UK: ICO publishes recommendations for games designers on how to comply with the Children's Code

The Information Commissioner's Office ('ICO') announced, on 16 February 2023, that it had published a series of recommendations to games developers, titled Top Tips for Games Designers - How to Comply with the Children's Code, also known as the Age Appropriate Design Code, which sets out how online services, likely to be accessed by children, should protect them in the digital world. In particular, the recommendations are based on the ICO's experiences and findings during a series of voluntary audits of game developers, studios, and publishers within the gaming industry. Notably, the recommendations encourage, among other things, that games designers and providers should:

Identify if players are under the age of 18 with a reasonable degree of certainty, and discourage false declarations of age. Ensure that games are not detrimental to children's health and well-being, by including checkpoints and age-appropriate prompts to encourage players to take breaks from extended play or help them to disengage from extended sessions without feeling pressurised to continue playing or becoming fearful of missing out. Turn off behavioural profiling for marketing by default. If a child chooses to opt into receiving ads, organisations should implement measures to control or monitor product placement, advertising, or sponsorship arrangements including within community servers, where children can access community servers from within the game. Discourage the use of 'nudge techniques' to encourage children to make poor privacy decisions, including reviewing the marketing of social media competitions and partnerships to children and the encouraging of children to create social media accounts for fear of missing out on rewards. New guidance to industry issued for game developers on protecting children The Information Commissioner’s Office sets the standard for ensuring games conform with data protection law. 93% of UK children play video games. Games providers should identify if their players are under 18, and the games themselves must not be detrimental to children’s well-being. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has today issued a series of recommendations to game developers to help ensure they protect children when playing their games and comply with data protection laws. The recommendations are based on our experiences and findings during a series of voluntary audits of game developers, studios and publishers within the gaming industry.

These recommendations will ensure that games conform with the Children’s code and should assist design and gaming communities embed data protection considerations when designing gameplay.

The Children’s code is a code of practice for online services likely to be accessed by children, and explains how the UK’s General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) applies to children using digital services.

The information issued today includes recommendations for games designers and providers to ;

identify if players are under the age of 18 with a reasonable degree of certainty, and discourage false declarations of age; ensure that games are not detrimental to children’s health and well-being, by including checkpoints and age-appropriate prompts to encourage players to take breaks from extended play or help them to disengage from extended sessions without feeling pressurised to continue playing or becoming fearful of missing out; turn off behavioural profiling for marketing by default. If a child chooses to opt into receiving ads, you should implement measures to control or monitor product placement, advertising, or sponsorship arrangements including within community servers, where children can access community servers from within the game discourage the use of “nudge techniques” to encourage children to make poor privacy decisions, including reviewing the marketing of social media competitions and partnerships to children and the encouraging of children to create social media accounts for fear of missing out on rewards. More recommendations: https://ico.org.uk/about-the-ico/media-centre/news-and-blogs/2023/02/new-guidance-to-industry-issued-for-game-developers-on-protecting-children/

Top tips for games designers – how to comply with the Children’s code The Children’s code is a code of practice that sets out how online services, likely to be accessed by children, should protect them in the digital world.

We’ve audited game design companies to better understand how the Children’s code applies in the games sector and importantly, what steps games companies can take to make sure they apply with the code. We’ve set out our top tips to ensure your players have a good game.

Sussing out the danger – running risk assessments Having a defined process to help you identify and minimise the data protection risks within your games will help protect the rights and freedoms of children.

You should:

Consult with external stakeholders, including children, as part of any risk assessment. To do this, you could gather feedback from existing players, carry out a public consultation, conduct user testing or contact relevant children's rights groups for their views. You could consider completing a Children’s Rights Impact Assessment as part of this process. Assess and document the game’s appeal to children during the game design stage, and with legacy products, to help you decide the most appropriate age assurance measure to put in place. You should also consider if you need to tailor any in-game content or data processing needs for children. Just because the game isn’t aimed at children, doesn’t mean they won’t want to play it. Regularly review assessments after a game goes live. If you discover unexpected age groups are playing the game, you should make any necessary adjustments. Ensure you risk assess any randomised rewards, such as loot boxes, against the Children’s code and the UK Government’s response to their consultation on loot boxes and gambling. More recommendations: https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/childrens-code-hub/top-tips-for-games-designers-how-to-comply-with-the-children-s-code/

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