SO-CALLED "free" web and app-based children's games are under investigation after concerns users can run up substantial costs.
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) said it was investigating whether children were being unfairly pressured or encouraged to pay for content in free games, such as upgraded membership or virtual currency in forms including coins, gems or fruit. Typically, players can access only certain areas of these games for free and must pay for higher levels or features.
The OFT has written to firms who offer such games asking them for data on how they market to children and is asking parents and consumer groups for information about potentially misleading or commercially aggressive practices.
The OFT's investigation will look into whether these games include "direct exhortations" to children, or strong encouragement to make a purchase, to do something that will require making a purchase, or to persuade an adult to make a purchase for them. It will also consider whether the full cost is made clear when they are downloaded or accessed.
The OFT senior director for goods and consumer, Cavendish Elithorn, said: "We are concerned children and their parents could be subject to unfair pressure to purchase when they are playing games they thought were free, but which can actually run up substantial costs.
"The OFT is not seeking to ban in-game purchases, but the games industry must ensure it is complying with the relevant regulations so that children are protected."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article