The Terms of Use, the Privacy Policy and the Play Rules move to version 1.3 (from 1 November 2026)
This notice was meant to go out on 2026-10-12, but it reached this site late. So the effective date has moved from 2026-10-26 to 2026-11-01 00:00 (Japan time).
We are moving the Terms of Use, the Privacy Policy and the Play Rules to version 1.3. We announce it on 2026-10-16, and it takes effect at 2026-11-01 00:00 (Japan time). The full texts are on the pages linked below this announcement.
What changes
We rewrote the rules for the "support chat" and the "AI bot" in the bottom-right corner of the support site (neither has started yet) to match what we built.
- The chat needs you to sign in with a StarPocket account. The existing contact page (form) and email still need no account (Terms of Use Article 8(1)).
- How long chat records are kept. What you type into the article search also reaches our server. Chat records that are not handed to a person are deleted from the database 24 hours after the chat starts. Copies in the nightly backups remain until the backup period ends (Privacy Policy 3.1 and Article 5).
- When you ask a person. "Attach the conversation so far" is checked at first, and you can uncheck it. What you attach is kept as an inquiry. For now, only the author reads inquiries from the chat. The chat does not accept appeals against room restrictions; it points you to the appeal form (Play Rules Article 10(2)).
- Who can use the AI bot. Only people who answered 18 or older on the account page and separately agreed to send text to the AI (this consent is optional). We check the country only by Cloudflare's country code, and allow only the countries Anthropic publishes. All of Ukraine, Kosovo, mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao, and cases where the country is unknown cannot use it. There are also cost and usage limits. Article search and "Ask a person" work regardless of age or country (Terms of Use Article 16, Privacy Policy 3.1).
- For people under 18. People under 18 and people who have not answered the age question see a reminder to use the chat with a parent or guardian (Privacy Policy Article 10).
- What the chat restriction (S-14) stops. It stops the whole chat, sending from the contact page while signed in, and applications to "Join us". The email contact still works (Terms of Use Article 13).
- Recording consent. The chat start screen shows links to the Terms of Use and the Privacy Policy with their versions, and we record the versions and time you agreed.
- We aligned the wording of the Chinese texts with the agreed terms.
Why we announce it 14 days ahead
Terms of Use Article 26(3) says we announce changes that are worse for users at least 14 days before they take effect. Version 1.3 includes changes that could be worse for users than the earlier text, such as needing to sign in to the chat and keeping records for 24 hours. So we announce it on 2026-10-16 and it takes effect at 2026-11-01 00:00 (Japan time). The support chat will not start before then.
The differences from the earlier version are also in the "Change history" at the end of each page.
Version 1.3 takes effect at 2026-11-01 00:00 (Japan time). If anything is unclear, use the contact page (https://support.starpocketgames.com).