Terms of Service

Effective September 27, 2026

These Terms of Service ("Terms") are an agreement between you and Thomas Ostrow ("Dark Forest," "we," "us," or "our") governing your access to the Dark Forest game, website, Discord login, multiplayer lobbies, replay features, and related services (collectively, the "Service"). By using the Service, you agree to these Terms and our Privacy Policy.

1. Eligibility

You must be at least 13 years old and meet any higher minimum age required in your country. If you are not old enough to agree to these Terms yourself, a parent or legal guardian must agree for you. You may not use the Service if applicable law prohibits it.

2. Accounts and Discord login

You may play available guest modes without an account. If you sign in with Discord, you authorize us to use the basic Discord identity information described in our Privacy Policy to create and maintain a Dark Forest account. You are responsible for your Discord account and for activity through your Dark Forest session. Do not transfer, sell, or share access to an account. Notify us promptly if you believe an account or session has been compromised.

Discord is a separate service. Your use of Discord remains subject to Discord's own terms and policies. Dark Forest is not sponsored, endorsed, or operated by Discord.

3. Rules of conduct

You agree not to:

• Use the Service unlawfully or violate another person's rights.
• Harass, threaten, impersonate, or abuse other players.
• Use a civilization name or other content that is hateful, sexually explicit, unlawfully violent, deceptive, infringing, or otherwise harmful.
• Cheat, exploit bugs, automate play, interfere with matches, evade access controls, or disrupt servers or networks.
• Probe, scrape, reverse engineer, or access nonpublic parts of the Service except where applicable law clearly permits it.
• Upload malware or attempt to obtain another person's credentials or private information.
• Use the Service for gambling, prizes, financial transactions, or commercial solicitation without our written permission.

We may remove content, end matches, restrict features, or suspend or terminate access when reasonably necessary to protect the Service or enforce these Terms.

4. Player names, lobbies, and replays

You keep any rights you already have in a name or content you submit. You give us a nonexclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to host, reproduce, display, transmit, and adapt that content only as needed to operate, secure, and improve the Service.

Player names and ordinary game information may be visible to other lobby and match participants. On the current public test service, solo replays are stored in a shared library that does not require login. A replay can include the player name, game setup, commands, timing, and results. Other visitors may be able to list, watch, copy, pin, unpin, replace, or delete shared replays. Do not put private or confidential information in a player name. You are responsible for having the rights to content you submit.

5. The game and our rights

The Service, including its software, visual design, artwork, text, and game systems, is owned by us or our licensors and is protected by applicable intellectual property laws. These Terms give you a limited, personal, nonexclusive, nontransferable, revocable right to use the Service for its intended purpose. They do not transfer ownership of the Service or permit you to copy, sell, sublicense, or commercially exploit it.

Third-party names, services, data, and materials remain the property of their respective owners. Any separate open-source license or asset notice applies to the material it covers.

6. Prototype service

Dark Forest is currently a prototype and public playtest. Features, rules, balance, accounts, records, and availability may change or be removed. Matches may fail, restart, or lose state. The current Service does not promise permanent accounts, rankings, replay retention, reconnection, backups, or uninterrupted multiplayer. Do not rely on the Service to store your only copy of important information.

The Service currently does not sell virtual items, accept wagers, award cash prizes, or provide anything with real-world monetary value.

7. Suspension, termination, and account deletion

You may stop using the Service at any time. If signed in, you can delete your Dark Forest account from the Account dialog. Replays are separate from accounts and must be deleted separately from Saved Replays. We may suspend or terminate access if you materially or repeatedly violate these Terms, create risk for other users or the Service, or if we discontinue the Service. Sections that by their nature should survive termination will survive, including ownership, disclaimers, liability limits, and dispute provisions.

8. Disclaimers

To the maximum extent permitted by law, the Service is provided "as is" and "as available." We disclaim implied warranties, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, noninfringement, and any warranty that the Service will be secure, uninterrupted, accurate, or free of harmful components. Some jurisdictions do not allow certain disclaimers, so some of this section may not apply to you.

9. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Dark Forest and its operator, contributors, and service providers will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for lost data, profits, goodwill, or opportunities arising from the Service. Our total liability for all claims relating to the Service will not exceed the greater of 50 US dollars or the amount you paid us for the Service during the 12 months before the claim. The Service is currently free.

These limits do not apply where liability cannot legally be limited or excluded.

10. Governing law and disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and applicable United States federal law, without regard to conflict-of-law rules. Courts located in Pennsylvania will have exclusive jurisdiction unless applicable consumer law gives you the right to bring a claim elsewhere. Before filing a formal claim, you agree to contact us and try in good faith to resolve the dispute informally for 30 days.

11. Changes

We may update these Terms as the Service changes. We will post the updated Terms here and revise the effective date. If a change is material, we will provide additional notice when reasonably practicable. Continuing to use the Service after updated Terms take effect means you accept them. If you do not accept an update, stop using the Service.

12. General

If a provision of these Terms is unenforceable, the remaining provisions will remain in effect. Our failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver. You may not assign these Terms without our written permission. We may assign them in connection with a merger, reorganization, sale, or transfer of the Service. These Terms and the Privacy Policy are the entire agreement between you and us about the Service.

13. Contact

Operator: Thomas Ostrow
Contact: tostrowconnect@gmail.com
Location: Pennsylvania, United States