Consumer advocates raise the alarm: Children in the addiction trap!

Consumer advocates raise the alarm: Children in the addiction trap!

In today's digital world, children and adolescents aged 10 to 18 years spend an average of 95 minutes a day with video games on their smartphones. A current study by the Federal Association of Consumer Centers (VZBV) has now raised the alarm and has targeted five popular free smartphone games: Fortnite, Roblox, Clash of Clans, Monopoly Go and Subway Surfers. These games generate significant income from in-app and in-game purchases, which can not only lead to financial and health risks, but is also criticized as a manipulative trickery. Loud KN-ONLINE.de Is this particularly unfair to young users who often do not control their expenses.

The VZBV emphasizes that users often cannot clearly see how much money they actually spend. "The use of such tricks is not only opportunistic, but can also have an addictive effect," said Sabrina Wagner from VZBV. These manipulative techniques, also known as "Dark Patterns", contain unsolicited purchase offers, daily rewards for game progress and even veiled prices that falsify the perception of the actual costs. This is shown by an investigation by the Federal Consumer Center, which indicates the problematic methods of game developers.

reactions of the game developers

The industry association Game has defended the in-app purchases as a common practice that is well understood by players and is legally permissible. Felix Falk, Managing Director of Game, emphasizes, however, that the real costs of in-game purchases must be clearly displayed. Four of the five criticized game manufacturers have already submitted injunctive relief, while against Roblox an injunction is pending due to the use of the virtual currency "Robux". Epic Games reacted to allegations and removed misleading discount ads for V-Bucks in Fortnite.

The problem is not just an issue for the manufacturers. In-game purchases represent a billion dollar business in which users spend real money on virtual goods. This can be particularly dangerous for children and adolescents, since they are often unable to estimate the consequences of their purchases. The consumer center recommends parents to take preventive measures in order to avoid in-app purchases, such as storing passwords and prohibiting payment data on devices.

Advantages of in-app purchases and tips for avoiding cost traps

The use of in-app purchases can increase the fun and the user experience at short notice, but they also rely on the risk of countless small purchases. On the platform of the Consumer center are listed to avoid cost traps:

• check before playing whether in-game purchases are necessary.
• Protect purchase processes with password or biometry.
• Do not save any payment methods and use prepaid vouchers.
• Restore the purchases at Android, deactivate in-app purchases in iOS.
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• third -party lock to prevent unauthorized purchases.

The VZBV also plans to publish a position paper on digital fairness act in order to request tougher measures against manipulative in-app purchases, since the digital services from 2022 is considered inadequate. In order to make the digital game worlds more fairer and more transparent, a reform is urgently necessary, as well as Test.de emphasized.