Dad Blames Microsoft for Son's Xbox Live Spending Spree

[Kapol]

I don't blame the father as much as I blame the kid. 12-year-olds aren't all that stupid. Xbox makes it fairly clear how much everything costs, and even if they don't, I don't see any reason to believe that the kid didn't have some idea what he was doing was wrong. Then to avoid trouble he likely used the 'I didn't know' excuse. And the father believed him because... well, that way he had more chance of forcing Microsoft to give him his money back (because let's face it, I doubt anyone would feel bad if the father just said his kid's a little brat who abused access like that).

For the whole M rated game thing... oh well. I don't think it's that big a deal. But I am sick of people blaming companies for stuff like this when they don't look into the matter before hand.

 

[zombiesinc]

LEARN TO SPELL.

Is your name Ken? I hope your name is Ken, Ken!

Spoiler

You aren't sick of hearing about stories like this or you wouldn't have even clicked on thread, much less posted in it.

I didn't say I was sick of reading these stories, I said I was sick of parents using anything and/or everything as an excuse, rather than take responsibility.

I'm really sick of listening to so many parents' excuses these days.

See, see?! <3

 

[Realitycrash]

WHY THE FUCK is nobody bothered that the kid plays cod?

Because we know it happens due to parents who are under the assumption that all games are appropriate for children, and that it's not their responsibility to make sure what their kid is playing actually is. Plus the stereotypical player of CoD, MWF, or Battlefield on the 360 is a 13 year old brat shouting obscenities and racial slurs over the microphone. Hell, just the other day I was talking with a guy while in line at Gamestop and he was telling me how he and his wife felt their 11 and 9 year old sons were old enough to be playing CoD. It took every ounce of restraint I had to not tell him otherwise. What's sad is that it's those kinds of parents who end up in situations like this and also blame games when their kid grows up to be a rampaging asshole.

maybe i am just stupid or retarded or really really naive but i just don't get how people can think a game where you shoot people in the head with more or less accurate depictions of modern weapons is something a child should play.

Because most parents think that their children can "handle it", that just THEIR children are "mature enough". Hell, my dad took me to his work back in the early 90's, and while he worked (he was a network technician for a university) I was allowed to sit in the computer-lab and play Doom. I was 9, I think.

Now, if said game had been CoD, I doubt he would have reacted any differently. Why would he? To them, It's a game. You know, game? Fun? Hahaha? And I partially agree. Sure, some things might be inappropriate for a child, but that depends on how mature such child is. I hate to cite anecdotal information as some sort of proof but..Look at me? Been playing violent videogames all my life, and no worse off. So SOME clearly can handle it..

On a related note: When I first got my XBL-account, I needed my dads creditcard. I was 16, and my dad was outraged (and eventually called Microsoft support, located in another country even). Not because I wanted to play Ghost Recon 2 online, but because he was afraid that Microsoft would store his creditcard-information and some hacker would manage to steal it.
Heh.

In the end, I got my own credit-card (couldn't rack up more debt than I had cash,though) and was told that how I wanted to waste my own money was my problem.

So honestly, if I believe my child to be able to handle Call of Duty XXVI (You know there will be one) when he is 14, then I will let him play it. I might of course be wrong, but I doubt it will turn him into a murderer. Might give him nightmares, though.
Also, I'll explain a few things first.

 

[Epona]

LEARN TO SPELL.

Is your name Ken? I hope your name is Ken, Ken!

Spoiler

You aren't sick of hearing about stories like this or you wouldn't have even clicked on thread, much less posted in it.

I didn't say I was sick of reading these stories, I said I was sick of parents using anything and/or everything as an excuse, rather than take responsibility.

I'm really sick of listening to so many parents' excuses these days.

See, see?! <3

Well, you wouldn't have to READ those excuses if you wouldn't come into the thread. If you were really so sick of READING those excuses, then why are you here?

 

[devotedsniper]

Someone obviously didn't set up the account correctly, back when I had a 360 you could set up a pin number so you couldn't just buy randomly (original dash style xbox), and you can still do similar for the new xbox's as I've just set it up for my nephew.

 

[glitch388]

So, as someone who doesn't play CoD or FIFA, I must ask. What on earth could that boy have spent £1,150 on? As in, what does it actually go to?

 

[zombiesinc]

Well, you wouldn't have to READ those excuses if you wouldn't come into the thread. If you were really so sick of READING those excuses, then why are you here?

I feel like you're focusing on the really trivial shit here.

