Father blames Microsoft as son spends £1150 on Xbox Live - Polidicks

[QUOTE=milkandcooki;36755726]So you've never played a M rated game when you were under 18? Okay.[/QUOTE] Exactly. I was playing DooM when I was 8, shit was way worse that CoD will ever be. I listened to a story from a friend of mine a couple years ago back when he played some... top down space MMO thingie... and he was sitting on top of this massive empire, top of the world, top 10 on the server type thing. Well this kid (he knew the kid to be like... 13 or something) who hated him suddenly is attacking him full force and just seems to be [I]swimming[/I] in resources. He's nuking the shit out of everything (and still losing) and it took a while before my friend finally chatted up the server admin about the kid. Guy looks into the kids recent transactions, and finds $1500 worth of purchases, for a 2D top down flash based MMO. Kid had gotten ahold of mommy's plastic and was bound and determined to take my friend down. End result, his account got banned and he got charged with credit card fraud. We estimate he's getting his ass beat to this very day.

[QUOTE=Wealth + Taste;36753210]I remember something like this. Back when Halo 3 was just released, I was hanging out with some of my stoner friends (I don't smoke myself) and we were playing around on forge. All of a sudden Justin who is completely baked says "WHOA GUYS WAIT STOP I THINK THIS SHIT COSTS REAL MONEY" and then everyone starts buying flamethrowers for 35 bucks apiece and Justin is freaking out because he doesn't know how he'll tell his parents, when the sober ones finally tell him that it's not real money and that idea is preposterous.[/QUOTE] buy a bunch of warthogs for $20k and watch Justin's head pop off like a bottle-rocket.

[QUOTE=General;36751724]That's why I have a dog[/QUOTE] [url=http://www.joystiq.com/2009/10/30/dog-buys-5000-ms-points-no-really/]No one is safe[/url]

No kid is that fucking stupid. Children know how games work, and everyone under thirty knows that.

Maybe instead of MS points prices should be displayed as real world currency! Holy shit problem solved! But seriously the MS point system is retarded, I don't want to have to convert the values everytime I buy something.

What is the actual reason behind using Microsoft Points/WiiWare thingies/whatever instead of real money? Is it to disguise how much of a rip off the Call of Duty map packs are?

[QUOTE=dass;36751702]How about... You know... [b]TEACHING HIM?[/b][/QUOTE] Nah man, I'll just let TV and Games distract him because teaching is hard!

[QUOTE=WeekendWarrior;36751717]He probably bought loads of Ultimate Team packs on FIFA.[/QUOTE] A friend of mine spent £200 of his own saving on FUT [editline]14th July 2012[/editline] Then sold his team for £220

To be honest, a separate currency does cause confusion. It's retarded that "1100 Points" is worth 15$, or "900 gold" is worth $12. It's retarded placing a product on a shelf, then putting a point currency or whatever instead of a modern currency on it. I like to buy things, and know what they are worth in a real currency, not a fake one.

reminds me of the couple who were in bed and the guy's dog was chewing on his controller at night and then purchased a fuck ton of stuff off the marketplace by accident.

This is why society is going to be fucked if we don't do something about both the father and the kid's stupidity.

[QUOTE=WubWubWompWomp;36752986]hahah god damnit of course he knows it costs money he's just a faggot.[/QUOTE] yeah those fucking gay kids making their parents bankrupt scourge of the world

[QUOTE=FlashMarsh;36758189]What is the actual reason behind using Microsoft Points/WiiWare thingies/whatever instead of real money? Is it to disguise how much of a rip off the Call of Duty map packs are?[/QUOTE] Pretty much the same reason when you get store credit: So you're guaranteeing the company profit. If you purchase something from them with it, cool, you just get what you would for the equivalent cash value generally. If you don't purchase anything with it, even better, you've just given them free profit.

brother did that. $600 on FIFA soccer player packages. he got an ass-whoopin'.

[QUOTE=EvilPengy;36751699]He shouldn't even be playing CoD in the first place. The 18 rating is there for a reason. Also it baffles me how he spent £100 on FIFA & CoD (in one day), Activision must be charging a lot for their map packs now :v:[/QUOTE] ESRB ratings aren't there to say "you're not allowed to play this", it's there to set grounds for sales (like, rated m games cannot be sold to minors) and judgement from parents. "He shouldn't even be playing CoD in the first place." unless the father didn't give him consent to play, he's 'allowed' to play it. Not that I support the parent's choice because clearly he wasn't mature enough to handle it anyways if he decided to spend his parent's money without permission like that.

