Offer Wall and Privacy Concerns
Shan
✭✭✭✭✭
Greetings, Captains,
First off, we want to thank you all for your patience while we have been reviewing the concerns you brought up, with our Privacy Team. This took longer than we anticipated. We understand and regret the frustrations that our delayed responses have caused.
When we implemented the Offer Wall, we did it with the best intentions; to add a new avenue for players to obtain premium currency. We understand that due to the nature of this feature, and more specifically of some of the offers presented, this generated mistrust.
We take our players’ privacy very seriously, and that is why we want to confirm here that we implemented this feature by choosing the most cautious option available: denying consent regarding the sharing of personal data by default.
In hindsight, we should have taken the time to implement a pop-up which allowed you to opt in or not, so you would feel more confident about how your data is and isn’t being used. However, since we do not currently have such a pop-up in game, we felt taking the most conservative approach regarding your personal data by setting the default option to deny consent for all players was the correct choice. We recognize that without this pop-up, and without direct communication of the default choice we made, many players had concerns over how their personal data is being shared. We hope that this clarification now helps to ease these concerns.
As part of our constant commitment to data privacy and transparency, we have also recognized that we have not yet given our players a clear notice about the transition of our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy that we planned to accompany the recent change in game operation from Disruptor Beam to Tilting Point. We are actively in the process of rectifying this, and unifying where and how this is presented to you. In the meantime you can view both policies on the Tilting Point website (https://www.tiltingpoint.com). Our Privacy Team has also been diligently working on updating our privacy policy, in an effort to make it more clear. That being said we can confirm that the change in game operation from Disruptor Beam to Tilting Point did not result in any changes regarding how STAR TREK TIMELINES data is being processed other than as we have outlined above.
You should expect another communication with links to both policies within the next two weeks, as well as some in-game notifications in the near future.
Regarding concerns about the use of data by the game in general, there is a distinction to be made between the data that allows us to provide services to you, and personal data (referred to as “personal identifiable information” (PII) or “Personal Information”). While some limited items of personal data are necessary for the game to function, we can confirm that we do not collect any personal information without a legal basis such as consent, or our legitimate business interest in providing the best possible game experience to you.
We hope that this communication, along with our commitment to constantly strive to improve how we protect players’ personal data and how we communicate with you about privacy issues, will provide you with a much needed reassurance. We are proud and humbled by our community, your passion and dedication to the game are not something we take for granted, which is why our Privacy Team has been working on responding to your concerns nonstop from the moment they were raised.We know our community expects and deserved thoughtful and complete answers, which is why we took the time to double check everything before getting back to you.
As always, we value your feedback and ask you to continue to reach out with any questions or concerns you may have. The only way we can improve is with feedback from the community, and it is our hope that our ongoing efforts and communications will help build back your trust in us.
The STAR TREK TIMELINES Team
First off, we want to thank you all for your patience while we have been reviewing the concerns you brought up, with our Privacy Team. This took longer than we anticipated. We understand and regret the frustrations that our delayed responses have caused.
When we implemented the Offer Wall, we did it with the best intentions; to add a new avenue for players to obtain premium currency. We understand that due to the nature of this feature, and more specifically of some of the offers presented, this generated mistrust.
We take our players’ privacy very seriously, and that is why we want to confirm here that we implemented this feature by choosing the most cautious option available: denying consent regarding the sharing of personal data by default.
In hindsight, we should have taken the time to implement a pop-up which allowed you to opt in or not, so you would feel more confident about how your data is and isn’t being used. However, since we do not currently have such a pop-up in game, we felt taking the most conservative approach regarding your personal data by setting the default option to deny consent for all players was the correct choice. We recognize that without this pop-up, and without direct communication of the default choice we made, many players had concerns over how their personal data is being shared. We hope that this clarification now helps to ease these concerns.
As part of our constant commitment to data privacy and transparency, we have also recognized that we have not yet given our players a clear notice about the transition of our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy that we planned to accompany the recent change in game operation from Disruptor Beam to Tilting Point. We are actively in the process of rectifying this, and unifying where and how this is presented to you. In the meantime you can view both policies on the Tilting Point website (https://www.tiltingpoint.com). Our Privacy Team has also been diligently working on updating our privacy policy, in an effort to make it more clear. That being said we can confirm that the change in game operation from Disruptor Beam to Tilting Point did not result in any changes regarding how STAR TREK TIMELINES data is being processed other than as we have outlined above.
You should expect another communication with links to both policies within the next two weeks, as well as some in-game notifications in the near future.
Regarding concerns about the use of data by the game in general, there is a distinction to be made between the data that allows us to provide services to you, and personal data (referred to as “personal identifiable information” (PII) or “Personal Information”). While some limited items of personal data are necessary for the game to function, we can confirm that we do not collect any personal information without a legal basis such as consent, or our legitimate business interest in providing the best possible game experience to you.
We hope that this communication, along with our commitment to constantly strive to improve how we protect players’ personal data and how we communicate with you about privacy issues, will provide you with a much needed reassurance. We are proud and humbled by our community, your passion and dedication to the game are not something we take for granted, which is why our Privacy Team has been working on responding to your concerns nonstop from the moment they were raised.We know our community expects and deserved thoughtful and complete answers, which is why we took the time to double check everything before getting back to you.
As always, we value your feedback and ask you to continue to reach out with any questions or concerns you may have. The only way we can improve is with feedback from the community, and it is our hope that our ongoing efforts and communications will help build back your trust in us.
The STAR TREK TIMELINES Team
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