Privacy policy

The short version

• You don't need an account to play. Your progress lives in your own browser, on your device.
• We don't use cookies, and we don't show ads.
• Our analytics are our own, cookieless and counted in aggregate. We don't store IP addresses or build profiles of you.
• If you give us your email, we only use it to tell you when a new game or district opens. You can unsubscribe from any email.
• You can ask us what we hold about you, or ask us to delete it, at any time: [email protected].

Who we are

Etheria (etheria.games) is run by NOJU. For data protection law, NOJU is the controller: the one who decides how your information is used.

Legal entity: Noju LLC, a limited liability company registered in the State of Delaware, United States of America
Registered address: 80 M Street SE, Washington DC 20003, United States of America
Privacy contact: [email protected]

Full company details are on our contact and imprint page.

What stays on your device

Today there are no Etheria accounts. Your game progress, settings, XP, streaks and Shards are saved in your browser's local storage (localStorage and sessionStorage) on your own device. This data is not sent to us.

That storage is strictly necessary for the games to work: without it, the game would forget your city or your settings every time you left. You can wipe it whenever you like by clearing site data for etheria.games in your browser. The full list of what we store is on our cookies and storage page.

Email sign-up

Signing up for emails is optional. If you do, we collect:

• your email address;
• which game or district you asked about;
• your language;
• the time you signed up.

We use this only to tell you when a new game or district opens. Every email has an unsubscribe link. We don't sell your address or use it for anything else.

Legal basis: your consent. You can withdraw it at any time by unsubscribing or writing to [email protected].

Age: to sign up you must confirm that you're 16 or older, or that a parent or guardian has said yes. Some countries set a lower age for this, for example 13 in the UK and 14 in Bulgaria; where that applies, the lower age is enough.

Your sign-up is stored in our own database on Cloudflare, which handles it only on our instructions, as our processor. When we start sending emails, we'll name the service that sends them here first.

Analytics

To understand which games people enjoy and where things break, we run our own privacy-friendly analytics. There are two parts, both ours.

Site analytics records:

• page views;
• which game was opened;
• the page, the referring website's domain, a rough screen size class and your language;
• your country, worked out from the request at the moment it arrives.

Game analytics run on Playmetry, NOJU's own analytics service for games. It records how each game is played:

• sessions and active play time;
• a rough device class, load time, frame rate, and error messages when something breaks;
• game moments, such as a run finishing, a new best, a Daily, XP and Shards earned, and achievements;
• whether a visit is your first, your first of the day or month, and the day you first played. This is how we count returning players without knowing who they are.

To make that last point work, each game keeps one small note on your device, for example pm:metro. It holds only the day you first played, the day you last played and the month you last played. No identifier is ever created or sent.

Neither part sets cookies or device identifiers, does fingerprinting, or stores IP addresses. We see totals, such as how many people played Turbo Rally on Tuesday, or how many came back a week later. We never see what any one person did, and we can't link one visit to the next.

Turning it off: if your browser sends Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control, game analytics stays off and keeps no note. You can also delete the notes at any time by clearing site data.

Legal basis: our legitimate interest in keeping the games working and improving them, in a way that has very little impact on you. Where the law treats the small note on your device as needing consent, we'll ask first.

If we ever add an analytics provider outside NOJU, we'll name it here first and ask for your consent where the law requires it.

Advertising

Etheria shows no ads at launch. If we introduce ads later, we'll ask for your consent first where the law requires it, and we'll update this policy before they appear.

Services that load our pages

When you open a page, your browser connects to a few services that help deliver it. Like any website, they receive basic technical data such as your IP address and browser type (user agent), because that's how the internet works.

• Google Fonts serves our typefaces for now. We plan to host the fonts ourselves, after which this connection goes away.
• Playmetry, NOJU's own game analytics, run on Cloudflare, receives the game events described above.
• Our hosting provider, Cloudflare, serves the site and the games, and stores sign-ups.

Legal basis: our legitimate interest in delivering the site to you securely and quickly.

Some of these providers may handle data in other countries. Where that happens, we rely on the safeguards data protection law requires for such transfers.

How long we keep things

• Email sign-ups: until you unsubscribe or ask us to delete your address.
• Analytics: kept in aggregate for up to 25 months.
• Game analytics notes on your device (pm: plus the game): replaced each visit, and dropped after 13 months without play.
• Game progress: stays on your device until you clear it. We never hold a copy.

Your rights

Wherever you live, you can write to [email protected] and we'll help. Depending on the law that covers you, your rights include:

• Access: ask what we hold about you and get a copy.
• Correction: ask us to fix anything that's wrong.
• Deletion: ask us to erase your data.
• Objection: object to us using your data on the basis of our legitimate interests.
• Withdrawing consent: unsubscribe from emails at any time.
• Complaint: complain to a data protection authority.

EU and UK. These rights come from the GDPR and the UK GDPR. You can complain to the supervisory authority where you live or work, for example the Information Commissioner's Office in the UK, or your national authority in the EU.

Malaysia. The Personal Data Protection Act 2010 (PDPA) gives you the right to access and correct your personal data and to withdraw consent. You can also contact the Personal Data Protection Commissioner.

Indonesia. The Personal Data Protection Law (UU No. 27 Tahun 2022) gives you rights including access, correction, deletion and withdrawal of consent.

Since your game progress never reaches us, the quickest way to delete it is to clear site data in your browser. We'll answer other requests as soon as we can and within the time the law allows.

Children

Etheria is for teens and adults, and some games are rated for all ages. We don't knowingly collect personal data from children without a parent's or guardian's permission where the law requires it. If you think a child has signed up for emails without permission, see our page for parents and we'll delete the address.

Coming later: accounts

We plan to add accounts with Google, Apple or email sign-in so you can keep progress across devices. They aren't live yet. Before they launch, we'll update this policy to explain what changes.

Changes to this policy

If we change this policy, we'll update the date at the top. If a change matters, for example new data or a new use, we'll say so clearly on the site, and we'll ask for consent again where the law requires it.