Privacy Policy

1. Controller

Pascal Borkenhagen, Ladungsfähige Anschrift wird eingerichtet, und in Kürze an dieser Stelle ergänzt., Deutschland

Email: pborkenhagen@askme-world.de

No data protection officer has been appointed; the conditions of § 38 BDSG are not met.

2. Hosting

The application, the database and the object storage run on servers of Hetzner Online GmbH, Industriestraße 25, 91710 Gunzenhausen, Germany. Hetzner processes the data exclusively on our behalf and on our instructions (processing agreement under Art. 28 GDPR). The servers are located in Germany.

3. Server log files

When you access the pages, the web server processes technical access data, in particular IP address, timestamp, requested address and the browser identification transmitted. This processing is necessary to deliver the pages and to ensure stability and security.

The legal basis is Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR. Our legitimate interest lies in the secure and uninterrupted operation of the service.

4. User account and sign-in

For an account we process your email address, display name, chosen language, chosen profile picture and the dates of creation and last change. The password is stored only as a cryptographic hash, never in plain text.

The email address must be confirmed; we send a confirmation email for this. If someone attempts to register with an address that is already in use, we notify the owner of that address once. For rate-limiting this notice we store a hash of the address for 24 hours, not the address itself.

Besides password and email, two further sign-in methods are available: a sign-in link sent by email, and passkeys (WebAuthn). For passkeys we store the public key, the credential identifier, device type, transports and a counter. Biometric characteristics never leave your device and never reach us.

For each active session we store a session token, the IP address and the browser identification. Sessions expire after three days.

The legal basis is Art. 6 (1) (b) GDPR (performance of the usage relationship); for the notice to existing account holders and for session logging additionally Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR (protection against account takeover).

5. Signing in with GitHub

You may voluntarily sign in via GitHub instead of using a password. If you use this option, your browser transmits data to GitHub, Inc. (a subsidiary of Microsoft Corporation, USA). What data that is and how GitHub processes it is determined by GitHub alone.

From GitHub we receive an identifier of your account there, the associated email address, optionally your profile picture, and access and refresh tokens which we store for the link. No automatic linking with an existing account takes place; you can only link the two yourself in your profile.

The legal basis is Art. 6 (1) (b) GDPR. If you do not use this sign-in method, no data is transmitted to GitHub.

6. Playing without an account (guest mode)

You can play without registering. For this we create a guest account without an email address and set a cookie named “guest-session” with a lifetime of three days. Your progress is tied to that cookie alone.

Guest accounts and all game data attached to them are deleted automatically once they are older than three days. If you register, the guest account is converted into a regular account and your progress is preserved.

To prevent mass creation of guest accounts, we store a counter keyed to your IP address for 60 seconds when one is created. The legal basis for this is Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR, otherwise Art. 6 (1) (b) GDPR.

7. Cookies and local storage

We only set cookies and storage entries that are strictly necessary for the service you requested. There is no analytics, no tracking and no profiling. We therefore do not require consent under § 25 (2) no. 2 TDDDG and show no cookie banner.

• Better Auth session cookie (name made up of an environment-dependent prefix and the suffix “session_token”, e.g. “better-auth.session_token”) — keeps you signed in. HttpOnly, SameSite=Lax, plus Secure over HTTPS. Lifetime: 3 days.
• Better Auth session cache — avoids a database query on every request for 5 minutes. Same protective attributes as the session cookie.
• “guest-session” — guest access without an account. HttpOnly, SameSite=Lax, plus Secure over HTTPS. Lifetime: 3 days.
• “NEXT_LOCALE” — remembers your chosen language (German or English).
• Local storage “gentle-seasons-game” — caches the game state in the browser so the interface can show something immediately after a reload.
• Local storage “lastPlantedSpecies” and “lastPlantedSpecies:<plot>” — remembers the seed last chosen per plot.
• Local storage “disable-tutorials” — only read by the application: if the entry is set, tutorials stay hidden. The application does not write it itself; it originates from automated tests.

8. Game progress and activity

We store your game progress with your account: plants, plots, buildings, animals, inventory, skills, quests, achievements, currencies and similar values. This data is linked to you via your account identifier.

Game actions are additionally recorded in an activity log used for troubleshooting and for detecting manipulation. Entries move to an archive after 24 hours and are deleted there after 30 days.

The legal basis is Art. 6 (1) (b) GDPR, and Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR for the activity log.

9. Chat, clubs, friendships and messages

The game contains a public chat, club chats, friend lists and private messages. What you write there is stored together with your account identifier and a timestamp. Your display name and profile picture are visible to other players.

Private messages are not end-to-end encrypted. They are held in the database and are technically accessible to the operator. We do not read them without cause, but we cannot technically rule out access — do not write anything there that you would not entrust to us.

Reported messages and moderation records (report, reason, outcome, mute, strike, ban) are stored so that rule violations can be traced and repeated misconduct recognised. Chat messages deleted by moderators are initially only hidden and are retained as evidence.

The legal basis is Art. 6 (1) (b) GDPR, and Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR for reports and moderation (protecting other users and enforcing the terms of use).

