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 & 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.
Z Escape plays on the adolescent obsession with zombies. The blue people are running from zombies and must get to the helicopter before the zombies reach them. The player is in the air shooting at the zombies as they chase the people. The goal is to keep the zombies far enough back that all of the people can successfully run to the side of the building and jump in the helicopter. Explosive barrels, wrecking balls, and other obstacles can be shot at to further keep the zombies at bay. The gameplay is simple and easy enough for young children to quickly learn but engaging enough to appeal to some adults as well.
The graphics are very simple, with animated figures that are barely more than stick figures. The only distinguishable difference between the people and zombies is their color, the people are blue while the zombies are red. Both zombies and people run in similar fashions, there are no exaggerated zombie-like movements seen. Despite the shooting, explosions, and zombie attacks the animations are not graphic. There is no blood or gore, the zombies and people simply fall and disappear.
Sound effects accompany most of the actions in the game. Players can hear machine guns shooting, helicopters, zombies chomping, and explosions throughout gameplay. As the people reach the helicopter they give off a little cheer for making it to safety.
Coins are earned at the end of the levels based on the number of people who successfully escaped the zombies. Daily missions also give coins for things such as killing certain numbers of zombies or upgrading weapons. Coins can be used to buy new weapons, upgrade the level being played, and increase the multiplier rewards for the number of people saved.
Banner ads are displayed on the bottom of the screen and video ads are played after completing levels in the game. Optional video ads can be played to increase the number of coins earned, skip a level, and unlock or upgrade weapons. There are a variety of different types of ads shown that are for games and apps, some directed to mixed audiences and others to general audiences.
Z Escape is rated 12+ on the Apple App Store, T on the US Google Play Store, and PEGI 12 in the European Google Play Store, with violence and fantasy violence being the reason behind the ratings. The app description indicates that they are expecting a mixed audience with descriptions that state, “a cool real-time strategy game for everyone … cool game for boys and girls…for kids and adults…game for girls and boys.”
While there are a few reviews that seem to be from children, most of the reviews are generic and it is difficult to tell if the players are adults or children. Several reviews seem to be from adults indicating the gameplay is too simple for adults, expressing the notion that the game is more for children.
Privacy
According to the privacy policy, which was last updated on May 17, 2023, players under 16 are not allowed to complete a player profile. However, Z Escape does not require a player to create a profile and does not have an age gate in place to restrict younger users from playing the game. They do indicate that they collect personal and identification data and the data they collect is shared with third parties.
Screenshots of Z Escape: Zombie Crowd Shooter
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.
