Boy spends mum's £1000 on Xbox Live

By Robert Purchese Published 8 February, 2011

"[MS] take advantage of vulnerable people."

An 11 year-old boy has spent £1082.52 of his mother's money on Xbox Live. Who's to blame? Obviously Microsoft.

"It is ridiculous to allow someone of his age to make payments without any checks being done," out of pocket mother Dawn Matthews told the Daily Mail.

"When he is in gaming mode he can't be thinking about the money. You can't put all that responsibility on a young boy.

"It is impossible to monitor everything your children do. These companies should take some responsibility. They take advantage of vulnerable people."

Dawn Matthews presumably entered her credit card details to buy a Gold Xbox Live membership for her son, Brendan Matthews. "I thought it was just for his membership to play online with his friends," she said, evidently unaware her details would be saved for convenient future reuse.

"When I showed him [the bill] he burst into tears," Dawn Matthews recalled. "He unplugged the Xbox and said he didn't want it any more.

"I haven't punished him because he feels bad enough and I know he won't do it again."

Brendan Matthews would have had to select and confirm the credit card each time he bought a wad of Microsoft Points. His spending spree of £1082.52 amounts to 126,364 Microsoft Points. Are they sure he didn't know what he was doing?

Microsoft, in retort, highlighted the Xbox 360 parental controls. By default, a spokesperson explained, online activity for a child's Live account is turned off.

"A thousand pounds isn't that much to people like Bill Gates," concluded Dawn Matthews, "but for a single mum it is a lot of money that I don't have."

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (205) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Lexx87 #1 1 year ago

    I can see it from both sides I suppose. I'd say the boy knew he was spending but didn't realise the extent to which it was.

    The mother I suppose should have been more informed and checked these things, with parental controls etc, but maybe Microsoft should have made it easier to see what is happening or at least make you enter your security code when you purchase something.

    I don't know really both areas probably need some work.

  • HisDudness #2 1 year ago

    Can't she just return the merchandise? Oh wait...

  • CrunchinJelly #3 1 year ago

    Jesus, what did he spend 1k on?!

  • Perfecto #4 1 year ago

    Mum = Idiot

  • alimokrane #5 1 year ago

    Sure let's blame MS .... when it is so obvious that you have to reconfirm your card details everytime you want to buy something...
    Edited by alimokrane at 08/02/11 @ 10:32

  • WinterSnowblind #6 1 year ago

    Don't the parental features stop kids from being able to buy things? She even said that she left her card details on the thing to make it easier for him to buy things in the future. I can't see how this is MS's fault at all.

  • drchocapic #7 1 year ago

    "vulnerable" means stupid these days.

  • Rpt81 #8 1 year ago

    "When I showed him [the bill] he burst into tears," Dawn Matthews recalled. "He unplugged the Xbox and said he didn't want it any more.

    "I haven't punished him because he feels bad enough and I know he won't do it again."

    And the award for most gullible mother of 2011 goes to...

  • lordofthedunce #9 1 year ago

    A parent should probably be there when their card details are being used for the first time on the 360, at which point an option to set up parental controls can be offered.

  • Fab4 #10 1 year ago

    "When he is in gaming mode"...how about entering 'parenting mode' once in a while.

  • J0rdan_KZ #11 1 year ago

    Er... Parental controls?

  • ShapeThrower #12 1 year ago

    I can tell what sort of parent this is ... This is the same sort of parent I've watched in store being handed a copy of Red Dead Redemption/CoD: Black Ops (or some other age restricted title) by their child, ignore all the warning about the content on the box and purchase it for said child.
    Then when they finally watch them playing a portion of it with violence/bad language they complain ...

    Children need to be supervised or the parental controls provided on the system (which the PS3 doesn't have by the way) need to be used effectively. You don't give you child your credit card to buy something on Amazon without monitoring the transaction, why was this any different ...

    But that's just my opinion ...

  • Markitron #13 1 year ago

    MS shouldnt have dignified this with a response. If person A gives person B their credit card details and person B abuses the privelige, how is anyone else's fault?
    Edited by Markitron at 08/02/11 @ 10:39

  • Fab4 #14 1 year ago

    Btw, the boy looks like a young Adrian Monk :-D

  • LittleMousy #15 1 year ago

    And how much of this stuff was 18-rated? What's she going to get him for his birthday, a porn site subscription?

  • RobotRocker #16 1 year ago

    Typical "middle class idiot has no responsibility or even teaches their child about financial responsibility cries about it to a hack so they can take their side and paint them as a victim" story. Good grief.

    /Its absolutely true because I read it in the Daily Mail. They never mince their words in the good ol' Daily Mail.

  • Vice.Destroyer #17 1 year ago

    It's not often that I applaud Daily Mail readers, but it seems that the overwhelming majority are clued up enough to understand that the blame here lies with the mother and not with Microsoft. Also, LOL at the kid and his gormless expression. He knows he has been caught out and will be laughed at for years to come.

  • seabassuk #18 1 year ago

    Two words: Parental controls. I have no sympathy for those who do not research their consoles a little bit to prevent these sorts of things.

    "at least make you enter your security code when you purchase something."
    Which would be a hassle for other people. Having the option to do so would be better.

    "Maybe Microsoft should have made it easier to see what is happening or at least make you enter your security code when you purchase something."
    Why? Because the mother can't be bothered to read up on the console. I know we tend not to look at manuals these days but they are provided for a reason and if she had used her common sense and combined that with the knowledge she could have gotten by reading the instructions could save her money

    I really hate how parents plonk their children in front of consoles and then not paying attention at what they are doing and then act surprised and outraged when something does go wrong ¬_¬

  • customfirmware #19 1 year ago

    Can't really blame Microsoft for this but it's a nightmare getting your credit details from them once they have it.

  • sadakos_fury #20 1 year ago

    "I haven't punished him because he feels bad enough and I know he won't do it again."

    That's your problem right there missus.

  • Ercarret #21 1 year ago

    But ... how do you spend £1000 on XBL? That's insane. If I add up everything I've ever bought on XBL during my three years with 360, I'm not even close to that sum. And how could his mother NOT know that he spent all that money? It's just ... I don't know. It just seems weird.

  • RandolphScott #22 1 year ago

    "When he is in gaming mode he can't be thinking about the money. You can't put all that responsibility on a young boy"

    No you can't, you ridiculous woman.
    Edited by RandolphScott at 08/02/11 @ 11:29

  • YobRenoops #23 1 year ago

    If I'd done that my mum would have torn my a new arsehole on my fucking face.

    Then set my dad on me.

    Then called my nan.

    /hidesandrockslikearomanianorphan

  • Stelfury #24 1 year ago

    The kid obviously knew what he was doing. The mother is stupid and gullible to believe her son didn't know what he was doing. If he knew to ask her for her card details to buy gold can she not figure out that he knew how he had to pay for over 100k worth or microsoft points. And it isnt hard to monitor what your kids does on the xbox 360 but i'm guessing the kid doesnt actually have a child account so how would microsoft know that he was child? also guessing she wasn't their when the detail were being entered as I am sure there is an option to not save the details or something along those line. The only person to blame here is both mother and child for being ridiculously stupid.

  • asphaltcowboy #25 1 year ago

    I notice the EG article doesn't mention that this took place over 6 months. How exactly did she not notice?

    Typical bullshit from the DailyFail.

  • Fab4 #26 1 year ago

    Its like all those 'parents' you see on the xbox.com suspensions forum asking why little Johnny was suspended and then finding out it was because his profile proclaimed his ability to 'ass-rape your gran' or was selling 10th prestige lobbies.

  • aldo_14 #27 1 year ago

    It's not often that I applaud Daily Mail readers, but it seems that the overwhelming majority are clued up enough to understand that the blame here lies with the mother and not with Microsoft.

    Are you sure that's not just because she's identified as a single mother?

  • Skurmedel #28 1 year ago

    I think it's more shocking that EG is reading the Daily Mail.

