'My son spent £3,160 in one game' • Hacker News Board

Re: 'My son spent £3,160 in one game'

#161

Post by contravariant » Mon, Jul 15, 2019, 10:58 PM UTC

kevin_b_er wrote: post #103

The gambling industry got into the gaming industry. You are looking at the result: Children are gambling.

Although gambling consists of convincing the gambler they will get real money in return, while these games seem to be trying to convince the gamer that they aren't spending real money.

It's definitely similar but the difference could be important.

Re: 'My son spent £3,160 in one game'

#162

Post by sdwa » Mon, Jul 15, 2019, 10:59 PM UTC

rasz wrote: post #8

>learning difficulties and the approximate cognitive ability of a seven-year-old child. so obviously I gave him full control over "his entire savings"

Parents can't be expected to get everything right all of the time. It's not unreasonable to ask that technology companies don't exploit vulnerable people, and in particular, children. Blaming the parents in this case is something I just don't understand. The companies could just like, not exploit children for profit. I've managed to go my whole life without exploiting children, it's actually very very not difficult and I have no sympathy for these companies.

Re: 'My son spent £3,160 in one game'

#163

Post by kowdermeister » Mon, Jul 15, 2019, 11:00 PM UTC

tick_tock_tick wrote: post #91

HenryBemis wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use a "7 accounts setup" for my finances. One of my accounts is labelled "Internet" and has no more than £50-£100 at any given moment. It is the card used for Paypal, Amazon, Spotify, etc. If that card gets compromised I won't lose more than that, and my bank will most likely return the funds (yes even if it's just a Debit Card). If the account runs low then Spotify won't get paid in time and I won't cry about it :…

Why would you ever use a debit card over a credit card?

I have no self control to pay it back on time.

Re: 'My son spent £3,160 in one game'

#164

Post by veddan » Mon, Jul 15, 2019, 11:01 PM UTC

pintxo wrote: post #117

djhworld wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember hearing about one guy asking his bank to essentially block any gambling transaction as he was an addict https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-45652429 Obviously there are ways to cirumvent that but it seemed to help him. I suspect it's harder to block these in app purchases at the bank level though, unless everything goes through Apple/Google pay and you block at that level

In Germany you can set yourself on the black list of your local casino or whatever. It‘s a legally required feature. https://www.verspiel-nicht-dein-leben.de/spielsucht/spielers...

We recently got something similar in Sweden too: https://www.spelpaus.se/

It's a blocklist that all licensed gambling companies in Sweden are required to respect. You add yourself to the list for a certain amount of time, and can't unblock yourself until that time has expired.

Re: 'My son spent £3,160 in one game'

#165

Post by sdwa » Mon, Jul 15, 2019, 11:02 PM UTC

o_p wrote: post #13

darkpuma wrote: post #3

It's astonishing that the developers of games like this can sleep at night. Do they lie to themselves and pretend all the kids spending thousands of dollars are the children of Saudi royals or something? They must know that they're exploiting people who can't afford it. Edit: these developers know damn well if their target demo is children, and they know damn well that the phenomenon of children running up huge debts…

One would assume that children spending was authorized by their parents.

Anyone who spends several thousand pounds on a single video game is in all likelihood vulnerable, and quite possibly a child.

Re: 'My son spent £3,160 in one game'

#166

Post by sdwa » Mon, Jul 15, 2019, 11:03 PM UTC

goldcd wrote: post #82

So: 1) You allowed your son with the cognitive ability of a 7 year old, access to £3 grand.. I'm going out on a limb here, but I don't think that was wise. I'm unable to even imagine "the correct" way you were wanting your son to use that money. Shorting Symantec? 2) Your 16 year old stole £2k of your money (and then your daughter bailed you out?). Looking for a bright side, it wasn't opiates... and your student daug…

Let me help you with your misanthropy: try targeting it at companies which exist solely to exploit children rather than the parents of said children.

Re: 'My son spent £3,160 in one game'

#167

Post by hardwaregeek » Mon, Jul 15, 2019, 11:06 PM UTC

I strongly believe that video games today are comparable to alcohol in the 60's. Y'know, how people in the 60's would say "Oh Johnny just likes his liquor" when Johnny's drinking at 9AM, drunk at 10 and hungover by 2. Right now we have people who are facing serious problems with video games, and yet we brush them off casually and callously. I can't count the number of stories on reddit about playing video games all day and all night, at the expense of one's social life, academic success and even career. That's not normal behavior; it's behavior indicative of addiction and dependency. And I'm referring to adults. For kids, who lack executive functions, this behavior can and is even worse, even more debilitating.

Now, regulating video games like alcohol may not be the best idea. We could end up in a similar state of binge drinking, except with binge playing. But perhaps some sort of preventative measure can be taken so that kids do not get sucked into these games that are, make no mistake, maliciously designed to addict and to steal money from the vulnerable. Even alcohol manufacturers don't dose their products with nicotine.

Re: 'My son spent £3,160 in one game'

#168

Post by Faark » Mon, Jul 15, 2019, 11:10 PM UTC

thaumasiotes wrote: post #58

vorpalhex wrote: post #6

But how do you tell the difference between an adult and a kid with their parents password and bank card? If you trust your kid with your bank account and get burned.. isn't that kind of on you?

Well... There is no way to distinguish between an adult and a kid with their parents' credentials. If the precedent gets set that you can buy in-game currency and then reverse the charge on the grounds that that was your friend's kid, not you, what will happen? All I see is that it becomes tougher to offer games that are monetized in this style, which seems like a positive effect. So assigning responsibility to the p…

You usually have your account banned when a charge is reversed to undo the "progress grained". This makes it less attractive for real players to abuse.

Adult who realize what they are doing and want to stop cold turkey doing it? Fine with me as well.

Re: 'My son spent £3,160 in one game'

#169

Post by ianferrel » Mon, Jul 15, 2019, 11:10 PM UTC

Balgair wrote: post #141

tick_tock_tick wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

App store games don't get rated by the ESRB

A glaring oversight in and of itself. If you're going to have interoperability between mobile and console games, the ratings agencies should have jurisdiction across the spectrum.

The ESRB is a voluntary organization. They have jurisdiction over whoever volunteers to let them rate their games.

Re: 'My son spent £3,160 in one game'

#170

Post by bsaul » Mon, Jul 15, 2019, 11:19 PM UTC

hardwaregeek wrote: post #167

I strongly believe that video games today are comparable to alcohol in the 60's. Y'know, how people in the 60's would say "Oh Johnny just likes his liquor" when Johnny's drinking at 9AM, drunk at 10 and hungover by 2. Right now we have people who are facing serious problems with video games, and yet we brush them off casually and callously. I can't count the number of stories on reddit about playing video games all d…

That’s an interesting comparison. Following the analogy, we should have the equivalent of « alcool concentration » for addictiveness. Some games are pretty mild relative to in app purchases pushing or addiction mechanics , while others are simply awfull.