Do you care to know why I'm sick of listening to/hearing/reading/deciphering/translating this sort of shit? Or would you rather go on believing I'm somehow anti-parent and (possibly) therefore, anti-you?[footnote]I could be wrong but you're giving me the impression that you're personally offended by what I said[/footnote]

 

[Epona]

Well, you wouldn't have to READ those excuses if you wouldn't come into the thread. If you were really so sick of READING those excuses, then why are you here?

I feel like you're focusing on the really trivial shit here.

Do you care to know why I'm sick of listening to/hearing/reading/deciphering/translating this sort of shit? Or would you rather go on believing I'm somehow anti-parent and (possibly) therefore, anti-you?[footnote]I could be wrong but you're giving me the impression that you're personally offended by what I said[/footnote]

I am not offended but I do root for the underdog. I am sick of parents being blamed for everything kids do because the very people doing the blaming were once kids as well and they know that kids go out of their way to keep parents in the dark.

I am also sick of men getting blamed for everything too so if you were blaming men, I would say something too.

 

[Beautiful End]

*Sigh*

-MONITOR YOUR OWN ACCOUNT! I don't even trust my friends using my account because I know I have my info linked to it. And my friends aren't even morons!
-Check your account more often?
-Give your damn kid a children's account to avoid that.
-Inform yourself before letting your kid be a retard and fuck with the xbox.
-And finally, shows how much he cares about his kid.

Maybe it's just me but if I had been that kid and for whatever reason my mom's credit card was linked and I know that and I'm 12 years old, no matter how tempting it would be to buy all sorts of DLC for my game, I wouldn't dare because I know my mom would eventually find out and she would eventually slap the shit out of me. Also, I'd know it's not good to buy all of the things in the world with someone else's money.
So yeah, both are morons. The father deserves to have his xbox locked/banned/whatever and the kid deserves to repay his father for whatever he spent.[

WHY THE FUCK is nobody bothered that the kid plays cod?

Because we know it happens due to parents who are under the assumption that all games are appropriate for children, and that it's not their responsibility to make sure what their kid is playing actually is. Plus the stereotypical player of CoD, MWF, or Battlefield on the 360 is a 13 year old brat shouting obscenities and racial slurs over the microphone. Hell, just the other day I was talking with a guy while in line at Gamestop and he was telling me how he and his wife felt their 11 and 9 year old sons were old enough to be playing CoD. It took every ounce of restraint I had to not tell him otherwise. What's sad is that it's those kinds of parents who end up in situations like this and also blame games when their kid grows up to be a rampaging asshole.

GameStop employee here. Funny you should mention that. It's no secret that we can't sell a game to someone who looks younger than 17 years old without their ID. So whenever a parent is clearly buying a M rated game for their kid, we have to ask something like "Are you okay with the M rating of this game because it contains violence, blood and gore and strong language?". Now, here's the funny part. Parents nod at me with the most boring look on their faces as if saying "Yeah, yeah. Just gimme the damn game".

There's the rare scenario where the parent hesitates for a moment, then the kid intervenes and says he's played the game at his friend's house/his brother has it/it's not that bad and the parent buys the story. Only about 10% of the parents are genuinely surprised and put the game back, no matter if it's CoD or AC. Out of those remaining 90%, only around 20% ask something like "Oh, blood and gore is okay. But...does it have sexual stuff?". A game rarely has explicit sex scenes. It's usually provocative clothing or situations or sutff like that, so I reply with that (Depending on the game). Once they convince themselves that the game isn't gonna turn into a porn, they happily agree to buy the game.

Oh, and about 5% of all those guys overall come back days later complaining about the game being too strong for their kid and claiming we didn't warn them, trying to make us look bad to get their money back.

So...yeah, blood, gore, violence and bad words are fine...but not sexual scenes. Maker forbid those.

Anyway, personally (and I guess I was a geek), I don't remember playing a M rated game until I was 15/16, and even then I was hesitant. I felt dirty and guilty. And a bit scared (It was DMC1). And I would have never considered picking up verbal fights with strangers because that just was pointless and rude.
Yeah, maybe it was just me.

 

[Beautiful End]

So, as someone who doesn't play CoD or FIFA, I must ask. What on earth could that boy have spent £1,150 on? As in, what does it actually go to?