  • TheEarlOfZinger #29 1 year ago

    *Captain Mainwaring voice*

    Stupid boy!

  • chibber23 #30 1 year ago

    I can't see why anyone in there right minds would blame MS for this, the woman is an idiot - she's not punished her son, she left Credit Card details unprotected on the console and she's gone wingeing to the press to try and get a handount from a company that provides the tools for her to stop this from happening. Also, have you seen the childs age? Shouldnt she have at least checked in to see what he was doing/playing on his console. I think the previous poster is correct in saying she seems to be the kind of parent who complains about her son playing an 18 rated game after she has purchased it for him.

    Also, this took place over 6 MONTHS - does she not check her credit card statements? If she's skint and vunrable surely you have more reson to check your statement than anyone else!

    And ShapeThrower - the PS3 has perental control settings that can be set up in the options menu (each game has a number rating that can be blocked for users) and you can password protect your purchases on the store. I've not got kids but you have to type my password in to buy anything from the store just incase someone breaks in, nicks my PS3 and thinks about going on a spree before I know about it.
    Edited by chibber23 at 08/02/11 @ 10:52

  • Shinetop #31 1 year ago

    "You can't put all that responsibility on a young boy."

    She's right. You can't. That's why all that stuff is disabled for children by default. She's the one who put the responsibility on him by enabling it.

  • SBfistfun #32 1 year ago

    "but for a single mum it is a lot of money that I don't have."

    Should have thought of that before you opened your legs, take some responsibilty.

    Bint!

  • mfnick #33 1 year ago

    Definitely able to see both sides here. You should just be able to enter your CC details once for Gold & thats it. But no, MS are cunts & tie your CC details to that profile until you jump through a load of hoops to get it removed.

    I had to explain the whole MS points system & Gold stuff to my sister when she bought her young one a 360. She didnt even know you could download games on it. But now she knows & she only gets him the points cards & gets Gold from cards too. A sa general rule, NEVER put your CC details on your 360. If its wasnt for me she wouldnt have had a clue. It definitely needs to be clearer.

  • DrStrangelove #34 1 year ago

    "It is ridiculous to allow someone of his age to make payments without any checks being done"
    It is ridiculous to enter your credit card details anywhere without knowing what you're doing.

    "When he is in gaming mode he can't be thinking about the money. You can't put all that responsibility on a young boy."
    Why did she do that then?

    "It is impossible to monitor everything your children do. These companies should take some responsibility. They take advantage of vulnerable people."
    I think she should take responsibility for her own actions.

    Of course, this is unfortunate, but you can't expect the world to take the blame for every mistake you make. Many people seem to expect a care-free world without any consequences, but that's not how it works. Being "vulnerable", whatever that's supposed to mean, doesn't save you from reality.
    Edited by DrStrangelove at 08/02/11 @ 10:51

  • abdo #35 1 year ago

    @ShapeThrower

    The PS3 does in fact have parental controls. I don't see why you'd bring it up when the console in question is a 360.

  • Mkwone #36 1 year ago

    That poor woman, her kid must of not realised points where actually money and clicked on everything over a few days...

    However, Brendan repeatedly clicked on additions and extensions - racking up a £1082.52 debt to her account over six months

    6 months! and you didn't know something was wrong?

    Jesus woman, you're not the victim here.


    EDIT: Also the Xbox is not the childs carer/minder. When he goes into 'game mode', you still have a responsibility over him.
    Edited by Mkwone at 08/02/11 @ 11:00

  • BabyJesus #37 1 year ago

    Parental controls exist for a reason.

    Use them instead of wasting your time reading the Daily Heil.

  • scowat #38 1 year ago

    Post deleted at 16:41:01 08-02-2012

  • TopKatt #39 1 year ago

    @abdo

    You're right the PS3 does have parental controls. Not only that but you don't have to enter any payment information to allow online multiplay obviously.

    @scowat

    Exactly, and if she'd used her email address in the sign up process and bothered to check her emails once in a while that might have started alarm bells ringing as well.
    Edited by TopKatt at 08/02/11 @ 10:58

  • Dizzy #40 1 year ago

    He could buy a lot more stuff with those credit card details on the Internet. She is lucky he only used in on Live.

  • mrblonde #41 1 year ago

    As usual anything to do with EVIL gaming and the company gets the blame , while the parents take no responsibility for their children. Just the same with 18 RATED games etc....
    At least the young lad had some sense and spent the money on this generations BEST ONLINE experience and not sonys PSN.
    Edited by mrblonde at 08/02/11 @ 11:16

  • Toothball #42 1 year ago

    Sometimes I do find myself a little disturbed with how easy it is to spend money on XBox Live. For example:

    "Brendan Matthews would have had to select and confirm the credit card each time he bought a wad of Microsoft Points." - it's a bit easier than that really. With the latest Dash it automatically asks you if you want to buy points if you don't have enough to complete a purchase. While it does say "You are paying with credit card ending in XXXX", the focus of that screen is definitely the part where you select how many points you want. Pick one of them and you get a nice "Points added to your account" message and you continue with the purchase. I find that part of the process very convenient, perhaps even too convenient at times (switching on the Xbox after an evening at the pub for example), but here it seems to have been the main issue.

    Perhaps they could stick a few more warnings along the way, but I would expect that many Xbox gamers are responsible for their own finances and don't need such hand-holding. Also, it seems that this amount was accrued over six months. Sounds like she hadn't been checking her statements that closely either.

    @customfirmware

    It took me a while to figure it out, but you can remove cards via Microsoft's various sites. http://billing.microsoft.com has more account details than are available at xbox.com. You can move your Live subscription to other cards on there and remove old ones. You still need to call up to cancel though.

  • Antaios #43 1 year ago

    If you go and do some old fashioned parenting and be involved and show interest in what your children are doing, this sort of thing would not happen. "It is impossible to monitor everything your children do?" No, under your roof it bloody well isn't.

  • bad09 #44 1 year ago

    Coming up next a mum blames Ford for her son driving her car with the keys she left with him.

    Honestly you leave your card details on an eleven year olds account and you are surprised when he uses it? What about the parental controls anyway? Take some fucking responsibilty for your own child and the things they do FFS!
    Edited by bad09 at 08/02/11 @ 11:02

  • EVERYGAMER #45 1 year ago

    I can see how the debt was built up over time as I am just as much to blame with steam and those cheap weekend or publisher deals they do. Mass Effect for only £3.99 you say I can afford that. But it does all build up. Still while working for GAME I know that myself and most of my colleges would always ask if the console was for the parent or their kids etc and base our sales pitch around that. ie "Dont worry about your kids doing stuff they should'nt as there are parental controls as standard with every xbox 360, I can even show you them on the demo pod over here if you like?". Parents know about the safeguards they just don't bother to use them!

  • Spekingur #46 1 year ago

    I don't think children need to be supervised. I think the parents need to be though.

  • DwarfyP #47 1 year ago

    I buy a lot of stuff on Xbox Live. It is all Microsoft's fault I want the content.

    There are a few checks on XBL.

    Is the Live Account registered to someone 18+?
    Is there a credit card on file?
    Parental locks on the console.

    Its totally her fault. Ignorance isn't a defence against stupidity.

  • kinky_mong #48 1 year ago

    Over £1000 on downloadable content?! Does she just buy him Capcom games?

  • SilverInfinity #49 1 year ago

    Damn everyone here already beat me to the pertinent points :D

    I wonder how much money she got for selling the "story" to the daily mail was it enough to pay off the credit card bill?

    @Perfecto - Hit the nail right on the head lol

  • Britesparc Verified Creative, ITV #50 1 year ago

    My brother's had a Live account since the 360 came out, and he's 19 now. Before he turned 18, it was bloody hard to do anything - it wouldn't even let him access Messenger from the dashboard. My mum had to approve - with her own password - every decision or financial transaction. And even when we lowered all the settings to their most lenient (as he was 16 by now and pretty responsible), it still restricted some things.

