Privacy Policy
Effective 25 September 2026. Operated by Kevin Thomas Kehoe.
docs/OPERATIONS.md. Do not rely on this text as it stands.The short version
The Game asks for a display name so other players can tell you apart. Nothing you do in a match is stored after the match ends.
The Site uses Google Analytics 4 to count visits and see which pages people find useful.
Who is responsible
Kevin Thomas Kehoe operates this Site and the Game and is the data controller for the information described here. To reach the Operator, use the contact form; if you cannot, email [email protected].
What is stored in your browser
| What | Where | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Your display name | localStorage, key mg:name |
So you keep the same name when you come back instead of being renamed every visit. |
| A rejoin code for the match you are playing | sessionStorage, key mg:resume |
So a dropped connection or a page reload puts you back in your match. Random, tied to nothing about you, deleted when the match ends or the tab closes. |
Google Analytics cookies (_ga, _ga_*) |
Set by Google | To tell repeat visits from new ones. See Analytics. |
Your display name never leaves your browser except as the name shown to other players in your lobby. Clearing your browser's site data removes everything in this table, and the Game will suggest a new name next time.
What reaches the server while you play
- Your display name, so it can be shown to other players in your lobby.
- Your movement input — direction and whether you are boosting — which is what makes multiplayer work.
- Standard connection information that any web server receives, including your IP address, because a server cannot send you data without knowing where to send it.
Display names and match state are held in memory for the life of the match and discarded when the lobby closes. No chat logs, match history or profiles are kept from ordinary play.
Messages you send through the contact form
The contact form is how feedback, questions, requests and bug reports reach the Operator. Using it is optional, and it sends only what you enter:
| What | Why |
|---|---|
| Your message, and a subject and steps to reproduce if you give them | So the Operator can read and act on it |
| Your name — optional | So a reply can address you |
| Your email address — optional for feedback and bug reports, required for questions and requests | Only to reply to that message. It is not added to a mailing list, used for marketing, or shared |
| For bug reports, if you leave the box ticked: your browser's user agent, window and screen size, pixel ratio, whether it has a touch screen, its language, and which page on this Site you came from | To reproduce the problem. The form shows you exactly what will be sent before you send it, and unticking the box leaves it out |
The server does not store the message. It emails it to the Operator's inbox and keeps nothing else — the message and your address are not written to the server's logs. Messages are kept in that inbox for as long as needed to respond and follow up, and then deleted. To have a message you sent deleted sooner, ask through the form or by email.
To stop the form being used to flood that inbox, the server holds your IP address in memory for about an hour to count how many messages it has sent recently. The IP address is not included in the email and is not stored anywhere else.
Analytics
The Site uses Google Analytics 4 to understand how many people visit, which pages they use and roughly where in the world they are. It is used to decide what to work on, not to identify anyone.
The Google Analytics script loads on every page, delivered by Google Tag Manager — a Google service that loads measurement tags and sets no cookies of its own, but until you accept analytics it sets and reads no cookies and cannot recognise you from one visit to the next. In that state it sends Google only limited, cookieless signals — that a page was viewed, with basic browser details — which Google uses to estimate overall traffic. This is Google's “consent mode”, and your choice on the banner is what switches it.
If you accept analytics, Google Analytics sets its cookies (see the table above) so it can tell repeat visits from new ones. In either state it receives your IP address, which Google uses to derive an approximate location and then discards — GA4 does not log or store IP addresses.
The Operator does not send Google Analytics your display name, email address, or anything you type into the Game or the contact form, and does not use Google Signals or advertising-personalisation features within Analytics. With analytics accepted, your browser gives the game server Google Analytics' own identifier for it, so the game statistics described below are counted as part of your visit; refuse or withdraw analytics and it stops doing so at once.
You can opt out of Google Analytics on every site by installing Google's browser opt-out add-on, or by blocking cookies for this site. The Game plays exactly the same either way.
