The traps of games to make children spend money non-stop – 05/21/2023 – Market

For Nara Ward, monitoring her kids’ spending while they’re playing computer games is a full-time job.

She lives in Barbados with her husband and children — Finn, 14, and Leif, 12.

Leif was asking his family for money to buy in-game currency with which he could upgrade his character and buy virtual items. So, for Christmas, his grandparents gave him $200 in app store credit.

“To my surprise, he spent it all in a matter of days,” recalls Nara Ward. “After that, I didn’t give him more than $10 worth of in-game currency a month. He quickly became frustrated and bored with the game.”

Leif moved on to another game, which also requires players to upgrade their weaponry using credits.

“However, this game has the option to watch ads to earn credit,” explains the mother.

“He did it out of desperation when he used up his monthly gaming allowance.”

Ward says his youngest son has yet to master self-control or the use of money.

“It’s something I have to constantly police.”

Instead of just profiting from the purchase of a video game, as in the past, today many companies in the segment depend on the revenue generated by purchases made during the game and the so-called microtransactions.

This acquired content can be purely aesthetic, such as dance moves and new clothes for a character.

But purchases can also bring a tactical advantage, such as extra lives, character upgrades, and new weapons — gains over players who don’t buy these additional features.

The global online microtransactions market is forecast to grow from US$67.94 billion in 2022 to US$76.66 billion in 2023 (about R$330 billion in 2022 to R$370 billion in 2023).

However, some experts and consumers are reacting to this trend. Some companies are also promising new releases that don’t come with in-game purchases.

Gaming companies, says professor Sarah Mills, use behavioral psychology to get users to spend.

The boundary between gambling and gambling, she says, is becoming “increasingly blurred”.

Mills is Professor of Human Geography at Loughborough University (UK). Her research indicates that gambling techniques are being incorporated into gamesmaking users play longer and spend more money, in addition to making small purchases in sequence.

Vicki Shotbolt, executive director of Parent Zone, an organization that helps parents navigate their children’s digital lives, details some of the ways games use to encourage purchases.

First, by spending, players can “avoid the grind”: making an in-game purchase avoids having to spend hours in a monotonous game to level up.

The strategy behind this has been called fun painsomething like “painful fun”: you might miss out on something important or more fun if you don’t make a purchase.

Meanwhile, “obfuscation techniques” like the game’s own currencies make it hard to see how much you’re really spending.

Another tactic is the use of loot boxes (“loot boxes”): Players buy a box without knowing what’s inside. It might contain a favorably game-changing item — but more often than not, the prize is nothing more than irrelevant customization.

“Young people show embarrassment when they reflect on how much money they’ve spent trying to obtain a rare item, even if they’ve been successful at it,” says Mills.

While spending has increased, some argue that the games can still benefit young people and that fears are overblown.

Research has already shown that games, to some extent, can relieve stress, help develop cognitive skills and combat loneliness.

As a teenager, Zhenghua Yang spent two years in the hospital.

“I played a lot of video games. Games made me feel like a hero. Multiplayer games connected me to other people. I made lifelong friends from all over the world.”

In 2014, Yang founded Serenity Forge in the US, a game company with a mission to help people.

“Our business is to expand people’s horizons”, he explains.

Serenity Forge does not use microtransactions. But Yang says that could change if these features are found to contribute to “meaningful, emotionally impactful games that challenge the way you think”.

The impact of microtransactions, Yang opines, depends on the vulnerability of the user.

“Just as a credit card can be dangerous to someone in an inappropriate context, so can microtransactions. However, credit cards can also play an important role, and in-game purchases can be equally important to a player who becomes engages with your favorite game.”

Sarah Loya’s 14-year-old son, Andrew, spends almost all of his allowance on games. But for the mother, this is not a problem, and games make the teenager happy.

“He plays daily, after school and on the weekends. I really don’t see anything too negative. He’s a smart kid and he knows the difference between reality and fantasy.”

Sarah Loya lives in Texas, USA, with Andrew and his 6-year-old brother, Rex.

“My bank account is linked to Andrew’s signature so I would see if he bought something without permission,” says the 43-year-old mother. “But he always checks with me before making a purchase.”

While it can be difficult for parents to keep track of emails, passwords and credit cards registered across multiple platforms and devices, there are ways to protect your child and your bank account.

Accounts for minors on social networks and gaming platforms, in addition to parental control tools, often allow you to cancel purchases or set a spending limit.

Parents can also adjust settings to receive purchase notifications via email and use gift cards instead of credit cards.

But perhaps most important, suggests Yang, is talking to your child.

“In my experience, the problems stem from the lack of parental presence,” he says.

“Now I have two kids, and instead of using games like a babysitter, I make sure I’m present while they consume media content.”

Back in Barbados, Ward says he set limits on screen time and put passwords in place to control Leif’s use of games.

“The password is needed to make any purchases, and if he wants to add money to his account, he has to ask me. Microtransactions are annoying, but this is all a life lesson.”