Parents Suing Apple Over In-Game Purchasing

Hevva

Shipwrecked, comatose, newsie
Aug 2, 2011
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Parents Suing Apple Over In-Game Purchasing



Parents concerned with their kids' in-game spending are heading to court.

After months of legal wrangling, a group of concerned parents has now been given permission to sue Apple for "manipulating" their kids into spending large amounts of real-world cash on virtual in-app objects (mostly Smurfberries) in various iOS games. Led by attorney Garen Meguerian, the group is alleging that the "addictive" nature of some iOS games drives their kids to buy in-game items without really knowing what's going on.

This isn't the first time parents have voiced concerns over in-app purchases made by their kids. After 8 year-old Madison Kay managed to run up a bill of $1400 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/107662-Eight-Year-Old-Girl-Blows-1400-on-Smurfberries] in record time on Smurfs' Village last year, the Federal Trade Commission ruled that games like Smurfs' Village must warn parents and children that those $99 Smurfberries do cost actual, real, non-Smurf cash.

However, Apple's in-app purchase protocol has changed since then. When Madison went a little crazy for the Smurfberries, she was able to do so because all that stood between her and the berries was her mother's iTunes password. These days, kids like Madison have an extra few hoops to jump through before being able to make an autonomous purchase, including an extra, app-only password. Additionally, Apple says that iOS games featuring in-app purchases now come with an option that allows parents to switch in-game buying off altogether.

Meguerian's group of unhappy parents are seemingly unsatisfied with these updates. Even though it's now much easier to stop your kid wasting the month's food budget on new shinies for their virtual pets, the parents in question seem to believe that the option to pay real money to advance shouldn't be in the games at all. Their issue would seem to be more with the addictive, Skinner Box-y nature of these games than with the purchase structure itself.

Apple has declined to comment on the case, having already asked that it be booted from the justice system in light of the changes made to its in-app purchasing systems. Do the parents have a point? Should games which feature potentially manipulative in-game purchase systems be targeted at children? Is $99 a reasonable price for a wagon of Smurfberries? Will these kids ever know the joy of Crash Bandicoot?


Source: BBC [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-17728039]





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gigastar

Insert one-liner here.
Sep 13, 2010
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On the one hand, overreacting parents.

On the other hand, manipulative microtransactions.

Im not sure which side i loathe more...
 

torzath

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Jun 29, 2010
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I hope they realize that selling in-app purchases is the only reason these "freemium" games get made. And if they somehow get them eliminated or banned, there won't be many free games of any quality on the iOS market, they'll just have to pay for apps up front. Seriously, go look at the most popular free games on the App Store and you'll see like over 90% of them have in-app purchases (and yes, I know popular =/= good, but I'm not going wading through the rest of the muck that is the iOS app store).
 

SangRahl

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Feb 11, 2009
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If they want to target someone, go after Google or Android. They've at least refused to offer the security features that Apple does. Sure, they have 3rd-Party apps available (that you must buy) that can cut in-app purchased for a handful of major titles, but they aren't all-encompassing. (And are more of a personal slap in the face, to me.)

I spent almost 45min digging around in a friend's Android/GoogleApps phone and found not a single method to curtail the ability for someone to one-click puchase something from within any of her apps. It was kind of jarring, really... and the first time I was proud that I use an iPhone, myself. (...since I tend to agree with my friends about the whole excessive cost and mindless-drone fanboyism that crops up around Apple products... Hell, the only reason I HAD an iPhone was that it was a hand-me-down from my wife, who won't use anything else.)

captcha: "live your dream"
Standing in sort of sun-god robes on a pyramid with a thousand naked women screaming and throwing little pickles at you? Um, okay.
 

paislyabmj

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Mar 25, 2012
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surely they should sue the companies who made the games rather than the owners of the platform it happened to be on.
 

Mister K

This is our story.
Apr 25, 2011
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What?!!!
$1400?!!!
Why those kids have access to such ammount of money?
 

KeyMaster45

Gone Gonzo
Jun 16, 2008
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Frankly I don't see how this is Apple's responsibility, the devs of the apps should be the ones they're going after for shady microtransactions.
 

Eleima

Keeper of the GWJ Holocron
Feb 21, 2010
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Seriously, I'm not gonna give my child my password, especially when there's credit card numbers involved, that's just.... dumb.
1400$ for smurfberries is still a LOT. O_O
 

RaikuFA

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Jun 12, 2009
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Seriously, why put a wheelbarrow of smurfberries on your store and sell it for $100?

THAT needs to stop.
 

