BuddyvalePlay now

Buddyvale privacy policy

Last updated:

In short, for children

  1. We only keep what the game needs: your play name, your pets, your house and your friends.
  2. We show no ads and we sell nothing about you.
  3. You cannot type free messages to other players. You only use fixed words and pictures.
  4. Never share your password. Buddyvale never asks for it.
  5. A grown-up (parent) can see, download or erase everything in the parent panel (the little lock 🔒 "For parents"), if a parent PIN has been set. That is not required.

For parents: the summary

  • Who: Nuova Impresa NV (Noorderlaan 147/22, 2030 Antwerpen, België) is responsible for your data. Contact: privacy@buddyvale.com.
  • What: play name, password (only as a secure hash), birth year and month (never the day), avatar, game progress, friends, parental settings and play time. Optionally an e-mail address. In addition, anonymous error reports that are not linked to an account.
  • What not: no location, contacts, photos, camera, microphone or face data; no free chat; no ads; no selling or passing on of data for advertising; no third-party trackers.
  • Where: on a server in België.
  • Your rights: in the parent panel (with the parent PIN) you can download the data and delete the account. Other requests: e-mail privacy@buddyvale.com.
  • Please note: when creating an account the game does not ask for a parent, a parent PIN or an email address. Linking a parent (PIN, email) is optional and can be done later; players under 16 get a friendly invitation that can be dismissed. The game cannot verify that a parent knows. Without a parent, players under 13 get the strictest default settings.
Contents
  1. Who is responsible?
  2. Which data, why and for how long?
  3. On what ground do we use data?
  4. Who do we share data with?
  5. Where is the data stored?
  6. Security
  7. Your rights and those of your child
  8. Children and parents
  9. Cookies and local storage
  10. Changes
  11. Contact

1. Who is responsible?

Nuova Impresa NV, naamloze vennootschap (BE), with registered office at Noorderlaan 147/22, 2030 Antwerpen, België, company number BE 0568.898.070, is the controller for Buddyvale, the website https://buddyvale.com and the related apps.

Questions about privacy, requests from parents and reports: privacy@buddyvale.com.

2. Which data, why and for how long?

Below is everything we keep. "As long as the account exists" means: until you or the child delete the account, or until the account has not been used for 2 years (then we delete it automatically).

DataWhyHow long
Play name (nickname)To recognise you in the game and to play with friends. Free text, but with a strict filter that refuses e-mail addresses, links and phone numbers, among other things. Do not use a real name.As long as the account exists
PasswordTo log in. We only keep a scrambled "hash" (scrypt). We cannot read or send back the password.As long as the account exists
Birth year and birth month (not the day)To determine the age group (under 13, 13 to 15, 16 and over) for the parent steps and the e-mail rules. Other players do not see this.As long as the account exists
Avatar and game progress (pets, clothes, coins, house, build, settings)To save the game and to continue on several devices. Other players see your avatar and, depending on the access you set, your house or build.As long as the account exists
Friends, friend code, friend requests and blocksTo play together.As long as the account exists
Login tokens of devices (only as a hash)To stay logged in. At most 10 devices per account.As long as the account exists
Parent PIN (only as a hash) and parental settingsFor the parent panel: who may send friend requests, follow, visit the house, play time limit.As long as the account exists
Play time per day (pseudonymous player id, language, number of sessions, seconds)To show parents the play time, to apply the daily limit and to count usage (how many players per day/week/month).120 days; deleted immediately when the account is deleted
E-mail address (optional): of a parent or, from age 0, of the playerTo recover a forgotten password and to send safety messages (password or PIN changed, deletion request). Never for advertising. Stored encrypted (AES-256-GCM).Until the address or the account is deleted. One-time confirmation codes are cleaned up after 7 days at the latest.
Reports and blocks: who reports whom or which build, with a reason from a fixed list (no free text), and the queue for doubtful play namesFor the safety of players: a moderator looks at reports.365 days (handled reviews also 365 days); deleted when the account is deleted
Admin log (which admin action, with player id; no names or e-mail addresses)Accountability for what an administrator does.365 days
Anonymous error reports (telemetry): error type and short text, game area, rounded position, device type (phone/tablet/computer), browser and major version, screen size (class), app or browser, game version, a random session codeTo find errors, stutters and getting stuck without children having to report anything. The session code is not linked to an account, is only kept temporarily (until the tab closes) and no IP address is stored with it.Detail 30 days; summary per error (without session code) 90 days; daily counters 400 days
Technical server logsFor security and to find faults. The web server access log contains no IP addresses, no login keys and nothing after the question mark in the web address (so the links from e-mails never end up in the log). The game logs mention player ids for events such as logging in or registering, no names or e-mail addresses.Access log at most 30 days; game logs rotate and are limited in size
Backups of the databaseTo be able to restore everything after a failure. They contain the same data as above (e-mail addresses and passwords only in encrypted form).The last 14 daily backups, so about 14 days. An extra backup before a software update is kept until 30 newer ones exist, so it can stay longer.

IP addresses are not stored in the database or in the access log. To limit abuse (too many attempts) the server briefly reads the IP address in working memory, as a hashed number with a random key that disappears at every restart.

