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 from the 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.
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Visually, the game is appealing to children. The cartoonish character and colorful vehicles are reminiscent of many other similarly appealing games. The Goat character appears designed to look amusing and silly, and the vehicles he drives are similar to children's toys; such as Paw Patrol vehicles and Mario Karts.
Capitalising on the popularity of other goat simulation games, this app is goat-related in name only. Aside from the animated character who drives your vehicle, you won’t find any realistic goat content here. Rather, you are challenged to drive a kart around roads and obstacles, hitting defined markers on your way. The gameplay is similar to many other driving games available, and will be familiar to younger users.
The game features in-game banner ads provided by Google. They change periodically and were observed advertising tutoring courses, kitchen equipment and gaming hardware.
The game has several levels to play through, all but the first are locked. There are also a number of cars available for the goat to drive. The levels and alternative cars can be unlocked by completing the level, or by making an in-app purchase to unlock all features in the full game. The user is awarded a score out of three stars to determine how well they have performed, a feature which provides feedback and motivation to improve.
Privacy
The developers have not provided any information about their Privacy Policy or Terms of Service to the App Store. App Mania LLC do not appear to have a website and have not linked any policies through the app.
An account is not needed to play, and there is no age gate or other age verification.
Screenshots of Goat Driving Car Parking Simulator
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.