    So whilst I sympathise with families who don't really understand the technology their kids are using, the Xbox has fairly robust privacy and protection controls in my opinion.

  • EVERYGAMER #51 1 year ago

    I'd like to see all children under the age of 15 banned from xbox live. Then maybe I'd win a game of Call of Duty ;-)

  • respectyourelder #52 1 year ago

    This kid much have the charm and manipulation skills of a fictional international spy!

    racked up over a grand on MS points and didn't get a telling off because his mum takes pity on him... i mean for God's sake, he would have had to go through the point buying process at least 50 odd times... not a chance in hell he didn't know what he was doing by the end of it!

    Instead of blaming it on the big bad MS corporation why not pay a little attention to what you're kid's doing online for a change! Does my head in that parents take little to no time to figure out the ins and outs of their kid's favourite past times, and then it's suddenly the games industry's fault when they get bit on the arse!

    Expected better from the Daily Mail as well... oh wait...
    Edited by respectyourelder at 08/02/11 @ 11:11

  • RoaringPanda #53 1 year ago

    lol daily mail

  • Frumper #54 1 year ago

    As mentioned, the fact that this is over a long period of time removes, Guile leg sweep style, the last wobbly leg that she's standing on.

    She's failed to set up a child's Live account, activate parental controls, take responsibility for her credit card details, monitor her credit card bills, monitor her son's activity. No-one else to blame but herself...and the kid. There's no way he didn't know what he was doing, unless he can't read.

  • DwarfyP #55 1 year ago

    Also, why do people keep referencing Bill Gates? He doesn't work for Microsoft anymore.

  • azazel_fallenangel #56 1 year ago

    Just out of interest, how much content is there actually on XBL? How much would you have to spend before you had it all?
    Someone tallied up the App Store a few months back, has anyone done the same for the console stores?

  • Moribundman #57 1 year ago

    With all this in mind - once you've saved your card details you don't get any additional checks when making a purchase... Which is worth considering here. The woman is however blindingly stupid not to notice £1000 going to Microsoft over a period of 6 months; if she's so responsible with the single parent family's finances how exactly did junior sneak that past her?

    On the topic of parental controls - would it not be possible for Microsoft to automatically lock "Child" accounts access to 18 rated games? Yeah all the naughty kiddiwinks will fob their parents off into setting up an admin or adult account but at least MS are displaying due dilligence. Of course that throws up the issue of games not working after parents have gullibly bought them for little Timmy and chucked the receipt, but that just highlights their dickheadedness and might tech them a lesson...

  • BuffoonBassoon #58 1 year ago

    she sounds retarded

  • midnight_walker #59 1 year ago

    That kid's life must be like Will's off The Inbetweeners.

  • ZizouFC #60 1 year ago

    I like his dashboard theme. lolz

  • Whitster #61 1 year ago

    I love the fact that this is the first comment on the Daily Mails site:

    "This proves that Xbox fees cost too much...... Also its competitor the PS3 costs nothing for the online and you don’t have to pay monthly fees that range between £5-a-month to £40-a-year that is completely ridiculous The PS3 has a advanced membership called play station plus (PS plus) £9.99 a month, when bought you get free games and discounts on all the things from the play station store (PS store) that is a quite a good deal...... And not having to pay for everything on top. The money system on PS3 is counted in real money so it is easier to count how much money you are spending, on Xbox 360 it is counted "Microsoft points" this makes it harder to count what you are spending. But that my opinion because games console/s is a very opinionated subject (I own PS3 system)"

    Even they aren't immune to fanbois!

  • Moribundman #62 1 year ago

    EA should never have launched "Project $1,748..."

  • BuddyChrist #63 1 year ago

    How did he not run out of Hard drive space?!? Unless he purchased a thousand pieces of avatar clothing.

    Good job he didn't have a ps3, he'd only need to buy 4 PSN games to top that...

  • arcam #64 1 year ago

    if she's so responsible with the single parent family's finances how exactly did junior sneak that past her?

    Maybe she's not that responsible? Yes, in many ways it was her fault, but I don't really like the POV that just because a single parent doesn't understand the concept of console profiles, or the kid doesn't understand the value of Microsoft points, they deserve anything they get.

    I wouldn't be surprised if this happens everyday, just not as much as £1000 and the stories don't get in the newspaper.

  • levitate #65 1 year ago

    When I was a young lad I used my mum's phone and racked up phone bills because I used my USR Robotics modem to call BBS all around Europe. When she found out (which she did after ONLY A MONTH) I got punished for it. Later in life I got myself my own landline so I could use it as much as I want, my responsibility to pay for the calls.

    Allowing your kid to use your credit card and not finding out if the details are saved is irresponsible and stupid. If she's in such a tight spot she shouldn't let her son use the card in the first place. There are healthier and more productive things for an 11-year old to do then sit with an Xbox in "gaming mode".

  • KayJay #66 1 year ago

    @Whitster - I bet that was coolbritannia :)

  • ShapeThrower #67 1 year ago

    @chibber23 .. That it does thank's for reminding me, I suppose a better way for me to phrase it would be that Microsoft actively promote the Parental Controls available on their console, I haven't seen anything like that from Sony concerning this feature ..

  • BEXANT #68 1 year ago

    If anyone actually believes that this kid didn't know how much he was spending they want their heads testing! Every purchase of points needs to be selected and the price in local currency is displayed at the side of it.

    I know we all know this but come on if he didn't realise what he was spending I'm a monkey's uncle. And I'm not an uncle to anyone!

  • Moribundman #69 1 year ago

    @arcam Apologies for being unclear. That wasn't my intention when I said that. Certainly not saying she's irresponsible because she's a single mother. I'm saying she can't play that card for sympathy when by definition, she should be the only one making purchases on that card, and she is unlkely to be buying anything from Microsoft as would be clearly stated.

    I'm not a single parent but I'm the only person responsible for my credit card and I'd sure as hell notice if something totally alien ended up on my statement!

  • Dave52 #70 1 year ago

    "Dawn Matthews told the Daily Mail"

    That's all you need to know right there. Fuck the Daily Mail, and fuck stupid idiots who can't parent.

  • mattlee #71 1 year ago

    Daily Fucking Mail.

  • menage #72 1 year ago

    She's an idiot.

    No company is responsible for kids having a go with their parents credit card. She should have been more informed about the whole thing and she sure as hell should stop treating her cc that lightly.

  • Riggers #73 1 year ago

    There are two scenarios here.

    The child is irresponsible and happily clicked away at each confirmation, knowing full well he was spending his mother’s money

    The child is of sub-normal intelligence, and didn’t realise that clicking through the options would spend his mother’s money

    With either scenario, his mother should have ensured that the parental controls were activated, and monitored her child’s online activity (and her bank statements) more closely. Why should I have to click through loads of additional nonsense because some woman is too lazy to exercise any notion of parental responsibility? When there’s already the functionality available to prevent exactly this sort of thing?

  • Paulie_P #74 1 year ago

    A couple of years ago my brother accidently bought the maximum amount of points (2100?) twice on the system. He was 16 at the time. To be fair, he's an idiot (he was buying the points originally to pay for the extra costumes in Street Fighter IV) and should've known what the hell he was doing!

  • arcam #75 1 year ago

    @moribundman

    Although I quoted you it wasn't just your post that made me feel like that.

    It's easy to say dumb parent, should have known better. When some of these commenters have kids who end up spending £10,000 on the hypernet using the three seashells in the bathroom, they'll realise that becoming a parent doesn't suddenly mean everyone stops making stupid decisions.

  • respectyourelder #76 1 year ago

    @Riggers

    Spot on mate

  • Fab4 #77 1 year ago

    "It's easy to say dumb parent, should have known better. When some of these commenters have kids who end up spending £10,000 on the hypernet using the three seashells in the bathroom, they'll realise that becoming a parent doesn't suddenly mean everyone stops making stupid decisions. "

    Stupid decisions never leave you. Taking responsibility for them should be the minimum requirement though.

