'Free' Games Dominate Top-Grossing Game List On App Store 161
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.'"
Setup parental controls now (Score:5, Insightful)
Even if you leave every other setting unlocked you should go in and setup parental controls on your device to block in app purchasing. Do it now before you head out to the restaurant and you load up something to keep the kids amused not realizing that because you just finished downloading it your itunes account is still unlocked and the kids can buy whatever they want without a password for the next few minutes.
Even if you don't have kids of your own, you might be out with friends or family that do and your generous act of amusing the kids turns expensive.
Apple isn't a parenting service! (Score:5, Insightful)
I find it hard to blame Apple for this problem when parents are giving their unsupervised children an iDevice with credit card information.
Re:If you.... (Score:3, Insightful)
Here have a stick, they can be fun.
Pfft. Every hardcore gamer knows that logs are better than sticks.
What rolls down stairs
alone or in pairs,
and over your neighbor's dog?
What's great for a snack,
And fits on your back?
It's log, log, log
It's log, it's log,
It's big, it's heavy, it's wood.
It's log, it's log, it's better than bad, it's good.