(UK)FarmVille user runs up £900 debt

(UK)FarmVille user runs up £900 debt

www.guardian.co.uk

A mother has warned of the risk of children spending hundreds of pounds on "free" online games available through Facebook after her 12-year-old son ran up bills of more than £900 without her knowledge.

The woman, who prefers to remain anonymous, discovered last month that her son had spent more than £900 on FarmVille. He had emptied his own savings account of £288 and had used her credit card to the tune of £625 to pay the bills.

FarmVille, one of the most popular games on Facebook, allows members to manage a virtual farm by planting, growing and harvesting crops, trees and livesto

(visit the link for the full news article)

I thought this was ATS worthy as some members have have said that Farmville had a hypnotic effect on some people and seemed to be darker than what it seems at face value. Perhaps this is just another example of bad parenting, but perhaps it is more. For someone, even a child, to spend several hundred dollars on something so trivial seems very alarming to me.

www.guardian.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

I didn't know it cost money???? Hmm... I don't play it though.
This is very odd....

Silly mom for letting her son have access to her credit cards unsupervised.

They should just make an App in facebook where you can grow weed in FarmVille and sell in Mafia Wars.

Spending money on (insert your vice)-ville is no different than gamers spending money for time on Xbox Live.

Yea, it's a waste of time and money, but it's their business not mine.

It's amazing how well these games on facebook have taken off, having played them myself they are very clever in how they try to suck you in.

Rewards are plentyfull in the begining stages and it gives the allusion that you are progressing quickly and you are being rewarded for your clicks, all the while you are bombarded with buy this buy that so that when your progress slows to a snails pace you can just buy your way forward.

This woman has learnt an expensive leason about letting your credit card out of sight.

I have never spent a penny on the games myself but I can see the allure it just seems to me all I would be doing is trading my hard earned cash on being able to click my mouse a bit more.

[edit on 8-4-2010 by jpmail]

reply to post by Happyfeet


legaly cant she get her money back from her credit card company
since her child is a minor and used her card without knowledge.

just read the whole story
womans an idiot and deserves it.
she should go to the police get the crime number and fix it.
the Kid desreves a caution since he knew what he was doing.

untill then zynga are 100% right and so are HSBC

[edit on 8-4-2010 by illusive man]

My best friends wife is addicted to Farmville, Bedazzled and some other facebook 'games.' When she couldn't access facebook recently she scared the crap out of myself and a couple of friends - I'd never seen her so pissed off, we all thought that something horrific had happened, but no, she just couldn't play Farmville.

She's also depressed, can barely hold down her job and has the amazing ability to make everyone around her also feel miserable, which is why I don't spend much time at their house anymore. I tried to help her, but she's not interested in listening.

I can't help but think that the constant, repetitive and ultimately pointless act of playing these games is a contributory factor in her depression, and it's also a huge waste of time. I wonder how many brain-hours are wasted playing these games?

Wow

I play Farmville all the time, luv it, and I have spent a little bit on it (the occassional $10), but there's NO WAY I would let that happen.
There is no need to pay anything at all to play the game, it just has extra's you can buy.

If my kids touched my credit card they would get their hands chopped off
Fancy allowing a 12 year old access to such a card, madness!

.

reply to post by eightfold


That really is excessive, getting all worked up over a game, but I would suggest an underlying problem in her case, she may have no other outlet for her frustration so aiming her anger at not being able to play the game is her only way to deal. (if that made sense)

Playing these games is not always a waste of brain power, in fact they can be brain stimulating for some people, especially those who's day to day lives don't hold much challenge for them. The brain can become bogged down in the mundane and just a short time of game playing can sometimes stimulate a person on to better thoughts.

On the other side of the coin, I actually find and hour or two of mind numbing game play helps wind the brain down from daily worries and stresses and makes it easier to go to sleep (for me anyway)

reply to post by PennyQ


Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the odd game too. My mates wife takes it to excessive levels tho and there are plenty of people I'm friends with on facebook that appear to do the same. It's one thing to play games a bit, it's another thing entirely to play them compulsively.

Although it's a joke site, it shows up how it can be serious...

www.cracked.com...

I play Texas Hold'em Poker and Mafia Wars on Facebook, but would never pay for some coins, virtual money or something at all!
That is madness!

Respect

Farmville does my head in.....its demanding as you have to allow hours or day to grow crops and then harvest them within a certain time.

Had to give it up as I saw it pointless really!

BUT each to their own.............~I guess!!

Sad for the young lad having to take his mum's credit card JUST goes to show how its soooooooooooo addictive it is.

SAD

I was addicted to EQ for about 6 months...(my first, and now only, online MMORPG)...

Eventually, I recognized the addiction, and left it.

So far, I think my only remaining one is this site, hehe....

I used to alternate my eggplant with tulips, grapes with strawberries, etc. for a stately-looking farm. I had the tractor, seeder, and harvester but didn't have the fuel to run them due to my refusal to spend bogus Federal Reserve notes for more-bogus Farmville cash. The farm got large enough to where I would pretty much be required to pay or spend far too much time clicking to plow and plant each individual square.

Then one day I decided to plow my plots and not plant anything....

I was at level 282 in Mafia wars and had finished Cuba entirely, close to getting NY done, and doing pretty fair in Moscow. NY and Cuba collections were complete. I had lots of canonazo and TNT so I could always defend my fellow mafioso's. I was taking guys out on the hitlist left and right, winning those two achievements pretty easily. I had one heck of a crew also.

Then one day I decided to gift all of my heavy-metal items randomly to those 696 people in my mafia and cease playing.

This escapism was fun and got me through a few of life's toughies by way of distraction.

Ultimately it was a waste of time and I haven't played since.

Originally posted by iamsupermanv2
Spending money on (insert your vice)-ville is no different than gamers spending money for time on Xbox Live.

Hey there's a huge difference there!!!

I would spend money on xbox live, but wouldnt spend it on growing crops and trees and other farm stuff on facebook. At least xbox live is actually fun

If I wanted to grow something I would go buy some stuff for real, lol

I love to play Farmville and Mafia Wars but when all is said and done it's just pixels on a screen. I can however, see how a young child would want all the extras. The freebies are enough for me; I can't see spending hard earned money on a silly game.

Much as I would like to blame the companies it's a parents job to teach their children right from wrong and using a credit card that isn't yours to pay for anything is wrong.