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 popular game from the Amazon Fire TV 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.
Digger Dan is an interactive Firestick game that would appeal to both children and adults. The main game character, “Digger Dan,” moves through the maze collecting jewels, gold, and treasure chests. While Dan digs through the dirt to reach the treasure, he must also avoid the skeletons that are chasing him. The game can be played by a single player or can be played in multiplayer mode by using the remote that comes with the Firestick and the Firestick TV Remote app on a mobile device.
The animations are simple, with the characters simply moving through the maze in a style similar to Pac-man. There is a simple background of rocks that are tinted slightly darker when a tunnel is created by digging. The contrasting colors make it easy to track where the tunnels have been made and where they have not been built yet.
The animated characters in this game have huge heads and tiny bodies, making it easy to track them as they are moving through the maze. The skeletons are dressed in battle gear, ready to take on the miner in the game. The animation style of the characters is very appealing to children, however it is not too childlike to put adults off of the game.
Upbeat music is played in the background of each level of the game and dinging sounds are made each time treasure is collected. Ominous sounds accompany the skeletons as they enter the maze to warn the user to be on the lookout for trouble. Upon completion of each level a celebratory sound is played that helps encourage players to attempt the next level.
Reviews indicate that there are a mixture of adults and children using the app. There are several reviews from parents indicating that their children either use this app on their own or that the parents and children play together.
There is no advertising within this app.
Privacy:
There is no privacy policy for Digger Dan linked in the Firestick store. The linked Developer website does not load so there is no accessible privacy policy. A quick search of the developer led to a twitter account that has not been updated since 2020, leading me to believe that the developer is no longer updating their apps. Their apps still appear on the Amazon Firestick App Store and are available for download. Despite this app not being updated, it does seem like it is still commonly used on Firestick with many reviews published in the past year from users in various countries.
Screenshots of Digger Dan & the Mine of Doom:
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.
