Legal requirements for child-friendly video games

26.08.2024

• Rating
• Code of conduct
• PEGI Rules of Behavior
• Legislative requirements
• Contact our legal team to learn more

Video games are in high demand among both adult audiences and children. According to Ipsos, about 20% of players (that's roughly 618 million) are under the age of 18. The largest category is, not surprisingly, those aged 18-34, which is 1.17 billion people.

The presence of safety requirements for children leads to the emergence of the concept of child-friendly video games. It is not officially defined anywhere, so we propose to refer to it those video games that differ from ordinary video games by a set of features that make them safer, educational and developmental for young players. Today we will talk about these distinctive features.

• Age rating of E (Everyone) or E10+ (Everyone 10 and older) on the ESRB system or equivalent on other systems. This ensures that the game content is suitable for children of a certain age and does not contain violence, obscene material or other content not appropriate for a child audience.
   
• Simplicity of gameplay: child-friendly games usually have simple and straightforward gameplay, easy controls, and adapted approaches to game mechanics.
   
• Educational aspect: child-friendly games often contain educational elements such as logic, math, language skills and other areas of knowledge. Such games help children to develop various skills and abilities.
   
• Bright and attractive graphics: child-friendly games often have colorful graphics that attract children's attention and create a positive impression of the game world.

In general, child-friendly video games are designed with children's needs and interests in mind, offering them safe and educational content that promotes their development and entertainment.

However, considering the diversity of the media space, being in it carries a high chance of encountering aggression, cheating and objectionable scenes. Children, especially young children, can be easily exposed to violent content, inappropriate language, violent scenes and other objectionable episodes found in some video games.

Accordingly, the development of a child-friendly video game should be conducted with the necessary requirements in mind.

Rating

At the moment, there are more than a dozen systems for assigning ratings to video games. Most European countries adhere to the Pan European Game Information (PEGI) standard, which is supported by the European Commission and distinguishes 5 age categories:

In addition to age restrictions, PEGI also provides the ability to post warnings about various triggers:

Information on age restrictions and triggers is posted on the app page in the app store, or on packages (if the product is purchased in physical copies).

Another rating system, the Entertainment Software Rating Board or ESRB, is common in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The ESRB is a non-profit, self-regulatory body that assigns age ratings for computer and video game content, enforces industry-accepted advertising guidelines, and helps ensure responsible Internet privacy practices for the interactive entertainment software industry.

The Council assigns 6 types of ratings to video games, namely:

1. "EC" ("Early childhood") - intended for young children 3 years of age and older. These video games do not contain material that could be interpreted as inappropriate and are usually educational games.
2. E" ("Everyone") - has no specific age limit and is intended for all ages. These games may contain minimal violence.
3. "E10+" ("Everyone 10 and older") - intended for children 10 years of age and older; thus allowing for video games to contain more "mild" violence, explicit scenes, or minimal amounts of blood.
4. "T" ("Teen") - intended for children 13 years of age or older (teenagers). Video games may contain violence, infrequent use of profanity, rude humor and some explicit sexual content.
5. "M" ("Mature") - Video games containing adult content with violence, large amounts of blood, obscene sexual scenes and harsh profanity.
6. "AO" ("Adults Only 18+") - intended only for adults over the age of 18 and containing prolonged scenes of brutal violence and/or very sexually explicit content.
7. Among the rating designations, you can also find "Rating pending", which implies games that have not yet been evaluated for age restriction.

Thus, one of the mandatory requirements for providing a child-friendly video game is to assign a suitable rating and allow only those individuals who pass the age limit to play such a video game.

Code of conduct

In addition to age ratings, development companies that adhere to the PEGI standards must implement a Code of Conduct that aims to create a safe gaming environment where online player interaction is expected.

The main provisions of the Code of Conduct include the following commitments:

• Keep any user-generated content free of any parts that are "illegal, offensive, racist, degrading, threatening, obscene, or likely to permanently interfere with the development of minors."
• have mechanisms in place to allow players to notify of such content or any type of inappropriate behavior.

It is important that the code of conduct be written in clear language and preferably not too long: children are not always patient enough to read the text to the end.

