Privacy Policy

Introduction

Welcome to Epic Joysticks, operated by epicjoysticks.com. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you visit our visual novel game portal website, including any other media form, media channel, mobile website, or mobile application related or connected thereto.

We are committed to protecting your privacy and ensuring you understand our data practices. This policy covers all interactions you have with our platform, from browsing our curated visual novel collection to participating in our community features and making purchases. The effective date of this Privacy Policy is December 15, 2024.

By using our services, you consent to the data practices described in this statement. If you do not agree with the policies and practices described in this Privacy Policy, please do not access or use our services.

Information We Collect

Personal Information

We may collect personally identifiable information that you voluntarily provide to us when you register on our platform, make a purchase, subscribe to our newsletter, respond to surveys, or participate in community discussions. This information may include your name, email address, username, payment information, and any content you post or share.

Gaming Preferences and Progress Data

As a visual novel portal, we collect information about your gaming preferences, including genres you favor, games you've played or purchased, reading progress, bookmarked stories, wish lists, and ratings or reviews you provide. This helps us recommend relevant content and improve your experience with our curated collections.

Usage and Technical Data

We automatically collect certain information when you visit, use, or navigate our platform. This includes technical data such as your IP address, browser type, operating system, device information, referral source, length of visit, page views, and click-through data. We also collect behavioral data about how you interact with our recommendation algorithms and community features.

Community and User-Generated Content

When you participate in our community features such as forums, reviews, comments, or user-generated content sharing, we collect the content you post, your interactions with other users, and metadata associated with your contributions.

How We Use Information

Service Provision and Enhancement

We use your information to provide, operate, and maintain our visual novel portal services, including processing transactions, delivering purchased content, managing your account, providing customer support, and personalizing your experience through our recommendation algorithms.

Communication and Marketing

With your consent, we may use your contact information to send you newsletters about new releases, promotional offers, curated recommendations, and updates about our services. You can opt out of marketing communications at any time through your account settings or unsubscribe links.

Game Recommendations and Personalization

We analyze your gaming preferences, browsing behavior, and interaction patterns to improve our recommendation algorithms, suggest relevant visual novels, and personalize your browsing experience. This helps us curate content that matches your interests and gaming style.

Safety and Legal Compliance

We may use your information to prevent fraud, ensure platform security, enforce our terms of service, comply with legal obligations, and protect the rights and safety of our users and the broader gaming community.

Legal Bases for Processing

We process your personal data based on the following legal grounds: your explicit consent for marketing communications and non-essential cookies; contractual necessity to provide our services and fulfill purchases; legitimate interests in improving our services, preventing fraud, and ensuring security; and legal compliance with applicable privacy and consumer protection laws.

For users in jurisdictions with specific privacy rights (such as GDPR or CCPA), we ensure our processing activities meet the required legal standards and provide appropriate mechanisms for exercising your rights.

Sharing & Disclosure

Third-Party Service Providers

We may share your information with trusted third-party service providers who assist in operating our website, conducting business, or servicing you. This includes payment processors, content delivery networks, analytics providers, email marketing services, and customer support platforms. These parties are contractually obligated to keep your information confidential.

Game Developers and Publishers

With your consent, we may share aggregated, non-personally identifiable data about user preferences and engagement with game developers and publishers to help them understand market trends and improve their visual novel offerings. We never share individual personal information without explicit consent.

Legal Requirements and Business Transfers

We may disclose your information if required by law, court order, or government regulation, or to protect our rights, property, or safety, and that of our users. In the event of a business acquisition or merger, your information may be transferred as part of that transaction, subject to equivalent privacy protections.

Data Retention

We retain your personal information for as long as necessary to provide our services, fulfill the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy, or as required by law. Account information is retained while your account is active and for a reasonable period afterward to allow for account recovery.

Gaming preferences and progress data may be retained longer to maintain continuity in your personalized experience. Transaction records are kept for the period required by applicable financial and tax regulations. Community contributions may be retained indefinitely as part of our platform's content archive.

You may request deletion of your personal data at any time, subject to legal and operational requirements. We will promptly delete or anonymize your information following verified deletion requests.

Security Measures

We implement appropriate technical and organizational security measures to protect your personal information against unauthorized access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. These include encrypted data transmission, secure server infrastructure, access controls, regular security audits, and staff privacy training.

Payment information is processed through PCI-compliant payment processors and is not stored on our servers. We use industry-standard encryption protocols and regularly update our security practices to address emerging threats.

However, no method of transmission over the Internet or electronic storage is 100% secure. While we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security and encourage you to use strong passwords and secure browsing practices.

Cookies & Tracking

We use cookies, web beacons, and similar tracking technologies to enhance your browsing experience, remember your preferences, and analyze site usage. Essential cookies are necessary for basic website functionality, while optional cookies help us provide personalized recommendations and improve our services.

You can control cookie preferences through your browser settings and our cookie consent management tool. Disabling certain cookies may limit some website functionality but will not prevent you from accessing our core services.

For detailed information about our cookie practices, data retention periods, and third-party analytics, please review our comprehensive Cookie Policy.

Your Rights & Choices

Depending on your jurisdiction, you may have certain rights regarding your personal information, including the right to access, update, delete, or port your data. You can exercise many of these rights directly through your account settings or by contacting us.

Account Management

You can update your profile information, gaming preferences, privacy settings, and communication preferences at any time through your account dashboard. You also have the right to download your data or request account deletion.

Marketing Communications

You can opt out of promotional emails and newsletters at any time by using the unsubscribe link in our communications, updating your email preferences in your account settings, or contacting our support team.

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

We do not sell personal information to third parties. If our practices change in the future, we will update this Privacy Policy and provide you with opt-out mechanisms as required by applicable privacy laws.

International Transfers

Our services are hosted and operated in Canada, but we may transfer your personal information to other countries where our service providers operate. When transferring data internationally, we implement appropriate safeguards to protect your information, including standard contractual clauses and adequacy decisions.

By using our services, you acknowledge that your information may be transferred to and processed in countries with different privacy laws than your country of residence. We ensure that such transfers comply with applicable privacy regulations and maintain equivalent protection standards.

Children's Privacy

Our services are intended for users aged 13 and older. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 years of age. If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has provided us with personal information, please contact us immediately.

For users between 13 and 18 years of age, we encourage parental guidance when using our platform. Some visual novels in our collection may contain mature themes appropriate for older teenagers and adults, and we provide content ratings and filtering options to help users make informed choices.

If we discover that we have collected personal information from a child under 13, we will promptly delete such information from our records and take steps to prevent further collection.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy periodically to reflect changes in our practices, technology, legal requirements, or business operations. We will post the updated policy on this page and update the "Last Updated" date at the top of this document.

For material changes that significantly affect your privacy rights, we will provide additional notice through email notifications to registered users, prominent website notices, or other appropriate communication channels, as required by applicable law.

We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically to stay informed about how we collect, use, and protect your information. Your continued use of our services after any modifications to this Privacy Policy constitutes acceptance of those changes.

Contact Information

If you have questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please don't hesitate to contact us. We are committed to addressing your privacy inquiries promptly and transparently.