[gman83]

There's a lot of peer pressure among kids to play certain games. I bought a Nintendo Switch for my kids, and they certainly love the games, but a lot of their friends play games like Clash Royale together. Games like this are full of in-app purchases to be a better player. So obviously, they ask if they can play these kinds of games. For the moment, they're still satisfied playing on their Switch, but once they get their own phones I guess I won't be able to control what they do any longer.

[exdsq]

There’s a really good South Park episode on microtransactions and why they’re stupid. The devil explains to Stan why people get addicted and how stupid it is to be addicted to microtransactions in a game about collecting Canadough to spend on building a city. I’d watch it and consider re-watching it with your kids prior to getting phones, I think it genuinely might work at highlighting why they’re a bad thing! Obviously you might watch the episode and judge it as too rude, but if I remember correctly it’s mostly the Canadians farting at each other and Jimmy getting people addicted to it on street corners. I have pretty addictive tendencies and I think it would have worked on me!

[exdsq]

Edit: for context here’s a clip https://youtu.be/2luhwy3KAE0