Who we are#
Emergence Online is operated by Gigaion, LLC ("we", "us"). We are responsible for (the "controller" of) the personal data described here, which we collect through the game, the EO Launcher and installer, and this website. To reach us about privacy, contact us through the Support page.
This policy works together with our Terms of Service.
What we collect#
Your account
- E-mail address (and any extra addresses you add), and whether you've verified it.
- Username and display name, and the history of name changes.
- Password, stored only in a protected one-way form. We never store or see the password itself.
- Passkeys: the public key and an identifier for each passkey. The private key never leaves your device or security key.
- Second factors: your authenticator app setup, your recovery codes and the one-time codes we e-mail you, all stored in protected form.
- Linked store accounts: if you link Steam or the Epic Games Store, a pseudonymous identifier derived from that store account, so we can recognise it next time. We don't receive your store password.
- Account settings, such as your language, character slots, and whether you've told us you use assistive tools.
Sign-in and security
- IP addresses, which we use to protect sign-in and the game against abuse and attacks, and which are recorded with security events such as failed sign-ins and launcher and game sign-ins.
- Devices and sessions: which kinds of device are signed in (website, launcher, game), when they were last used, and a device label. For the launcher the label includes your computer's name (for example "EO Launcher on DESKTOP-1234"), so you can recognise it in your device list.
- The human check, a third-party bot-protection service used on sign-up and at other times to protect accounts. It looks at signals from your browser to tell people from bots; we receive only the result.
- The audit log. Security events, economy transactions and staff actions are written to a tamper-evident log. It refers to players by internal IDs.
Game and character data
- Your characters: names, looks, where they are in the world, needs, skills, relationships, jobs, homes and households, inventories, and away-mode plans.
- The economy: in-game bank accounts, balances and every transaction, EO Credits, Showroom items, Chronicle progress and Marks, trades, Gavelry listings, bids, orders, ratings and disputes.
- Moderation records: reports you file or that are filed about you, warnings, mutes, suspensions, bans, appeals, and signals used to detect cheating and automated play.
Chat and messages
- What you send in game chat (nearby, whisper, party, household, server) and in-game phone texts, with the time, channel and recipients. Messages for a player who is offline wait until they come back.
- Who you have blocked or muted, your contacts, and in-game notifications.
Bug reports
When you press F8 in the game, we receive your summary and details, a screenshot of the game view, the build, map, your character's position and in-game time, your account and character IDs, the last couple of minutes of the game's log (which includes technical information about your computer, such as the operating system and graphics hardware), and the reference IDs of the game's recent calls to our services.
The launcher
The launcher asks our servers which game version to install, downloads it from our download server, and signs you in through this website. Your sign-in is stored in your computer's own credential store (Windows Credential Manager), not in a plain file. The launcher does not send us analytics.
When you contact us
If you e-mail us (for example an appeal or a privacy request), we keep the message and our reply.
This website
Like any website, our servers and our network and security providers process the technical details of each request: IP address, the page requested, the time, and your browser's user-agent string. We use no advertising or tracking tools.
Site analytics (only with your consent)
If you choose "Accept analytics" in the cookie banner, an analytics provider collects usage statistics on our public pages: which pages you view and how you got there, your device and browser type, screen size, and an approximate location (such as country or city). It does not receive your account details, e-mail address or anything you type. Analytics never runs on sign-in, account, security or staff pages. If you choose "Essential only", or make no choice, nothing is sent to the analytics provider at all.
Why we use it#
We use your data only for these purposes. If you are in the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, the legal basis for each is shown in brackets.
- To run your account and the game: create the account, sign you in, save your characters and their world, process trades and orders, and deliver chat. (Performing our contract with you.)
- To keep accounts and the game secure: rate limits, the human check, second factors, device lists, the audit log, and detecting fraud, cheating and automated play. (Our legitimate interest in a safe, fair game, and yours in a safe account.)
- To moderate: handle reports, enforce the Terms, and review appeals. (Legitimate interest; contract.)
- To fix and improve the game, using bug reports and the game's technical logs. (Legitimate interest.)
- To e-mail you about your account: verification, password resets, sign-in codes, security notices and moderation decisions. (Contract; legitimate interest.) We don't send marketing e-mail. If we ever want to, we'll ask first.
- To understand how the website is used, through site analytics, only if you accept analytics cookies. (Your consent, which you can withdraw at any time in the cookie settings.)
