Welcome to Pixalate’s CTV & Mobile App Manual Reviews According to COPPA, a series containing the detailed factors the Trust & Safety Advisory Board educators used to assess an app’s child-directedness.
The educators manually review thousands of mobile apps available in the Google Play & Apple App Stores as well as connected TV (CTV) apps from the Roku Channel Store and Amazon Fire TV App Store using the COPPA Rule factors shown below & make those results available to the public at ratings.pixalate.com.
This post takes a look at a game which is available from the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. Our reviewer discusses how the subjective factors set forth in the COPPA Rule apply to the app and factor into the reviewer's determination as to whether the app is child-directed or general audience (i.e., it is not targeting children).
The teacher will indicate the factors they relied upon in their assessment using the 10 factors shown below that reflect the 10 child-directed factors in the COPPA Rule.
Chess Adventure for Kids teaches kids how to play chess in a fun and easy way. Through different quests, players learn about the different pieces, movements on the board, and rules of the game. The quests gradually get more difficult as the player progresses through the levels. There are also options to play against other kids, the computer “boss,” or to solve chess puzzles that correspond to the player’s level.
The graphics and animations within this game are very appealing to children. Short animations of pieces moving on the chess board help young players engagingly learn the rules of chess and character animations throughout gameplay keep the users interested in the game.
Players can create their animated kid avatar with a variety of options, such as bright blue or green hair. Most of the visuals (game pieces, backgrounds, etc) can be adjusted to the user’s preference, but all are child-friendly themes. Backgrounds featuring fairy-tale forests, playgrounds, space, and much more will appeal to children of a variety of ages and interests.
Instructions are given simply, ensuring that children can follow along and understand. Additionally, animations visually show what to do and what not to do, ensuring that reading is not a barrier to playing.
Adventurous-sounding background music that fits the “quest” theme can be toggled on or off playing in the background. There are plenty of sound effects, including the chess pieces, which sound just like the shuffling movements of wooden pieces on a physical chess board. Every time a move is executed the player’s avatar and the character they are playing react with cheers or sighs. This not only engages the player but also reinforces the gameplay they are learning, helping to guide them to winning the game of chess.
Coins are earned after winning a game and also for logging in daily. Upon winning, fireworks are also shot off and a treasure chest of assorted game items, such as avatar clothing, chess pieces, chess boards, and backgrounds are earned. Coins can also be used to purchase these extra game items or to unlock quests and games.
There is no advertising within this app.
It is clear that children are the target audience of this app, as “for Kids” is in the title of the app. This is further cemented in the app description which states, “ChessKid Adventure is a fun, safe, and educational world where kids can play chess against fun fantasy bosses, and against other kids!” Reviews also reflect a child-directed audience with kids, parents, and teachers leaving reviews about this app.
Privacy
The privacy policy, which doesn’t have a date of publication listed, is embedded within the terms of service and covers all of ChessKid.com, which is the child-directed subsidiary of Chess.com. The terms and privacy are focused on the fact that “ChessKid.com is 100% committed to safety!” They mention “We will NEVER share your information with anyone!” They indicate that they do collect IP addresses, cookies, and server logs that are used for internal development and improvements.
The privacy policy also references information they collect during registration, such as names and email addresses. However, no registration is required for this app and users are identified by a randomized username when they first begin using the app. Later in the policy, it does indicate that not all apps or parts of their website require registration, and this seems to be especially true for the more child-directed aspects of the site. For example, there are options for schools to register and use other apps and the ChessKid.com site in classrooms. This would require much more extensive registration and data collection than the Chess Adventure for Kids app.
Find Pixalate's full catalogue of reviews in our CTV and Mobile App Review Page
Screenshots of Chess Adventure for Kids
Pixalate’s Trust and Safety Advisory Board was created to bring in individuals with experience using child-directed apps in the classroom to review and assess which apps are child-directed. This manual review process serves to quality check Pixalate’s automated review process. See our full methodology for more information.
Disclaimer
This blog post published by Pixalate is available for informational purposes only and is not considered legal advice. By viewing this blog post, the reader understands and agrees that there is no attorney-client relationship between the reader and the blog publisher. The blog should not be used as a substitute for legal advice from a licensed professional attorney in the applicable jurisdiction(s), and readers are urged to consult their own legal counsel on any specific legal questions concerning any specific situation. The content of this blog post reflects Pixalate's opinions with respect to factors that Pixalate believes may be useful to the digital media industry. Pixalate's opinions are just that, opinions, which means that they are neither facts nor guarantees; and this blog post is not intended to impugn the standing or reputation of any entity, person or app, but instead, to report findings pertaining to mobile and Connected TV (CTV) apps.
