In-app purchases -- bad parents?!

[Feronia]

Video gaming is my main hobby, but here's a case where gaming and parenting have merged and my husband and I are curious to hear other parents' perspectives!

As some of you are undoubtedly aware, there are games on the iphone, ipad, and other tablets aimed at children that allow the purchase of extra items or other content. It's extremely easy to spend a lot of money without being really aware of it. For instance, not long ago, a 5-year old racked up a $2,500 bill on the iPad before his parents became aware of it.

It was just announced that the UK government is going to be investigating aggressive apps aimed at children, since these companies undoubtedly make it easy to spend lots of money on purpose.

Personally, I'm glad that they are investigating these app makers, but on a gaming site that I frequent, lots of people think it's parents' faults and that it shouldn't be investigated. People say these parents are bad for allowing their children to play on ipads and rack up bills, but many of these people don't have children themselves! Sure, there is the ability to turn off in-app purchases or use parental controls, but many parents aren't tech savvy or know of such a thing. It's hidden away in settings, after all, and these games are marketed as being "free." If your kid says "mom, can I download this free game, 'Bunny Carrot Time Travelers?' (made up name), you may just hear the "free" part and be fine with it, but be unaware that the game shows pop-up adds to allow your kid to purchase extra carrots for $2 each, or black and white bunny ears for $15, or extra time traveling ships for $50. Your kid may be too young to know what he/she is doing or that real money is even being spent since it's in the context of the game where these messages appear. Most of these games don't even call it "money"; they will say "do you want to spend 500 points to buy bunny ears?" 500 points may be equivalent to $5, or $50, it depends on the game. But how would a young child know? And how can you expect every parent to know either when these things are purposely obscure?

It's also in Apple's best interest to not make these features apparent since they profit from in-app purchases. A certain amount of parental responsibility is expected, yes, but there are times when handing your kid an iPad when you need to get a chore done is fine! I don't think people who do that on occasion are bad parents. My daughter is only 3 months old and I don't own an iPad, but I sort of see tossing her on the playmat while I clean the apartment as a similar thing. Sometimes, it seems that people who don't have children don't understand such a thing and expect parents to be monitoring every single move at all times.

What do you all think? Are the parents solely to blame? Or should the companies be investigated for aggressively targeting children?

 

[smokey]

My son pressed a advert on a app some time back ans I got charged for a subscription.
I wrote and complained because it charged my phone even though it was on my touch pad not my phone (internet was tethered through my phones wireless) and because their t&c stated the user had to be over 18 for the charge and the advert was on a toddlers game that it was unlawfull.
They refunded me.
I think if its a case of adverts in places that can be easily accidently pressed and a instant charge without chance if autherisation then its the advert company to blaim.
But saying that the parent has to take part blaim for handing the device over without turning the data connection off which I now always do.
I think its fine for them to play but precautions such as no data connection should be taken

 

[bumpy_j]

My phone (Nokia Lumia) has a 'kids corner' mode; it's their own little area that disables app purchases and prevents them from getting on any other bits of the phone without pressing the 'lock' button and typing in a code. I think that if any phone sells childrens apps, they should be obliged to put something similar in place. If anything else, it will prevent accidental calls to the Emergency services

But I suppose, ultimately, the bill is the parents responsibility as they should play through it first and see what ads pop up IYKWIM? They could certainly make it harder for little ones though!

 

[Raven24]

i dont know about other tablets but on an ipad its easy to just disable in app purchases so that is what we have done, and i dont really understand why the parents of the children on news etc didnt, if they dont know enough about the tablet to disable such things then they shouldnt be handing them over to their kids. the app companies may be being crafty by targeting childrens games but it really is just common sense to check youve disabled the in app purchases so for me the blame lies entirly with the parent. and i think in the cases where they have got their money back they have been lucky.

