2 days ago
Online and mobile games can manipulate children as young as three into purchases, warns report
Children as young as three are manipulated into making online purchases in many mobile and online games, according to Ireland's Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC).
The CCPC was one of 20 consumer agencies taking part in an international sweep of 439 mobile and online games to identify potential consumer harms. The sweep, coordinated by the International Consumer Protection Enforcement Network (ICPEN), found several design techniques that may aim to manipulate players as young as three into making decisions or purchases they wouldn't otherwise make.
The CCPC said it will now assess the report 'for potential breaches of EU and Irish consumer protection law" by the games.
The research found that 24% of the games investigated used urgency style design techniques pressuring players to make a purchase of something scarce, and 38% used the same tactics to encourage players to purchase items only available for a limited time. Other forms of manipulative design techniques included 'nagging' design techniques. Around 60% of the games sent notifications to players to log back into the game to claim some form of reward, and 32% of games pressured players to purchase an item such as a life, energy or a booster, after losing.
Of the games swept, 78% had some form of virtual currency built into the game. Virtual currencies are digital forms of in-game money players can use to purchase items within the in-game economy such as loot boxes, lives, or weapons. Loot boxes are in-game rewards bought with real or virtual currency, or earned by watching in-game ads or spending time in the game.
'The presence of these items/practices was as common in games that were classified as appropriate starting at the age of three, as they were in those for ages 12 and up. As such, it seems that the age rating alone may not be an adequate way to protect minors from these practices or inform their parents about their presence in the game,' the report stated.
"In addition, parental controls and other practices aimed at protecting minors were only found in a small subsection of the games included in the sweep. Of the games that did include parental controls they were observed to be easy to setup and reinforce in 44% of the cases."
Only 30% of games with loot boxes disclosed the presence of this monetisation mechanism at the download stage. The research in the sweep of games took place between March 31 and April 11.
"The sweep uncovered the presence of several practices that could potentially harm consumers," the report concluded. "Given the prevalence of these practices in video games and the worldwide reach of this entertainment industry, the participating members of the sweep recommend more action from the industry, regulatory bodies and legislators."
