Great question.
Does that matter? The ESA got a temp. waiver for ‘video game software’ but I’m not sure the Act itself specifically calls out games? It’s broad.
Why a smart phone? I really do not want to mess with my phone while I’m playing a game. I prefer turning it off and letting it charge.
Doing it externally minimizes the impact on your game.
Not really. The law isn’t specifically about video games. It applies to any technology considered an “electronic messaging service” or “advanced communication service”.
Strange. It seems kind of awkward for someone to use two devices to chat in a game. But I noticed upon checking that Discord is available for mobile too.
Lots of people don’t have dual monitors, but everybody has a phone.
Not specifically for this law, perhaps, but the question itself is a good one, as there are a lot of different interpretation of what a game is, and those can definitely impact laws and regulations.
Assuming by “phone” you mean a smartphone, since non-smart phones are irrelevant to this discussion…
Also, a banana doesn’t cost ten dollars.
It’s not stupid if done right. You set it out years, and require it slowly by budget.
This encourages the development of tools to do the job cheaply. Tools which nobody is working on now.
People wanting nice things is why we can’t have nice things.