This appears to be a direct consequence of a recent settlement with the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which had charged HoYoverse with deceiving minors into spending for their loot boxes. The Chinese developer was subsequently banned from selling them to users under 16 without a parent’s express consent, paid a $20 million fine to the FTC, and was also subject to the following stipulations:
- Prohibited from selling loot boxes using virtual currency without providing an option for consumers to purchase them directly with real money;
- Prohibited from misrepresenting loot box odds, prices and features;
- Required to disclose loot box odds and exchange rates for multi-tiered virtual currency;
- Required to delete any personal information previously collected from children under 13 unless they obtain parental consent to retain such data; and
- Required to comply with COPPA, including its notice and consent requirements.
@Die4Ever@retrolemmy.com @JoMiran@lemmy.ml
I don’t understand. For spending money one requires banking/card information. How children will get their guardian’s banking details without their consent?
Have you paid for things on mobile in-app? The operating system stores your info behind a password (or biometric) because adults (non-gambling as well) also hate having to memorize 16 digits flawlessly every time they needed to make payments.
Why would parents’ payment info be stored in child’s device or user account?
Not everyone buys a separate device for their children or knows how to/can set up a user account.
Ignorance is not an excuse for bad parenting.
Damn, got 'em. Actually, they deserve to lose $16,000 while raising a gambling addict because they didn’t pull up their bootstraps and micromanage everything their preteen does in “that colorful game they play.”
Mate, asking under-13s to get parent permission is provoking that good parenting you seem to care about anyway—what on earth is the problem?
Parental controls (or just not inputting card details into a phone the child has access to) is a fairly effective way to prevent the child spending the parent’s money without then knowing. Micromanagement is not typically considered good parenting; however showing interest in, and having some knowledge of, what your child spends significant time doing is.
