To wonder how children get money to spend on games?

[WallyWallyWally]

Article in the Guardian today about lucky-dip style “loot boxes” in various games being too much like gambling, and children (up to 16yrs) are spending hundreds of £££ on them.

My question is: How do they get the money? Are they spending their own money, or parents money? Why aren’t the parents preventing this?

We’ve had one instance with DS aged 10, who spent about £60 buying Fortnite battle passes using the credit card associated with the PS4 because we hadn’t set it up securely. He was punished, paid back the money from savings and hasn’t done it again. We’ve secured the card.

www.theguardian.com/society/2019/oct/22/clamp-down-on-fortnite-loot-boxes-urges-childrens-commissioner

Ours is secured on the switch...if my dd aged 7 wants new games she asks and we go buy them.Having said that our gaming devices are all in full public view due to her age so we know what she is doing on them at all times....its me and my husbands job to police her activities and we do...I would be more worried a 10 year old was playing fortnight...thought the fortnight games were classed as older? I apologise if I am way off on this but thought it was the case?

I've never put my card details on the PS4. If DS wants money for a game he saves and buys himself a gift card.

Mine are always badgering me for robux or vbux whatever they are and I always say no. I'm not having you waste money on a virtual game. They are 8&11. They aren't allowed to use pocket money on this either because they'd still need to use my card and I refuse to do it. I'm apparently so mean.... tough!

My 10 and 11 year olds play fortnite, as do most of their friends

If ours want to spend money on games they need to use pocket money or birthday money. They arent allowed to use ALL their money on games online though.

Some months they spend £5-£10 online, others nothing. Dc1 has friends who get to buy anything they want on there, £20+ a week given to them by parents

My kids get 10 pound vouchers in their stockings. Sometimes they buy them with their pocket money, but just 10 pounds a time.

We don’t have our cards linked to any games. But we occasionally give ds a voucher card to spend or relatives will.

There's a big difference between 10 and 16. A 10yo can probably only get money via pocket money and birthday gifts, and a parent can control what they spend it on to some extent.

At 14/15 kids can have a part-time or holiday job and can spend their money on what they like.

Parents who are gamers themselves are probably more likely to understand/support their kids spending some money online.

I always get the impression the ones spending hundreds (or thousands in some cases) are using their parents money. When fortnite did the blackhole recently I saw a story where the parents/mother had gone to the papers because her son, 10-12 I think, had spent more than £3k and it was the end of the world for him. My only thought was why have you spent that much money on a game!

I don't personally agree with children that young playing games like that, I've seen a 4 year old playing fortnite and it doesn't sit right at all, but spending more than a few pounds is crazy.

Fwiw I do think loot boxes are a form of gambling, but I don't see how the government can easily enforce any controls?

Dd is 9 and often spend her pocket money on robux (currency for Roblox) and I don't have a problem with this. Dh and I both have games we have spent money on, why wouldn't we allow dd to spend her money on something that makes her happy?

I have the password to put the money into the account and she won't get that password, so there's always a discussion about what s she's buying. We wouldn't approve of those type of lucky bag, and would explain why she wouldn't be allowed to buy one.

Some kids get a lot of Christmas and birthday money. Some parents might be ok with them spending it on gaming.

@codenameduchess I loved it when fortnite went offline and I said to my 11yo see that's why we don't spend real money on it. I hate the game and would delete it but literally all his friends are on it and he's desperate to be part of that, I do feel for him with peer pressure but I am strict with that and his phone, they both go off at 7 on a school night and 8 on a weekend - I turn his phone off but in morning he has texts come through sent at 11pm at night from other 10/11yos so I'm the mean mum again!

Some kids are spoiled and it's easier for parents to say yes rather than say no and have a tantrum/argument.
I wouldn't be at all surprised to find that some parents have their credit card linked to the account and just let kids do what they want.
Children under the age of 16 might have Christmas/pocket money but usually these things have to be linked to a card, which under 16s wouldn't have.

No games consoles don't have to be linked to a card. I buy a gift card to pay for the annual online service and my son buys a gift card if he saves and buys it himself for skins etc.

Ours (6 & 8) occasionally spend their own money on minecraft/Lego world packs or Robux. They have to come put their money in a jar that I keep in the kitchen which goes towards house things. They’re both generally good at not spending all of their money and I put a £10 max for spending on the Xbox in any week.

I’ve spent money on games before and don’t see how it’s any worse than buying plastic tat with it.

Fortnite/apex legends things cost a fortune though and I wouldn’t allow that just because the prices are so high.

And I pay using my card (or DP does) but it’s protected by a password that the we are careful not to let the kids know.

If they ever tried to buy without permission that would be the end of having a linked card.

I despair that anyone puts a credit card on any device. Just buy the relevant points either in a shop like GAME or on a reputable website like cd keys. I pad games need to have a password enabled so dc can’t buy anything without it but I do think I pad games can have accidental in game purchases.

It was a while ago but the PS4 network was hacked in to and data stolen.

I imagine many dc spend birthday money and pocket money. I game but I have self control so haven’t ever bought anything cosmetic in game. I don’t approve of loot boxes but if it is their money then they can spend it on loot crates and a timely reminder of how when they get bored of a game there is nothing left to show for it would be what I would be saying,

Mine is one of the spoilt kids...she has 2 games a month downloaded on to our card.Roughly between 80 and 90.00 for both. Thing is is you buy your kids the consoles then you have to pay continuously for the running of them.no point having them otherwise.I find she likes the building,puzzle kind of games and its better spent on that than loads of plastic tat lol dolls and pooping unicorn rubbish! In fairness I wish these consoles didnt exist to be honest but they do and we are stuck with them! For now at least....

DH has an Xbox that DS used for Fortnite.

We removed it in the end as he was becoming so aggressive with it.

He’s got all his old interests back, drawing, reading, goes out with his friends etc, it’s the best thing we ever did!

Sally no you don't have to pay continuously to run them . I pay once a year for the on service then ds spends about £20 of his own money about once every 3 months. He has games and will get another at Christmas or birthday. £90 to me is a full amount spent on a birthday not a every month expense.

re: 10 yr old playing Fortnite. It’s a really cartoony game, an electronic version of cops-n-robbers as far as I can see. No different to pointing their fingers or a stick and saying “bang! Yr dead!”. I confess that I really enjoy a sneaky game if it when dS is at school ;-) things like CoD and GTA are entirely different, they are made to be really lifelike.

Anyway, back on topic. I’d forgotten that 14-16 yr olds could earn money (we're in France, children 16 and under are not allowed to work). So I guess they could be spending their own money.

We don’t seem to have had such a problem with loot boxes / lucky dip type things. Tbh when they’ve asked for that kind of thing online or IRL DH and I are pretty scathing - why would anyone waste their money on something when they didn’t know what they are getting? I guess it’s like scratch cards, which I really can’t see the point of either - though someone must buy them.

I really like the ideas / approaches above re keeping a tally of what birthday and other money is spent on. We tend to go half-ers with them on more expensive games, maybe 2-3 times a year. Otherwise it’s bday / Christmas money, but I don’t want them to spend every last cent of it in pixels.

I’m also shocked at 90 pounds a month. My kids play a lot of games but most of them are free downloaded to their tablet. Most games don’t need in-app spending to advance. It’s an extra bonus.