Pocket Gamer Court: Should regulators get involved with IAPs and free-to-play games?
Money talks
Gamers are a curious bunch.
If we hear a single peep about regulators getting involved in our gory, blood-soaked murder simulators, we're up in arms.
But if said regulators want to regulate F2P games, we're suddenly stoked to have our hobby under government scrutiny.
I'm talking, of course, about the European Commission's plans to hold talks with Apple, Google, policy makers, and consumer protection authorities to produce clearer guidelines for free-to-play games and in-app purchases.
But should regulators be getting involved at all? Or is it down to players and parents to make the right choices when shopping on the App Store and Google Play?
That's what we want to discuss in this, our next PG Court feature.
Leave your comments on the subject of regulators in the, erm, comments section below. We'll then highlight the best comments for, against, and somewhere in the middle on regulatory intervention next week.
So, are the EC's suggestions - which seem to extend to just changing the way free-to-play games are labelled - enough? Are strict F2P guidelines fair on those making games with "responsible" IAPs? What rules should be put in place?
