How dangerous are microtransactions? That is what many have asked over the last several years, as many companies have gone above and beyond to try to rake in money via these in-game purchases. Sometimes, the microtransactions are visible from the start, so there are “no secrets.” However, sometimes, the developer/publisher “sneaks them in” and then expects the player to deal with it. Then, there are those that basically blanket their games with microtransactions so that players basically have no choice but to buy things to “truly enhance the experience.” Roblox definitely fits in that last category, and it’s gotten them in serious trouble.
That includes being lumped in with other microtransaction-heavy titles when certain studies or reports are made about how dangerous these things are. The latest one comes from The Guardian, who talked at length about how games like Roblox often “hide the true intent” of microtransactions, making it easier for young kids to buy things without parental consent or get screwed via the purchase not coming through despite the money being taken. One example given was a child going into a kaiju-themed game, buying a Godzilla skin, but then not getting it because of a copyright restriction from Tauhou, and not getting a refund, despite it not being his fault.
There are even countries like Australia that try to restrict such things so that gamers don’t get “taken” by the practices of these games, but it’s not enough in their minds due to certain implementations.
Naturally, the dev team behind Roblox doesn’t think it’s done anything wrong, replying to The Guardian at one point, saying:
“Our parental controls feature enables parents and caretakers to receive spending notifications for their child’s spending in Roblox and set monthly limits on their child’s account.”
While that may sound nice, as we’ve already reported, those are easy to get around or straight up bypass. One woman’s child accidentally spent $1000 without realizing it because of a delay in the system that was supposed to notify the parent. That parent didn’t get a full refund for all that money, so she was out of luck. Plus, we know of other parents who have had to deal with things like this and lost a lot more than $1000.
As such, many feel that games like these with big microtransactions within them should be M-rated, that way younger players can’t be taken advantage of without parents knowing exactly what is within these games. How that plays out remains to be seen.