Game statistics
The game server reports game statistics to Google Analytics: when lobbies open and close, when players join, when matches start and end, which map and mode they used, how many players and computer-controlled gators took part, how long a match lasted and why it ended, each player's result (win or loss) and own score, when a player leaves a match early, and when a contact message is sent (its type only, never its content).
They are sent by the server, not your browser, and never include a display name, anything you typed, anyone else's score or an IP address of yours. What happens with your own results depends on your cookie choice:
- Analytics accepted — your results are linked to your Google Analytics visit using Google Analytics' own identifier for your browser, the same one its cookies hold.
- Analytics refused, or not yet decided — your results are still counted, but under an identifier belonging to the server rather than to you, with nothing that could connect them to you or your device. Counting them this way sets no cookie and reads nothing from your device.
They are used to see which maps and modes are played and how matches go, not to track anyone.
Your cookie choices
Nothing optional is set until you say so. When you first open the Site a banner asks, and everything except strictly necessary cookies stays switched off until you turn it on. Closing or ignoring the banner is not agreement, and there are no pre-ticked boxes.
You can decide per purpose rather than all or nothing:
- Strictly necessary — keeping you connected to a game and remembering your settings on your own device. These need no consent, cannot be switched off, and are not used to track you.
- Analytics — Google Analytics cookies, so repeat visits can be told from new ones and your game statistics are counted as part of your visit. Off, the script still loads but sets no cookies and sends only the cookieless signals described under Analytics.
Refusing is as easy as agreeing. “Reject all” sits beside “Accept all” on the banner itself, and “Customise” lets you turn on only what you want.
You can change your mind at any time from the Cookie settings link in the footer of every page. Turning a category off takes effect immediately and applies from that point on; it cannot undo data already collected and sent, so withdrawing consent stops future collection rather than erasing the past. The Game plays exactly the same whatever you choose.
Your choice is stored in your own browser, not on the server, so it is per-device and clearing your site data will make the banner ask again.
Who the data is shared with
- The hosting provider that runs the server, which necessarily handles connection data in order to deliver the Game.
- Google, for analytics, as described above.
- Google, which receives the game statistics described above.
- The Operator's email provider, which carries messages you send through the contact form to the Operator's inbox and stores them there.
- Nobody else. Personal information is not sold, rented or traded. It may be disclosed if the law requires it.
Logs
The server writes operational logs — errors, lobby lifecycle events and abuse signals such as rate limiting — so that it can be kept running and protected from misuse. In the default production configuration these logs record the event and an internal connection identifier, not your IP address. Operators who raise the log level for debugging will capture IP addresses, and anyone running this server is responsible for how long they keep logs and who can read them.
This deployment's log retention: [RETENTION PERIOD NOT CONFIGURED]
Why the Operator is allowed to do this
If you are in the UK or EEA, the legal bases for the above are:
- Legitimate interests — running the Game, keeping it available, protecting it from abuse, and reading and answering messages you choose to send.
- Consent — any cookie that is not strictly necessary, which on this Site means the third-party cookies described above. You can withdraw consent at any time and the Game plays the same.
Children
The Game is not directed at children under 13 and does not knowingly collect personal information from them. If you believe a child has supplied personal information, tell the Operator through the contact form and it will be removed.
Your rights
Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access, correct, delete or export personal information held about you, to object to or restrict its processing, and to withdraw consent. For ordinary play there is very little to exercise these against: nothing is kept after your match ends, and the data stored on your device is removed by clearing your browser's site data.
To make a request, use the contact form and choose “A question or request”, or email [email protected]. If you are in the UK or EEA you also have the right to complain to your data protection authority.
Security
The Site is served over HTTPS. No service can promise perfect security, and the Terms of Use say so plainly.
Changes
If this policy changes, the effective date above will change with it.
Contact
Use the contact form. If you cannot use the form, email [email protected].