this post was submitted on 13 Sep 2024
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Consumer groups denounce video games’ manipulative spending tactics (www.beuc.eu)
submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 month ago (5 children)

The manipulative tactics listed in the article:

  • Consumers cannot see the real cost of digital items, leading to overspending: the lack of price transparency of premium in-game currencies and the need to buy extra currency in bundles pushes consumers to spend more. In-game purchases should always be displayed in real money (e.g.: Euro), or at least they should display the equivalence in real-world currency.
  • Companies’ claims that gamers prefer in-game premium currencies are wrong: Many consumers find this unnecessary step misleading and prefer buying items directly with real money.
  • Consumers are often denied their rights when using premium in-game currencies, tied to unfair terms favouring game developers.
  • Children are even more vulnerable to these manipulative tactics. Data shows that children in Europe are spending on average €39 per month on in-game purchases. While they are among the ones playing the most, they have limited financial literacy and are easily swayed by virtual currencies.
[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago (3 children)

All of these would be fixed by banning in game purchases with real money.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago (2 children)

That's probably not going to work. There will be less incentive for companies to work on a game if they can't turn it into money stream. Especially big and expensive games. I think the outline above is pretty fair and a good start. They should throw on top of it banning loot boxes since they essentially develop gambling behavior in children.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I don't get this. Charge a reasonable price for the game, which should include all in game content. Don't make people pay for the game and then for more stuff in the game, especially if it gives them an unfair advantage over other players just for having paid.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

Then games like Fortnite or Apex Legends wouldn't make sense because the whole idea is that in-game spending funds ongoing development. Development and servers cost money, and assuming that new game sales will continue indefinitely doesn't make any sense.

What I think we should do is require discontinued MP games to be self-hostable, improve price transparency, and ban in-game purchases for minors. That should do a lot to correct the poor behavior of these companies without destroying the evergreen MP game model. This won't impact games that already do things mostly ethically (e.g. Minecraft) and will require changes to the worst of the abusers.

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