Gaming Debt: An Issue Facing 21st Century Parents

Gaming Debt: An Issue Facing 21st Century Parents

Gaming Debt: An Issue Facing 21st Century Parents

You may well have read the many horror stories in the media about children, often as young as seven or eight, running up hundreds, if not thousands of dollars of debt on their parents’ credit cards and overdrafts without their knowledge and prior permission. This is almost always done through online gaming, where the card details are automatically stored. In some cases, it is completely accidental and in others, the kids know exactly what it is they are doing. Either way, it is a hard lesson to learn for both parents and their offspring. It can be a nightmare to get the money back, and in many cases, that money is long gone on extra lives or weapons or various other gaming add-ons.

It is not just children though. More and more adults are getting caught up in a web of debt thanks to their online gaming habits. It is not unheard of for hardcore gamers to spend more than $20,000 in the course of their gaming life on their hobby.

It is all well and good if you have that kind of cash to spend, but for most people, this is going to be a huge source of financial hardship and can get them into real problems. Combine this with the other debts that people have thanks to the way our banking and economic system works, and you have the recipe for financial disaster for many families. You can of course seek professional debt advice - don’t be put off by stories of a Debt to Success System scam as it does work!

But why is this a problem? Why are so many children emptying their parent’s bank accounts for the sake of a game?

The issue is exacerbated, particularly for kids, in that games frequently use in-house currency to make transactions that have made up names such as "Robux" to make gamers feel that the currency is not true money. However,  when 10,000 Robux is almost $100, it really is proper money, and that can cause huge problems for parents.

In many countries, campaigns have been launched to implement policies that deal with this and to make the gaming industry face the same sorts of rules and regulations that the gambling industry face, i.e. children not being able to purchase online gaming currency.

How can parents stop their children from running up a debt online?

By ensuring accounts are locked and parental controls are in place, including pin numbers, parents can take their own steps to protect their kids.

They should also ensure that receipts are sent to a managed email address from in-game transactions, which can serve as an early warning system that purchases are being made on an account.

Each console or gaming system has it’s own ways of protecting unauthorized spending and purchasing, so before you let your child loose and unsupervised, make sure you read up on how to do it for your particular device.