The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has recently issued a series of recommendations for game developers to provide protection for children and ensure compliance with data protection laws. The changes aim to protect children against games and concepts that may be detrimental to their health and wellbeing.

These recommendations include requirements to provide checkpoints and age-appropriate prompts which encourage players to take breaks from play or help them to disengage from extended sessions without feeling like they will be missing out. 

The ICO also recommends that only "positive" nudge techniques are used, so that game developers avoid using marketing techniques which lead children to make poor privacy or purchase decisions. Furthermore, behavioural profiling for marketing should be turned off as a default, geolocations should be switched off and developers should take steps to prevent players from giving false declarations of age. 

Given that the ISO issued this new guidance alongside the statistic that 93% of UK children play video games, the recommendations have been welcomed as a timely and appropriate step to help prevent children from harm in an ever developing online world.

You can find the full guidance report here: https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/childrens-code-hub/top-tips-for-games-designers-how-to-comply-with-the-children-s-code/