  • maxb #78 1 year ago

    the daily mail,enough said!

  • Darren #79 1 year ago

    Well I think the blame falls more on the mother personally as I don't believe for one second that she wasn't checking her statements, either monthly or online. If she wasn't then she only has herself to blame because any sensible person these days will keep a close eye on their credit card statements in case of attempted fraud nevermind careless kids!

    Also I do think Microsoft make it intentionally hard to just pay for a LIVE subscription for a year then remove your card so it isn't renewed when it expires. You cannot remove your card and if you let it expire then the account you're using is suspended and cannot be reactivated until you renew your membership or telephone them in advance to let them know you want to cancel. Yet it takes mere seconds to set up a LIVE account. Obviously Microsoft want people to subscribe to LIVE but they don't really want them to stop paying for it hence they make it as awkward as possible to cancel, especially if you're like me and hearing impaired as the only way to do so is to telephone them. Then it's blind luck as to whether you get someone whose native language is English!!!

    Why not allow Xbox 360 owners to cancel their subscriptions from the console itself along with clear and concise warnings along the way about what you lose when you do? You don't have to ring up to set up an Xbox LIVE account. :?

  • butler` #80 1 year ago

    "This proves that Xbox fees cost too much......" says Warren from Manchester, signing off with "but that my opinion because games console/s is a very opinionated subject (I own PS3 system)".

    AHAHAHA YES daily mail commments taking fanboyism to another level

  • sonicyoda #81 1 year ago

    "When I showed him the back of my hand he burst into tears," Dawn Matthews recalled. "He unplugged the Xbox and said he didn't want it any more.

    Corrected.

  • BabylonForever #82 1 year ago

    What I don't get is that if as she says A thousand pounds isn't that much to people like Bill Gates," concluded Dawn Matthews, "but for a single mum it is a lot of money that I don't have why this took 6 months to come to light!

    I can appreciate money being tight and when it is the credit cards are watched like a hawk. Just doesn't seem to make sense.

  • arcam #83 1 year ago

    As a responsible adult I check my credit card transactions online regularly and have all transactions from his live emailed to me the second they happen.

    You are quick to blame her and yet your 8 year-old son can buy whatever he likes on Xbox Live, using your credit card, and you only find out about it afterwards? If you had it emailed to you that he had spent £200 in the last couple of hours, then what do you do?

    This is exactly what I mean, and you are someone who understands the concept of Xbox Live, Gold subscriptions and DLC.

  • Dave52 #84 1 year ago

    "My son has my card linked to his live account."

    My PSN, iTunes, Amazon and Android accounts are open and set up for my kids, but I know they won't buy anything without chatting to me first because I've brought them up right. They also understand that stuff isn't free. I don't know about Xbox Live as I've never owned an Xbox, but certainly on everything else we've got it clearly tells you when something is gonna cost, I cannot believe this kid didn't know what he was doing.

  • mingster #85 1 year ago

    Could have done with spending some of that money on sorting out his dodgy afro/perm.

  • beastmaster #86 1 year ago

    Did he buy the entire Rock Band back catalogue?

  • Ertardo #87 1 year ago

    They're both equally daft, but I really do hope the kid knew what he was doing. If he honestly didn't, he doesn't exactly have a bright future.

    You have to understand stuff like that at eleven.

  • WinterSnowblind #88 1 year ago

    I do agree that the way MS save your card details is really bad, but again.. she ignored the parental settings and actually says she put her card information on there on PURPOSE so her son could buy things when he wanted.

    I really hope MS don't refund her for this and simply point out how many safeguards there are inplace to prevent this sort of thing.

  • topscore1632 #89 1 year ago

    Ooooh look you can see his gamertag in the photo. "Br3ndan J0rdan". A quick look at what he's played and lo and behold there's Black Ops, a violent 18 rated game. I wonder how on earth he got hold of such a game when he is clearly underage? Could his oh-so-concerned mother have bought it for him, perhaps?

  • arcam #90 1 year ago

    @topscore1632

    Did you ever watch an 18-rated movie, or play an 18-related game before you were an adult? Does that make your parents failures?

  • Moribundman #91 1 year ago

    @topscore1632 Spot on mate. I was going to suggest someone find out about all that... Saw it in the Metro this morning but haven't had a look at the Mail site. To busy to get my blood pressure up TBH... ;-)

    Can anyone with more time to kill than me please whack an email over to the Mail or the Metro or wherever and raise these issues before the inevitable back and forth hatchet job of the games industry begins in earnest?

    (I do like those exchanges in the Metro - the woman who thought a Nigerian fraudster was a lovesick American GI provided quite a few LOLs and there's always fun with Science vs God every other week...)

  • drhickman1983 #92 1 year ago

    No sympathy what-so-ever. Seems another one of those instances where a parent has simply failed to pay any attention to what their child is doing, and then shifting responsibilty and blame when it comes back to bite them.

    Whilst it's possible the kid was so naive as to not understand what he was doing (though I don't believe it), the mother has no excuse for not watching her credit card balance. As pointed out already, if money was so damn tight you probably should check credit cards balances more regularily. Or better, maybe leave credit cards alone altogether. JUst saying.

    On a side note, I'm willing to bet that a number of the games she has bought for her son are rated 15 or 18, and that she'd possibly throw a paddy when she saw the content.

  • Moribundman #93 1 year ago

    @arcam You do seem to be taking all this quite personally... I for one am certainly not saying this woman is a failure as a mother or whatever, but I do think she should have thought twice before pointing fingers in multiple national newspapers when she's not wexactly speaking from a blameless and victimised position...

  • ShapeThrower #94 1 year ago

    @abdo

    I've been reminded of that, my point was that MS have gone to the trouble of actively promoting a way for parents to monitor how their children use the 360, and yet here's this person trying to blame them for what is obviously a failure on their part as a parent. It was mearly an observation of mine concerning the PS3, I wasn't having a pop at Sony .. if this had happened on a Playstation Network account my response would be exactly the same, Parental Failure, but in this case it's on the system that made a very big deal over the introduction of Child Accounts not so long ago, which if used properly would have prevented this from happening.
    Edited by ShapeThrower at 08/02/11 @ 12:12

  • bigtechno #95 1 year ago

    of course he knew what he was doing the little sh1t
    he was probably buying COD maps at the time!

  • Mkwone #96 1 year ago

    'When I showed him he burst into tears. He unplugged the Xbox and said he didn't want it anymore.

    Br3ndan J0rdan- 'Last seen 2 hours ago playing FIFA 10'

  • speedjack #97 1 year ago

    Wow... And I felt guilty for spending £10.00 on the COD maps.

  • SAMagic #98 1 year ago

    Let's just be glad the headline wasn't more inflammatory. I can imagine the alternatives:

    "XBOX STOLE MY WALLET"

    "MICROSOFT CAUSES CANCER"

    "GATES' PREYS ON INNOCENT BOY"

    "XT369 VIDEOGAME DEVICE RAPES MUM"

  • Dolly #99 1 year ago

    I couldn't bloody wait to open the comments section on this one! :D

    Cheers for the lols all

    Looking at that photo, I can't help but think of Cartmans mum. I can see that daft bint on the streets tonight with a cardboard sign round her neck "Will blow for M$ dough".

  • Phantom_Dynamite #100 1 year ago

    "However, Brendan repeatedly clicked on additions and extensions - racking up a £1082.52 debt to her account over six months"

    If she checked her bloody card statements 5 months ago she could stoped all this, this is just ridiculous you telling me she didn't notice this money going out over a six month period.

  • MrGilder #101 1 year ago

    Hey mum, how's about you be a parent rather letting the Xbox be a babysitter - pay some attention to what your kid is doing FFS #parentfail

  • disappointed #102 1 year ago

    And I thought The Daily Mail was reactionary... Gee whiz, I get the feeling the EG crowd would happily stone the infidel to death for questioning the glory of games. But, but, but... it's a story from the Mail about games being bad - it must be wrong... right?

