User Analytics

We have accounts set up, and tracking in place, through Google's Analytics system. This monitors user activity both on our web sites (eg, this one) and in-game activities.

In particular, it's unlikely that Google's servers would go down at the same time as ours, so we can monitor events like failed game sign-in attempts.

This interacts with our Core:Privacy rules. We don't gather personally-identifiable data. For example: we can tell the country or city from which requests are coming, or type of OS or device, but not who the individuals are.

Access to the statistics can be provided to trusted Builder Toots or Promotions teammates, but we generally don't “publish” the data. Perhaps, in time, we may want to publish a transparency report including some demographics data.

What we gather

See https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/ for many details.

In general, we can see (when Google knows): Gender; Age range; general location; activities performed on our web site, like reading pages or some game actions; and possibly some “interests” information.

Google also tracks some technical data, which is also shared by your web browser with every site that you visit, such as your operating system, browser (navigator) program, and display screen capabilities.

eg, as of today (13:33, 28 July 2016 (PDT)) one such “interest” (“affinity”) category is “Gamers/Hardcore Gamers.”

What we do not gather

• We do not track personally-identifiable information.
• We do obtain your Google Account e-mail address, which we may use if you ask us to, or in certain exceptional circumstances; see E-Mail Policy.

Why we gather it

Outreach and Promotions

Our goal is to reach players who will enjoy the game. If we find that our outreach and Promotions are not reaching some groups, the Analytics will reveal it.

Technical Problems

Google's Analytics can easily reveal “drop outs,” such as users who were unable to sign in, that might be difficult or impossible for us to track on our own.

We can also narrow down problems to particular systems, such as operating systems or display screen settings, based on this data.

Technical Capabilities

We use the Analytics system to track users' operating systems, browsers, and technical capabilities in order to plan our technology development. For example, we might decide whether (or not) to provide a software feature based upon whether a large number of our users might (or might not) be able to access it.

We can also plan our Technical Support guides based upon what systems or devices our players or visitors are actually using.

Other Analytics

Facebook integration will have a similar level of analytics available as well.