Terms of service

What these terms cover

These terms apply to this website and to the game served from it, Merchant Kings of Africa. By creating an account or playing, you agree to them. If you do not agree, please do not play.

Your account

You need an account to play. You must be at least 13 years old to create one. Use a real email address you control — it is how you confirm the account and how you reset a lost password.

One person, one account. Keep your password to yourself; anything done with your account is treated as done by you. If you think someone else has it, change your password and tell us.

You can ask us to delete your account at any time, and we will delete it and the game data tied to it. A kingdom whose owner is deleted simply stops being played.

How to behave

The game is played against other real people, and most of the fun depends on everyone playing straight. So:

• Do not run more than one kingdom in the same world, whether through a second account or by directing someone else's.
• Do not use scripts, bots or automated tools to play for you or to send commands faster than a person could.
• Do not try to break, overload, or find your way around the game's servers or the rules they enforce. If you find a bug that gives you an advantage, report it instead of using it.
• Kingdom names, world names and messages to other players must not be abusive, hateful, sexual, threatening, or impersonate someone else. Diplomacy is supposed to be sharp; it is not supposed to be cruel.

If you break these, we may warn you, remove your kingdom from a world, suspend your account, or delete it. For anything serious we will not warn first.

Worlds and rules can change

The game is in active development by one person. Rules change between numbered rulesets; a world keeps the ruleset it was born with, so a world in progress does not change under you. But we may pause, end, reset or delete a world — for a bug, for a server problem, or because it is finished — and a kingdom in a deleted world is gone. Nothing in the game is a possession you own, and we do not promise any world or the game itself will run forever.

Who owns what

The game, its art, its rules, its code and these pages belong to us. You may play them; you may not copy, sell, or redistribute them. The names you give your kingdoms and the messages you write are yours, but by putting them in the game you allow us to show them to the other players in your world and to keep them as part of the world's record.

Advertising

The website, and a banner beside the game's map, may show advertising served by Google. This is how the servers are paid for. Advertisements never cover the map and never change how the game plays. The privacy policy explains what advertising cookies do and how to refuse them.

No promises, no liability

The game and the website are provided as they are, without any warranty. We do not promise that they will be available, free of bugs, or that your kingdom or your progress will be preserved. To the fullest extent the law allows, we are not liable for any loss or damage from using or being unable to use them. Nothing here limits any right the law gives you that cannot be limited.

Changes to these terms

If these terms change in a way that matters, the date at the top changes and the change is noted in the devlog. Continuing to play after that means you accept the new terms.

Questions

Use the contact form or email contact@merchantkingsofafrica.com.