Pixalate's COPPA Manual Reviews: ‘Stickman Hook’

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).

Manually reviewed in this post

Stickman Hook (Google) Stickman Hook (Apple)

The 10 COPPA Rule factors

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.

Reviewed by: Emma Burdis

Manual Review: Stickman Hook

Likely audience after manual review

Developer: Madbox (Google), MADBOX (Apple)
Google Bundle ID: com.mindy.grap1
Apple Bundle ID: 1435807944
Privacy Policy
Emma’s Take: Simple and fun gameplay with lots of incentives to keep you coming back for more.

COPPA factors used to determine audience

and

This game uses simple animation featuring a Stickman character, swinging points, and a finish line. Each level is different and sometimes includes bouncy surfaces or a simple maze. The visuals are simple but effective, and straightforward for players to understand. The Stickman character appears at the end of the level to celebrate your achievement and dances similarly to the emotes on Minecraft and Fortnite. The simple characters and gameplay are accessible and appealing to younger gamers.

The gameplay and levels are straightforward, but the game has several methods of incentivizing further play. Different Stickman skins, limited-time events, prizes for daily check-ins, and unlockable add-ons all contribute to the motivation to play and to keep coming back day after day.

A 30-second advert appears at the end of each level, usually for another puzzle game. Sometimes they can be skipped after 5 seconds. Adverts are also used as an incentive to gain more rewards - watching an optional video at the end of the level increases your progress toward the next stage. An in-game purchase is available to remove ads from the game.

Privacy:

Madbox state that users must be over a certain age to play their game, depending on where the user lives. As a French company, they refer to the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights to give information about the age of data consent that each EU country provides. Of course, this doesn’t include US provisions, although it seems safe to assume that the COPPA-determined age of 13 would apply. Madbox state that children under this age should not use their game. However, there is no age gate in place and it seems unlikely that children would read the Privacy Policy to find this out.

Screenshots of Stickman Hook:

About Pixalate’s Trust & Safety Advisory Board

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.