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 mobile app (1 million+ downloads) from the Google Play Store & 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.
Zombie Catchers Hunt & Sell is an entertaining game where the action is divided into selling and catching by two entrepreneurs, A.J. and Bud. In the gameplay, players beam down to the swamp hunting grounds to gather zombies and use their infinite supply of brains as bait to entice zombies from their rotting dungeons. Players immediately get to work by seizing with spears, harpoon guns, and rope. Once the zombies are captured they squeeze them and sell their juice in a drive-thru. Children will be exposed to some light violence and adult themes. The visual content and animation have colorful eye-catching cartoon-like graphics with spaceships and alien characters that are characteristics of child-oriented visuals.
Players have to earn money that can be used for upgrades, for example, improving skills and weapon strength. The financial gain translates to coins players get by capturing zombies and selling their juice.
There is no age gate. The app does have in-app purchasing. It is rated E for Everyone in the Google Play store and 12+ in the iOS store. A review posted in January 2019 with no age specification in the Google Play store says, “My son and I love this game.”
Privacy:
The developer’s privacy policy states, “Our app is not directed to children under 16 and may only be used by children with consent of their parent or guardian. In the “About this game,” section, it states, “Zombie catchers is allowed for download and play only for persons 13 years of age and over.”
Find Pixalate's full catalogue of reviews in our CTV and Mobile App Review Page
Screenshots of Zombie Catchers: Hunt & Sell
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.
