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 and Apple App Stores. 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.
The basic premise of Cooking Fever is to prepare dishes for customers who come to your restaurant. As the levels progress, the demands from your customers become greater, as they arrive more quickly and ask for more complicated dishes. The user gains coins and jewels from completing a level, which can then be used to upgrade your ingredients and equipment. The idea is familiar with other cooking games, such as Overcooked! which is also popular with children (Overcooked! has a PEGI3 rating). By contrast, Cooking Fever is more straightforward than Overcooked! as it doesn’t require the character to move around a kitchen and only one character is being controlled. This difference makes it more accessible for younger players.
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The animation style of Cooking Fever is similar to many other current games, with cartoon people featuring wide eyes and exaggerated expressions. The user prepares burgers, hot dogs, and cups of cola for their customers; all kid-friendly cuisine. As the game progresses, the user can open different restaurants and the variety and complexity of the dishes grows, making the game increasingly trickier and also more delicious looking! The shelves of food in the restaurant are reminiscent of something from a children’s book.
There are several other aspects of the game aside from the food preparation: upgrading equipment and ingredients; opening other restaurants; collecting coins and jewels to use in these upgrades; and taking part in tournaments to compete against other players. These features add a layer of extra interest for older children and adults who play. There are also in-app purchases available to speed up the upgrade process, and the app doesn’t appear to feature any adverts.
Privacy
The Nordcurrent Privacy Policy states that anyone under 18 must not access their games. Furthermore, they state that anyone over 18 must deny access to children or minors under 18. Cooking Fever doesn’t feature an age gate to check the age of their users.
Screenshots of Cooking Fever
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.
