Video game trends fuel ‘bullying and exploitation of children’
VIDEO games are leading to children being bullied and humiliated in the playground, a report by the Children’s Commissioner has found.
Researchers discovered children were being “scorned” if they did not have the latest digital “skins” – costumes that must be bought as extras to the game – for their characters in video games such as Fortnite.
Anne Longfield said children were “open to exploitation” because firms had designed the games to encourage children to spend ever more money improving the performance and appearance of their characters or teams.
Simone Vibert, senior policy analyst at the Children’s Commissioner’s Office and author of the report, said: “We found that children felt pressure to buy
Fortnite skins to avoid being seen as ‘the poor kid’ at school. “Video game outfits are now being viewed by school children as social markers in the same way as the latest pair of trainers or fashion accessory was in the playground for previous generations.”
One 10-year-old girl told researchers: “If you’re a default skin [one without any paid for additions], people think you’re trash.”
The report said children were spending hundreds of pounds “chasing their losses” on online video game purchases which offered unknown rewards that could boost their characters or players in games like FIFA.
Ms Longfield said the so-called “loot boxes”, in which gamers buy a random selection of items, should be classified as a form of gambling and barred for children. She also called for maximum daily spending limits to be imposed as some children spend up to £300 a year on games.
Ms Longfield said: “Children are open to exploitation by games companies who play on their need to keep up with friends and to advance to further stages of a game by encouraging children to spend on loot boxes.”
She added that all online games should also have legally enforced age ratings the same as films.
A loophole meant there was no requirement for games distributed online to be age-related and no enforcement, unlike video games released in a physical form where retailers can be prosecuted for selling videos to someone under-aged.
This meant children as young as three could be exposed to violent games which included blood, gore, stabbing and shooting.
Ms Longfield cited one investigation that found more than 50 games rated on Google’s Play Store as suitable for young children but with inappropriate or dubious content.