Privacy Policy

1. Data We Collect

• Gameplay telemetry: anonymised fingerprint, click counts, faction choice, timestamps, and achievement progress to enable streak rewards and leaderboards.
• Device & usage data: browser, operating system, viewport, and performance metrics captured through GA4 and Microsoft Clarity. These services may set their own cookies; see their respective policies for details.
• Voluntary submissions: email addresses for updates, survey responses, and media uploads provided by users during campaigns or beta programs.
• Community commentary: nicknames, optional email addresses, comment content, and device fingerprints/IP hashes captured by our Cloudflare D1-backed mission chat. Submissions pass through automated filters (sensitive-word lists, link stripping, frequency limits, and optional Turnstile/Akismet checks) before appearing publicly.

2. How We Use Data

We analyse aggregate participation patterns to balance factions, tune daily limits, and surface new story beats. Personal contact information—such as newsletter sign-ups—is stored separately and used only for the stated purpose. We may publish anonymised statistics (e.g., “55% of participants backed the alien ship”) alongside the live vote battle content.

3. Storage & Retention

Cloudflare D1 stores vote batches for 30 days, after which data is aggregated into long-term totals. Workers KV and edge cache layers may retain non-personal snapshots for up to 24 hours. Newsletter lists are hosted in an encrypted provider environment and reviewed quarterly to purge inactive subscribers. Comment threads are persisted in a dedicated Cloudflare D1 table with weekly backups; automated policies remove entries that violate community guidelines or trigger abuse detection.

4. Sharing & Third Parties

We do not sell personal data. Access is limited to trusted operators under confidentiality obligations. Third-party analytics vendors (Google, Microsoft) process data subject to their own terms. If legally required, we may disclose limited information to comply with law enforcement or to protect the Service from abuse.

5. Your Choices

You can opt out of analytics cookies using browser controls or Google’s opt-out tools. Contact us to delete newsletter subscriptions or remove leaderboard nicknames associated with your fingerprint. Because gameplay data is pseudonymous, complete deletion may require retiring the associated fingerprint and progress.

6. International Transfers

Cloudflare’s global network routes traffic through the nearest edge. When data is transferred outside your region, we rely on contractual safeguards consistent with applicable privacy regulations.

7. Updates

We may revise this policy when we introduce new analytics partners, features, or regulatory requirements. Continued use of the Service after changes constitutes acceptance of the revised policy.