![]() The game publishers and Apple point out that device owners can turn off the option to conduct in-app purchases by going to the Settings app, then hitting the General button, then the Restrictions option. In either game, it’s possible to buy $99.99 worth of “gems” in one go. TeamLava, the publisher of “Bakery Story” and “Farm Story,” says the games follow all of Apple’s rules and restrictions. His son’s shopping spree cost $140.Ĭhris Gropp, another Canadian, said he had not entered his iTunes password the same day his son bought $67 in Smurfberries, apparently without being asked for the password. He had last entered his password on the iPod four or five hours earlier, he said. I was amazed that he’d figured out a way to do it, because I was sure that he would have needed my password.” “And as soon as I saw the Smurfberries, I knew that he’d purchased them using my credit card. “He came to me all proud and said he’d figured out a way to get all these Smurfberries,” Butterworth says. That didn’t help, once he’d loaded “The Smurfs’ Village.” He was careful to let at least 15 minutes pass after a password entry before letting his 5-year-old son play with his iPod touch. The parents contacted for the story received refunds from Apple after complaining, and praised the company’s responsiveness.īut there’s reason to believe that the password timeout doesn’t always work.Īndrew Butterworth of Brooklyn, Ontario, was well aware of how in-app purchases work and of the password-free period. Spokeswoman Trudy Muller says the password system is adequate and points out that parents can restrict in-app purchases. That means that if a user enters the password for a purchase or a free app upgrade, then hands the phone or iPad over to a kid, the child will not be stopped by a password prompt.Ĭapcom and other game publishers have no control over the 15-minute password-free period, which is set by Apple.Īpple defends its system. But there is no password challenge if the owner has entered the password in the last 15 minutes for any reason. Usually, the purchases require the owner of the device to enter his or her iTunes password. But there’s a loophole in the in-app purchase process that children stick their fingers through. It’s quite likely that most of the money pulled in by these games comes from addicted adults who want to quickly build their Smurf villages, bakeries, zoos and zombie farms. ![]() Capcom spokesman Michael Larson says “Smurfs” is no different from other games in this regard, and the bulk purchasing option is useful to adult “power players.” Also, the option to buy $59.99 worth of Smurfberries at a time remains. The warnings may alert parents, but it’s doubtful that they’d deter children who can’t read and don’t understand money. The game has retreated to being the fourth-highest-grossing app in the App Store. The 17 highest-rated comments on “The Smurfs’ Village” in the App Store all complain about the high cost of the Smurfberries, and two commencers call it a “scam.”Ĭapcom Entertainment, the publisher of “The Smurfs’ Village,” says inadvertent purchases by children are “lamentable.” When it realized what was happening, it added a warning about the option of in-app purchases to the game’s description in the App Store, and it’s updating the game to include warnings inside it as well. Rummelhart joins a number of parents who have been horrified by purchases of Smurfberries and other virtual items in top App Store games. ![]() ![]() She counts herself lucky that her son didn’t start tapping on another purchase button, like the “wheelbarrow” of Smurfberries for $59.99. Never in my wildest dreams did I think they would be charging things on it,” the 36-year-old mother said. “Really, my biggest concern was them scratching the screen. In this case, her son bought one bushel and 11 buckets of “Smurfberries,” tokens that speed up gameplay. Rummelhart had no idea that it was possible to buy things - with real money - inside the game. Her 4-year-old son was using her iPad to play the game and racked up $66.88 in charges on her credit card without knowing what he was doing. So where does the money come from? Kelly Rummelhart of Gridley, Calif., has part of the answer. NEW YORK - “The Smurfs’ Village,” a game for the iPhone and other Apple gadgets, was released a month ago and quickly became the highest-grossing application in the iTunes store. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |