The game industry hates to take responsibility for its own nonsense, and as regulators around the world hold it accountable for in-game gambling, publishers are scrabbling for a scapegoat.
Introducing “Get Smart About PLAY,” a performative initiative that feigns concern for children by shifting the spotlight onto parents. The campaign relies on parental controls, and behaves as if their existence gives publishers a license to do anything in games aimed at children.
What the industry doesn’t understand, however, is that parental controls shouldn’t really be necessary for games rated as suitable for three-year-olds. In relying on parental controls, publishers are begging to have their content re-rated for adults.
And no, parental locks are NOT the same as bike stabilizers.
“We care about the children, trust us. We are corporations, after all.”
Get Smart About Being PLAYED: my new initiative to help parents realize what kind of a fiddle they are and how companies are playing them
People only think of the children when they benefit them.
“We’ve made the games as addictive and exploitative as possible, but now here are some tips on how you can waste your personal time trying to claw that back a bit”. This is the great joke of “self-regulating” industries.
So if a child gets several thousand dollars stolen from them it’s the parent’s fault and not mine?
I’m off to mug every child in town. Thanks Ukie!
Rated “M” for Microstransactions should be a thing
“You, telling parents how to rescue their kids from you.” And this ladies and gents is why I watch this channel
Dora: Can you say the last 3 digits of security code on back of mommy’s card?
Child:***
Dora: EXELENTE!
“Let’s regulate their playtime.”
“Also here have some micro-transactions to cut that grind.”?
“wolf telling sheep how not to get eaten”
Perfect
When parents start playing with children they also start spending money for microtransactions. Easier and safer way to get more people into games. Well played, well played.
I’m a 32 year old man who just doesn’t want microtransactions in games, in most cases they certainly do effect the gameplay and often times make the game less fun and excessively grindy… oh, and it effects children too… I guess.
As a bike repair professional, I can confirm that we are absolutely hiding in the bushes with bamboo poles, ready to catastrophically interrupt the spokes of any hapless passerby.
It is what our business has been based on since 1817.
This is an old corporate tactic. When corporations didn’t want to shoulder the cost of the proven and highly effective return and recycling programs that handled the waste they produced they invented the concept of the “litterbug” and shifted that responsibility and blame onto the consumer. When auto manufacturers didn’t to deal with the costs associated with mitigating the danger their cars posed to pedestrians they invented the concept of “jaywalking” and shifted the responsibility and blame onto the consumer. And no the AAA video game industry, rather than addressing their own horrendous predatory business practices are shifting the responsibility and blame onto the consumer. It is par for the very disgusting course.
Askaboutgames dot com literally lists FIFA as a “Great family game!” and only mentions Fortnite pushing you to buy things in one sentence fragment.
Disgusting.
“Parents need to learn to protect their children from predators, because there will always be predators out there,” said the predator when asked if they should maybe cut it out with the whole predating on children thing.