Among the recommendations for introducing children to the code of conduct, we also offer the following options:

• incentivize players to internalize the code of conduct (e.g., providing in-game currency for completing training);
• using creative methods to make it easier for children to understand the material (e.g., in the form of instructional videos);
• hiring dedicated managers responsible for creating healthy and non-toxic communities of players on the site.

PEGI Rules of Behavior

In addition to the rating labels and code of conduct, it is also worth mentioning the following PEGI requirements that development companies are obliged to comply with:

• Lootboxes. Games that offer players the ability to purchase random in-game content should:
  1. display a notice of the paid random item at the time of purchase to help consumers make an informed decision;
  2. remind the user that payment for such random in-game=go content is never mandatory for gameplay;
  3. Ensure that the probability of an item dropping out is transparent and the same for all players.
      
• Gambling. Developers should specify in their product terms of use that players are prohibited from using in-game content to engage in illegal gambling or betting. There should be clear language on the application of potential penalties, such as suspending or banning players in the case of illegal trading.

Legislative requirements

Legislative requirements for child-friendly video games are a set of rules and regulations, as well as normative acts that establish rules and standards to be met by video games intended for children. They aim to protect the interests and safety of children by ensuring that they can play games that do not contain inappropriate content and do not pose a potential threat to their mental and physical well-being. Such legal requirements may include:

• content regulations (criteria for content that is allowed in children's games, such as the absence of violence, pornography, rough language and other objectionable elements); 
• personal data protection (mechanisms for protecting children's personal data, including the collection, storage and use of such information by gamedev companies; 
• rating and classification of video games;
• other.

An additional requirement related to the collection of personal data is compliance with GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation in the EU) and COPPA (Children's Online Privacy Protection Act in the US). These laws, although applied differently depending on the country where users live, include strict rules for protecting the data of children under the age of consent (up to 16 years of age in GDPR and 13 years of age in COPPA).

In general, GDPR and COPPA are examples of regional and state regulation of child-friendly video games in terms of personal data. GDPR applies to the European Union; companies that have an office in an EU country, or collect, process or store data from citizens living in the EU, must comply with GDPR. COPPA is more narrowly focused on keeping children safe online and applies in the United States.

It is also worth mentioning that if children are using the site, it should be designed as a child-safe space. YouTube is an example - despite the service's claims that it is not intended for children under the age of 13, it contains a lot of content intended for children (e.g. children's cartoons and podcasts). Accordingly, YouTube can be described as a platform popular for all ages. The Pew Research Center also provides data according to which about 80% of all parents who have a child under the age of 11 say their child watches YouTube videos.

Besides the need to comply with child and data protection laws, the following requirements should also be observed to make the game child-friendly:

• Advertising. Apps must comply with advertising guidelines to ensure that advertising is appropriate for children and not misleading. Information that promotes violence, gambling or inappropriate content should be avoided.
• In-app purchases. If in-app purchases are included, you need to be transparent about pricing and make sure it is easy for parents to control or limit these purchases. Deceptive practices that may encourage children to make unintended purchases should be avoided.
• Accessibility and security features. We recommend including features that promote accessibility, such as customizable difficulty levels or language options. Security features, such as parental controls, should be implemented so that parents can monitor their child's use of the app.
• Public reporting and transparency. Companies may provide information on game content, monetization, and player safety measures. Most often, such reports cover all of the company's products, are displayed annually, and are available to all users. Examples of companies that produce annual reports on their activities include Ubisoft and Electronic Arts.
• Respect for children's rights. It is important to respect children's rights to privacy, security and personal integrity in online games by preventing harassment or discrimination. For example, provide instructions on how to properly set up privacy settings in an account (including not disclosing personal information), and ensure that the support team is always in contact in case of problems or security breaches.

By following these legal requirements and best practices, developers can create apps for children that put the safety, privacy and well-being of children first, while providing an engaging and educational experience. Keep in mind that laws and regulations can vary from region to region, so it's important to stay informed and comply with relevant legal guidelines.

Author: Svetlana Gordey, Darya Sauko

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