The son being 17 years old is what makes this really weird.
The "kid" was 17, not 8, so he's practically an adult. I would wring his neck. He knew what he was doing.
Out of curiosity, what do you propose?
Are you saying some sort of a proof of clean mental health should be a prerequisite to making a digital purchase?
Good.
Stink away. Make noise. Show how far the monetization goes. Show what can happen.
I hope the stench remains in everyone's minds.
...IThe fact that you can spend $8,000 In Digital trading cards on a game that goes obsolete In 12 months is horrifying.
Who needs personal responsibility, am I right?
It's such an outdated concept anyway.
EA builds all of their multiplayer modes around slot machine-like gambling components these days.
The dad doesn't deserve to be screwed over because of something his immature son did. For a lot of people $8000 is no joke.
Maybe if there were more public pressure on companies to do refunds for this kind of shit, they'd be more motivated to put safeguards in place. As is, they have no reason to be anything but happy if your dumb kid spends your rent money for the next year on IAP trash, unless you manage to get some publicity over it like this guy did.
I guess it's not all that different from opening Pokemon card packs as a kid. But it's weird because it's digital.
Honestly I absolutely get all that and that it was a moment of poor judgement on the dad's part.
I just think that nobody ever really "deserves" to be punished in such a severe manner and saying that anyone does just seems a bit off to me.
Thank god gaf ain't judges. Hilarious how ruthless some people here are.
Thank god gaf ain't judges. Hilarious how ruthless some people here are.
Oh, please. That is not the point, and you know it.
I'm not being pulled into a Pathfinder discussion, sorry.
This is simply not true. You do not need cards to play MP in FIFA. In fact, in standard MP you don't even use the cards. FUT is a completely separate mode.
Holding them responsible for the charges a 17 year old placed on a credit card isn't punishment. It also sets a precedent.
the kids 17, I can remember stealing chocolate bars from a convenience store at 12 and knowing it was wrong.... and maybe stealing money from my mom like once when I was 13, and felt horrible.
this kid is well old enough to know that what he did was fully stealing. and he didn't learn anything here.
Still calling bullshit on a 17 year old not knowing he was spending real money, but happy for the dad that they are getting the money back.
I don't play Fifa or on Xbox One, but if it's anything like Madden on PS4, it is very obvious you are spending real money each and every time you make a purchase.
I'm not saying that. But you people don't understand that a 8000$ can be life ruining money leading to perpetual debt if worst comes to worst.
If you guys believe that that's how it should be feel free to do so. I will strongly disagree cause empathy.
Is setting a precedent a bad thing? I mean if you can wrack up thousands upon thousands of dollars in microtransactions, creating bad publicity for them as a practice that now publishers are forced to address, that sounds like a pretty important thing for the game industry considering how despised they are as a practice overall.
Good forward thinking by MS. Give up $8K now to keep customers and make more money out of them in the future.
agreed, the father should not be on the hook because his son knows better absolutely. this is why the son should have been charged with fraud. He would have never gotten a criminal record anyway, would have been like community service...
its a good move by the company but they should ban the console at the very least.
That kid is 17 years old and mentally stable? MS shouldn't refund.
Its like stealing from your parents. Just stay the fuck out.
So now the onus is on the publishers to regulate what amounts to irresponsible parenting? The pros/cons argument for IAPs is a separate matter from companies creating policy in order to protect irresponsible people from themselves. I mean, should the credit card company have contacted the father regarding the excess charges? How long did these charges occur over? And why are we coming up with ways to excuse these people?
What was the wording in the "confirm purchase" screen? Boy can read, right?
Shouldn't refund.It's crazy to me that its even possible to spend that much on a game. Glad Xbox did the right thing here.
Always make sure your purchases require a password that only you know!
I have kids and short of stealing one of my credit cards and setting up their own Xbox account there is no way they could do this.
God people are so damn mean on this forum. Stupid kid spends $8000 on 1 game ... So the kid should get criminally charged or the father just has got to owe $8000? Over some Fifa xp bonuses or whatever
Honestly, in app purchases are a new phenomenon that don't have the checks pretty much any other purchase in the world usually has. A kid usually can't march into a store with parents credit card and spend 8 gs alone... And if they can somehow its usually refundable by returning the product. I'm glad Microsoft did the customer friendly thing here and take off the charge considering no normal family in their right mind would every pay 8 fucking thousand on Fifa
Meanwhile, EA is smiling. Sure they lose this charge, but imagine all the versions of this story that are not as extreme and they take in the dough
As I've said before, games that allow you to send that much money in-game should be governed by the same laws as gambling, taxed accordingly and kept out of reach of minors.
=Automatic R rating.
As I've said before, games that allow you to send that much money in-game should be governed by the same laws as gambling, taxed accordingly and kept out of reach of minors.
=Automatic R rating.
Unregulated gambling targeting minors.
This would effectively kill off the US market for these games. That said, I agree that consumer laws need to be overhauled in this area to keep up with technological changes. There is a need for better disclaimers. Too many stories involving itunes, play store and XBL/PSN for this issue to be ignored any longer.
This would effectively kill off the US market for these games. That said, I agree that consumer laws need to be overhauled in this area to keep up with technological changes. There is a need for better disclaimers. Too many stories involving itunes, play store and XBL/PSN for this issue to be ignored any longer.
At the very least a cap on what can be purchased in a specific time period (say $100 every 24 hours). That needs to happen yesterday.
Since unlike physical goods, getting refunds on virtual items is impossible (or it depends on the "kindness" of the company in question), there needs to be a way to limit the damage so to speak.
The end game will probably be to ban a lot of the FTP style slot reward systems as they're no different from online gambling and are freely available to minors no less. I honestly can't see a future where this stuff is allowed to continue with no oversight forever. The lengths some of these games go to make you an addict is truly terrifying. The science behind it is pretty wild.