That's also my view. The metagame of free to play games is to resist all the temptations to spend money on it. People who spend money on it have lost.
I'm sure there is all kinds of cyber bullying, fortnite bullying and stuff. I must have been lucky but as a youth I had a couple real friends. We played halo all the day, i wasnt the best. I usually sucked compared to some buddies. But we still teamed up and had fun playing together.
It might not be easy for a current 8/10 year old boy to do this, but there are a zillion fortnite players. Maybe he can just find some other people to play with. Or if you are 8 years old, maybe you shouldnt be playing online shooting games.
I wasnt able to do the online shootie stuff (halo era) until I could afford my own shit and bought an xbox with my own money. Yeah all of my friends parents bought shit for them and they had xbox live, all of it. Paid runescape account. We were 10/11/12. Sure i was a little bit out of it, no body wanted to come to my house cause I didnt have the online games yet.
I just had a daughter recently and want to get her playing games. Like other parents in this thread, i am not feeding them money to buy in game shit. I'm not going to give her an iphone/ipad at age 4 and be surprised when she spends $1,000+ on in game shit. I've heard this exact story from multiple co-workers. I usually just laugh it off but part of me is like, the fuck is yoru problem giving your kid an ipad and giving them free reign? This co-worker is a c suite guy making a shit ton of money. Likely doesnt have enough time to actually _be_ with his kids so you just get an ipad.
My youngest is getting her own too in half a year when she turns 4.
I think it's healthy to recognise when a system, game or otherwise, tries to manipulate you into spending money, and I try to teach my son to recognise that. It's fine to spend money, but spend it on something that's worth it, something you want, not something you're pressured into.