10. Security log

Security-relevant events concerning your account — such as successful and failed sign-ins, password changes, password resets, email address changes and role changes — are logged with timestamp, IP address and browser identification. The log serves to investigate account takeovers and abuse.

The legal basis is Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR. Entries are held in yearly partitions and survive account deletion so that an attacker cannot erase traces by deleting the account; they then contain only the identifier, no account data.

11. Feedback and screenshots

You can send us a message through the feedback function. We store your message, your account identifier, the browser identification, the screen resolution and the page you were on.

Optionally your browser creates a screenshot of the game interface. It is rendered in the browser from the displayed page — no files are uploaded from your device and no camera or location data is captured. The image is stored in our own object storage on the same infrastructure; administrators only see it through short-lived links that expire after five minutes.

Screenshots are deleted automatically three months after the feedback has been resolved. The legal basis is Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR (improving and fixing the service).

12. Profile picture

By default you pick one of the profile pictures we ship; those images are on our own server. Two further options involve third parties and are strictly voluntary:

If you sign in with GitHub, you can adopt your profile picture from there. If you choose “use Gravatar”, we compute a hash of your email address and transmit it to Gravatar, a service of Automattic Inc., USA, in order to retrieve the picture stored there.

Where such a picture is displayed determines the transmission path: in most places our server fetches the image and passes it on, so the third party learns nothing about the viewer. In the friends list and in a club's member list, however, the viewer's browser requests the image directly from GitHub or Gravatar. In that case their IP address, browser identification and referring address are transmitted to the respective provider.

The legal basis is Art. 6 (1) (b) GDPR for displaying the profile picture you requested, and Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR for displaying other people's profile pictures (presentation of the game's social features). If nobody around you chooses an external profile picture, no such transmission takes place.

13. Sending emails

We send emails only for specific occasions: to confirm your address, to reset your password, for sign-in links, when your email address changes, and to notify you of a registration attempt using your address. There is no newsletter and no promotional email.

Delivery runs via an SMTP server, which processes the recipient address and the message content. The legal basis is Art. 6 (1) (b) GDPR.

14. Error diagnostics

If a program error occurs, we send a technical error report to our own self-hosted instance of the GlitchTip software at errors.gentleseasons.net. The report contains the error message, the program location, browser and system details and — if you are signed in — your account identifier. No further account data such as name or email address is transmitted.

Recording of your session or your input (session replay) explicitly does not take place. This is not an external provider; the data does not leave our infrastructure.

The legal basis is Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR (detecting and fixing errors).

15. Recipients

Beyond the cases named here we do not disclose personal data. There is no sale of data and no transfer for advertising purposes.

• Hetzner Online GmbH, Germany — hosting of the application, database and object storage (processor).
• GitHub, Inc., USA — if you use the GitHub sign-in, and when GitHub profile pictures are loaded in friends and club lists.
• Automattic Inc., USA — if you select “use Gravatar” (a hash of your email address is transmitted), and when such pictures are loaded in friends and club lists.
• The operator of the outgoing mail server we use — for sending the messages listed above.

16. Transfers to third countries

Signing in with GitHub and using Gravatar may involve processing in the United States; the same applies when such profile pictures are loaded in friends and club lists (section 12). The basis is the safeguards provided by the respective provider under Chapter V GDPR, in particular an adequacy decision or standard contractual clauses.

17. Retention at a glance

• Account data and game progress: until the account is deleted.
• Guest accounts including progress: 3 days after creation.
• Sessions: 3 days after the last sign-in.
• Activity log: 24 hours active, then archived, deleted after 30 days.
• Feedback screenshots: 3 months after the feedback has been resolved.
• Registration-attempt notice (hash of the address): 24 hours.
• Rate-limit counter for new guest accounts (IP address): 60 seconds.
• Security log: long-term, split by year; survives account deletion.
• Chat messages and private messages: until the account is deleted; reported and moderated messages are retained as evidence.

18. Your rights

You have the right of access to the data stored about you (Art. 15 GDPR), to rectification (Art. 16), to erasure (Art. 17), to restriction of processing (Art. 18), to data portability (Art. 20), and the right to object to processing based on Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR on grounds relating to your particular situation (Art. 21).

An informal message to pborkenhagen@askme-world.de is sufficient for any of these.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority, in particular in the member state of your residence, place of work or the place of the alleged infringement.

19. Deleting your account

Deletion directly in the application is currently not possible. Please write to pborkenhagen@askme-world.de; we will delete your account and the game, chat and profile data attached to it.

Entries in the security log (see section 10) and reported chat messages are retained insofar as they remain necessary to investigate abuse or to comply with legal obligations. Guest accounts delete themselves after three days in any case.

20. What we do not do

• No analytics, no tracking services.
• No advertising, no resale of data.
• No external fonts — the font used is served from our own server.
• No automated decision-making and no profiling under Art. 22 GDPR.
• No recording of sessions, mouse movements or keystrokes.
• No payment function and therefore no payment data.

21. Changes to this policy

When the application changes, this policy changes with it. The current version is dated above (as of 2026-07-24).