Key principles on in-game virtual currencies in the EU

Summary

Last month, the Consumer Protection Cooperation Network, in coordination with the European Commission, released interesting guidelines on the implementation of in-game currencies. News The document on my Google Drive — just in case the originals move somewhere. The document does not have the status of a law; it is a recommendation for interpreting existing EU consumer protection laws regarding computer games. As I understand it, each country decides separately whether to follow these recommendations or not. I have mixed feelings towards such regulations. On one hand, the nonsense that goes on in free-to-play games (especially mobile ones) should have been stopped a long time ago. From my ethical position, I fully support attempts to bring order there. On the other hand, regulations always complicate life for small and medium businesses and have little effect on large companies. The larger the company, the easier it is for it to ignore regulations. In the following text, I'll list the main theses of the document, speculate on how these recommendations should be implemented according to the authors' intent, and how they will most likely be implemented in reality. Also, the document is small — only 8 pages — and nicely formatted, so you can read it yourself. Disclaimer I'm not a lawyer and have nothing to do with free-to-play for about 5 years, so don't take my thoughts as recommendations. Think of this text as an interesting exercise, a free flight of thought. Simplified, in my own words. In-game currency is recognized as a digital representation of real-world money if the primary purpose of this currency is to purchase something in the game. In-game transactions are equivalent to real-world transactions in terms of consumer rights protection. It is prohibited to use practices that exploit cognitive biases to make the player pay more or receive less. The price in real-world currency must always be displayed next to the price in in-game currency. It is recommended not ...