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'Free' Games Dominate Top-Grossing Game List On App Store
An anonymous reader writes "Why are there so many free games listed in the top 10 grossing games over in Apple's App Store? Because some feature exorbitant in-app purchase fees for virtual items. Quoting ZDNet: 'Developing "free" games aimed specifically at children, and then bundling ridiculously priced in-app purchases inside those "free" games feels scammy to me. Sure, it's not illegal, and it's not against Apple's developer terms and conditions, but Apple is a company that prides itself in protecting users from harm. Most of the game developers do make an attempt to warn users that the game "changes real money for additional in-app content" but it's a lame attempt. It's easily missed, and kids aren't going to read it anyway.'"
"but Apple is a company that prides itself in protecting users from harm"
Whoa, what?
Look, I'm not trying to attack anybody here, but that's an incredibly stupid statement. Apple doesn't really care whether its customers come to harm, and neither do Google or Microsoft or any other comparable companies anybody can come up with. Liability and profit are the only concerns. As long as it doesn't cost them anything, they don't care whether or not you get completely screwed over, destroyed, etc.
Utter nonsense.
Agreed. Remember the 1990s? All the 900 numbers advertised to kids in commercials? This is the same deal. The people that setup these things deserve to be flayed, but it's the responsibility of parents to teach their kids responsibility.