What we do not collect: no location, no contacts, no photos, files, camera or microphone, no face data, no advertising ID, no free chat messages (those do not exist in the game).

3. On what ground do we use data?

This is a description in plain language.

  • Making the game work (account, play name, progress, friends, parent panel, play time): this is needed to provide the service that the child or parent asks for. When creating an account the game does not ask for a parent or a parent PIN; linking a parent is optional and can be done later. We cannot verify that a parent knows.
  • E-mail address: only with the consent of the user or, for players under 16, of a parent. It is always optional. You can withdraw consent by deleting the address.
  • Safety and quality (reports, admin log, anonymous error reports, play time counts, technical logs, backups): our legitimate interest in keeping the game safe, stable and working, with as little data as possible.

4. Who do we share data with?

Not with advertisers, not with data brokers, not with social networks. We do not sell data and use no third-party tracking services.

  • Administrators of Nuova Impresa NV see what is needed to keep the game working and safe (for example reports). An e-mail address is only visible to an administrator in masked form after an explicit action that is logged.
  • Hosting: the server is in België, at Nuova Impresa NV itself (own server and data centre). So there is no separate hosting company that sees the data.
  • E-mail: if e-mail is switched on, we use a mail provider (SMTP service) to send messages. It then sees the address and the message. We will name the provider here once it is known.
  • Certificates: for the secure connection (https) the server uses certificates from Let's Encrypt. No player data is shared with them, only the domain name.
  • Other players see your play name (a parent can switch this off; others then see an animal name), your avatar and your house or build according to the access that is set.
  • Authorities: only if the law requires it or to pass on a serious report about a child's safety.

App stores: if you get the app from Google Play or the App Store, that store processes data about the download itself. We have no influence on that. The app shows the same website as the browser.

5. Where is the data stored?

Game data is stored on a server in België. Game data is not transferred outside the European Union. As soon as we use a mail provider, we will state here where it is located.

6. Security

  • All connections are encrypted (https and wss).
  • Passwords and the parent PIN are only kept as a scrypt hash.
  • E-mail addresses are stored encrypted (AES-256-GCM); the key is not in the database. In a backup they are unreadable without that key.
  • Administration is protected with a secret key, a limit on attempts and, where configured, a list of allowed addresses.
  • The game loads no scripts, fonts or images from other websites.

No system is completely safe. In case of a data breach that entails risks for you or your child, we will report it to the supervisory authority and, where necessary, to the people concerned.

7. Your rights and those of your child

You (or a child, and for a child a parent) have the right to:

  • access the data and receive a copy (access and data portability);
  • have data corrected;
  • have data erased;
  • have processing restricted or object to it, especially where we rely on our legitimate interest;
  • withdraw consent (for example delete the e-mail address). This does not affect what happened before.

How to do this in the game (parent panel, with the parent PIN):

  • Download: menu (☰) → "For parents" → PIN → "Account and data" → "Download data". You get a JSON file with everything kept for the account (without password or PIN hash).
  • Delete: see Delete account.
  • Correct: the play name can be changed with "Choose another name" in the account menu (at most once a day); settings and the e-mail address in the parent panel; the password can also be reset there.

By e-mail: write to privacy@buddyvale.com with the play name (never the password or the PIN). For restriction, objection and other requests, e-mail is the only way. We may ask additional questions to check that the request comes from the owner or the parent. We reply as soon as possible and within one month at the latest.

Complaints: you can always lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority. Nuova Impresa NV is established in Belgium; the competent authority is the

8. Children and parents

  • Buddyvale is made for children. The game has no free chat between players: there are only fixed emoji and phrases.
  • Anyone who creates an account gives a birth year and month. The game does not ask for a parent, a parent PIN or an email address at that point: linking a parent is optional and can be done later in the parent panel. There is no verified parental consent. Without a parent, players under 13 get the strictest default settings (friend requests only with a friend code, following and house visits friends only, no own email address).
  • For players under 0 there is no own e-mail address, only that of a parent (entered in the parent panel behind the PIN). From age 0 an own address is possible without a parent.
  • The parent panel (🔒 "For parents", with PIN) lets a parent decide who may send friend requests, who may follow or visit the house, whether the name is visible, set a play time limit, see play time of the last 7 days, download the data, reset the password and delete the account.
  • Players can report or block another player or a build.

9. Cookies and local storage

The game uses the storage of your browser or device (localStorage, sessionStorage, IndexedDB and the cache of a service worker) only for the game itself: keeping the player logged in, saving progress and settings, loading the game fast and offline, and keeping downloaded music. There are no tracking or advertising cookies and no third-party analytics. The anonymous session code of the error reports is only temporarily in sessionStorage.

You can always clear this storage in your browser settings; the game then starts afresh (progress in an account stays on the server).

10. Changes

We may change this policy if the game or the law changes. The date at the top shows the latest version. For important changes we will tell you in the game or by e-mail where we have an address.

11. Contact

Nuova Impresa NV
Noorderlaan 147/22, 2030 Antwerpen, België
Company number BE 0568.898.070
privacy@buddyvale.com