Privacy Policy
Innercity Studios Limited is the controller of the personal data described here. This explains what Blxckforge collects, why, who we share it with, how long we keep it, and your rights under UK data protection law.
Contact
Innercity Studios Limited, 54 Maloren Way, West Moors, Ferndown, BH22 0BQ, United Kingdom. Email support@blxckforge.com for any privacy question or request.
What we collect and why
| Data | Why | Lawful basis |
|---|---|---|
| Account: email, display name, password (held by Firebase Authentication, never by us in readable form), sign-in times, preferences | To create and secure your account and send account, security and billing emails | Contract |
| Discord: user ID, username and avatar if you sign in with or link Discord, and the email address Discord has verified when you sign up with Discord; the Discord servers and channels you connect | Sign-in, and posting feeds and running commands where you ask | Contract |
| Nitrado: an access token (encrypted), your server list and server details | To read and manage the servers you connect | Contract |
| Billing: subscription status, plan, amounts and invoice references from Stripe. Card details are held by Stripe, not us | To take payments and give you the plan you paid for | Contract; legal obligation (accounting records) |
| Staff: invited email addresses, roles, and an audit log of actions taken on a server | To let owners share access safely and see who did what | Contract; legitimate interests (security) |
| Files and settings you edit or save (types.xml, messages, weather and similar) | To provide the tools, keep backups and let you restore | Contract |
| Product use: which parts of Blxckforge you open in your account (for example the Types Editor or a server's Map tab), on how many days and when last. Never what's in your files, servers or settings, and nothing is stored on your device for it | To see which features are used and improve them | Legitimate interests |
| Account activity: sign-ups, sign-ins and sign-outs (including failed attempts), password reset requests and what happened to each email we sent you, with the time, the step where it happened, a short error code if something went wrong and your browser and device type (for example "Chrome on Windows"). Email addresses in it are stored masked. Never passwords or the content of your files or servers | To find and fix problems when sign-in or email goes wrong, and to help you when you contact support | Legitimate interests |
| Feature requests and support messages | To answer you and improve Blxckforge | Legitimate interests |
| Technical: IP address and request details in server logs, and limited counters to stop abuse | Security, preventing abuse, fixing faults | Legitimate interests |
Players and Discord members on servers you connect
When you connect a server, Blxckforge reads its admin logs. These contain players' in-game names, DayZ IDs, positions and activity (joins, kills, deaths, chat). Blxckforge stores these to show your dashboard, maps, stats and Discord feeds. Player positions and DayZ IDs are never shown on public pages.
For everything in this section, the server owner decides why it's processed and we process it for them. If you play on a server or use its Discord, the server's owner or staff are usually the best people to ask first; you can also email us and we'll help or pass your request on.
The Blxckforge Discord bot
Server owners can add the Blxckforge bot to their Discord. This is what it handles:
- Commands. When someone uses a Blxckforge command, Discord sends us their Discord user ID, username and server nickname, the Discord server it was used in, and what they typed into it. Text typed into /report, /ticket, /appeal and /reply is stored so the server's staff can deal with it.
- Linking. A player can link their Discord account to their in-game player with /link. We confirm it by seeing that player salute in game, in the server's logs, after the request, never by name alone, then store the Discord ID with the linked player. /unlink removes the link.
- Linking with PlayStation or Xbox. On console servers a player can instead choose to link with the PlayStation or Xbox account they have connected to Discord. Discord asks their permission first. We read their connected accounts once, use only a verified PlayStation or Xbox name to find their player on that server, and don't keep the list or the Discord access token.
- Faction tags. If a server owner turns them on, the bot gives linked faction members their faction's role and adds the faction tag to their nickname on that Discord server, and can make a private channel for each faction. We remember the nickname we set and the one they had before, so it can be put back when they leave.
- Community features (if the owner switches them on): a virtual wallet and an audited record of every credit movement, bounties, faction membership, ranks and treasury payments, areas held by factions, challenge progress and trader orders.
- Moderation: warnings, bans with their reason and length, whitelist entries, incidents, reports, tickets, appeals and staff replies, and a log of which staff member did what.
