The rules of Embershard

Be decent. No hate, threats, sexual stuff or scams. Break the rules and you can be banned.

See something wrong? Report it. The rest of this page is the detail the law asks for.

Embershard is a hobby, run for free by me, Mark Brady, in London, UK. I am responsible for keeping it safe, and for reports and complaints. Write to safety@embershard.com about anything on this page, and to privacy@embershard.com about your data. Both reach me.

You need to be 13 or over to play, and sign-up says so. If I find out a player is under 13, I delete their account, so tell me at safety@embershard.com if you think someone under 13 is playing.

These rules are for everyone, everywhere in the game: chat, letters, character names and reports.

• Nothing illegal in the UK, like terrorism, child sexual abuse or grooming, hate crime, threats, harassment, scams, or selling real drugs or weapons.
• Nothing on the list of things harmful to young players, even where it is legal.
• No using Report to get at someone: reporting things you know are not against the rules.

The rules are the same whatever your age, so nobody has to prove how old they are.

Terrorism

I take it down as soon as I see it, or see a report of it, and ban the account. I tell the police when the law requires it.

Accounts run by or for a group outlawed in the UK as terrorist are banned, and so are accounts with a character named after one. The name filter refuses most of those names.

Child sexual abuse and grooming

I take it down as soon as I see it, or see a report of it, and usually ban the account. A copy is kept out of sight, and it is reported to the National Crime Agency, as the law requires.

Other illegal content

Every chat line, letter and character can be reported. Anything illegal or against these rules comes down as soon as I decide it is, usually within two days of a report.

Things harmful to young players

Only words can be posted here, and players can be as young as 13, so none of these is allowed, for anyone. Each is dealt with the same way: I take it down when I see it or a report of it, and the account may be banned.

• Pornography and sexual content
• Encouraging suicide, or explaining how
• Encouraging self-harm, or explaining how
• Encouraging an eating disorder, or explaining how
• Abuse about someone's race, religion, sex, sexuality, disability or gender identity
• Stirring up hatred against people for any of those
• Encouraging serious violence against someone, or explaining how
• Bullying
• Describing real or realistic serious violence against a person, or a serious injury in gory detail
• Describing real or realistic serious violence against an animal or a made-up creature, or a serious injury to one in gory detail
• Encouraging a stunt or challenge that could badly hurt someone, or explaining how
• Encouraging someone to take a harmful substance, or too much of one
• Making someone ashamed of their body, or pushing unhealthy ideas of how a body should look
• Encouraging hopelessness or despair
• Anything else harmful to young players

Fighting monsters is the game, so talking about the game's fights is fine.

Embershard has one automatic tool that looks at what you write: a filter that matches words and patterns, without judging what anything means. It never takes anything down or bans anyone by itself.

• When you send a chat line or a letter, it is refused if it looks like it has a web address in it.
• Wherever chat or letters are shown, words on one list, mostly slurs and the worst swearing, are swapped for asterisks. What you typed is kept, so a report can be checked.
• When you name a character, it is checked against that list and a second one: terrorist groups, notorious people, and words like admin. A name that matches is refused.

Embershard is not an emergency service: if someone is in danger, call 999 in the UK, or your local emergency number.

• A chat line: press the dots at its end, then Report.
• A letter: press Report beside it in your mailbox.
• A player or a name: press Report on their profile.
• No account, or cannot sign in: write to safety@embershard.com saying who, where and when.

Reporting in the game needs a confirmed email address and a character. I look at every report, usually within two days, and anything about a child or someone in danger as soon as I see it. I run Embershard alone, so when I am away it can take longer. It may come to nothing, if it was fine. Otherwise the line or letter comes down, or the account is banned, and for the most serious things the police or the National Crime Agency are told.

The player you reported is not told about your report at the time, and is never told who made it. If you report a letter, its writer may guess it was you. In the game, you see that your report was sent, and you will not hear back. By email, I reply to say I have it, unless you ask me not to.

Staying safe

• Keep your real name, where you live, your school and your other accounts to yourself.
• Nobody needs you to talk somewhere private or keep a secret. If someone asks, report them.
• Mute stops you seeing anything someone says, in chat or in your mailbox. They are not told.

For parents

Players can be as young as 13. Only words can be posted: no pictures, files, links, voice or video. Chat is one public room. A letter goes from one player to another, and nobody else reads it unless it is reported. If you are worried about your child's account, write to safety@embershard.com.

When a rule is broken, I can take a chat line or a letter down, or ban the account, without a warning first. If a line of yours vanishes while the lines around it stay, I took it down.

I can also take down anything, or ban any account, that I think is bad for the game, even if no rule here names it: trolling, winding people up on purpose, or finding ways around the rules. You can still appeal.

A ban stops every character on the account, and takes down what it said in chat, its letters, its auction offers and any duel challenges. Its name is hidden wherever the game shows it, its profile says only that it is banned, and it leaves the leaderboards. A character cannot be renamed, so a name that breaks the rules means a ban.

If I took something of yours down or banned you, and you think I got it wrong, write to safety@embershard.com from the email address on your account. You can do this even if you cannot sign in.

I look again and decide within 7 days. If the decision stands, I tell you which rule was broken, or why it was bad for the game. If I got it wrong, I put the line back or lift the ban, which brings back the chat and letters it took down. A letter taken down because it was reported cannot come back, and auction offers a ban took down do not go back up.

The law asks every service like this one to tell you this: if I take down or hide something you posted, or ban you, in a way these rules say I should not have, you have the right to bring a legal claim against me for breaking this agreement (breach of contract). An appeal is free and quicker, so start there.

Write to safety@embershard.com to complain about how I handled a report, about the filter hiding or refusing something it should not have, or about Embershard not doing what the Online Safety Act asks. I reply within 30 days, and to anything about a private-picture report first.

Ofcom, the UK's online safety regulator, does not handle individual complaints, but you can tell Ofcom about a problem. To complain about your data, see Privacy.