    FTA:

    "When I put my card details in 18 months ago I thought it was just for his membership to play online with his friends."

    "The bank and Microsoft are blaming each other and no one is helping me. It has taken me ages to permanently get rid of my card details from the website."

    Looks to me like she acted in good faith and came up against an obstructive corporate machine - just another consumer rights story and one that will hopefully save other parents from falling into the same trap. Not particularly anti-games even.

    Any digital sales site that stores credit card details should look out for unusually large transactions and contact the card holder directly, just as a matter of security. Imagine what it could cost you if your Steam account got hacked, for example.

    For what it's worth, I also believe that the kid genuinely regrets the whole thing. I think Microsoft have lost a good customer there.

    Often the EG comments section is a genuinely interesting discussion but stories like this don't half bring out the self-righteous wankers.

  • excelexcel #103 1 year ago

    Oh God this is just so funny! I knew the Daily Mail would go with some picture of the mother and her son with a far away look on their faces and wasn't disappointed! Look at that face on the kid, he knows exactly what he did and he got away with it too! Wish my parents were that gullible when I was growing up, if this was me I would have literally been killed by my mother!

  • drhickman1983 #104 1 year ago

    "Did you ever watch an 18-rated movie, or play an 18-related game before you were an adult? Does that make your parents failures?"

    Whilst you weren't addressing me, I want to answer that. I did indeed see a fair few 18 rated films before the correct age, but my Dad always knew what I watching, and if things did get a bit extreme he would stop the film. But still, I probably saw Robocop, Terminator, Aliens etc when I was 11 or 12.

    But the important thing was, he watched them with me, and knew what I was seeing. Though I get the impression (though I admit I've no way to back this up) that many parents just sholve their foul offspring in front of the console and leave them too it, with no idea what the content actually contains. And then act with indignant fury when they realise that Brainsmasher III: Gore Edition is a bit graphic.

    The problem isn't that kids play 18 games, but that their parents take no responsibility for letting them do so. Some kids can handle adult games without being mentally scared, others can't. If the parent doesn't know how little Johnny will react, it's bad parenting.

    There are a some games I wouldn't let my (at current, non-existent) kids play at 11. They wouldn't be allowed to play Black Ops, though in Blops case it's because it's not a good game and I wouldn't waste my money on it.

  • Dolly #105 1 year ago

    @Mkwone 'Br3ndan J0rdan- 'Last seen 2 hours ago playing FIFA 10''

    Maybe he transferred Torres using MS points?

  • carlitoswagon #106 1 year ago

    Make him play Turning Point: Fall of Liberty. He might lose the will to live but he'll learn a valuable lesson.

  • arcam #107 1 year ago

    @Moribundman

    I am taking it a little personally, true. Although I did say in a previous couple of boats that the mum is clearly far from blameless.

    It's just that I suspect that there are thousands of pounds spent on Xbox Live everyday by children with their parents credit card details. I also think that the entire freemium craze is propped up by unauthorised, underage spending.

    We can either just dismiss all these people as idiots that deserve to get fleeced, or we can admit that there will always be citizens that are taken advantage of and that they deserve protection (MS, to be fair have provided quite a lot). I know from previous similar threads on EG that my point of view is a minority one, but I like to put my view out there just so there is a bit of balance :)

  • Financed_Hoe #108 1 year ago

    Well thats one less annoying child playing Call of Duty. YOU LUCKY XBOX OWNERS, YOU!

  • Moribundman #109 1 year ago

    @disappointed Indeed, boo hoo for her and boooooooooo to the bank and Microsoft. I suppose they must have been blaming each other for "MICROSOFT XBOX LIVE" not being a clear enough description on the bank statement. It must have been on there enough. This was not one accidental/misguided transaction by the kid. There is nothing available on XBox Live that would charge you £1082 in one go. Kid knew exactly what he was doing. If his mother kept her money in her mattress and "only told him where it was once because he needed some money to join a youth club" and then he went and nicked a forty quid a week to spend in the tuck shop woudl she have rolled out of bed before she twigged...?

  • deano2099 #110 1 year ago

    The kid could equally take £40 out of his mum's purse and spend it down the shops. Same thing.

    Wonder if legally, as she wasn't present when the transactions were made, she could report them as fraudulant and have them charged back. I think it's a fair bet the credit card company wouldn't try to prosecute an eleven-year-old for fraud, but you never know.

  • Fab4 #111 1 year ago

    "Br3ndan J0rdan- 'Last seen 2 hours ago playing FIFA 10' "

    I think the kid is dyslexic...his bio stated 'all we see is DEATH'....he obviously meant to write DEBT.

  • Moribundman #112 1 year ago

    @deano2099 I'd definitely pursue that line of enquiry before I went to the papers. Still, who's to say she didn't...

  • callum9999 #113 1 year ago

    I agree with all the comments that the mother was stupid, but criticising parents buying 18 rated games is ridiculous. To the VAST majority of children, 18-rated games won't do any harm whatsoever or have any affect on them.

    Should children also be censored from the news? If anything thats worse as it's all real so could potentially scar them, whereas games are obviously fake.

  • chrisjm #114 1 year ago

    good to see our tax money spent on something other than booze and fags

  • Moribundman #115 1 year ago

    She should sue the papers for giving away her child's private contact details and use the money to pay off her credit card.

    I believe kids especially are protected by law and if they'd printed his phone number however inadvertently they'd be in big, big trouble right now.

  • Amgzone #116 1 year ago

    This can't be blamed on MS, this is the mums fault, maybe she should be watching what her son is doing on the Xbox, learn to be responsible!

  • gjgjg #117 1 year ago

    "I haven't punished him because he feels bad enough and I know he won't do it again."

    lol quote of the year.
    I hope that kid learns some responsibility from the content he bought or the TV or something cos he aint getn it from the mother!!!

  • oceanmotion #118 1 year ago

    One thing is for sure, MS retaining credit card information and holding it against you is a complete pain in the arse. That needs fixed. Nobody else seems to be complete bastards about it.

  • melch #119 1 year ago

    what the hell did he spend £1000 on ??? i dont think ive spent that in 5 years (or i hope not) let alone 6 months !! can you even fit £1000 worth of content on a 250gb hard drive ?

  • Br0ken_Engli5h #120 1 year ago

    My telly has a "gaming mode" but from now on I'll be reluctant to switch it on if it's likely to go rampant on the Xbox marketplace with my credit card details.
    They must be in cahoots with Microsoft or something. It just goes to show that the TV manufacturers are just as likely to take advantage of vulnerable people as the console manufacturers.

    Immoral corporate rat bastards, the lot of them.

  • spidermanalf #121 1 year ago

    You'd be surprised at the stupidity of parents. I worked at o2 for 6 years and the amount of calls I got from parents saying 'little johnny borrowed my phone and racked up a bill of 500 quid. It's not my fault and I'm not paying.'

    They were completely oblivious to the fact it was their fault and that little johnny had borrowed their phone many times and sent 1000s of text messages downloaded premium content etc. No it was my fault for letting them do it.

    Parents are quick to blame and slow to take responsibility!

  • SeesThroughAll #122 1 year ago

    The claims of this irresponsible mother are ridiculous. She should have explained to her son that "points" actually translate to real money and even better, taken the time to setup the parental controls.

  • DirectAim #123 1 year ago

    That kid knew what he was doing, the fact he broke down in tears when she figured out shows guilt.

    Microsoft cannot be blamed for kids stealing off their parents, more care should be taken by parents, she must just be pretty clueless about giving out card details!

    Also the fact a single mum, probably on benefits had £1000 in the bank is amazing!

  • arcam #124 1 year ago

    Also the fact a single mum, probably on benefits

    How do you know she is on benefits?

  • SomaticSense #125 1 year ago

    asphaltcowboy: "I notice the EG article doesn't mention that this took place over 6 months. How exactly did she not notice?