[QUOTE=Character;36762318](like, rated m games cannot be sold to minors)[/QUOTE] Well technically they [b]can[/b], as far as the ESRB can legally control. But I can't imagine a single brick-and-mortar store in the country who will actually sell an M game to a 12 year old, especially since most of their employees are 18+ players who don't want yet another screaming 12 year old to have access to the game. 16 year olds and up, maybe the odd 8th grader here and there, no problem.

[QUOTE] "An apology would be nice but I'm more interested in having this problem stopped so that we as parents can stop our kids from making payments on our cards."[/QUOTE] uh you can do that in the xbox options or whatever you get nothing good day sir [editline]14th July 2012[/editline] [QUOTE=lavacano;36762489]Well technically they [b]can[/b], as far as the ESRB can legally control. But I can't imagine a single brick-and-mortar store in the country who will actually sell an M game to a 12 year old, especially since most of their employees are 18+ players who don't want yet another screaming 12 year old to have access to the game. 16 year olds and up, maybe the odd 8th grader here and there, no problem.[/QUOTE] until their moms yell at the employee, sure

[QUOTE=FlashMarsh;36758189]What is the actual reason behind using Microsoft Points/WiiWare thingies/whatever instead of real money? Is it to disguise how much of a rip off the Call of Duty map packs are?[/QUOTE] I remember reading an article in a gaming magazine about it once, it's human psychology they want to have uneven amounts because it encourages you to spend more so you don't "waste" those points that you will inevitably have left over

My younger brother did something similar to this. My grandma's credit card was on the Xbox and he was getting points. Apparently he didn't know he was buying them, he thought he was just downloading demos. It was only $15 worth and he is 7 though.

[QUOTE=latin_geek;36762833]uh you can do that in the xbox options or whatever you get nothing good day sir [editline]14th July 2012[/editline] until their moms yell at the employee, sure[/QUOTE] If the parent is yelling because her [b]sixteen year old[/b] is playing an M rated game then she is failing as a parent

[QUOTE=lavacano;36764749]If the parent is yelling because her [b]sixteen year old[/b] is playing an M rated game then she is failing as a parent[/QUOTE] There's this dumb website called Common Sense Media (pffft at their name) that practically says kids shouldn't play Halo until they're 18. If I ever see an overprotective parent that goes by their ratings religiously, I'll make sure to mention to them that they're the ones fucking up society and don't have any common sense at all.

[QUOTE=FlashMarsh;36758189]What is the actual reason behind using Microsoft Points/WiiWare thingies/whatever instead of real money? Is it to disguise how much of a rip off the Call of Duty map packs are?[/QUOTE] They wanted to create their own currency that would in theory be free from exchange rates and inflation so it'd be a fair system rather than someone in the US being able to get like 500 points for $5 but someone in Australia would be paying $10 but it didn't really work out like that, last I heard they're thinking of going back to real currencies. [editline]14th July 2012[/editline] [QUOTE=wickedplayer494;36764783]There's this dumb website called Common Sense Media (pffft at their name) that practically says kids shouldn't play Halo until they're 18. If I ever see an overprotective parent that goes by their ratings religiously, I'll make sure to mention to them that they're the ones fucking up society and don't have any common sense at all.[/QUOTE] I don't know what you mean, I played Halo before I was 18 and the next thing I knew I was murdering aliens all day it was tragic.

[QUOTE=markg06;36764828] I don't know what you mean, I played Halo before I was 18 and the next thing I knew I was murdering aliens all day it was tragic.[/QUOTE] commonsensemedia.org Words cannot describe how cancerous and shitty the idea behind the site is.

[QUOTE=markg06;36764828]They wanted to create their own currency that would in theory be free from exchange rates and inflation so it'd be a fair system rather than someone in the US being able to get like 500 points for $5 but someone in Australia would be paying $10 but it didn't really work out like that, last I heard they're thinking of going back to real currencies. [editline]14th July 2012[/editline] I don't know what you mean, I played Halo before I was 18 and the next thing I knew I was murdering aliens all day it was tragic.[/QUOTE] I'm fairly certain that the points system is in place because of how we think of money. If I purchase 1600 Microsoft Points for $20, and I spend some of those points, it feels like I'm spending points, instead of money. Something that doesn't have monetary value. I'm more willing to cough up points for something, instead of real cash.

Maybe it's not such a good idea to leave your 12 year old son with complete access to your cc information.