Your privacy on The Commons

Last updated: 16 October 2026

The Commons is a free online game made by one person, Ryan Appleyard, in the UK. This page explains what the game knows about you, why, who else sees it, and what you can do about it.

If you're a parent or carer, there's a page just for you too: For parents and carers.

The short version

• We never ask for your real name, your birthday, your address or your school.
• We don't show adverts, we don't sell anything, and we don't sell or share your information for marketing.
• We don't keep your chat. The game only saves chat when someone reports it, or when our word filter spots something a moderator should look at.
• You can delete your account yourself, any time, from Settings in the game. A parent can do it from their parents' page.
• If you're under 13, a parent or carer has to say yes, and they choose what's switched on.

If you only read one thing: don't put your real name, or anything that says where you live or go to school, in your nickname, your chat or your drawings.

Who's responsible

Ryan Appleyard is the "data controller": the person responsible for looking after your information.

• Email: hello@thecommons.lol
• Registered with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), number [to be confirmed]

What we know about you

If you just play as a guest

• The nickname you pick. Other players see it.
• The invite code you came in with, if the game was invite only when you joined.
• What you do in the game: your hat, the things you own, your arcade tickets and how you earned them, and which of the game's tips you've already seen.
• When you played, for how long, and which games. We use this to see what people enjoy and to spot problems.
• A cookie in your browser that remembers who you are, so you stay logged in.

If you save your account

All of the above, and:

• A username and a password. Only you see your username. We can't see your password: we store a scrambled version that can't be turned back into the real thing.
• Whether you're under 13, or 13 and over. We ask for the month and year you were born to work this out, then throw the date away. We only keep "under 13" or "13 and over".
• An email address, if you give one. If you're 13 or over it's yours, it's optional, and we only use it to help you get back into your account. If you're under 13 it's your parent's or carer's.
• Your home in the game and how you've arranged it.
• Any drawings you make and submit on the easel, and whether you asked for your nickname to be shown with them. See "Your drawings" below.

If you're under 13

• Your parent's or carer's email address, so we can ask them if it's OK for you to play.
• What they've switched on for you: typing your own chat messages, friends, and home visits.

Your parent or carer can see when you've played and for how long over the last week, and whether a moderator has warned, muted or banned you. They can't see your chat or who you played with.

Chat

When you chat, the people in the same room see it. The game's server remembers the last 15 minutes of each room, and then forgets it.

Chat is only saved in two cases:

• Someone makes a report. We save the recent chat from that room so a moderator can see what happened. That includes messages from other people who were there, not only the two people involved.
• Our word filter spots something, like hate speech, a phone number, an email address or a web address. We save that message and the few lines around it for a moderator to read.

People you've muted or blocked

If you mute or block someone, we keep a note that you did (and when a mute ends), so it still works next time you play. Only you can see your lists (in Settings). The other person isn't told, and moderators don't use them.

Friends

If you and another player agree to be friends, we keep that you're friends and since when. If you ask someone, we keep the request until they answer, you take it back, or 30 days pass. You see your friends in the game (under Friends), and they see you in theirs. Removing a friend, or blocking them, deletes it. Moderators can see who's friends with whom when they look into a report or a safety worry. There's no private chat between friends.

Reports, warnings and bans

• If you report someone, or someone reports you, we keep who reported whom, the reason, where it happened, and the chat described above.
• If a moderator warns, mutes or bans you, we keep what they did and why.
• Only people decide these things. Nothing is ever done to your account automatically.

Bug reports

If you tell us about a bug, we keep what you wrote, where you were in the game, the game's version, your screen size, and your browser and device type (for example "Chrome on Windows").

What stays on your own device

Your sound settings and your best scores in the arcade minigames are saved in your browser only. They're never sent to us.

Just visiting our website

The website at thecommons.lol doesn't use cookies, doesn't track you, and doesn't collect anything about you.

If you ask for an invite

While the game is invite only, you can ask for an invite on our website, or by emailing us (then we keep your email address, and anything you tell us to call you, in the same way). We keep what you send: your email address (so we can send you a code), what you'd like us to call you if you tell us, which of the options fits you (want to play, a parent or carer, make games or videos, something else), anything you choose to write, and whether you'd like codes for friends. Only people who say they're 13 or over, or a parent or carer asking for a child, can send it.

A person reads it. If we say yes, we email your code (and any codes for friends) through Resend, and we can see which codes have been used. Our moderators' Discord channel is told that a request came in and what kind it is, never your email, name or message.