- What it posts. The bot posts only the feeds the owner switches on, to the channels they choose: for example kills and deaths with players' in-game names, weapon, distance and a map link, leaderboards, faction news and picture cards. Anyone who can see that channel can see these posts. When staff reply to a ticket, the bot may send that player a direct message.
The bot doesn't read your Discord messages. It only receives the commands people use, looks up the server's channels and its own permissions so it can post, and sends the messages above. Discord is responsible for data on its own platform under its own privacy policy.
Permissions the bot asks for
When a server owner adds the bot, they choose one of two options in Discord:
- Standard (the default): View Channels, Send Messages and Embed Links. Enough to post feeds in the channels it can see.
- Full access: Discord's Administrator permission. The owner can choose this so the bot can see and post in every channel without setting up roles channel by channel. It's offered for convenience, never required.
Whichever is chosen, Blxckforge only ever uses the bot to: post the feeds and messages the owner switches on, reply to commands, send a player a direct message when staff reply to their ticket, list the server's channels and check its own permissions so owners can pick a channel, and change its own nickname if the owner asks. It never reads messages, kicks or bans Discord members, deletes or edits other people's messages, or changes server settings, even when it has Administrator. It only changes roles, nicknames or channels if an owner switches on faction tags or private faction channels, and then only to add or remove the faction roles, tags and channels Blxckforge created itself. Its posts can't ping members, except one role a server's owner has chosen for a custom feed.
Owners can remove the bot, or reduce its permissions, at any time in their Discord server settings.
Who we share data with
- Google Cloud and Firebase (hosting, sign-in and database).
- Stripe (payments and invoices).
- Twilio SendGrid (sending account, security, staff and billing emails).
- Nitrado and Discord, when you connect them and ask Blxckforge to act.
- Google Analytics, only if you accept analytics cookies. On our public pages it tells us how people find and use the site: pages visited, roughly where from, and the device type. From inside your account our server sends only a few milestones (signed up, connected a server or the Discord bot, upgraded, paid, left a review or feedback) with an anonymous ID, never your name, email, account ID or server data. IP addresses are shortened, and nothing is used for adverts.
- Meta (Facebook and Instagram), only if you accept marketing cookies, and only on our public pages. The Meta Pixel tells Meta which pages you visit, that you created an account (not who you are), and which of our adverts you clicked, along with your IP address and browser. We use it to measure our adverts and show them to people likely to be interested. Meta may link it to your Facebook or Instagram account and is jointly responsible for that use (see Meta's privacy policy).
They process data on our instructions under contracts with appropriate safeguards. Some are based in, or use servers in, the United States; transfers are covered by the UK's adequacy regulations or the International Data Transfer Addendum. We don't sell personal data. Analytics and advertising measurement only run if you accept them, and you can withdraw that at any time from Cookie settings at the bottom of every page.
How long we keep it
- Account data: while your account exists, then deleted within 30 days of a deletion request, except what we must keep by law.
- Server log events: 30 days. Player records and stats: while the server stays connected.
- Discord links, community records (wallets, credit history, bounties, factions, orders) and moderation records (warnings, bans, reports, tickets, appeals and the staff audit log): until the server's owner deletes them or asks us to, or their account is deleted. They're kept if a server is removed so nothing is lost if it's reconnected.
- Billing records: 6 years, for tax and accounting law.
- Email records: the content of an email is deleted once it's sent; a delivery record (template, time, status) is kept for up to 12 months.
- Account activity: 90 days.
- File backups: the latest 20 per file.
Your rights
You can ask for a copy of your data, to correct it, to delete it, to restrict or object to how we use it, and to have it in a portable format. Email support@blxckforge.com; we'll reply within one month. If you're unhappy, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk), though we'd like the chance to help first.
Emails
We only send emails about your account, its security, billing, staff access and server alerts. Server alert emails can be turned off in Account > Notifications. We don't send marketing.
Cookies
Blxckforge only uses cookies needed for it to work. See the Cookie Policy.
Children
Blxckforge isn't intended for children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect their data.
Changes
We'll update this page when our practices change, and email you about significant changes.