鈥淗ere, kid, take my credit card and go all by yourself to the mall and just hand it over to any adult standing around there when you see stuff you want to buy,鈥� said no parent 鈥� ever.聽
So why, please someone tell me, are parents letting their children wander the online world unsupervised playing video games that are connected to their Visas and Mastercards?
At one time, you would buy a video game and that was it. The story, battles, rewards, upgrades and whatever were all included in the one, standalone product. Then came the online world, and multiplayer games for which you were required to pay a monthly subscription to enjoy the action. But those subscription-based games are few and far between now, as the business model has changed to a pay-to-play and microtransaction-based iteration. Basically, either you buy a game or it can be downloaded for free, but with an in-game store from which you can buy upgrades, unlock content or purchase cosmetic items. Judging by how many games use this new business model, it must be profitable. I mean, it has to be profitable to sell people virtual goods for real cash.聽
鈥淗ere, sir, is your (non-existent) hat.鈥澛�
鈥淲hy thank you, here is real, hard-earned money.鈥�
It鈥檚 crazy, right?
Of course, I myself have bought the odd non-existent hat, too. Don鈥檛 judge me. I wanted my avatar to look personalized as I shotgunned someone in the face.聽
I spend less money on games these days thanks to microtransactions. Instead of having to fork over a monthly fee no matter how much I play the game in a particular month, I just purchase the objects and upgrades or new content as I see fit. There are, of course, some games that make it so you absolutely have to spend some money to get at the best content and upgrades (better guns, armour, vehicles, etc.). I hate those games. It鈥檚 like teasing you with a base game that you have no chance of winning, unless you get help from stuff locked behind a paywall.聽
The best games 鈥� and coincidentally, the games for which I spend the most money 鈥� give you everything but also feature an in-game store for folks who want to upgrade early or buy cosmetic items. You can unlock everything by playing the game; however, the store is there for people who are a bit impatient or more fashionable.聽
Every game I鈥檝e ever played of this type, however, tends to be pretty upfront about the fact you are being charged for whatever you purchase from the store, and that includes smartphone apps.聽
So, that鈥檚 why I can鈥檛 understand the stories of people, especially kids, racking up enormous credit card bills 鈥渦nknowingly.鈥� Recently, there was the story of a father from Ontario whose son charged about $8,000 in microtransactions on dad鈥檚 credit card by playing a game on his X-Box. The dad, understandably, has banned his son from playing video games. The father himself should be banned from having a credit card. It took two people to set up this scenario, the kid for 鈥渦nknowingly鈥� purchasing that much stuff on a credit card that wasn鈥檛 his and the parent for giving a kid a credit card and not monitoring how it is being used.聽
Look, these games are absolutely trying to nickel and dime players, but just like in any other industry, there are rules and regulations. There are disclaimers and messages about the in-game purchases, so you would have to ignore those big warning signs to rack up such high bills. For his part, the $8,000 kid said he thought he had made a one-time purchase, but it kept charging him for subsequent purchases. He likely didn鈥檛 read and just clicked.聽
In the end, the best defence for parents is to actually monitor what your kids are doing. I know, crazy, right? But take the time to see what games they are playing and if they have pay walls. Talk to your kids about how the in-game stores work, and make sure they read everything before clicking. Many games even feature parental settings so you can limit spending. Or perhaps buy your kid a pre-paid credit card to use instead.聽
If every parent just took a little time to monitor the situation, we鈥檇 never see those stories in the news again.
