Mobile gaming can be one of the biggest avenues of addiction and compulsive spending for millions of people around the world. The problem is especially serious when children get hooked on video games without their parents realizing it: serious for their mental health and sometimes even for the family economy, as has happened in the case of a Chinese minor, according to the media. local.
This 13-year-old girl spent about $64,000 from her mother’s digital wallet on mobile games. She wiped out her parents’ savings in just four months after the parent checked her bank account and found that it only contained 0.5 yuan (7 cents).
The youngest, a high school student in Henan, was discovered by her mother after a teacher called her to say she thought the girl might be addicted to mobile games, warning her about the time she was spending on her phone.
When questioned by her father, the girl confessed to spending $17,000 buying games and more than $29,000 buying in-game apps. She also spent thousands of dollars giving money to at least ten classmates who wanted to buy games on her own. In total, the girl spent about $64,000.
“When they asked me to pay for their games, I paid despite not wanting to. If I didn’t send it to them, they would pester me all day. If I told the teacher, I was afraid that he would tell my parents and they would get angryâ€, says the young woman.
The Chinese government maintains a crusade against video games, going so far as to speak of them as “electronic drugs” and is already taking measures in this regard. At the moment, those under 18 years of age are restricted from playing for a single hour a day, although in many cases this alleged control is violated.