 

[smokey]

I didnt actualy technicaly get my money back, they offered a refund in the form of a check but I never sent my address for them to send it and paid it as I knew it was my own fault.
All I really wanted to gain by complaining was to make sure I didnt get the reacuring monthly subscription few.

 

[lindseymw]

i dont know about other tablets but on an ipad its easy to just disable in app purchases so that is what we have done, and i dont really understand why the parents of the children on news etc didnt, if they dont know enough about the tablet to disable such things then they shouldnt be handing them over to their kids. the app companies may be being crafty by targeting childrens games but it really is just common sense to check youve disabled the in app purchases so for me the blame lies entirly with the parent. and i think in the cases where they have got their money back they have been lucky.

This.

I have an ipad & both kids play on it. I have disabled in-app purchases & sometimes I turn wifi off. You also have to put a password in if you try & download a game.

All of which are really easy to set up.

I do think it's mainly the parents are to blame. Of course the game companies are quite crafty but at the end of day, they are a business to make money. If the game itself is free, they need to make the money some other way.

 

[dgirllamius]

I think that you should enter a password every time you download an app, when I had an iphone I could enter it once and not enter it again for quite some time. I don't know if you can change this as I never needed to look. I won't let my lo use my phone anyway.

I got an android tablet but never purchased an app for it so I don't know what it's security measures are like but surely it would be easier to make you enter a password by default rather than you having to turn it on. Some people might not even know how to do this and I thought it would be common sense to have a password for every purchase.

It baffles me why a 5 year old needs a tablet anyway

 

[xemmax]

i dont know about other tablets but on an ipad its easy to just disable in app purchases so that is what we have done, and i dont really understand why the parents of the children on news etc didnt, if they dont know enough about the tablet to disable such things then they shouldnt be handing them over to their kids. the app companies may be being crafty by targeting childrens games but it really is just common sense to check youve disabled the in app purchases so for me the blame lies entirly with the parent. and i think in the cases where they have got their money back they have been lucky.

I do actually agree with you - I think the app companies are crafty but essentially it is your responsibility.

That said, this actually happened to me Oli downloaded 17 apps on to my phone in quick succession and proceeded with a few in-app purchases for which I was billed. I just emailed Apple and explained what had happened and politely requested a refund, this was their reply:

I understand that you would like to be refunded for the accidental in-App purchases made by you son. I certainly understand your concern and I am sure you want this to be resolved at the earliest. It will be my pleasure to assist you further.

Emma, I’ve reviewed the circumstances of your case, and refunded your unintentional In-App Purchase. In this case, issuing a refund is an appropriate exception to the App Store Terms and Conditions, which state that all sales are final.

In five to seven business days, a credit of 31.15 GBP should be posted to the credit card that appears on your receipt for that purchase.

For more information about In-App Purchases and how to restrict them, see these articles:

iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch: Understanding Restrictions
https://support.apple.com/kb/HT4213

iTunes Store: About In-App Purchases
https://support.apple.com/kb/HT4009

I had totally underestimated what Oli could do on my phone in the limited time he had it, and I wasn't sure how to disable in-app purchases. But Apple were so helpful - I don't see what the issue is really. I definitely wasn't expecting a refund so I was pleased they agreed to one! On games aimed entirely at children then I don't think it is really appropriate to offer purchases but the games Oli downloaded were not for children, they were arcade type games.

 

[lindseymw]

I think that you should enter a password every time you download an app, when I had an iphone I could enter it once and not enter it again for quite some time. I don't know if you can change this as I never needed to look. I won't let my lo use my phone anyway.

Yes you can change the settings for password request. You can have it so you put it in once & it 'unlocks' it for a set amount of time i.e 5mins/15mins etc or you can set it so you require it for every download (you can on the iPad anyway, I presume the same for iPhone)

 

[Feronia]

It's great to hear your opinions! Wow, some of you were given refunds, and frankly I'm surprised. I was under the impression that these companies did not give refunds for a child's accident, but it's good to hear that they do.

