If you believe the advertising, Dieter Bohlen, Bibi, Daniela Katzenberger and Pietro Lombardi play it.
The free game “Coin Master”, which is quite successful in the store charts, impresses above all with its simple gameplay and its cute comic graphics, which are particularly appealing to children. You have to build a small village and earn gold on a slot machine. Once you have finished building a village, you move on to the next thematic village. In between, you can also attack other players' villages or dig for gold there.
However, what sounds so harmless is not only a cost trap, especially for children and young people, but also more than psychologically questionable:
although real gambling is prohibited in Germany for young people under the age of 18, simulated gambling is permitted. The simulation is defined by the fact that you do not win real money and the algorithm can be specified by the manufacturer.
This may not seem so bad in itself, but when you look at the background, a few things become clear.
The creators of “Coin Master”, the start-up company “ Moon Active ”, only have a single app in their portfolio: “Coin Master”. The company is also very successful because it has already $280 million in sales since it was released in 2015.
[mk_ad]
But in order for things to run so well with a single app, including advertising on YouTube, TV and influencers, you need financially strong investors such as Gigi Levy (former CEO of 888 Holdings) and Norbert Teufelsberger (founder of the sports betting site bwin).
The app repeatedly uses pop-ups to encourage people to buy more attempts at the “one-armed bandit”, with the additional time pressure that these offers of 80 percent to 550 percent (!) would only be valid for a short time. With a view to the investors, the slot machine and the constant pressure to be better than your friends, the last level of "Coin Master" is very cynical: It's an arcade!
Jan Böhmermann also looked at this app and couldn't find any good words for it:
Jan Böhmermann's call has been heard
According to the Federal Testing Agency for Media Harmful to Minors, a large number of applications to index the game were actually received after the broadcast.
The issue of danger to young people is now decided by pluralistic committees in a court-like procedure. A main aspect is the gambling simulation used in “Coin Master”, which is discussed in the context of gambling, the promotion of media addiction and cost traps on the Internet.
It remains to be seen how the BPjM will now decide, for example whether the game will be indexed or can only be played from a certain age (which, however, only works if a block has been set up in the app store for apps from a certain age).
Also interesting:
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