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Google To Stop Describing Games With In-App Purchases As 'Free'

Posted by Soulskill on from the insert-coin-to-continue dept.

An anonymous reader writes After a series of investigations, lawsuits, and fines over how in-app purchases are advertised and communicated to users, Google has agreed to stop labeling games that use in-app purchases as "Free." This change is the result of a request by the European Commission to stop misleading customers about the costs involved with using certain apps. "Games should not contain direct exhortation to children to buy items in a game or to persuade an adult to buy items for them; Consumers should be adequately informed about the payment arrangements for purchases and should not be debited through default settings without consumers' explicit consent." The EC notes that Apple has not yet done anything to address these concerns.

22 of 139 comments (clear)

  1. Apple has 'done nothing'??? by printman · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Free apps with in-app purchases show that fact right under the 'Buy' button. And a simple setting controls whether in-app purchases are allowed at all, require approval, or can go through automatically (default is require approval). And iOS 8 has the proxy stuff for family accounts (parental approval for everything if you want).

    How is this Apple 'doing nothing'?

    --
    I print, therefore I am.
    1. Re:Apple has 'done nothing'??? by tlhIngan · · Score: 4, Interesting

      The only one problem with this is there are a few good games where you can play it all for free and the in-apps are completely optional.

      Sure, the vast majority of freemium games are crap and serve only to milk people of money, but there are some (Jetpack Joyride, say) where not paying is completely an option - you're really just doing a time-money tradeoff. Play it often and you can get everything, play it a little and pay up to get the thing quicker.

      So it's not correct to say that game isn't free, either - it can be played completely for free.

      Granted, I did say the vast majority of apps don't qualify for this, but there's still a few that can be played completely to completion without investing a single dime.

      Then there are ones that offer in-apps that do stuff like remove ads - and that's it. Is it a free app, or a paid app? You can use the full thing either way, just one has ad content on it.

    2. Re:Apple has 'done nothing'??? by mick129 · · Score: 2
      This is exactly right. The article at TheVerge even states this:

      Apple has also agreed to make changes at the behest of the commission, but it hasn't agreed to any specific actions or any time line. This is much to the commission's disapproval, but Apple doesn't seem particular concerned. In a statement to the BBC, Apple actually says that it's doing "more than others" to protect consumers from in-app purchases, pointing specifically to the upcoming iOS 8 feature Ask to Buy, which prevents children from making purchases and instead allows them to send that purchase to a parent for approval.

      The summary is flamebait.

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    3. Re:Apple has 'done nothing'??? by bickerdyke · · Score: 3, Funny

      Yes.. as if alternative launchers for iOS were free.. Wait a moment: alternative laucnerhs for iOS? Oh.. sorry....

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      bickerdyke
  2. Re:Free at last by Kkloe · · Score: 2

    buy this box of /.-coins and you will be super free, 9.99 just toda

  3. Good. Now what about ads? by danbob999 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    We should be able to filter out adware applications too. I don't understand how people tolerate adware and nag screens on their cellphone. I thought the days of the infamous WinZIP "I agree" were over. I certainly wouldn't use a file browser, instant messaging client or or text editor on my PC with ads. I don't see why it would be anymore acceptable on phones.

    1. Re:Good. Now what about ads? by jellomizer · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I Want a game of decent quality, with no add, no in app purchase, no attempt to try to get you to purchase a full version, no attempt to try to upsell an other service and all free.

      Heck why limit it to game or software. I want all my products for free with no strings attached. However I want to be sure my employer pays me for my job of writing software.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    2. Re:Good. Now what about ads? by Ralph+Wiggam · · Score: 2

      Yeah. It's such bullshit that Porsche wants me to give them $180,000 for a 911 Turbo. It's just a couple pieces of metal and four wheels. They should be free.

    3. Re:Good. Now what about ads? by Garfong · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I don't want it all for free, but I think companies should be honest about their business model. I think they should distinguish between "Free" trial, "Free" with paid upgrades, "Free" ad-supported, etc.

    4. Re:Good. Now what about ads? by AthanasiusKircher · · Score: 2

      I don't want it all for free, but I think companies should be honest about their business model. I think they should distinguish between "Free" trial, "Free" with paid upgrades, "Free" ad-supported, etc.

      Agreed. I'm very happy to pay for a good app. In fact, contrary to the stupid current pricing model, I'm willing to pay WELL for a *great* app. If an app does what I want, has a good featureset, and is stable, I'd gladly drop $10 or $20 or perhaps even more on it.

      But I'll only pay for something like that if I'm guaranteed not to have a bunch of crap like ads or nag features or whatever. I'd rather pay well for a handful of great apps that work well than a boatload of free crap.

      So, I don't just want these labels on "Free" apps -- I want them on ALL apps. If you gave me a choice to (1) spend $2 for a decent app that spills ads all over my screen and nags me to upgrade or buy some related app every other day, or (2) spend $10 for an app with fewer features but also without all the ads and other crap, I'll spend the $10.

      As it is now, I can never tell whether it's worth it to try downloading other "free" apps or to spend the extra money for a paid version or for a more expensive app, because I might still end up with all this junk.

      This is particularly true for kids apps. I don't EVER want a kids app with in-app purchases. EVER. EVER. EVER. There are lots of great free (or very cheap) kids apps out there, but there's no way to know what to expect until you download the thing. And even then, you might use the thing for a few days or a week before suddenly seeing some pop-up ad to buy something.

      There's NO need for that other than greedy app makers who want to trick kids into buying things or adults who haven't figured out how to lock-down the device.

