100% agree. My youngest son got hooked into a game called Mech Arena. By the time I realized he had spent 200 dollars (my fault 100%). Games like this should be forbidden or made forbidden for people under 18 years old.
Shame on me for not locking it sooner. Shame on every goddamn company that knows for a fact this is happening—probably a lot—and prefers to keep robbing people rather than do something about it (say, something ethical—like shut down their company). $100 doesn't mean much to me (like, I'm not well-off enough that I don't think a thing of spending $100, but unexpectedly losing that much every now and then has basically zero effect on my life) fortunately, but that could really screw over a lot of people, in a ruin-their-whole-month kind of way ("why do they even have a playstation to begin with if $100 can really mess them up?!" PS4s are pretty cheap, used, or may have been handed-down for free or very cheap from a better-off relative or friend, and have basically the same store and most of the same games—besides, a planned expense is very different from an unplanned one)
People want something to take their mind off of things. I am glad to hear your life is good and something you want to experience. Not everyone has that privilege.
If we're asking for utopic dreams I wouldn't mind ending world hunger while we're at it. Maybe get 99% of the world off of fossil fuels too.
Also, I'm still waiting for my jet pack.
but how is this even possible? my parents never gave me direct access to a credit card as a child. eventually I got a debit card to spend my own allowance chore money, but if I blew it all in something dumb that was my own problem. no pizza/movies with friends until I built it back up
The former is highly useful for parents and from what I can tell very common, not just for independence, but also safety reasons.
also, there's credit cards that require approval for each transaction: https://www.google.com/search?q=parental+control+credit+card...
On iOS devices, you can use Apple Pay for Uber (standard credit card charges). But I doubt many parents are putting a credit card on their child’s phone where they can just tap to pay at any store.
Even then, any and all payment options on my phone are bound to a password, I make sure I have to enter that password or fingerprint every single time.I do find it a bit strange that others, especially with young kids, wouldn't have similar securities. I'd probably be even more secure if I did.
Kids apps pull/pulled all sorts of tricks to prevent people from understanding the modal purchase confirmation dialog (eg https://www.mactrast.com/2019/04/apple-adds-an-extra-confirm... )
If I new kids would be using any device I would make sure it had no payment information accessible. Which may mean the inconvenience of adding and removing payment information before and after making purchases. I can't imagine letting a child have access to a device which can spend your money, it's essentially like letting them hold your wallet, and we probably wouldn't trust them to do that if they were in an arcade, or theatre, or shopping mall, etc.
I actually think the opposite. Spending $200 as a kid and having nothing to show for it is a lesson you won't forget in a hurry, but not life altering. We should let kids experience the risks and consequences of gambling while they still have a safety net, rather than setting them loose at 18 when it's for real.