Privacy

This notice covers keeplings.io and the Keeplings game operated by Symbiosa Games, France. Symbiosa Games is responsible for the processing described here. For privacy questions or a request about your data, write to [email protected]. Publisher information is on our legal information page.

1. Playing through Steam

Steam supplies the identifier and authentication or ownership information needed to sign you into Keeplings. We associate a game account with that identity and store your character, progress, creatures, inventory, preferences and social interactions. You do not create a separate Keeplings password. We do not receive your Steam password or payment-card details.

We use this information to provide the game you request and perform our contract with you. Account and connection checks also protect the service and other players against fraud and misuse, which is our legitimate interest.

Steam separately processes your account and purchase information under Valve’s privacy policy. Your game-account deletion request does not delete your Steam account or purchase history held by Valve.

2. Information used in the game

• Game and account records: your Steam identifier, game identifiers, character names and appearance, progression, creatures, items, currency, preferences, friends, blocks and group membership. These let us save and deliver the game and its social features.
• Session and technical records: connection and session times, country information, client version, errors and the technical information needed to operate and secure the service. Hosting and network services process connection data such as IP addresses to deliver traffic and protect against abuse.
• Trading and security records: trades, market listings, ownership history, reports, sanctions and support actions. We use these to resolve problems, prevent fraud and protect the shared economy. This processing serves our legitimate interests in running a fair, secure game and, where relevant, establishing or defending legal claims.
• Chat and reports: messages are delivered to their intended audience. The game keeps a short recent-chat window in memory; a report can save relevant messages as evidence for moderation. Ordinary unreported game chat is not written to a permanent chat-history database. Messages and reports sent through Discord are subject to Discord’s own service and our moderation of the community.
• Support: messages, contact details and information you choose to provide when asking for help. We use them to answer you, perform our obligations and resolve disputes. Please do not send passwords, payment-card details or unnecessary sensitive information.

Some builds can send diagnostic error reports to our error-reporting service. Reports can include an installation identifier, game version, error details and technical context. The reporting code filters common personal information and secrets and excludes screenshots, session replay and raw memory dumps. An installation identifier is pseudonymous, not a guarantee of anonymity. Technical providers still receive network data needed to deliver a report.

Automated security checks may reject invalid requests, restrict suspicious activity or reapply an existing sanction. You can contact us to challenge an action affecting your access and request human review.

3. What other people can see

Other players can see information you choose or need to share through gameplay, such as your character name and appearance, messages sent to them, and information shown by trading or social features. Do not put private information into a public name, message or listing.

Access to support and moderation records is restricted to people who need it for their work. We may disclose relevant information when required by law or when necessary and lawful to protect people, investigate fraud or defend a claim. We do not sell player data.

4. The website and browser storage

Cloudflare hosts and protects this static website. It processes technical requests, including connection information, to deliver the site and defend it against abuse. Our legal basis is our legitimate interest in a functioning, secure website.

We use Cloudflare Web Analytics for aggregate page-use and performance information. This analytics service does not use cookies or local storage to track visitors, and does not fingerprint people for its analytics. That is separate from the connection data Cloudflare processes to host and secure the website. See Cloudflare’s privacy policy and Web Analytics documentation.

The website remembers your chosen colour theme in your browser under kp-theme. This preference stays on your device until you change it or clear the website’s local storage. It is used to provide the appearance you selected, not to identify you for advertising. Your browser may also cache website files.

We do not set advertising cookies through the website’s own code. Security services can use necessary technical measures to protect requests. Links to Steam, Discord and other external sites open services with their own privacy and storage practices. We will update this notice and obtain consent where required before adding optional tracking that needs it.

5. The email list

If you subscribe, we use your email address to send Keeplings news with your consent. Subscription and confirmation information, delivery status and unsubscribe records help us operate the list and respect your choice. MailerLite processes subscriptions and email delivery for us. Depending on the email settings and your email software, delivery reports may also include opening or link-interaction information.

