In the UK the topic of children and IAPs has become a mainstream news topic in the last month. Now the Office of Fair Trading (the governmental UK consumer protection organisation) has said it will investigate if some F2P games targeting children are “misleading, commercially aggressive or otherwise unfair” or in other words “unlawful”.
Well regarded UK lawyer Jas Purewal (aka Gamer Law) who I spoke with this morning about the issue, said on Twitter:
OFT has power under Unfair Trading Regulations to take civil or criminal action against companies who trade ‘unfairly’
— Jas Purewal (@gamerlaw) April 12, 2013
Defining “unfair” as:
Unfair can mean being misleading, aggressive, or engaging in ‘unfair commercial practices’ among other things
— Jas Purewal (@gamerlaw) April 12, 2013
Ostensibly this investigation will be aimed at developers who aggressively monetise children rather that at platform holders such as Apple (whose IAP window is problematic and has been for some time). I believe that F2P is compatible with children should the the proper checks from platform holders stop accidental purchases and that parents and guardians receive the right education.
However, I don’t feel developers should be absolved of all responsibility: Some less scrupulous game makers are, in rare cases, intentionally miss-selling or confusing players in to IAPs. Here is where I believe the OFC can help by requesting changes then, in cases of unresponsive devs, move to shut down games that don’t protect and respect their customers.
My biggest concern is that the OFT are looking to somehow regulate F2P games in the UK, without a full understanding of how the model functions and where valid concerns exist, essentially putting UK developers at a disadvantage against the rest of the world. I hope that they enter in to full discussion with the industry and I would be happy to help with that.