However, while companies are out to make money first and foremost, I feel they should be more upfront about what they're doing. Just because their goal is to make money doesn't mean they shouldn't be responsible about it and we, as parents, are solely required to watch out for their trickery! Parents need to be vigilant, yes, but companies have responsibilities, too. I don't think it's right to label a game as 'free' and then make it very easy for kids to spend money as part of it. (I personally won't play any game with purchasable DLC, microtransactions, or in-app purchases, but that's a separate discussion.) Also, these 'free' games are manufactured to be incredibly difficult to play without spending money.

I see a lot of you have had your kids spend money by mistake on an iphone or ipad, and that's because it's very easy to do. I'm glad they offer refunds, but they also profit from all the parents who don't go through the hassle of requesting one. A lot of people figure out the hard way that their phone has a kids' mode, or that you can disable purchases, etc. Not everyone is as tech savvy.

Ultimately, I just really feel that it isn't the sole responsibility of parents to watch out for companies being tricky and aggressive to get your money through subtle means.

 

[robinator]

In defense of the gaming industry, they wouldn't exist if they didn't make money, so if a game is advertised as free, you've got to be smart enough to know that they would not spend months of time and money on a game on which they would see no return. They have to make their money somehow, so they do it by creating upgrades the user can buy in order to advance through the game. I don't believe the company is being deceitful by advertising their game as free, because the download is free.

So yes, it is the responsibility of the parent to monitor, or set up pass codes or whatever. That is not the job of the game company; their responsibility was to create a fun, interactive game for people to play, and that's what they did. We can't go passing the blame onto them, imo.

 

[robinator]

However, passwords are required for all upgrades, and it is the responsibility of the developer to have a confirmation screen come up, "are you sure you want to purchase this?". If they haven't done this, then that needs to be corrected.

But any upgrades on an apple device is linked to your iTunes account, so a child would have to know your password to purchase upgrades.

 

[Feronia]

By and large, the people who make the "games" for iphones and ipads are not the gaming industry. They are people who, with minimal thought and effort, put together something that is the semblance of a game that is structured around making money through the game. In fact, these small developers are putting real game developers out of business since it takes a lot more time and effort (and actual thought) to put together a full 60-hour game with a story than it does to spend a few weeks (it does not take them months to make most of these crap games) making a "game" for the iphone. Most of the thought is put into ways get the player to bypass gameplay mechanics by tossing cash at them. It's putting real developers out of business because the casual gaming market is so large and more and more people are playing these mini-games while on the bus without thinking too much about them.

All game downloads are free. It's deceitful to call a game free and have it basically unplayable without spending money. I'm not saying people should make games for free, but there has to be some sort of responsibility. These games are marketed as free, aimed at children, yet they all allow you with a single click to spend large amounts of money. They know that nobody in their right mind would download this "game" and spend huge amounts of money willingly, so people (mostly kids) end up spending FAR MORE than they would have on an actual game that required real effort.

It is the responsibility of these companies to not be tricky in how they handle things. It's not fair to try to trick people into spending money and put all of the responsibility to watch out for these tricks on the parents. They're being investigated because they are overly aggressive about their money making tactics, and I am interested to see what comes of it.

 

[Feronia]

That's why they call them "points." Your kid doesn't know "points" means real money. So when these children's games pop up with a screen that says "do you want to spend 500 points to bypass this level?" your kid doesn't know that it's charging $5 to your credit card.

You can turn the ability to do this off, but it doesn't not start off on that setting -- you have to change it. Most parents learn the hard way after their kid has spent money.

 

[smokey]

So much concern is put on parents to monitor what their children are doing on a pc and keep track of them for various reasons so why should them playing on a phone or ipad be any differant.
Main reason I actualy turn the data off if lo is playing with my phone is (and this I am discusted with these ganes for) back last year he was playing a toddler drawing game when he pressed a advert that popped up and covered half the screen.
The advert took him instantly to a trailer for paranormal activity that suddenly screamed out and scared the shit out of him.