    Typical bullshit from the DailyFail.    "

    Probably because she's one of these new breeds of parents who who buy their kids a console just to "shut them up" and allow them to refrain from, you know, actual parental responsibilities. It's proof also that she neither reads: a) her credit card/debit card bills; and b) her emails. MS doesn't exactly hide the fact that points are being bought.

    Maybe that MS PR bloke (forget his name) was right. Perhaps the 360 isn't a games console first and foremost at all. As some parents seem to think it's actually a nanny.

  • t8yman #126 1 year ago

    she deserves everything she got. Idiot.

  • cowell #127 1 year ago

    Probably repeating what most are saying. I have zero sympathy. Stupid people are stupid.

    Its a but like that guy who used his wireless broadband dongle to download episodes of Friends to watch when abroad and then promptly fainted at the massive bill from his mobile company

    People need to take responsibility for their (and their kids) actions

  • Paulie_P #128 1 year ago

    ...
    Some Parents are quick to blame and slow to take responsibility!

    Fixed. Reminds me of a parent I know and she's a nightmare, constantly lies all the time and blames everyone else for a situation that she herself has created.

  • SomaticSense #129 1 year ago

    DirectAim: "Also the fact a single mum, probably on benefits had £1000 in the bank is amazing!"

    What a twat. You've actually managed to make yourself sound even more stupid and deluded that the mother!

    Lemme guess. Vote Tory?

  • StolenGlory #130 1 year ago

    "Often the EG comments section is a genuinely interesting discussion"

    Hit refresh.

  • Skandalle #131 1 year ago

    "I haven't punished him because he feels bad enough and I know he won't do it again."
    Famous last words...

  • the_dudefather #132 1 year ago

    Typical of gamers to defend a multi billion dollar company. They are like sheep who can't stand to see their master come under fire. Patheitc that grown men would sit around playing video games. Like big babies the lot of you. Grow up and be a man, if you are able.

  • makattack #133 1 year ago

    [link url=http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/359099/getting-poor-all-on-my-own
    ]http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/35...[/link]

    Not sure if it'll play outside the US, but fitting.

    It's a shame she hadn't heard about pre-paid subscription and points cards. That's what I give to my l'il one... and setup parental controls. Oh yea, and we play together some nights. Oddly, my android mobile phone lacks parental control filters on youtube, the browser and market by default. I would have to root it, install a custom OS and fiddle with those apps in order to hack in some semblance of control.

  • governmentyard #134 1 year ago

    If this leads to a widespread cancellation of Screaming Elmo's accounts by 'concerned' parents then the Daily Mail can have this across its front page all week as far as I'm concerned.

    People under the age of about fourteen ought not be on the same XBLA as the rest of us. There should also be a separate one for students and their insightful, worldly banter, come to think of it.

  • Rack #135 1 year ago

    MS obviously designed this system with the idea this would happen already in mind. If they were designing something to be user friendly then there would be a necessary check that it was your card before any further payments were authorised. Instead they bury parental controls somewhere very few parents will see and rake in the cash.

  • _tangent #136 1 year ago

    Why do people automatically look for someone else to blame when their own negligent attitude eventually catches up with them? It's the mother's fault for being so careless with her credit card details. My rents would never have entered their credit card details into something like this for me when i was younger without checking first that such details were not stored. And I'm now 28, so my parents would have had an excuse for not being particularly tech savvy, being in their 50s. This woman is responsible for her own personal details. She should take proper care to safeguard them. Isn't there a checkbox to ask the user if they want their details stored?

    I've said it before, but our society is gravitating towards a total lack of personal responsibility. No one stole her credit card. She entered her details carelessly into something her son had unfettered access to. That's her mistake.
    Edited by _tangent at 08/02/11 @ 13:34

  • RicardoG #137 1 year ago

    The main problem is the way the XBOX system works, I mean does a kid have to know how much microsoft points cost in real money?
    Why don't they do like the PS3? You charge a wallet with MONEY and not PS3 points or whatever, the Nintendo does the same things, Nintendo points, its stupid, you pay them money not points.
    I guess that maybe they do that to make it feel as you are not spending much money, but take a look, isn't 2000 Nintendo points 20 euros?
    See what I mean?

  • mcwildcard #138 1 year ago

    "I haven't punished him because he feels bad enough and I know he won't do it again."

    Sucker.

  • Ryboy #139 1 year ago

    Good effort lad!

  • Aradiel #140 1 year ago

    1) Use parental controls
    2) Untick the option for saving your card details
    3) Be a responsible parent

    tl;dr: RTFM

  • lennon #141 1 year ago

    "I think Microsoft have lost a good customer there."

    Lol Funniest thing I have read in ages.

  • 1Dgaf #142 1 year ago

    This is related to why MS sells spacebucks: if money is made abstract, it's harder to figure out what you're spending.

  • davisorle #143 1 year ago

    Post deleted at 15:13:14 09-05-2012

  • Psychotext #144 1 year ago

    "People under the age of about fourteen ought not be on the same XBLA as the rest of us. There should also be a separate one for students and their insightful, worldly banter, come to think of it. "

    We're in agreement then. Make one xbox live for under 25s, another for over 25s. One specifically for Americans too.

  • IMO #145 1 year ago

    All those people who have trouble equating Microsoft Points with 'real' money, you must have a nightmare when you go abroad. Exactly how is the entire system different from a foreign currency?

  • carlitoswagon #146 1 year ago

    @the_dudefather

    Either very sarcastic or the words of a child??!

  • Climhazzard #147 1 year ago

    Microsoft did make a big deal about showing the parental controls, so i blame the mother and the kid clearly knew what he was doing.

    Its just same as giving a kid a contract phone and then them going over the minutes or texts and getting charged extra. Its gonna happen if you dont put controls on it to stop it happening.

    Just careless.

  • topscore1632 #148 1 year ago

    @arcam - Yes I did watch films that were 15 or 18 when I was underage, but with my parent's permission after they had screened the material in advance. I'd say that makes them pretty far from failures.

    I personally think age limits are a bit arbitrary - you can't honestly prevent someone who is 17 years and 364 days old from watching an 18 movie...but there's a bit of a difference between that and someone who is 11 and barely out of primary school playing an adult game with graphic violence, and clearly no form of parental input (other than buying it him in the first place) to see whether or not it is suitable for him. This woman clearly did not care about what her son was up to with his Xbox (even the most complete luddite is capable of watching a screen) and therefore has zero argument when he abuses her credit card.

  • Huxamalay #149 1 year ago

    Microsoft cannot be held liable for nieve parents. She deserves that bill for being so fucking stupid

  • arcam #150 1 year ago

    @topscore1632

    Maybe this mother also decided that her son was capable of handling CoD BO, and so she allowed him to play it? That is everyone's right as a parent.

    I don't see how you can criticise her for allowing her son to play an 18-rated game, when your parents did exactly the same thing for you.
    Edited by arcam at 08/02/11 @ 14:05

  • Murton #151 1 year ago

    And this is why we need better education for parents. This is ultimately the parents fault for putting in the credit card details and leaving them on there to buy additional content, but some blame must be levelled at MS for not making their system more "idiot friendly"

    What I don't understand is how even a child could rack up 1k in less than a month without either the child or the parent figuring out what's going on. I have over one hundred games but my girlfriend still realises a new game when she sees one, surely the mother at some point must have thought, "I only bought him a couple of games, yet he seems to be playing something different everytime I enter the room"

  • EVERYGAMER #152 1 year ago

    @arcam


    "Did you ever watch an 18-rated movie, or play an 18-related game before you were an adult? Does that make your parents failures?"

    I'd consider it a failure if I was 11 years old in the news as part of a story about responsibility and there was a picture of me and my mum with an 18 film or game running on the TV behind us!

    Its gonna appear on gaming sites and gamers are gonna notice and bring it to light.
    Thus putting the whole concept of the hard done by mother into dispute as she is, if not clearly happy to let her permed buffoon play a game with throat sliting and torture, she falls far short of the amount of scrutiny an 11 year old should be under.l
    Edited by EVERYGAMER at 08/02/11 @ 14:15

  • BigDannyH #153 1 year ago

    What's she complaining about, she must have some awesome map packs to play on!

