In-app purchases
Tuesday, July 10, 2012 at 2:59AM In-app purchases are becoming very popular among mobile developers looking to make more revenue from their products, particular games. Most of the apps that include them are free, but some still have a minimal asking price and the debate continues as to how effective they are and if they represent good value for money.
I hate them.
I have a few issues with them, but the main one is that I never feel as if I own the app. There are games, particularly those aimed at children, that offer in-apps that can cost a fortune and the eventual cost can be well over £50. There are other games that are so difficult that you cannot progress unless you spend money for new weapons, levels and the like. And then there are those games that seemingly offer you more levels if you pass previous ones yet you still have to spend money to progress.
It happens on iOS and Android and on a personal level I would rather pay £5 for a game and own it completely. In-apps are stealth methods of dragging money out of your pocket and as I said, I hate them!
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Reader Comments (8)
If they provide additional content over and above what was promised in the description then I don't have a problem. But I agree that there a lot of apps that get ridiculous. Of course we are free to write a bad review or not buy in the first place. At least the App Store (Apple's, I don't know about Android) shows that there are in-app purchases.
I hate them too. To me it's a bait-and-switch; you think you're buying a game for 76p but to get anywhere you have to spend extra. Should be illegal.
There's a program called GameCIH which allows many of these in-app purchases to be obtained without purchase, e.g. with Dead Target you can get free money and gold. It seems to do this by changing the app's stored values. Obviously this is something he developers could prevent if the practice became widespread so it's not a long-term solution.
GameCIH is also interesting from a legality point of view. You're using it to get something you're supposed to have to pay for, but if in-app purchases are of questionable legality then where does that leave it? Do two wrongs make a right?
Paging Neil... ;o)
Hate them too. Generally ruin fluidity of game play too.
If they provide additional content over and above what was promised in the description then I don't have a problem.
Snap. In some ways, as long as they are clear at point of purchase that they are required for specific functionality, I do not mind (since I am likely simply to avoid them) but it does need to be very clear!
GameCIH is also interesting from a legality point of view. You're using it to get something you're supposed to have to pay for, but if in-app purchases are of questionable legality then where does that leave it? Do two wrongs make a right?
Generally, breaking one law to rectify a supposed wrong is not a defence, although I say "generally" as offences involving dishonesty may well not be made out in this situation.
However, what is the offence here... It's not theft, as the definition is not made out; it is more likely to be obtaining by deception (s1, Theft Act 1978) but I'd have to revisit some case law to see if it is possible to deceive a machine — memory tells me that one cannot deceive a machine... In any case, to my mind, this is really not a "service" of the type to which the act refers — in 1978, it was likely to be persuading a plumber that he was supposed to be doing work for you rather than whoever had actually paid him, and something like that, not enabling additional functionality in an application by means of changing some code!
How about a key generator that turns the demo version of some software into the full version? That's presumably illegal but isn't all that different to what GameCIH does.
Not that I'm arguing that what GameCIH does is illegal; it's just an interesting grey area.
That's presumably illegal
Any idea of which law would make it illegal?
To me, it sounds more like a copyright infringement (circumvention of technical protection) rather than a crime... if it is a crime, I can't immediately place it.
There's no way I'm paying for more stuff just to get more stuff in a game. Next they'll be charging us to watch the end of a movie!
Well not being a lawyer I use 'illegal' to mean anything you could be prosecuted for. I know there are differences between criminal and civil cases, but to me what matters is 'Can I get done for this?'
I am however all over the fact that copyright infringement is not actually theft, either legally or logically, and explain it at length to anyone who'll listen ;o)
In the USA I suspect that GameCIH may fall foul of the DMCA. I know we have our own equivalent but not surprisingly, given the websites I frequent, I know more about the DMCA.