I partly blaim myself for the fact he had it but have learnt a leason since then but the game developers have to hold a huge responsability for putting a advert link to a 18 film on a toddlers drawing game.
I know most of these adverts are random but there still should be some sort of censor in place to prevent inappropriat adverts.

But I still stick to the whole in game expenses is a parents responsability.

 

[sue_88]

I'm glad the government is investigating, I've seen a number of articles where kids have racked up huge bills.

I do however think the majority of the blame lies with parents. Unsupervised access on such games etc shouldn't happen in my opinion, or the manual should be read cover to cover to learn all about child safety features & how to disable certain parts.

It's the responsible thing to do, not only to prevent a bill the size of yellow pages dropping through the door, but to protect your child/children. The Internet is just too dangerous for under age people.

 

[Raven24]

So much concern is put on parents to monitor what their children are doing on a pc and keep track of them for various reasons so why should them playing on a phone or ipad be any differant.
Main reason I actualy turn the data off if lo is playing with my phone is (and this I am discusted with these ganes for) back last year he was playing a toddler drawing game when he pressed a advert that popped up and covered half the screen.
The advert took him instantly to a trailer for paranormal activity that suddenly screamed out and scared the shit out of him.

I partly blaim myself for the fact he had it but have learnt a leason since then but the game developers have to hold a huge responsability for putting a advert link to a 18 film on a toddlers drawing game.
I know most of these adverts are random but there still should be some sort of censor in place to prevent inappropriat adverts.

But I still stick to the whole in game expenses is a parents responsability.

that is awful and there should defintly be some sort of censorship in place for toddler and childrens apps. that would have really angered me

 

[Feronia]

I don't disagree about parental responsibility. I think that parents should be aware of what their children are playing, but that it is also a two-way street. Developers should not put in those sort of adverts or make it incredibly easy for a child to spend large amounts of money.

This isn't an argument for decreased parental responsibility; I just don't think that developers should have the right to target children and use whatever means they want to gouge money out of people unfairly, put the real terms in small print, etc. and have it be only the parents' responsibility to be always on the look out for such things. Most parents learn their lesson after they've lost money or experienced something like that inappropriate ad in a children's game. (That totally sucks!)

Companies aren't allowed to advertise cigarettes to children, but they're still able to try to get money out of them unfairly.

 

[robinator]

By and large, the people who make the "games" for iphones and ipads are not the gaming industry. They are people who, with minimal thought and effort, put together something that is the semblance of a game that is structured around making money through the game. In fact, these small developers are putting real game developers out of business since it takes a lot more time and effort (and actual thought) to put together a full 60-hour game with a story than it does to spend a few weeks (it does not take them months to make most of these crap games) making a "game" for the iphone. Most of the thought is put into ways get the player to bypass gameplay mechanics by tossing cash at them. It's putting real developers out of business because the casual gaming market is so large and more and more people are playing these mini-games while on the bus without thinking too much about them.

All game downloads are free. It's deceitful to call a game free and have it basically unplayable without spending money. I'm not saying people should make games for free, but there has to be some sort of responsibility. These games are marketed as free, aimed at children, yet they all allow you with a single click to spend large amounts of money. They know that nobody in their right mind would download this "game" and spend huge amounts of money willingly, so people (mostly kids) end up spending FAR MORE than they would have on an actual game that required real effort.

It is the responsibility of these companies to not be tricky in how they handle things. It's not fair to try to trick people into spending money and put all of the responsibility to watch out for these tricks on the parents. They're being investigated because they are overly aggressive about their money making tactics, and I am interested to see what comes of it.

I disagree with that entire statement; my husband is an artist in the gaming industry; there are a few "big name" studios (Disney, Warner Brothers, Microsoft, Nintendo, EA, etc), but nearly every other game produced is by smaller studios. Small studios are not putting big studios out of business; smaller studios lay off huge amounts of people weekly because of faulty leadership and poor decision making at executive levels. The bigger studios, such as EA, are dealing with massive layoffs due to crappy leadership, not because they are being outdone by smaller studios.

