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.
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Marvel characters are loved and enjoyed by a wide audience across all age groups - my son and his grandma are both big fans! Most Marvel fans are likely to be attracted to this game. The listings in the App and Play Stores showcase some of the franchises’ most popular characters, including Iron Man and Spiderman. These are both hugely popular with children. However, any children who are drawn in by the initial impressions are likely to be perplexed by the workings of the game.
The basic premise is that of a turn-based battle game, aiming to thwart the other side by choosing which attacks to make. This in itself could be tedious for younger children. Aside from this, several factors make the game more complex: there are several different aspects of the game including a character roster, daily objectives, challenges, campaigns, plus other game modes which only become available after reaching a certain level of gameplay. Unlike other games aimed at children, there are no hints on the dashboard to guide the player toward the next step instead leaves it up to them to decide their next move. These are all factors that make the game too complicated for younger players to navigate.
Privacy
The Scopely Privacy Policy states that the game is intended for a general audience and requires players to be “above the minimum age to consent to data processing… as a condition of access”. However, there is no age gate to ensure this when accessing the game.
Screenshots of Marvel Strike Force
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.
