How much of this is the result of parents allowing children to play games unattended with games they themselves have not played to vet? With all things parenting, it ultimately falls on their shoulders on what they allow their kids to do. Not shilling for the slime balls preying on kids knowing parents are lazy, but parents are not blameless.
>parents allowing children to play games unattended with games they themselves have not played to vet?
So, I'm not telling anyone else how to raise their children... but the fact that society has attitudes like this contributed to my own personal decision to not have any children of my own.
Playing every game your child plays seems... really excessive. I know when I was a child in the '80s and '90s, I had a lot of alone time on the computer, and got to explore a lot of things without my parents; I think it was good for me? I mean, unquestionably, it contributed to my income later on, but I think it might have been good for me in other ways, too?
I think it was probably good for my parents, too.
But then, I super want to reiterate that I am not telling others how to raise kids; I've worked with a few people who kept their kid with them almost 24x7, and that was what they wanted. And it seemed to work out ok? I've totally opted out of that whole thing. I'm just saying, I don't expect anyone to be with their kid 24x7.
> How much of this is the result of parents allowing children to play games unattended with games they themselves have not played to vet?
None of it. You can try it. You can have a million parents leave a million children alone for most of the day, and not even a bitmap image of one cartoon coin or anything will magically be created, much less the code and distribution channels for a whole game. It doesn't make existing "wholesome" games automatically devolve into other games either, the code and assets don't change at all.
The people who actually do make these things, who do exploit some parents having a lot on their plate: where were their parents then, and where are their peers now? The crime of "not paying enough attention to what your child is doing, which results in a person you love being harmed, and you paying money", is tiny versus the crime of "ruthlessly preying on children for financial gain". Looking away when your child plays such a game is nothing compared to looking away when people make and distribute them.
I don't have children so I'm hesitant to point fingers at parents. I have the ability to make derpy things to sell to children, and I'm not doing that also because in my mind, only a.) children and b.) very careful, well trained and aware adults should make entertainment for children. So unlike parents, I judge those "creators" mercilessly. I cannot even stand the overly "hyped" streamers and youtubers who makes sure they don't swear to be "family-friendly" and not get "demonetized", but otherwise talk crap 24/365 that is fit to turn any brain to mush... but apps and games pushed onto kids directly is yet another level of depraved.
Where is society making an effort to warn parents, that you get to call them lazy for maybe not even considering some people would be so sick and morally bankrupt? What effort was made since Elsagate to warn anything about that stuff? That there's millions of dollars on the line has nothing to do with it, just lazy parents?
> In my mind, only a.) children and b.) very careful, well trained and aware adults should make entertainment for children.
I absolutely agree with the thrust of your post, but this strikes me as a little extreme. I don't believe J.K. Rowling, for instance, had any specific training on child psychology or the like when she began writing Harry Potter.
Creating non-exploitive content targeted at children is not rocket science.
I agree, but not based on Harry Potter or Rowling (never read Harry Potter), but maybe Astrid Lindgren, and countless others. Strike the "training", but keep the awareness, the thinking about what one is doing, which I feel is sorely missing from many youtubers. You're right, it's not rocket science, but some people who woulnd't be able to spill a bucket if you handed them one, can still find someone to setup a camera, mic and "gamer chair" or them, and click upload on their behalf.
Maybe we were weird, but from my childhood, I remember how even kids 2 years older or younger might as well have lived in an entirely different world, much less adults or parents. Now I can't find a let's play for a game I'm interested in without coming across what is basically 20-40+ people showing off to 10+ people. This wouldn't be possible without the distortion of "virtual reality" I think. Imagine a 25 year old person coming by a bunch of 13 year olds and lifting a trash can or doing $any_other_stupid_shit, so the kids can be their "fans" and "supporters", and maybe sneak them some cents out of mommy's wallet. That's what I see when I look at a lot of youtube.
When 'society' keeps getting worse, the only advocate remaining for the child is the parent.
I agree that those who make these apps are worse than the parents who are too busy to catch/prevent such incidents before they happen, but those sorts of people have been with humanity for a looong time and aren't going anywhere any time soon. I have been somewhat surprised and saddened to see comments suggesting so in this thread turn gray.
I'm not saying we should give up on improving society and trying to eliminate this sort of crap, but this is always what parenting has been about. If you have the attitude that everyone else needs to responsible for preventing these issues and it's okay for parents not to take any of that responsibility, I'm sorry but you are wrong. We need to do both.
I vet all of my kid's games, but this particular pattern was not a deal-breaker for me. However, I've set my Google Play Store to require a password for each purchase. When my kid gets confused, he gets negative feedback in the form of a frustrating dead-end. Hopefully that'll help learning.
Kids don't stand a chance.