You got me there. Let's see, if it's CoD, he could have got Elite...which is about 50 bucks. Then, I'll assume he wasn't just playing one CoD? (The article never specified that). So he could have got some map packs for Blops, which is $75 for all of them. Uhh...I don't know if you can rebuy them once you've already bought them before. I'm guessing no, so okay.
Maybe some avatar stuff?
FIFA allows you to buy more players/teams/fields/whatever. Not sure how much that would be but...let's assume it's the same as CoD, which we'll round to $200. So $400 for it all. let's exaggerate and go to $500 assuming he also has more than one FIFA game lying around.

Yep, either dad's lying or the kid is lying or both are lying. And they're morons. That's for sure.

 

[zombiesinc]

I am not offended but I do root for the underdog. I am sick of parents being blamed for everything kids do because the very people doing the blaming were once kids as well and they know that kids go out of their way to keep parents in the dark.

I am also sick of men getting blamed for everything too so if you were blaming men, I would say something too.

It's not always the parents fault, I absolutely agree. In this case, we certainly don't know enough to be certain either. I was just relating this situation to others that I felt were similar and happened to fall directly on the parents' lack of care, inability to take responsibility or just general laziness. That doesn't mean I believe it's always the parents fault or that all parents are this way, I do try to avoid mass generalizations and making myself out to look extremely ignorant.

 

[Epona]

*Sigh*

-MONITOR YOUR OWN ACCOUNT! I don't even trust my friends using my account because I know I have my info linked to it. And my friends aren't even morons!
-Check your account more often?
-Give your damn kid a children's account to avoid that.
-Inform yourself before letting your kid be a retard and fuck with the xbox.
-And finally, shows how much he cares about his kid.

Maybe it's just me but if I had been that kid and for whatever reason my mom's credit card was linked and I know that and I'm 12 years old, no matter how tempting it would be to buy all sorts of DLC for my game, I wouldn't dare because I know my mom would eventually find out and she would eventually slap the shit out of me. Also, I'd know it's not good to buy all of the things in the world with someone else's money.
So yeah, both are morons. The father deserves to have his xbox locked/banned/whatever and the kid deserves to repay his father for whatever he spent.[

WHY THE FUCK is nobody bothered that the kid plays cod?

Because we know it happens due to parents who are under the assumption that all games are appropriate for children, and that it's not their responsibility to make sure what their kid is playing actually is. Plus the stereotypical player of CoD, MWF, or Battlefield on the 360 is a 13 year old brat shouting obscenities and racial slurs over the microphone. Hell, just the other day I was talking with a guy while in line at Gamestop and he was telling me how he and his wife felt their 11 and 9 year old sons were old enough to be playing CoD. It took every ounce of restraint I had to not tell him otherwise. What's sad is that it's those kinds of parents who end up in situations like this and also blame games when their kid grows up to be a rampaging asshole.

GameStop employee here. Funny you should mention that. It's no secret that we can't sell a game to someone who looks younger than 17 years old without their ID. So whenever a parent is clearly buying a M rated game for their kid, we have to ask something like "Are you okay with the M rating of this game because it contains violence, blood and gore and strong language?". Now, here's the funny part. Parents nod at me with the most boring look on their faces as if saying "Yeah, yeah. Just gimme the damn game".

There's the rare scenario where the parent hesitates for a moment, then the kid intervenes and says he's played the game at his friend's house/his brother has it/it's not that bad and the parent buys the story. Only about 10% of the parents are genuinely surprised and put the game back, no matter if it's CoD or AC. Out of those remaining 90%, only around 20% ask something like "Oh, blood and gore is okay. But...does it have sexual stuff?". A game rarely has explicit sex scenes. It's usually provocative clothing or situations or sutff like that, so I reply with that (Depending on the game). Once they convince themselves that the game isn't gonna turn into a porn, they happily agree to buy the game.

Oh, and about 5% of all those guys overall come back days later complaining about the game being too strong for their kid and claiming we didn't warn them, trying to make us look bad to get their money back.

So...yeah, blood, gore, violence and bad words are fine...but not sexual scenes. Maker forbid those.

Anyway, personally (and I guess I was a geek), I don't remember playing a M rated game until I was 15/16, and even then I was hesitant. I felt dirty and guilty. And a bit scared (It was DMC1). And I would have never considered picking up verbal fights with strangers because that just was pointless and rude.
Yeah, maybe it was just me.

It's cultural, violence is ok but sex isn't. Other cultures see it the other way around. When in Rome...

 

[Clearing the Eye]

Why aren't IQ tests mandatory for parents yet?