Mouse_Crouse

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Apr 28, 2010
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gigastar said:
On the one hand, overreacting parents.
On the other hand, manipulative microtransactions.
Im not sure which side i loathe more...
TheKasp said:
Don't give your spawn access to credit card informations then. Or you know... teach them to use money properly. Like on TF2 hats!
KeyMaster45 said:
Frankly I don't see how this is Apple's responsibility, the devs of the apps should be the ones they're going after for shady microtransactions.
Hookah said:
ITT: dumb parents want someone else to blame for their own failures.
If I remember correctly form the original story, the issue has nothing to do with parents not watching. When you put in your password for something unrelated, it stays unlocked for several minutes and allows people without proper password knowledge to completely bypass it and make crazy purchases. Which IS a big problem.

Going to go check that now.

Ah, yes here it is.

"Some parents complain that parental controls are difficult to use or have loopholes, like giving users a 15-minutes window to make purchases without re-entering a password after it's entered once."

Should they be watched closer... sure. But there's some system flaws that really do need to be addressed.
 

snave

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Nov 10, 2009
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Good. It's about time someone actually took up the cause of Skinner-box style microtransactions aimed at children. System is fine for adults, but there is a line.

CAPCHA: last straw
 

newwiseman

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Aug 27, 2010
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Apple needs to have an in-app purchase toggle in the general setting of the iOS not in the apps themselves.

As much as I hate the monetization at work in these games it is where the majority of those developers income comes from, for better or worse, and outlawing the practice all together is not the answer.

The real problem is that parents are so quick to hand off the virtual baby sitter, stay out of my hair, devices that they don't even bother to familiarize themselves with the actions they need to take to defend their wallets and their children from influences they feel are questionable. But when most parents now days are as equally immature as their entitled brood; what more can we expect. The whole culture is trained to blame someone else before excepting any responsibility. That was the whole point of the South Park movie.

To quote Bender, "Parents haven't you ever tried just sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"

But, what do I know, I'm just a technology support specialist, in a predominantly Apple environment, who has worked eight hours a day in public middle schools for 4 years... Someone help me.
 

Steve the Pocket

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Mar 30, 2009
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SangRahl said:
If they want to target someone, go after Google or Android. They've at least refused to offer the security features that Apple does. Sure, they have 3rd-Party apps available (that you must buy) that can cut in-app purchased for a handful of major titles, but they aren't all-encompassing. (And are more of a personal slap in the face, to me.)

I spent almost 45min digging around in a friend's Android/GoogleApps phone and found not a single method to curtail the ability for someone to one-click puchase something from within any of her apps. It was kind of jarring, really... and the first time I was proud that I use an iPhone, myself. (...since I tend to agree with my friends about the whole excessive cost and mindless-drone fanboyism that crops up around Apple products... Hell, the only reason I HAD an iPhone was that it was a hand-me-down from my wife, who won't use anything else.)
Can't say I'm surprised. That's the downside of being an open platform; you can't tell third-party developers what to do.
 

kouriichi

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Sep 5, 2010
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Ok, im going to lay out my feelings simply. Parent Should moderate their children better. Apple did add additional settings to stop purchases. Apple is arsecake for even allowing 99$ purchases in a childrens game. Charges need to be dropped. Large portion Money needs to be refunded to the parents. Parents need to moderate their child better.

Giving your child ANYTHING with your credit card info on it is a terrible idea to start. Especially when you can go to the store and buy him prepaid cards he cant do a 1400$ purchase on.

All in all, parents are at fault more then Apple, but Apple is still refried turkey feet for even allowing purchases of that size without questioning it.
 

gigastar

Insert one-liner here.
Sep 13, 2010
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Mouse_Crouse said:
gigastar said:
On the one hand, overreacting parents.
On the other hand, manipulative microtransactions.
Im not sure which side i loathe more...
TheKasp said:
Don't give your spawn access to credit card informations then. Or you know... teach them to use money properly. Like on TF2 hats!
KeyMaster45 said:
Frankly I don't see how this is Apple's responsibility, the devs of the apps should be the ones they're going after for shady microtransactions.
Hookah said:
ITT: dumb parents want someone else to blame for their own failures.
If I remember correctly form the original story, the issue has nothing to do with parents not watching. When you put in your password for something unrelated, it stays unlocked for several minutes and allows people without proper password knowledge to completely bypass it and make crazy purchases. Which IS a big problem.

Going to go check that now.

Ah, yes here it is.

"Some parents complain that parental controls are difficult to use or have loopholes, like giving users a 15-minutes window to make purchases without re-entering a password after it's entered once."

Should they be watched closer... sure. But there's some system flaws that really do need to be addressed.
This proposed case isnt about the password thing or parental control, its about the predatory nature of games that feature microtransactions.

And im not about to stoop to using Apple products just to see if the password thing is even still there.

And while im here...

newwiseman said:
To quote Bender, "Parents haven't you ever tried just sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
While solid words, this method is genuinely flawed in several ways. Most of theese flaws are legal in nature and will haunt you for the rest of your life.
 

mygocarp

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Apr 2, 2012
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As much as I hate the prevalence of these freemium games, this lawsuit is just parents trying to get an excuse to not do proper parenting.

I think it will get dismissed pretty early on.