The parents' page has a box where you can try our chat filter. What you type there is checked and forgotten straight away: it isn't saved, and nobody sees it. If you press "It should have been blocked" or "It shouldn't have been blocked", we keep that one message and anything you add, so we can improve the filter. Nothing about who sent it is kept with it, and it's deleted within a year (90 days after we've looked at it).

Cookies

We use two cookies, and both are needed for the game to work, so we don't ask your permission for them:

There are no advertising or tracking cookies.

Why we're allowed to use your information

The law says we need a good reason. Ours are:

Where our reason is "legitimate interests", you can object: see "Your rights" below.

Who else sees it

Other players see your nickname, your character and hat, your chat while they're in the same room, and any of your drawings a moderator has approved.

Your drawings

When you send a drawing from the easel, nobody sees it until a moderator has approved it.

• If you're 13 or over, an approved drawing can be shown in the game, on our website, in our Discord and on our social media. That means people outside the game can see it.
• If you're under 13, or playing as a guest, an approved drawing is only ever shown in the game.
• Your nickname is only shown with it if you tick "Put my nickname on it". Otherwise it's shown with no name.
• You can change your mind. Email hello@thecommons.lol and we'll stop using it and take it down from everywhere we control. Deleting your account removes your drawings too. We can't call back copies that other people have already saved or shared from our website, Discord or social media.

Please don't draw real people, or write your real name or anything about where you live. The rules about what you're allowing us to do with a drawing are in our Terms.

Moderators can see your account details (not your password), your reports, anything the word filter caught, and your record. At the moment the only moderator is Ryan.

Companies that help us run the game. They only handle your information to provide their service to us:

Like any website, these companies' systems see your IP address (a number that identifies your internet connection) when you connect. We don't save IP addresses ourselves. We keep them in memory for up to an hour to stop people guessing passwords, then forget them.

Some of these companies are based outside the UK. Where your information goes abroad, it's protected by the safeguards UK law requires, such as the UK–US data bridge or standard contract terms, which each company sets out in its own terms.

Nobody else. We don't sell your information, and we don't share it with advertisers. We'd only hand information to the police or another authority if the law required it, or to protect someone from serious harm.

How long we keep it

When you delete your account, your login, email, hats, tickets, home, drawings and play history go straight away. There's one exception. If your account was reported, reported someone, or was picked up by the word filter, we keep those moderation records for 90 days with your name removed, so that deleting an account can't be used to make a report disappear. After 90 days they're deleted too.

One rare exception to all of these times. If something serious has happened and a report, a message the filter caught or a drawing may be needed by the police, a moderator can put it on hold. It's then kept until it's no longer needed, even if the account is deleted.

Your rights

You have the right to:

• See what we hold about you, and get a copy.
• Fix it if it's wrong. You can change your email and password in Settings.
• Delete it. Settings → Delete my account. Parents: from your parents' page. It happens straight away.
• Take back your permission. Parents can switch things off or withdraw approval at any time. You can remove your email in Settings.
• Object to how we use your information, or ask us to use it less.
• Take it elsewhere: ask for your information in a form another service could read.

For anything you can't do yourself in the game, email hello@thecommons.lol. We'll answer within one month. It's free. If you're under 13, a parent or carer can ask for you, and you can ask yourself too.

We may need to check it's really you first, for example by asking you to write from the email on your account.

If you're not happy

Please tell us first: hello@thecommons.lol. We'd like the chance to put it right.

You can also complain to the Information Commissioner's Office, the UK's privacy regulator, at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint or on 0303 123 1113.

Things you should know

• Guests. While the game is in its early "alpha" stage, someone playing as a guest can type freely in chat, and we don't know how old they are. The word filter, the report button and moderators apply to them like anyone else. This will change: see below.
• You don't have to give us an email if you're 13 or over. Without one, we can't help you back into your account if you forget your password.
• We don't make decisions about you by computer alone. Our dashboard shows moderators which accounts have been reported or flagged most often, only so a person knows where to look first.

What's coming

We're building a way to check ages privately. When it arrives, another company will do the check, and we'll only be told the answer: "yes, over 13" or "no". We won't see or keep any documents. We'll update this page, and name the company, before it's switched on.

Home visits are also on the way. For under 13s they'll be off until a parent switches them on, like friends.

Changes to this page

If we change how we use your information, we'll update this page and change the date at the top. For a big change we'll tell you in the game, and email parents of under 13s.