A U.K woman's 11 year old son somehow managed to rack up a $1700 bill on Xbox Live over a six month period.
According to the mother, she entered her card information to pay for her kid's Xbox Live membership (so that he can play video games online with his friends) 18 months ago but hadn't realized that information was saved into the Xbox Live account. Because of this, the kid was basically able to purchase anything he wanted on Xbox Live.
However, the mother doesn't blame her son for the spending spree (in fact, she didn't even punish him for it, since he apparently learned the error of his ways); she blames Microsoft. She believes that Microsoft should be monitoring how children spend money, that they shouldn't be allowed to blow through almost $283 a month in a six month period, since "it is impossible to monitor everything your children do" (the default excuse for irresponsible parents everywhere).
While I understand where the mother is coming from, I wholeheartedly disagree. Sorry, but I refuse to believe that the kid had no idea that he was blowing through so much cash, even when he was in "game mode", since you actually have to confirm both the purchase of Microsoft Points (the currency used on Xbox Live) and the use of the Points themselves. Yeah, the kid is sorry; sorry that he got caught.
Also, there are a lot of Family Controls on the Xbox. A parent can place restrictions on what games their kids can play, how long they can play them and the features they are allowed to access. This includes (but is not limited to) the ability to purchase Microsoft Points on Xbox Live or even accessing Xbox Live at all. With all of these features, the mother can hardly blame Microsoft for what happened, especially since she should have realized, at SOME point, that something was amiss with her bank account. I mean, if money was so tight, how could she have not noticed that almost $283 was disappearing from her bank account every month?
So, what do you guys think?
Bookmarks