    If it's all from extensions to games, either she buys him a new game every week for him to "extend" or he basically has the entire Rock Band back catalogue.

  • governmentyard #154 1 year ago

    Consumers, use your power!

    If you dislike XBLive's currency system, vote with your feet and buy a Playstation.

  • daddygerplex #155 1 year ago

    I am more shocked that even the Daily Mail comments are calling her a idiot.

  • Fab4 #156 1 year ago

    "We're in agreement then. Make one xbox live for under 25s, another for over 25s. One specifically for Americans too. "

    AXBLA - The American XBox Live of America

  • dirtysteve #157 1 year ago

    'He unplugged the Xbox and said he didn't want it any more.' 'I haven't punished him because he feels bad enough and I know he won't do it again.'

    Great parenting all round there, sounds like the little bastard has her wrapped around his finger.

  • topscore1632 #158 1 year ago

    @arcam - If she is capable of buying, running, and playing Black Ops all the way through in order to properly assess its suitability for her 11 year old son, then she is capable of realising that he's blowing a grand on Xbox Live purchases.

    Also, if she did all that, and still believed that the game is suitable for an 11 year old, then I would call her judgement into question. Of course it's her right to let him play it if she wants, but I can't honestly believe she gave it a second thought.

  • _Price_ #159 1 year ago

    So, in summary:

    Mum = gullible idiot or ignorant.

    Kid = manipulative genius or dyslexic.

    Microsoft = ignorant manipulative geniuses.

    Dail Mail = ignorant manipulative idiots.

  • Apollo #160 1 year ago

    Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • arcam #161 1 year ago

    @topscore1632

    I feel like you're purposefully skirting round my point. Which was that you criticised her for letting her son play an age-restricted game, when we all know our parents did the same thing and we will probably do it for our own children. Your parents didn't play through the entirety of Doom before letting you play it and neither did mine. That doesn't make either of them terrible parents.

    *edit: ah forget it, people just want to bitch hypocritically in this comments thread. And then they are surprised to find they're saying the same things as Daily Mail commenters?

    The kid's fat and has stupid hair, the mum's an idiot and on benefits. If anyone deserves to be ripped off, it's a idiot single parent who is supposed to supervise her son at all times despite working two jobs, and her fat idiot son that plays games with an 18-rating. Screw them both I say. All these EG readers will obviously never make silly judgements as parents, and their sons will never make stupid mistakes with money because we will raise them perfectly.
    Edited by arcam at 08/02/11 @ 14:33

  • Stomp224 #162 1 year ago

    Stupidity: the next generation

  • MasterNameless #163 1 year ago

    It's really not hard to figure out the "spacebucks" when it quite clearly says how much they cost when you purchase them. I'm sorry, but if that confuses you, you have to pretty damn stupid - or are fully aware, and completely irresponsible.

    Despite all these comments, I can't see any excuse for this kind of idiocy - spending the actual MS points, fair enough, but purchasing the MS points, no way, and a verification of utmost stupidity to not understand.

  • EVERYGAMER #164 1 year ago

    @arcam

    "I feel like you're purposefully skirting round my point. Which was that you criticised her for letting her son play an age-restricted game, when we all know our parents did the same thing and we will probably do it for our own children. Your parents didn't play through the entirety of Doom before letting you play it and neither did mine. That doesn't make either of them terrible parents

    No one says it does. But look at it in the context of the story. You cant act all outraged and start putting blame on others when there is visual evidence on a TV screen that seriously damages your core moral standing especially to daily mail readers. Its like chum to sharks.
    Edited by EVERYGAMER at 08/02/11 @ 14:39

  • onezeonx #165 1 year ago

    Ill pay her £5 for a MILF hand job!

    She needs all the money she can get now!

  • topscore1632 #166 1 year ago

    @arcam - If anyone deserves to be ripped off, it is not single parents, it is someone who is irresponsible with their money. THAT is the whole point of my argument, not the age rating side issue.

  • respectyourelder #167 1 year ago

    "Also the fact a single mum, probably on benefits"

    Completely irrelevant, you were making a good point up to then as well. Did you per chance come across this story on the Daily Mail first?

  • utterdrivel #168 1 year ago

    Has anyone said they fancy the mum yet?

    I mean, I don't, I'm just asking.











    I don't.

  • metalangel #169 1 year ago

    Kid's probably gutted, he still didn't manage to 'accidentally' spend enough to buy all the Dragon Age DLC before she found it.

  • Teflonmonkey #170 1 year ago

    See Pryor for good example of what would happen in my house! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtWxlO3fXoY

  • respectyourelder #171 1 year ago

    to put it in another way, if her card details were stolen and she didn't notice for 18 months, would she blame the thief or the outlets where the money was spent?

    Not blaming the kid is fine, if a little naive, but it doesn't mean it's the retailer's fault.

  • Collymilad #172 1 year ago

    No.

    Just No.

    You gave him your card, Your fault. Take responsibility. Tough shit.

    Also, unless you're thick as pig shit it's not difficult at all to figure out what you're spending in MS points. 500 = £4.25 - scale it up. Really not difficult even for things that aren't in 500/1000 pt increments.
    Edited by Collymilad at 08/02/11 @ 15:09

  • JJrabbit #173 1 year ago

    Not sure if anyone's called it yet, but the kid said he didn't want the xbox anymore. Shotgun.

  • KDR_11k #174 1 year ago

    And people wonder why Nintendo won't let you store your card details on the Wii...

  • Dangerous_Dan #175 1 year ago

    You see, actually what really happened was that mum loves to game on her xbox360.
    Since she's quite obsessive in nature she worked up the credit card debt to over 1000 pounds. But the smart girl that she is she had created an account for her son and all those purchases were done on his one.

    Then when the time was right she came forward with that story about her son spending all that money because he didn't know any better. I'm pretty sure the daily mail pays quite some money for such a sad story so a monetary success even if she can't press MS for some juice.
    No Wonder the boy disconnected the xbox, he does that every night because usually with all the gaming obsession there is not enough time to prepare some meal for him.

    Come on that's much more plausible than the official story. She's not stupid, well maybe not caring but very smart actually.

  • Entity #176 1 year ago

    ""When I showed him [the bill] he burst into tears," Dawn Matthews recalled. "He unplugged the Xbox and said he didn't want it any more. "

    Fathers response: You're bloody playing it till your fingers bleed!

  • irve77 #177 1 year ago

    ok .. it's a daily mail story ... so it's likely not true and made up on the spot. if it's true then she is to blame for not having any control over what her son is doing.

    BUT

    Microsoft's system of forcing you to store credit card details once it's been entered is designed to remove any barrier between you thinking about spending money and actually doing it.

    the points system is set up to disconnect you from the real cost of buying items

    as a company they do everything they can to desensitise you to the cost of gaming and spending.

  • man.the.king #178 1 year ago

    I would say the Mum probably wasn't that computer-savvy, and I'm sure nobody at MS would be looking at INDIVIDUAL spending amounts - so it all comes down to the kid, surely he was aware that that the CC details were popping up each time he wanted to "get something" from XBL. I'm guessing the kid tried to ignore the aspect of the credit card being charged - imo a case of willful ignorance.

  • man.the.king #179 1 year ago

    @ShapeThrower

    "Children need to be supervised or the parental controls provided on the system (which the PS3 doesn't have by the way) need to be used effectively. "

    You are mistaken - the PS3 DOES have parental controls. As far as I know, they are turned off by default.

  • midnight_walker #180 1 year ago

    @MattDamon

    It's not Microsoft's fault you're fucking lazy, a phonecall takes 5 minutes. I agree that they could make it easier, and there should be something to allow you to cancel online, but fuck me it's not like you have to walk through a minefield to stop them charging you.

