The German Federal Court of Justice has banned an in-app purchasing ad today (Jan 9) in the game Runes of Magic , as it was believed that the ad was aimed at children as a direct advertisement to purchase items within the game.
The ban was put into place because of how the Court interpreted the advertisement, which was posted on the Runes of Magic forums by its developer Gameforge (a German videogame developer most notable for its browser-based multiplayer games, like OGame ). The advertisement posted was titled “The Pimping Week” and prompted players to buy what sounds like cosmetic items, with a direct included in the post.
“This week again you have the opportunity to vamp up your character. Seize the advantageous opportunity and add that certain something to your armour and weapons,” Gameforge’s advertisement read.
Allegedly, words such as “pimping” and “vamp up” are popular slang words used by children in Germany. This, combined with the informal use of the word “you” (which, in Germany, is used when speaking to friends or children), made the Court pass a ban on the advertisement for it being aimed at children.
While I do agree with banning this sort of behaviour in favour of protecting children from making an irresponsible mistake or being conditioned / indoctrinated to “buy-buy-buy”, I can’t help but wonder how exactly a child could actually follow through with this sort of thing without access to, well, money. Kids aren’t going get very far if they don’t have access to money to spend on it, or at least not without the guidance of an adult.
Perhaps it’s the very notion of an ad aimed squarely at children that’s caused the German Court to go, “oi!”. I think I can understand the stigma behind that nonetheless.
This court ruling was allegedly made in line with a European Union official instruction that considers direct advertising to children to be an illegal practice. CVG comments that this conclusion to the incident could be set as an example for other European countries in regards to this sort of issue.
Source: Computer and Video Games .