Summer Holidays for parents mean lots of quality time with their children, and also the challenges of keeping them entertained. It's not all day trips and activities, of course, and Nintendo's Japanese website has published a guide giving tips to parents that may be struggling to manage what their little 'uns are doing on their Switch systems (thanks, Kotaku).
Interestingly, it addresses an apparent increase in children using their parent's credit cards and accounts to make purchases. It's tabloid newspaper fodder, of course, headlines of "My Son Spent £10,000 On FIFA" with pictures of frowning parents, but beyond sensationalised articles like that it can be an actual problem. Not all parents are tech savvy, either, so the guide uses very simple terms and step-by-step details to help parents understand the sorts of things kids want to buy (especially microtransactions), control user accounts, and also avoid risk by removing saved card details.
There are equivalent guides on Nintendo's regional sites on parental controls, of course, and there's the phone app that allows parents to manage all sorts of access for their kids' accounts. In fact, for those that utilise the features, the Switch offers a solid suite of options for avoiding excessive amounts of money spent on Fortnite emotes etc, including outright preventing youngster's accounts from using the eShop.
It's a challenge for parents, no doubt. If you do control these things and your kids complain, though, you can always tell them to get a job save up their pocket money.
Do any of you parents come across issues managing your kids' access on the Switch? Let us know in the comments!
[source topics.nintendo.co.jp, via kotaku.com]
Comments 34
Good luck stopping those Bowser Juniors, they need V-bucks and they'll do whatever it takes to get them!
Important rules, NEVER ever give your kids a credit card before they understand how to use it wisely.
Otherwise, it will be like Home Alone 2 situation.
How bout not giving them your card. Seems simple enough.
@Tasuki I doubt most parents do. Most kids will quietly search all throughout the house until they find their parents wallets. I have friends with little brothers that have done this. The rebellious teenage years aren’t fun. Gotta start locking your wallet away lol.
@CactusMan
Ah...
You have reminded me to consider my Little Pony games for Nintendo Switch.
There are bunch of them. 😁
The only tip you need: don’t link a credit card to that Switch. Your kids will survive without digital games, most of us grew up before digital and were just fine switching carts. Let them use physical carts, which are often discounted and cheaper than digital, and protect your bank account from accidental spending.
For the Switch specifically actual user accounts would be nice with passwords. It protects against accidental save deletion, access to games you don't want others playing (due to age ratings) as well as keeping payment details secured to that account. Plus account specific themes could be a thing. And of course the option to still request a password when paying is fine too.
@Anti-Matter Welcome back
@BloodNinja
Yo, we met again. 😀
“Bowser Jr., thanks to your inability to understand how online purchases work I can’t afford to buy the limited edition, Amazon exclusive Princess Peach poster! No more playing with your Mario action figure for a month!”
Micro transactions were a terrible idea, I worry for future generations.
Step 1: Buy a safe or have an out or reach storage.
Step 2: Place monetary valuables there.
Step 3: Win. Then go play Zelda
People don't teach their kids how to handle / value money? What a shock.
@DeathByLasagna Why would you have a card laying around the house? Mines always in my wallet which is in my pants and on me at all times. If people have credit cards just laying around then they are asking for trouble.
If your kid is using your credit card without your permission, I think they need discipline to be honest. The act of not saving your credit card info alone doesn’t convey to the kid that it’s inappropriate behavior to steal money.
These all sound like problems of the stupid. Always interested to see how the less intelligent struggle in life.
Bowser is such a great dad, every dad should aspire to be like Bowser.
(Except for the kidnapping, destruction, etc.)
@Anti-Matter we meet again, on the battlefield of love! I forget where that’s from, but you reminded me.
It was a funny commercial tho….
Why would you do this? LOL, love it tho.
@PhhhCough I couldn't have put it better myself. More tactful maybe, but that's not necessarily better. I've got kids and I've got tabs on their playtime. I don't micro-manage them, but they dont have access to the online shop to spend money that isn't theirs either.
So many of these problems can be avoided if the parents just took an interest in what their kids are doing. I understand the argument how some parents aren't tech-savvy, but we're living in a tech-savvy world. If you were to live in a foreign country, you would need to learn their laws and customs, or you can find yourself in a lot of trouble. It's the same with technology. It can be just as daunting to some, but it's important parents understand these things or they may find themselves or their kids in a lot of trouble.
I have one Switch in our house for myself and my two kids (waiting to get an OLED one for myself and then they can have the other). My CC is linked to the Switch as I buy some digital games (mostly physical). I get a notification when a purchase is made. My kids (my oldest is 7 my youngest is 4) know better than to purchase something without permission so it is not a concern for me.
Here is a golden tip.
DON'T SAVE THE CC INFO ON THE SWITCH.
The end, I don't do it and neither my partner since the big Sony hack few years ago, we type the CC info when buying anything but just don't save it for the next time.
No saved CC info means no automatic CC access by anybody, and yes some would complain "BUT NOW I NEED TO TYPE IT EVERY TIME!" but then I would say "don't complain if someone like your child starts buying hundreds of euros in microtransactions then"
The biggest problem is that CC or paypall details often automatically saves when making e-shop purchases. So next time you want to buy something you often don't even have to put in a password.
And don't forget that NSO annual family sub requires a linked CC or PayPal. So Nintendo kind of prevents not linking it to subscribers.
I guess this is good information for people who don't know how to do something as simple as not save their credit card information after making an online purchase.
Any kid that doesn't know better than to use mommy and daddy's charge card without permission needs to be horse whipped! That is a big no no!
Removed - unconstructive
@Zeldafan79 Any kid that doesn't know better than to use mommy and daddy's charge card without permission needs to be horse whipped!
How about whipping the parents they need to be Horse Whipped first since the stupidity starts there.
As others have said, it's better to enter the card information every time you make an eShop purchase. While annoying to a certain extent, it prevents a lot of accidental spendings and helps keep those Fortnite and FIFA spending kids on check.
Granted I don't have kids but I still wouldn't give my 10 years old nephew even a Prepaid Card to do an eShop purchase on his own, i.e. unsupervised, as that might open some floodgates I don't need to.
I don't have kids, but as an extra precaution I keep my credit cards deactivated unless I'm buying something.
@SwitchForce
Very true!
@SwitchForce Not really clickbait when it provides exactly what was advertised...
Don't even see how this is possible. My son knows to ask for a game on his Switch. He doesn't have access to my credit card and I wouldn't let him. If he did, I d try him.
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