In what can safely be called a "cautionary tale" a young girl (currently attending second grade) racked up a gargantuan $1400 bill for her parents this week while playing Smurfs' Village - a Farmville-esque freemium online game published by Capcom. The item that caught her eye? Dozens of barrels of delicious, delicious smurfberries.
According to the girl's mother, Stephanie Kay, young Madison had been playing the game for a long time and didn't know that the smurfberries were a freemium item that cost actual money. So she kept buying and buying until her mother got the enormous iTunes bill.
After appealing to Apple, Kay was able to secure a one-time full refund for the purchases. She has gone on to say that she believes the Smurf's Village app is a sort of "mouse trap" designed to trick kids into billing large sums of money to their parents. The smurfberries that Madison purchased can cost up to $90 per purchase. Kay notes that the app says it is for ages 4 and up, and she says 4-year-old kids have no business buying $90 virtual goods.
There was reportedly a disclaimer from the game's publisher that popped up warning about the purchases. However, it's worth noting that a disclaimer wont work very well in a game played by 4-year-olds when an average child learns to read at ages 6-7.
On the Smurfs' Village iTunes page there is an immediate disclaimer that states: "PLEASE NOTE: Smurf Village is free to play, but charges real money for additional in-app content. You may lock out the ability to purchase in-app content by adjusting your device’s settings."
It's unknown whether that statement has always been on the page, or if it was added in light of this event.
What do you think? Should so-called "credit card bait" apps be banned by Apple? Or should the parents be asked to be more responsible for monitoring their kid's gaming habits?
lbarouf
March 02, 2011 at 6:15pm
I would see best fit to have in-app purchases controlled on a per app basis, similar to the current "Allowed Content" in the Restrictions section, and defaulted to disabled. Apple as a good corporate citizen enforce this change. While I may want to subscribe to the version 32 of the daily (finally not crashing anymore), I may not want to have my niece buy $1M of SmurfPoop.
txSketcher
February 14, 2011 at 1:53pm
How long does it take to rack up that kind of bill? Maybe that's to long for a 7 year-old to have their "brain" glued to a digital device. Ya think? That is one expensive babysitter!
Be a parent, fix the settings to protect your child from their bad decisions.
But at least they are learning the lesson: If you make purchases you can't afford and don't read the instructions/disclaimer, you can still get a bail out because "it's not your fault". (see all the commercials for bailing folks out of their credit card charges)
Get a box of legos, some playdough, a doll, a dot2dot book, a bike, a real game that you play with other real children - in person, you know like Candyland. You will still come out way ahead on $ and your child have social skills, develop their imagination and motor skills. yeah!
MacAddict4Life
February 16, 2011 at 3:59pm
Your kids will not, however, learn English or grammar that way.
aksupertiger
February 10, 2011 at 8:05pm
This is called parenting.
People should not give their children an unrestricted iOS device or they will suffer consequences. However, smurfs village is trying to get money out of parents, which isn't right. Parents just need to be more careful.
opiapr
February 10, 2011 at 4:25pm
WTF there are many safeguards to prevent this from happening. Like not giving the iTunes passwords to kid is just like given them your credit card. Also adjusting apps and devices setting.
But there are many irresponsible parents that blames anything but there ignorance.
stevengu
February 10, 2011 at 3:23pm
What the frack? They really need to fix this issue. Otherwise, there will be many other cases similar to Madison's.
mac_fanatic
February 10, 2011 at 2:49pm
What about a required parental control option for kids games ?
zachsterza1994
February 10, 2011 at 2:18pm
hard to say, should they be band for how people purchase the app? If my little sister went to iTunes and pushed the buy button over and over again on a movie and it rakes up a few hundred $, should iTunes be band? Parents should keep a eye out for things like that. I have a little sister and I don't trust her with my iPhone without any payment options on someone with credit should watch out twice as hard.
Major1
February 10, 2011 at 2:14pm
Whoa, what happened to "parental responsibility"?????
Why would any parent allow any child the iTunes password to d/load a game? And if the parent in question d/loaded the game for the child why would they not first login and examine the game and it's features?
And finally why would a parent give their child and unrestricted iOS device?
I have an 8 year old and a 4 year old niece. Both have an iPod touch which are set up correctly. Also, when I give them my iPhone I make sure I change the settings.
And ignorance is absolutely no excuse as Apple has 1 year FREE support to explain how to do these things. Come on people, personal responsibility. It's really pathetic that in the 21st century people are unaware of the risks of technology.
Stop blaming others and look in the mirror.
PiaMom1
February 15, 2011 at 7:37am
Let me tell ya about "parental responsibility." I have 5 year old twins. I am a teacher and therefore think I closely watch what my children do. I also think exploration is important and I can see how tech savvy young people are, due in part to these devices being commonplace in their worlds. I downloaded the app onto my iPad and was exploring it while the one twin looked on. A few minutes in, my other son asked me to install it on the iTouch. He sat on the other side of me. Literally 5 minutes in to building "my" 1st garden in the village on the iPad, I discovered that they could purchase the berries. I deleted it immediately off the iPad, and then the iTouch. To say it was on there a total of five minutes would be generous. A few days later, we got a $144 bill on the touch! We also disputed it and it was removed, but there is NO PASSWORD to make these purchases. Once the app is on there, you are free to buy as you wish. The disclaimer, if it was even on there yet, was not in view because I read the opening paragraph of the app's description. It's not ignorance, it's busy parents getting robbed on an app that is clearly there to sneak in a few charges. Why does anyone really need $99 in SMURF BERRIES??? Especially a game geared toward young children.
I agree parents need to monitor what their child is doing, but you can't blame others when you haven't walked in their shoes.
MindsCave
February 10, 2011 at 1:16pm
$90 is perfectly reasonable for berries. Come on - there is only one reason for purchases of virtual berries are at $90 bux. The company that created the program wants to profit off of kids. We all know that this can be disabled but they are obviously taking advantage of people. Enough said - this app should be buried.
iMac.27
February 10, 2011 at 12:17pm
Yes, they need to fix this.
These developers know the average player is going to be 5 yrs old.
The purchase part should be locked by default and have to be unlocked with iTunes password.
If the parent gives the password to the kid then it's their fault.
TechnoFlubber
February 15, 2011 at 9:19pm
It does have to be unlocked by the iTunes password. Every time a purchase is made. On every app.
