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Gamestar Mechanic (“Gamestar” or the "Site") is an online service offered by E-Line Media (“we” or “us”) that helps users learn how to design video games. This policy covers how we treat the information we receive and collect from you.

This Privacy Policy is effective as of January 19, 2021. In the future, our Site or our practices may change. When we make changes related to privacy, we will revise this Privacy Policy to reflect the changes. We'll post the updated version here. If we think the changes will significantly impact your use of the site or the treatment of information you have already provided, we will also notify you and ask that you review and consent to the new policy.

This Privacy Policy applies to the version of Gamestar Mechanic made available to the general public. We also make private "realms" of Gamestar available to certain organizations or groups, and users in these realms and the organizations or groups operating them may be subject to policies that differ from this one. Users within these realms should contact their Realm Administrator for more information.

Summary of our privacy practices



Though you should read this document in its entirety, there are a few points regarding privacy that we want to emphasize:


  • We do not collect more information from our users than is reasonably necessary to provide services and site functionality that the users have chosen to use;

  • Though we do collect a limited amount of information about you under certain circumstances, we generally do not collect enough personal data to allow us to identify specific persons in the real world;

  • Under certain conditions when Gamestar is used in educational settings -- we may collect enough personal data to identify a specific person. The policies below provide more information about these cases.

  • It is the nature of Gamestar that certain features are designed as “community features.” While our Rules of Conduct prohibit the sharing of personal data using these features, you should understand that any information you share using them is, by its nature, open and public.

  • We never share our users’ personal data with third parties;

  • We do not use or share personal data for advertising purposes, including not using personal data to engage in so-called “behavioral advertising”;

  • At your request, we will provide you with a copy of the information we have about you, correct any errors in that information or remove it from Gamestar.



Information we collect



Information you provide us with your consent



In the course of registering a user account, we ask that you consent to provide us with certain information about you. If you register an account, you consent to give us the information provided.

With the exception of certain students using Gamestar Mechanic in an educational setting as described below, when you register a Gamestar Mechanic account, we do not require that you provide us with personal data such as a real name, address or telephone number.

We do not request, store or collect email addresses from persons under the age of sixteen (16). If you are 16 or older, you may optionally provide us with an email address during account registration or later using the ‘Manage Account’ feature. If you choose to provide us with an email address, we will use it to contact you to provide customer service. You also have the option of allowing us to use this email address to contact you regarding Gamestar Mechanic features, contests and promotions. If you purchase an optional premium pack during your registration or are registering to use Gamestar Mechanic as an Educator, we require that you supply us with the email address of a person age eighteen (18) or older. We will only use email addresses we collect for communication directly related to Gamestar Mechanic, and every email we send will have clear opt-out instructions. Furthermore, we will never share these email addresses with any third party, with the exception of vendors we use to process payment transactions.

If we do not have an email address on file for your user account (either because you are under the age of 16 or you have chosen not to provide us with one), you will also have the option of providing us with an email address in the event you initiate a support request. If you provide us with an email address in this situation, we will only use it to contact you with regard to your support request and will remove it from our system at your request once the support issue has been resolved.

Information you provide to us for other reasons



Birthdates

When you register, we ask for and store your birthdate in order to comply with certain legal, regulatory and contractual requirements. We will not use your birthdate for any other purposes, including promotional and advertising purposes.

Students in Educational Settings

If you register your account as a student in a class within Gamestar Mechanic, you may be prompted to provide your real First and Last Name. In this event, a representative of your educational institution has represented that they have obtained parent/guardian permission for us to collect this information and we do so to comply with the agreement between us and the educational institution. This information is stored in our system in a secure manner and displayed only to authorized users at the educational institution to assist them in identifying students in Gamestar. Your real First and Last Name are not used or displayed elsewhere in Gamestar or shared with any third parties.


Information we track



When you visit the site and use different features of Gamestar, our automated software and tools routinely collect information such as IP address, browser/device type/capabilities, network/geographic location (at the city/state level) and site usage data (for example what pages are accessed, how much time was spent on each page, etc.). Some tracking tools are built into Gamestar. In other cases, we integrate with third party tools to provide these capabilities. We collect this information in order to support our internal site operations in compliance with certain contractual obligations we are subject to with respect to the ongoing operation of Gamestar.

Cookies


In common with many websites, Gamestar places small files known as “cookies” on our users’ machines. Cookies allow Gamestar to support internal site operations by providing a convenient experience for our users, keeping track of user identities as they navigate to different parts of the Gamestar website.

We may allow third parties to place and read their own cookies, web beacons, and similar technologies. For example, our third-party service providers may use these technologies to collect information that helps us to support our internal operations.

For the best user experience, we recommend that you allow your web browser to accept cookies from Gamestar Mechanic. It is possible to configure your web browser not to accept cookies, but this may cause some features of Gamestar not to work properly.

How we use the information we collect



Generally, we use the information we collect to enable Gamestar features; respond to your requests and provide customer service; let you know about new features and other news from Gamestar; ask for your input and feedback on what we are doing; and provide personalized services and recommendations. The ways in which we use particular pieces of information are detailed in the ‘Information we collect’ section of this Privacy Policy.

We use non-personal, anonymized and aggregated data to support our internal operations, for example improving the quality and design of Gamestar and its website; and to create new features, promotions, and services by storing, tracking, and analyzing user preferences and trends.

Unless you request that we remove it, we store the information we collect indefinitely.