Because one's I.Q. has no bearing on their ability to parent--or anything else, for that matter. It's a number arrogant twats like to parade around to make themselves feel big.

 

[JET1971]

Anyone else notice the source of the article? known untrustworthy source thats as bad if not worse than Fox news?

 

[T_ConX]

"He didn't realize it was costing real money," Ghera told the Daily Mail.

>Turn on XB360
>Go to buy some MS Points
>Dollar values of all purchasable point amounts is clearly displayed.

Sam Ghera has sent a complaint to Microsoft after discovering his 12-year-old son, Nik, had been spending up to £100 a day on "Fifa and Call of Duty," racking up a total bill of £1,150 over six months. Ghera only found out about the numerous charges to his credit card when he went to an ATM, only to be told he had insufficient funds to make a withdrawal.

That's about $1,800 in USD. How do you even spend that much on DLC for two games? I know those Cawadoody maps are overpriced, but they shouldn't set you back more than $150. I assume the rest is for the Divegrass Simulator, since I know from my own experience with the NHL series that EA tries to sell you lots of little player power ups for small prices. For that kind of cash, he must have really 'roided up his team. How he managed to get so many enhancements without realizing he was spending real world currency is a mystery. Either he honestly never knew, or he did and decided to play stupid when his dad caught him.

 

[Havoc Himself]

Realize, not release. I like being a grammar nazi.

 

[tetron]

Boo on the father for being a careless ignorant douche and boo on microsoft for being munny grubbing bastards who will gladly play off of ignorance and carelessness for some easy undeserved money.

 

[tehroc]

Love how the white knights rush in to defend their beloved game industry. I also love how majority of posters stating how the kid shouldn't be playing COD when I'm quite sure they played GTA as a minor.

 

[Marudas]

Survey Says...Bad Parenting.

I mean really, he bought his 12 year old Call of Duty and gave him a subscription to go play online and then, what, never monitored his kid or asked about what he was doing ever again? Further it appears this very responsible citizen doesn't keep track of the spending on his credit card since it took weeks for him to notice and only found out at an ATM.

Here's the thing: I'm not going to say kids under 17 shouldn't ever ever play M rated games. I played them when I was a kid (of course, at that time there wasn't online gaming and you weren't throwing a kid into a community of older players who would teach him a bunch of new words and concepts that would later get him in trouble at school, which the parent would then also complain about). The major difference is, before i was ever allowed to play an M game, my dad played it first. He would play through the game and when he was done he decided if he felt I was mature enough for the concepts in the game. Further, he'd often sit with me while I played newer games for a while. Because he's a parent, and he bought me and my brothers video games so we could have fun, not so he didn't have to parent us.

 

[teebeeohh]

Because most parents think that their children can "handle it", that just THEIR children are "mature enough". Hell, my dad took me to his work back in the early 90's, and while he worked (he was a network technician for a university) I was allowed to sit in the computer-lab and play Doom. I was 9, I think.

Now, if said game had been CoD, I doubt he would have reacted any differently. Why would he? To them, It's a game. You know, game? Fun? Hahaha? And I partially agree. Sure, some things might be inappropriate for a child, but that depends on how mature such child is. I hate to cite anecdotal information as some sort of proof but..Look at me? Been playing violent videogames all my life, and no worse off. So SOME clearly can handle it..

On a related note: When I first got my XBL-account, I needed my dads creditcard. I was 16, and my dad was outraged (and eventually called Microsoft support, located in another country even). Not because I wanted to play Ghost Recon 2 online, but because he was afraid that Microsoft would store his creditcard-information and some hacker would manage to steal it.
Heh.

In the end, I got my own credit-card (couldn't rack up more debt than I had cash,though) and was told that how I wanted to waste my own money was my problem.

So honestly, if I believe my child to be able to handle Call of Duty XXVI (You know there will be one) when he is 14, then I will let him play it. I might of course be wrong, but I doubt it will turn him into a murderer. Might give him nightmares, though.
Also, I'll explain a few things first.

i really don't think playing shooters turns your kid into a violent psychopath, i myself played a lot of quake when i was a kid and the corpses in my basement keep telling me that's not the reason.
i just don't think children should play online MP, especially in shooters. if your 12 year old is mature enough to play cod fine and if you think playing co-op with your child is good idea please do so but letting them play random pickup shooter MP unsupervised? no, not because of the game but because of the scum that tends to be attracted to online fps.

also: it probably will not be cod XXVI but cod pink future ops warfare 3, they really are afraid of the number 4