  • DiamondIce #181 1 year ago

    "When he is in gaming mode he can't be thinking about the money. You can't put all that responsibility on a young boy."

    This is possibly the best thing I have ever read.

    Has she ever checked out the parental controls? Or is it a case of blame everybody but me?

    Edit:

    Just saw the photo of him. I love his dashboard theme. Start 'em young.
    Edited by DiamondIce at 08/02/11 @ 16:19

  • NHDavid #182 1 year ago

    I tapped that strumpet about 11 years ago...he has my good looks and is a nice responsible young lad......
    Edited by NHDavid at 08/02/11 @ 17:02

  • vegard #183 1 year ago

    People like this makes me long for fucking amageddon.

  • bonker #184 1 year ago

    Hooray.

    For once, one of the million breeding machines in the country have to pay for their own fucked-up lifestyle choices rather than simply inflicting them on everyone else ...

    Truly heartwarming ...

    Edited by bonker at 08/02/11 @ 16:39

  • Ror1984 #185 1 year ago

    Another shot fired in the War on Personal Responsibility! \o/

  • Paulie_P #186 1 year ago

    ...one of the million breeding machines...

    Are you a eunach or a virgin? - because if you didn't notice, sex is good, really, really, really, really good. Like really good.

  • kangarootoo #187 1 year ago

    1. So first off, I thought back to when I was a kid and put myself in his shoes.

    ""When I showed him [the bill] he burst into tears," Dawn Matthews recalled. "He unplugged the Xbox and said he didn't want it any more."

    Translation. He knew what he was doing, and just got carried away. When his mum showed him the bill, he knew he had been caught and the shock of that made him cry. He now knows that pretending he didn't know what he was doing is the only way he will ever see any more pocket money, ever.


    2. How obvious are the parental controls on the 360? I entered my card details once, and now they are on my system. I honestly can't recall if purchases are password protected (as they are on my PS3), and if I wanted to switch such a thing on and off, I would have to dig about in the menus.

    As always, I think people are a bit quick to choose a side and act like this issue is black and white. She should have paid more attention, and MS have probably knowingly made it easy for this sort of thing to happen. Shared responsibility, shared blame.

  • welshrobbo #188 1 year ago

    I have a 2 sons aged 7 and 9 both on xbox live. By default the xbox asks for my password even when they have a friend invite.

    Someone has removed these blocks OR entered the childs date of birth as over 18 which I believe losts of people are doing so they can play over 18 games etc. For example FIFA block any link to EA if it picks up it is a childs profile.

    They cannot play dum with this one I am afraid and although I do have some sympathy with the mother unless she didn’t check her statements for months the boy must of spent this in one month! That’s is a crazy amount of spending.

  • EmiliasHorse #189 1 year ago

    MS email you a receipt for every purchase; did she let the child register with an email address that she then did not monitor? Daft woman.

    As for the picture.... the child does look like he deeply regrets his actions and will not do it again. I did not think for one second that he looked slightly on the plump side and could do with a spot of fresh air and some exercise.

  • arcam #190 1 year ago

    Hooray. For once, one of the million breeding machines in the country have to pay for their own fucked-up lifestyle choices rather than simply inflicting them on everyone else

    How the fuck are comments like this getting voted up? She has two children, and works two jobs to pay for them. But don't let that stop you from pushing your bigoted, unrelated agenda.

  • NHDavid #191 1 year ago

    Purchasing

    Decide whether this player can purchase premium content from Xbox LIVE Marketplace. Premium content includes Xbox LIVE Arcade games, game add-ons, and other items.
    Allowed
    Blocked

    O.K. that took about 3 seconds.....

  • gooner77 #192 1 year ago

    Oh the poor woman ! now she can't afford a treadmill and a haircut for her useless lump of a son

  • Machiavellian #193 1 year ago

    ignore poster | #151
    +6
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    Show
    This is related to why MS sells spacebucks: if money is made abstract, it's harder to figure out what you're spending.

    Actually, I thought using a point system made it easier for the Vendor to do a lot of things that do not deal with actual cash. Promotions, things like Bing where you get points to using Bing. Companies do not like to give away cash for things like that and a point system makes it easy. Also it does abstract the price of what you are spending but really by how much. You still know if you are spending 1200 you are pay a certain dollar amount because you have to purchase those points.

  • kevv #194 1 year ago

    For some reason I wouldn't mind getting a ride on with his mum but i'll keep the Xbox away from tubby there while i'm doing it! Little fucker ain't spending my cash!

  • metalangel #195 1 year ago

    'I work two jobs just to look after my family and pay the bills so I cannot afford all these extortionate charges.
    'A thousand pounds isn't that much to people like Bill Gates, but for a single mum it is a lot of money that I don't have.
    Dawn, who works as a sales executive and part-time singer, lives with Brendan and her 13-year-old daughter Abigail.

    "Singer"? That's a funny way of saying "sex chat on that '40+ Northern Slags' channel on Sky".

    Abigail was out with a group of teenage boys who were taking it in turns to do her up the arse in the back of a stolen car in the lane behind the local SPAR, and so was not available for comment.

  • inutaihanyou #196 1 year ago

    A lack of social responsibility leads to consequences. Keep tabs on your information.

    If this happened in the US, the majority of posts here would probably be the mocking of US consumerism (ala Mcdonalds, fast food chains in general, super stores, ect), but its something that people everywhere have to live with, surely.
    Edited by inutaihanyou at 08/02/11 @ 18:47

  • calvinb #197 1 year ago

    thats my friend!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • RobotRocker #198 1 year ago

    @TonyCorleone

    Still not an excuse for her ignorance of the issue and the fact that she stuck her card on there and allowed her child an adult account reeks of irresponsibility. Especially since Microsoft detail that you should be signing kids up to the kids account during sign up. And if she was in anyway responsible and did her research, she would have realised you could buy subscription cards and points from game stores and not have to put her card details on there.

    Lets think of that £1000 as an idiot tax.

  • Xboxfanuk #199 1 year ago

    this is why Nintendo has no Xbox Live! Micro-transactions are not for children! And the ignorance of parents about the technology is why Microsoft parental controls are hardly ever used.

  • callum9999 #200 1 year ago

    People clearly don't agree with me that children aren't braindead sheep then. Out of curiosity, how many people on here either played 18-rated games as children, or know someone who has done, and was badly affected by it?

    I, like most of my friends, started playing 18-rated games (and 15/18 rated films and tv) from around the age of 11, yet no-one I know was negatively impacted by it. Possibly I'm just being naive, but I find it hard to believe that adults on here didn't do exactly the same when they were younger?

  • NHDavid #201 1 year ago

    When I showed him a list of all the men I've slept with he burst into tears," Dawn Matthews recalled. "He unplugged the Xbox and said he didn't want it any more.

  • Lucodeath #202 1 year ago

    Not possibleto do on psn cos there isnt enough content.

  • cyber_nicco #203 1 year ago

    Screw her. Sue her for it and bury her in legal bills. I'm sick and tired of irresponsible parents.

  • Chazmeister #204 1 year ago

    This sort of thing we are going to see a lot more of, and are seeing a lot more of, and I don't just mean on consoles but in general with new technologies, because there are still a lot of people out there that lack basic computer skills. Couple that lack of basic skills with some general ignorance and you get yourself situations like this.

    Who's to blame in this case; a little bit of each I reckon. MS obviously need to make spending on their console a bit more fool proof than they have and password all card transactions on the console by default. What if the console was stolen for instance, wouldn't that give any thief access to all your personal and card details? You have to enter a password every time you use your card in an ATM don't you. So why is a console letting you spend money on that same card with just the click of a button? At the same time, if you use your card on one of these things then you really should do your own homework on how the system stores your data and how you can protect it, as you just can't afford to be naive and leave these things to chance, especially if you value the money in your bank account.

  • canIdoyabombsforya #205 1 year ago


    So the many readers here slagging the Daily Mail, prefer The Mirror or The Sun? The British tabloids are all utter scum, who gives a damn which filthy rag the story came from.