Other factors affecting your privacy



Community Features



As you use Gamestar Mechanic, you will have the option to participate in an online community with other users. Community features include


  • Sharing games you have created with other users;

  • Sharing an online profile with other users;

  • Posting comments, reviews or ratings for your games or games shared by other users.



All of these activities are optional, and our goal is to make them part of the safe, fun and educational Gamestar Mechanic experience. Your participation in these activities – as with all of Gamestar Mechanic – is governed by the Rules of Conduct, which describe the acceptable ways to use Gamestar. The Rules of Conduct specifically prohibit users from sharing personal data through Community Features.

We enforce these rules through electronic tools, selective monitoring by our staff and investigating reports from our community members. You should understand, however, that any information you share using Community Features may be visible to other users of the game and to our staff, vendors and partners. Accordingly, you should have no expectation of privacy regarding information you share using Community Features.

Sharing Features



In certain parts of the Gamestar, users over the age of 16 may have the option of sharing something you’ve created or like using an “Invite a Friend” feature. In this case, you will be asked to submit your friend’s name and email address and your name and, optionally, your email address. This information is used only to send the message you requested and is not stored by us.

Social Media and Networking Features



In certain parts of Gamestar, you may have the option of sharing something you've created or like to a third-party social media or networking site such as Facebook or Twitter. We do not expose or allow access to these features to children under the age of 16 and, by default, these features are also disabled if your account is a member of a school or institution (unless you are over 16 and your school or institution's administrator has enabled them). If you are over 16 and are not a member of any school or institution, you may also enable or disable access to social media and networking features for your account using the 'Manage Account' feature.

Your usage of these features is strictly voluntary. You should review the privacy policies of these third-party services, as their policies may differ from ours. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the privacy practices of third party social media or networking sites.

Generally, we do not ask for or collect any personal data from you in order to use third party social media or networking features. If, for any reason, the usage of a third party social media or networking feature requires that you provide personal data to us or would result in us having access to it, you will be explicitly asked for permission (either by Gamestar, the third-party site or both) and given the opportunity to decline to provide the information and not use the feature.

Vendors and Partners



As part of our regular business conduct, we may securely share information with organizations or individuals providing services or acting on our behalf, such as companies providing technological or fulfillment services. When we engage with a vendor in this way, we take steps to insure that the vendor treats your personal information in a manner consistent with our own privacy practices.

Outside of these circumstances, we never share your personal data with third parties. This includes not sharing your personal data with third parties for commercial or advertising purposes like engaging in so-called “behavioral advertising.”

Occasionally, we may share non-personal, anonymized or aggregate data with third parties such as sponsors or academic researchers. In these circumstances, we only share data in ways that do not result in the third parties obtaining our users’ personal data.

Legal and Regulatory Matters



It is our policy to protect you from having your privacy violated through abuse of the legal system, whether by individuals, entities or government, and to contest claims that we believe to be invalid under applicable law. However, it is also our policy to cooperate with lawful demands. Accordingly, we reserve the right to disclose any information about you to government, law enforcement officials or private parties as we, in our sole discretion, believe necessary to satisfy or comply with any applicable law, regulation or legal process or to respond to lawful requests, including subpoenas, warrants or court orders.

The security of your information



We use reasonable measures to protect the information that we collect from or about you (including your personal information) from unauthorized access, use or disclosure. Please be aware, however, that no method of transmitting information over the Internet or storing information is completely secure. Accordingly, we cannot guarantee the absolute security of any information.

Viewing, changing, correcting and removing information we have about you



Gamestar Mechanic account holders can view and modify information about themselves they have provided to us any time they are logged into their accounts by using the ‘Manage Account’ feature, accessible at the bottom of any page. Specifically, you may view, modify, provide or remove your email address as well as integrations with social media and networking features in this manner.

You may obtain a complete record of any personal data we have about you by submitting a request to . If, upon your review, you determine that your personal data is incorrect or incomplete, you may notify us of the issue at and we will correct the errant data.

You may withdraw your consent to provide us with any personal data you have previously consented to provide us with and request that it be removed from our system by submitting a request to . At the time you make the deletion request, you may also obtain a copy of your personal data by so indicating along with the deletion request. If you make a deletion request, we will remove the personal data from our live system and disable your user account. Please note that due to technical, legal and regulatory requirements, your personal data may persist in archives and backups even after we have removed it from the live system.

Data breaches



In the event of a data breach in which we have reason to believe that personal data was compromised in a manner that could cause harm to our users, we will notify the affected users promptly once we become aware of the breach, generally within 72 hours. This will include notification to the affected users via email where available. Because we do not have an email address for every Gamestar user, we will also post a notification on the Gamestar site. These notifications will describe the nature and scope of the breach; the risks and potential consequences of the breach; the steps we are taking to address the breach and mitigate its adverse effects on our users; and how users can obtain more information.

Right to file a complaint



Depending on your location, you may have a right to file a complaint with a government or other regulatory agency concerning our privacy practices or the handling of data about you.

Ownership of data



As noted in the Terms of Service, your use of Gamestar does not confer upon you any ownership or intellectual property rights in Gamestar or to its Content. All Content in Gamestar, including data about you, with the sole exception of your User Content, as defined in the Terms of Service, is the property of E-Line Media or its respective rights holder(s).

How to contact us



If you have questions or concerns regarding this Privacy Policy, you can contact us via email at or at

Gamestar Mechanic
c/o E-Line Media
4340 E Indian School Road, Suite 21-595
Phoenix, AZ 85018