It does, in fact, take months to produce these "crap" games. My husband's most recently released mobile game took 9 months to produce. It may not be "years", but I can assure you that he and his entire team, took pride in making a quality, appealing game. If you think "minimal thought and effort" go into these games, then you clearly have no idea what you are talking about. Sorry. That is insulting.

The reason that years no longer go into the production of a game is because the demand for mobile games is so high and studios have to keep up with it. They have to produce games faster and don't have the time (or money required) to spend 5 years creating a top quality game. If they spent the bulk of their resources on that, then they would be missing out on immediate revenue from mobile games. The number of console users is considerably lower than the number of mobile users. So developers have to switch their focus in order to stay in business. Studios have to mold their product to consumer demand, not the other way around.

It is the responsibility of the consumer to have a brain in their head and know that developers need to make money and if the download is free, then, hmmmmm. Their job is to create games that will make money, not to think for you.

 

[smokey]

By and large, the people who make the "games" for iphones and ipads are not the gaming industry. They are people who, with minimal thought and effort, put together something that is the semblance of a game that is structured around making money through the game. In fact, these small developers are putting real game developers out of business since it takes a lot more time and effort (and actual thought) to put together a full 60-hour game with a story than it does to spend a few weeks (it does not take them months to make most of these crap games) making a "game" for the iphone. Most of the thought is put into ways get the player to bypass gameplay mechanics by tossing cash at them. It's putting real developers out of business because the casual gaming market is so large and more and more people are playing these mini-games while on the bus without thinking too much about them.

All game downloads are free. It's deceitful to call a game free and have it basically unplayable without spending money. I'm not saying people should make games for free, but there has to be some sort of responsibility. These games are marketed as free, aimed at children, yet they all allow you with a single click to spend large amounts of money. They know that nobody in their right mind would download this "game" and spend huge amounts of money willingly, so people (mostly kids) end up spending FAR MORE than they would have on an actual game that required real effort.

It is the responsibility of these companies to not be tricky in how they handle things. It's not fair to try to trick people into spending money and put all of the responsibility to watch out for these tricks on the parents. They're being investigated because they are overly aggressive about their money making tactics, and I am interested to see what comes of it.

I disagree with that entire statement; my husband is an artist in the gaming industry; there are a few "big name" studios (Disney, Warner Brothers, Microsoft, Nintendo, EA, etc), but nearly every other game produced is by smaller studios. Small studios are not putting big studios out of business; smaller studios lay off huge amounts of people weekly because of faulty leadership and poor decision making at executive levels. The bigger studios, such as EA, are dealing with massive layoffs due to crappy leadership, not because they are being outdone by smaller studios.

It does, in fact, take months to produce these "crap" games. My husband's most recently released mobile game took 9 months to produce. It may not be "years", but I can assure you that he and his entire team, took pride in making a quality, appealing game. If you think "minimal thought and effort" go into these games, then you clearly have no idea what you are talking about. Sorry. That is insulting.

The reason that years no longer go into the production of a game is because the demand for mobile games is so high and studios have to keep up with it. They have to produce games faster and don't have the time (or money required) to spend 5 years creating a top quality game. If they spent the bulk of their resources on that, then they would be missing out on immediate revenue from mobile games. The number of console users is considerably lower than the number of mobile users. So developers have to switch their focus in order to stay in business. Studios have to mold their product to consumer demand, not the other way around.

It is the responsibility of the consumer to have a brain in their head and know that developers need to make money and if the download is free, then, hmmmmm. Their job is to create games that will make money, not to think for you.

Also there are some brilliant small game companies out there.
A game called lost crown and dark falls where brilliant games and thats pretty much done by one bloke with alot of talant (he also did a few other games)