Subscribing is optional and is not required to play. You can withdraw your consent using an email’s unsubscribe link or by writing to [email protected]. Withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of processing before it. We may keep a limited suppression record to avoid adding an unsubscribed address back to the list and evidence needed to establish that consent was obtained.

See MailerLite’s privacy policy for information about its own processing.

6. Service providers and international processing

Our providers include Cloudflare for website delivery and security, Hetzner for game infrastructure, MailerLite for the email list, and providers of support, email and diagnostic services where used. They receive the data needed for their role. Steam and Discord also process information independently when you use their services.

Game infrastructure is based in the EU, but using global providers can involve processing or access outside the European Economic Area. Provider arrangements use applicable transfer safeguards, including European Commission adequacy decisions where applicable and standard contractual clauses for transfers that require them. You can ask us about the safeguards relevant to your information and how to obtain a copy.

Cloudflare and MailerLite describe their processing and transfer terms in their Cloudflare data-processing addendum and MailerLite data-processing addendum. Those providers’ terms do not replace our responsibilities for data we control.

7. How long information is kept

We retain information for the purpose for which it is needed, taking account of the operation of the game, deletion requests, disputes and legal obligations. Different records have different lifetimes:

• Account and playable-character information is held while the account is maintained, subject to your rights and the deletion process below.
• Detailed game-session records are normally retained for 180 days. Some activity summaries have separate, longer operational retention periods.
• Handled game-chat reports are normally retained for 365 days after handling. Open investigations or a legal hold can require relevant evidence to be kept longer.
• A limited ban-evasion identifier is kept until a temporary ban ends, or for two years when created for a permanent ban. It is produced with a keyed one-way function, rather than keeping the original Steam identifier in that record.
• Shared economic and ownership history is retained after account deletion under a pseudonym to preserve other players’ transactions, investigate fraud and maintain the integrity of the shared game state. Some economic, moderation and compliance records have no automatic expiry in the current system. These records are not described as anonymous; retaining them remains subject to necessity, applicable law and your rights.
• Support correspondence is kept for handling the request and, where necessary, a related dispute or legal obligation. Technical and diagnostic records are kept for fault investigation and security according to the service and its retention settings. The criteria are the purpose of the record, whether an incident remains open, and applicable legal requirements.
• Newsletter details are used while you remain subscribed. After withdrawal, use for sending news stops; limited consent or suppression information may remain as described above.

Backups do not disappear immediately when live data is erased. The game’s backup policy uses an eight-day local window and a thirty-day off-host window. Erased information in those backups is kept out of ordinary use until it expires, and erasures must be reapplied if a backup is restored. Records subject to a justified legal hold are treated separately.

8. Account deletion and your rights

Contact [email protected] to request access, correction, deletion, restriction, portability where applicable, or to object to processing based on legitimate interests. You can also withdraw consent for processing that relies on it. We may ask for proportionate information to verify that you control the relevant account; never send your Steam password or login code.

Game-account deletion normally includes a fourteen-day cancellation period. Access is restricted during that period, and you can contact support to cancel the request. When deletion completes, we remove the Steam-account link and associated personal settings and social links, and retire the playable character. Shared records and evidence may remain as described above. Deletion of a Keeplings account is separate from unsubscribing from news or deleting a Steam or Discord account.

We normally respond to a rights request within one month. If a lawful extension is needed for complexity or the number of requests, we will explain it within that first month. If we cannot erase particular information because a legal exception applies, we will explain the reason and your options. An investigation is not a blanket reason to retain all information indefinitely.

You may complain to the CNIL in France or to your local data-protection authority. You do not have to contact us first.

Providing the account and technical information needed to run an online game is necessary to play. Without it, we cannot provide those features. Joining the email list and providing optional feedback remain voluntary.

9. Younger players and updates

Access to the game is subject to Steam’s age requirements and applicable local law. If you are a parent or guardian with a concern about a child’s information, contact us so that we can investigate. We do not ask players to publish their real name, age or address in the game.

We will update this notice when our processing changes. The date above identifies the current version. Material changes will be brought to your attention where appropriate, and a notice update will not be treated as consent for a new purpose that requires consent.