      If your app is so darn good that you think I might want to buy other stuff you made, put a link on the homescreen that says, "If you like this... more titles" or whatever. I'll find it, if I like it that much, and I have in the past.

      Otherwise -- app makers out there -- realize that I'm a parent who will pay for quality. I'm not just looking for the best thing I can get for $1. I'll pay you $5 or $10 or maybe even $20 or more if you can make something good that won't throw up some stupid crap to confuse a kid and potentially sucker people into buying stuff they didn't intend to. And I've talked to a lot of other parents who would like the same thing.

    5. Re:Good. Now what about ads? by dk20 · · Score: 2

      So, using the post right above yours...

      https://www.libreoffice.org/
      http://www.linuxmint.com/
      http://www.gimp.org/


      how are any of these quality apps tracking, selling my data or any of the other nonsense you posted?

      They say they are "free" and they don't beg for money every time you use them.
      They do have a donate page on them, but you are free click "not now" and contniue to download it.
      How hard is it to post something that is not free as "freemium" or "in app purchases" instead of free?

      "As I said, levels of ignorance."

      What does this even mean? people are ignorant when "free" games beg for money and this is not 'false advertising'?

  4. Operant conditioning - just like gambling by sinij · · Score: 4, Interesting

    These "free" games use the same addiction mechanisms, called operant conditioning, as gambling. I am surprised targeting these at minors is even allowed.

  5. Freemium vs DLC by santiago · · Score: 3, Interesting

    What I wish app stores made it easier to do is to distinguish between apps that offer one-time DLC in the form additional content (e.g. more levels, maps, factions, game modes, etc.) vs freemium apps with repeatable purchases for in-game currency and power-ups (which you need to get around the "free" game's increasing difficulty and enforced waits). The former is fine, and a good way to let people try-before-they-buy, but the latter is a toxic plague of money-grubbing crapware. As-is, I have to do things like drill down into the list of top in-app purchases and read the titles to see if consists of things like "level pack" or "10,000 gems". I'd also love it if they showed what percentage of users buy which in-app purchases, or the median amount of money spent per user on in-app purchases.

  6. Really people? by tom229 · · Score: 2

    Nothing is free. If Google has to explain that to you, you might have a hard time with the rest of your life.

    --
    If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
    1. Re:Really people? by Iamthecheese · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You're right: absolutely nothing is free. Except Linux and Chrome and Internet Explorer and Java and TCP and pictures of the Alps and FreeCiv and Libre Office and Wikipedia and the RepRap design and CERN data and the open hardware repository and NIH publications and water filter designs and Acura NSX blueprints and clothing patterns and Project Gutenberg and the Internet Archive and don't even think about saying they're "not really free". In all cases we're talking about voluntary contributions of work. Games are as digital as all of these others and claiming no game is free in that context is total bullshit.

      --
      If video games influenced behavior the Pac Man generation would be eating pills and running away from their problems.
    2. Re:Really people? by steelfood · · Score: 4, Informative

      Uh, no. Those aren't free. They're free for you the end user. But somebody pays for them. Just because it's not you doesn't make it automatically free.

      In most cases, those people are called donors. Donors can be someone unaffilliated with the organization, or they could be the very same people providing the service. Likewise, donations can come in numerous forms like time, resources, goodwill, even money.

      Sometimes, society pays, i.e. everybody pays. And when everybody pays so that only a few people benefit, that's when there are problems. Fortunately, none of those on your list fall into that category.

      So no, those things you listed aren't free. To claim that they are free is to ignore the people who've paid for them so that they can be free for you.

      --
      "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be."
    3. Re:Really people? by DRJlaw · · Score: 4, Insightful

      They're free for you the end user.

      So you agree that they're free in the sense that everyone in the discussion has been using the word "free."

      So no, those things you listed aren't free.

      I'm confused. You admitted that they're free "for you." Who has been arguing that they are costless for all? Who has defined "free" as costless for all? How do you reconcile costless for all with "free for you?"

      Actually, I'm not confused at all. You've constructed a pseudo-syllogism using a false proposition in an attempt to belittle the GP while making yourself feel authoritative and smart.

      Free doesn't mean what you think it means. You're not even a pedant, you're simply wrong. Go away.

  7. Nothing is free by phorm · · Score: 5, Insightful

    In terms of monentary cost, many useful things are. Free software also used to be less of a crapshoot (is it *really* safe, a virus/trojan, adware, or nagware)?

    Apache: Free
    OpenOffice/LibreOffice: Free
    Java: Free

    There were/are also a lot of free utilities that - while not pretty - were basically in the realm of "hey I made this to solve X for myself and thought somebody else might find it useful."

    There may be some learning involved to *use* the product, and certainly many FOSS solutions involve community-provided updates, but in terms of personal cost it's free for me.

  8. Worse yet.. by GrBear · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Worse yet are PAID apps that have in-app purchases. Companies double-dipping piss me off to no end. Either make your app free with in-app purchases, or sell it to me without extra charges later.

  9. I have a solution for the free apps. by Lumpy · · Score: 2

    It's called rooting and replacing the hosts file with a adblocking hosts file. OMG is android so much nicer after you do that.

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    Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
  10. Post the average price including in-app purchases by Visarga · · Score: 2

    Maybe they should print the average or median price for the app, including the in-app purchases. That would be more fair. "People using this app have made 3.55$ in app purchases, in average"

  11. F2P whales by tepples · · Score: 2

    Probably this Slashdot story: Study: Half of In-App Purchases Come From Only 0.15% of Players