- To meet legal obligations, such as answering lawful requests and keeping records the law requires. (Legal obligation.)
We don't sell your personal data, we don't share it for advertising, and we don't use it to build advertising profiles. We don't make decisions about you that have legal or similarly significant effects by automated means alone: automated signals about cheating or bots only create a case that a staff member reviews.
What other players see#
Other players can see your username or display name, your characters' names and looks, what you say in chat, your Gavelry listings and trust rating, and whether a character is played live, away or by AI. They never see your e-mail address, your IP address or your sign-in details.
How long we keep it#
We keep personal data for as long as we reasonably need it to run the game and to meet our obligations:
- While your account is open, we keep your account, characters and game data.
- When an account is closed, we delete or anonymise what we no longer need. Some records are kept longer for legal, tax and accounting, billing, fraud-prevention and dispute reasons.
- Audit and security logs, including economy transactions and moderation records, are kept so we can detect and act on hacking, cheating, fraud and rule-breaking, including after an account is closed. Once an account is deleted they refer only to internal IDs.
- Backups can hold data for longer, until our normal backup rotation deletes it.
Some data has a shorter life:
- Security codes and password reset links expire quickly.
- Sign-ins on the website, the launcher and the game expire after a period of inactivity.
- Extra e-mail addresses you never verify are removed after a short time.
- Security logs are kept as long as needed to protect accounts and investigate abuse.
- Chat logs are kept for a short period, longer if a message is reported.
- Notifications and messages waiting for offline players are cleared after a while.
Everything else (for example bug reports, support messages and web server logs) follows the policy above: we keep it while we reasonably need it, then delete it.
How we protect it#
- All connections to our websites and services are encrypted.
- Passwords, recovery codes, sign-in tokens and second-factor secrets are stored only in protected (hashed or encrypted) form.
- Passkeys and second factors are available to every player, and are required for trading and other sensitive actions.
- Staff access is restricted and protected. Every staff action is recorded in a tamper-evident log, and high-impact actions need a second staff member's approval.
- Each part of our system can reach only the data it needs.
- Game updates are signed, and the launcher checks them before using them.
No system is perfectly secure. If a breach affects your personal data, we'll tell you and the authorities when the law requires it.
Your rights and choices#
Wherever you live, you can ask us to:
- show you the personal data we hold about you, and give you a copy in a common, machine-readable format (access and portability);
- correct data that is wrong;
- delete your data and close your account (some records must be kept, as explained in How long we keep it);
- stop or limit a use of your data that relies on our legitimate interests, where you have a reason to object.
Some of this you can do yourself on the website: change your username, see and sign out your devices, and manage passkeys and second factors. For everything else, contact us through the Support page. You don't need to be signed in to make a request; we may ask you to confirm it from the e-mail address on the account, or by signing in, so we know it's you. We answer within one month (we'll tell you if we need longer, as the law allows), and we don't charge for it.
If you are in the EEA or the UK
You have the rights above under the GDPR and UK GDPR. You can also complain to your local data protection authority (in the UK, the Information Commissioner's Office). We'd appreciate the chance to fix things first.
You can withdraw your consent to analytics at any time in the cookie settings.
If you live in California or another US state with a privacy law
You have the right to know what personal information we collect, use and disclose, to delete it, to correct it, and to opt out of its sale or sharing for targeted advertising. We don't sell or share personal information in that way, and we don't use sensitive personal information to profile you. You can use an authorised agent to make a request, and we won't treat you differently for using your rights. The categories we collect are listed in What we collect.
Children#
You must be at least 13 to have an account. Players under 18 need a parent's or legal guardian's permission. Children under 13 are not allowed, and we don't knowingly collect data from them. If we learn that an account belongs to a child under 13, we close it and delete its data. If you believe a child under 13 has an account, contact us through the Support page.
Where your data is stored#
Emergence Online is run from the United States, and all of our servers are in the US. If you play from outside the US (including the EU and the UK), the information you give us is sent to and stored in the US, where privacy law may differ from the law where you live. We do this because it is necessary to provide the game you signed up for.
Changes to this policy#
We'll update this policy when the game or the law changes. The "last updated" date at the top shows when. If a change is significant, we'll tell you in advance, on this website or by e-mail.
Contact us#
For questions or requests about your data, contact us through the Support page. Emergence Online is operated by Gigaion, LLC.
Last updated . See also the Terms of Service.