This Privacy Policy explains how Trial by Chat ("the Service," "we," "us," or "our") collects, uses, and protects information when you use our website and game.
1. Information We Collect
From Hosts (via Twitch login):
- Your Twitch user ID, display name, and profile picture
- With your permission, the ability to read chat messages in your channel, used only to tally votes and (if enabled) chat nominations during active games
- Subscription status, if you subscribe to a paid tier (see Payment Information below)
From Players (no login required):
- The display name you choose to enter when joining a game
- No account or personal information is required to play
Payment Information:
- Payments are processed entirely by our payment processor, Stripe. We do not collect, store, or have access to your full credit card number or other sensitive payment details.
- We store only your subscription status (active/inactive) and a reference ID from Stripe needed to verify your subscription.
Automatically Collected Information:
- Basic technical data such as IP address and connection information, used for rate-limiting, abuse prevention, and maintaining game session state
- Session cookies used to keep you logged in and connected to an active game
User-Submitted Content:
- Card responses submitted during gameplay
- Chat messages nominated for potential use as cards (where the nomination feature is enabled), including the nominator's username, the original message, and the original author's username
2. How We Use Information
We use collected information to:
- Operate and maintain game sessions, including real-time voting and scoring
- Authenticate hosts via Twitch and connect to their chat for voting/nomination features
- Process and manage subscriptions and billing
- Prevent abuse, spam, and unauthorized access (e.g., rate limiting)
- Improve and maintain the Service
We do not sell your personal information to third parties.
3. Third-Party Services
We rely on the following third-party services, each with its own privacy practices:
- Twitch — authentication and, for hosts, chat message access for voting/nominations
- Stripe — payment processing and subscription billing
- Cloud hosting and infrastructure providers (including our hosting platform and data storage/caching services) — to run and store game data
We encourage you to review these providers' own privacy policies.
4. Data Retention
- Session and game-state data is retained only as long as needed to operate active or recently active game sessions.
- Chat nominations are retained until reviewed (approved or rejected) by the relevant host; approved nominations are retained as active game content tied to that host's account.
- Subscription status is retained for as long as your account remains active or as needed for billing records.
5. Your Rights
You may request access to, correction of, or deletion of personal information we hold about you by contacting support@trialbychat.com. We will respond to reasonable requests within a reasonable timeframe.
If you are a host, you may log out of the Service at any time via the Log Out option, ending our active session. To fully revoke Trial by Chat's access to your Twitch account (including chat-read permissions), you can do so directly through Twitch's Connected Accounts settings.
6. Children's Privacy
Trial by Chat is intended for users 18 years of age and older due to its mature content. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18. If we become aware that we have inadvertently collected such information, we will take steps to delete it.
7. Security
We take reasonable measures to protect information collected through the Service, but no method of transmission or storage is completely secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security.
8. Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Continued use of the Service after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the revised policy. Material changes will be noted with an updated "Last updated" date above.
9. Contact
Questions about this Privacy Policy or your personal information can be sent to support@trialbychat.com.
This document is a general-purpose template and does not constitute legal advice. We recommend having this policy reviewed by a qualified attorney, particularly regarding data protection laws applicable to your specific user base (e.g., GDPR, CCPA) as your audience grows.