Privacy Policy

Last updated: January 2025

1. Introduction

Welcome to Withness Games ("we," "our," or "us"). This Privacy Policy explains how we handle information when you use our interactive storytelling games through the ChatGPT platform ("Service").

The short version: We don't collect personal information. We don't require accounts. Game sessions are anonymous and automatically deleted after 24 hours.

2. How Our Service Works

Withness Games is a ChatGPT App (also known as a GPT Action or Custom GPT). When you play:

  • You interact with our games through OpenAI's ChatGPT interface
  • Your conversation with the AI companion happens within ChatGPT
  • Our servers only receive game commands (like "inspect the console" or "open the door")
  • We return game state updates (visible objects, inventory, available actions)

We do not have access to your ChatGPT account, your other conversations, or any personal information.

3. Information We Collect

3.1 Game Session Data

When you play, we store only:

  • Game session ID - A randomly generated identifier (e.g., "game_abc123xyz") not linked to your identity
  • Game state - Your progress: which objects you've found, items in inventory, flags triggered
  • Turn count - How many actions you've taken
  • Timestamps - When the session was created and last updated

3.2 Information We Do NOT Collect

We explicitly do not collect or have access to:

  • Your name, email, or any personal identifiers
  • Your ChatGPT account information or OpenAI user ID
  • Your IP address (our system does not log or store IP addresses)
  • Your conversation history or messages to the AI companion
  • Your location, device information, or browser data
  • Any payment or financial information (the Service is free)

4. How We Use Game Session Data

Game session data is used solely to:

  • Maintain your game progress during play
  • Provide game functionality (tracking inventory, unlocking areas, etc.)
  • Determine available actions based on your current state

We do not use game data for analytics, advertising, profiling, or any purpose other than running your game session.

5. Data Retention and Deletion

Game session data is automatically and permanently deleted after 24 hours of inactivity. This is enforced at the database level (DynamoDB TTL) and cannot be overridden.

We do not maintain backups of game sessions. Once deleted, the data cannot be recovered by anyone, including us.

Since we don't collect personal information, there is no personal data to request access to or deletion of.

6. Data Sharing

We do not sell, trade, rent, or share your information with third parties.

Game session data is processed by:

  • Amazon Web Services (AWS) - Our cloud infrastructure provider, specifically AWS Lambda (compute) and DynamoDB (database) in the EU (Frankfurt) region

Your conversation with the AI companion is processed by OpenAI as part of the ChatGPT platform, subject to OpenAI's privacy policy.

7. Security

We implement appropriate security measures including:

  • All data transmitted over HTTPS/TLS encryption
  • API access restricted to authorized ChatGPT requests
  • No persistent storage of sensitive information
  • Automatic data deletion after 24 hours

8. Children's Privacy

Our Service is available to users who meet ChatGPT's age requirements. We do not knowingly collect any personal information from anyone, including children. Since our Service requires no account and collects no personal data, there is no children's data to protect beyond what OpenAI handles through the ChatGPT platform.

9. International Users

Our servers are located in the European Union (AWS Frankfurt region). Game session data (which contains no personal information) is processed in this region regardless of where you access the Service from.

10. Your Rights

Since we do not collect personal information:

  • There is no personal data to access, correct, or delete
  • There is no profile or account to manage
  • Game sessions are automatically deleted after 24 hours

If you have concerns about data processed by ChatGPT itself, please refer to OpenAI's privacy policy and exercise your rights with them directly.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Changes will be reflected by updating the "Last updated" date. Continued use of the Service after changes constitutes acceptance of the revised policy.

12. Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us through our feedback form.