Popular game site Gaia Online targets teens with gambling

[pkeod]

Gaia Online is an English-language, anime-themed social networking and forums-based website. Today, over a million posts are made daily and it is visited by 7 million unique users each month. source

Basically Gaia Online is a very popular forum on the internet, and most of its user base are teens and children, which is why it is so ridiculous that they would try something like this. Basically what they are doing is selling items on their site ( people pay real $$$ for these items ), and these items give users a random chance of getting some other items... some rare, some common. They have done this more than once, and have most recently released a "Strike It Rich with Gold Gold Revolution" item which gives them a random chance of getting random items from the site, including a chance of getting 1mil in the site's currency.

Most states in the U.S. government define gambling as (1) giving of consideration, (2) chance, and (3) a prize.

What are you thoughts on this? Is it right for sites to target teens with this sort of thing?

[Gabo]

Many, many things in life are a gamble.

For instance, anytime someone buys a pack of trading cards, they are essentially gambling to get the most valuable cards. Or even more relevant, look at arcade games. Many games you pay money to play, and winning tickets or prizes depends heavily or entirely on luck.

The fact is, luck determines far more things in life than merely poker hands. And many of the things it affects do have financial costs. Trying to prevent kids, especially teens, from winning or losing money due to chance is impossible.

Not everyone who gambles is abused by it, and teaching a teen how to deal responsibly with luck and chance isn't harmful. I'd say it's better to teach them about these things with parental supervision, rather than deprive them and then turn them loose as they age.

[Barcs]

I agree with Gabo. I don't think it's a big deal. They aren't gambling with real money, merely purchasing an item for a video game, with a chance to win something else. It's no different from entering a contest, which kids do all the time. It's not like they are wagering money in hopes to double it.

[WordKeeper]

I followed the links to check out the site and the "gold" that you can actually purchase in stores. You make a good point. There is a similarity here in a regard to Webkinz which is aimed at even younger children. At that site children must purchase animals or charms or other items to participate but the cash draw is significantly less than this "gold" issue at Gaia.

I personally would block it from my son. He is a perfect target for this type of marketing.