3 ms·

The trouble is that due to COPPA and probably similar laws in other countries, there are huge legal headaches involved in offering any kind of online account to

by makomk 6y ago

The trouble is that due to COPPA and probably similar laws in other countries, there are huge legal headaches involved in offering any kind of online account to under-13s - especially one which is shared with a whole bunch of third parties like Google Play Games is every time you log into a game. So I can't imagine Google changing that any time soon. Even just offering content that under-13s might plausibly set up adult accounts to access exposes them to fairly substantial legal risk.

indymike 6y ago
I don't think you are understanding the issue: 1. Kid can't login to google play games and can't play some games and can't save progress in other games. 2. Kid gets parent to change their age or kid registers an adult google account outside of family controls. 3. Kid can now play games and save progress, etc. In all cases, parents lose controls and kid can spend money with impunity on family account (if you change their age).
- detaro 6y ago
  And parents point is that if congress or the federal government comes knocking, Google can point and say "we offer a compliant kids account, the customer choose to break the ToS and lie to us! we can't do much against that!". Whereas if they allow something deemed "bad" on the official kids accounts, Google gets the blame. So it's easier for them to just do a safe-as-possible kids version, picking "safety" over usability.
  - indymike 6y ago
    At some point, this behavior will lead to lawsuits. Forcing kids to lie to get access to a game does not even begin to absolve you from your responsibility under the law. It does establish a pattern where you are not making a paid-for feature available. I thought when I paid for my family account that my kids would be able to actually use YouTube, games from the play store and unlimited YouTube Music. They could not do any of that unless I changed their ages. This is fraud, no matter how cutely you try to dress it up. This crap needs to stop.

by makomk 6y ago

indymike 6y ago

I don't think you are understanding the issue: 1. Kid can't login to google play games and can't play some games and can't save progress in other games. 2. Kid gets parent to change their age or kid registers an adult google account outside of family controls. 3. Kid can now play games and save progress, etc. In all cases, parents lose controls and kid can spend money with impunity on family account (if you change their age).

detaro 6y ago
And parents point is that if congress or the federal government comes knocking, Google can point and say "we offer a compliant kids account, the customer choose to break the ToS and lie to us! we can't do much against that!". Whereas if they allow something deemed "bad" on the official kids accounts, Google gets the blame. So it's easier for them to just do a safe-as-possible kids version, picking "safety" over usability.
- indymike 6y ago
  At some point, this behavior will lead to lawsuits. Forcing kids to lie to get access to a game does not even begin to absolve you from your responsibility under the law. It does establish a pattern where you are not making a paid-for feature available. I thought when I paid for my family account that my kids would be able to actually use YouTube, games from the play store and unlimited YouTube Music. They could not do any of that unless I changed their ages. This is fraud, no matter how cutely you try to dress it up. This crap needs to stop.