VM-1 · Scope
VM-1.1 This Policy explains how text messaging and voice chat work in the STRIKEHEART game ("the Game"), operated by Adem Özdamar, trading under the business name Garanti Web Tasarım, Türkiye ("we", "us"), and how we protect and moderate them. It supplements the Privacy Policy and the Community Guidelines.
VM-1.2 The Game is in development and has not yet been released; messaging and voice chat currently run only in a test environment. This Policy applies to these features in the released Game.
VM-2 · Text communication
VM-2.1 Direct messages can be exchanged between friends only. You can change your setting so that nobody can send you direct messages.
VM-2.2 Lobby chat is available only in lobbies created through a friend invitation. In ranked matches there is no text chat: communication is limited to a fixed set of quick messages (not free text) and emotes. Quick messages contain no text written by players, are available at every age and can be switched off in the settings.
VM-2.3 Messages are limited to 200 characters. The Game can show read receipts and a typing indicator.
VM-2.4 There is no free-text chat between players who are not friends, at any age. Players aged 13 to 17 can exchange messages only with friends; our servers enforce these limits.
VM-3 · Automatic filtering and masking
VM-3.1 All text messages pass through our automatic Turkish and English filter, which blocks offensive language and masks personal details such as e-mail addresses and other contact details. Usernames are filtered too.
VM-3.2 Messages are stored only in their filtered, masked form. We use our own filter and no external text-moderation service. If we ever add an external moderation service, we will name it in this Policy and in the Privacy Policy before it is used.
VM-4 · Storage and retention of messages
VM-4.1 Direct messages and lobby chat are stored on our servers for 30 days, so that they can be delivered and so that they are available for moderation if a player reports them. They are then deleted automatically, or earlier if your account is deleted. Messages attached to a report are kept as report evidence for the period described in VM-8.3.
VM-4.2 A copy of your recent messages is cached on your device in encrypted form so that conversations load quickly. The cache stays on your device; you can remove it by deleting the Game's data from your device or uninstalling the Game.
VM-5 · Voice chat
VM-5.1 Voice chat is off by default. You can talk with another player only if both of you agree: one player asks, the other accepts – if the request is not accepted, no voice connection is opened. Either player can end voice chat, mute or block the other at any time. Players aged 13 to 17 can use voice chat only with friends; players aged 18 or over can also talk with players who are not their friends, again only if both agree. Our servers enforce these rules; age is calculated cautiously from the birth year declared when the account was created. Voice chat is not available in matches against computer opponents, and it is available in the mobile app (iOS and Android). You can use push-to-talk or an open microphone.
VM-5.2 Voice is transmitted live. We do not record voice chat continuously, and nobody listens to it while it takes place. There is one exception: when a participant reports a player during a voice session, the last part of that voice session – at most 60 seconds – is attached to the report as evidence (VM-8.2).
VM-5.3 Voice chat requires your device's microphone permission, requested the first time you use it. You can withdraw it in your device settings.
VM-5.4 Voice provider. Voice chat is operated by Vivox, a service of Unity Technologies, which processes the data for us as a processor under Unity's data processing addendum. Vivox transmits voice live and does not store it. For each connection it processes a shortened IP address, a pseudonymous voice identifier that our server generates for your account – not your Player ID, username or display name – and a device identifier, and keeps these technical records for at most 30 days. While you use voice chat, Vivox also collects technical diagnostic and performance data from your device (connection and audio-quality information, a device identifier and an approximate location derived from a truncated IP address) to run and improve the service; this data is linked to a pseudonymous user ID rather than to your identity directly, is kept for no longer than 30 days and is not used for advertising or tracking. If you never use voice chat, this data is not collected (Privacy Policy, PP-3.15). We do not use Vivox's text chat, and no recording or voice-moderation feature of the provider is switched on; the only audio we receive is the short clip attached to a report (VM-5.5). We do not use voice biometrics or transcripts. Vivox's servers are located outside Türkiye (international transfers: PP-7 of the Privacy Policy).
VM-5.5 How the report clip works. So that the last part of a session can be attached to a report, the most recent audio of the voice session – no more than 60 seconds – is held only temporarily in working memory and is continuously overwritten. It is not saved, not listened to and not sent to us unless a participant reports a player in that session. When you leave the voice session, this temporary audio is discarded. A clip can contain the voices of everyone who spoke in the session during that time, including the player who reports.
VM-5.6 Information when you join. When you join voice chat, the Game tells you that voice chat is not recorded continuously and that, if a player reports, the last part of the session (at most 60 seconds) is attached to the report as evidence.
VM-6 · Protections for younger players
VM-6.1 Children under 13 may not create an account or use the Game, and therefore cannot use messaging or voice chat. If we find that an account belongs to a child under 13, we close the account and delete its personal data as described in PP-9 of the Privacy Policy. Parents and legal guardians can send such notices and deletion requests to privacy@strikeheart.com.
VM-6.2 Players aged 13 or over who are under 18 use messaging and voice chat under the Terms of Service, which require the consent of a parent or legal guardian (TOS-3.2). We recommend that parents and legal guardians supervise their use of these features. Voice chat is off by default and needs both players' agreement, and players under 18 can message and talk only with friends (VM-2.4, VM-5.1).
VM-7 · Your controls
VM-7.1 You can block players (they can no longer message you), decline or end a voice chat, mute players in voice, turn voice chat off, switch quick messages off, restrict who can send you direct messages, and report players.
VM-8 · Reports and evidence
VM-8.1 When you report a player, the report includes the reason you choose, an optional note (filtered) and, as evidence, the last 20 messages exchanged between the two of you and the match ID.
VM-8.2 If you report a player during a voice session, the report also includes the last part of that voice session, at most 60 seconds (VM-5.5). By reporting from a voice session, you ask us to attach this clip to your report. No voice clip is created for reports made outside a voice session, and the player who reports does not receive a copy of the clip.
VM-8.3 Report evidence – the messages and any voice clip – is used only to review the report, decide on measures and handle reviews of those measures. It is kept until the report has been resolved and any review of the decision has been completed, and no longer than 12 months after the report; it is then deleted. If a court, public prosecutor or other competent authority requests a record, or the law otherwise requires us to keep it, we preserve the record concerned for as long as the law requires.
VM-8.4 Records of sanctions – the decision, its reason and its date – are kept for the life of the account, so that repeated breaches can be taken into account (AR-4.2). They do not contain the messages or the voice clip themselves.
VM-8.5 We do not use voice clips to identify people by their voice, to create voice profiles or for any purpose other than reviewing the report.
VM-9 · Who can access message content and evidence
VM-9.1 We do not monitor private conversations and do not listen to voice chat. Only authorised moderation staff can see report evidence (VM-8), and only through our role-based moderation tools. Every access to evidence is logged. Evidence is viewed inside these tools; downloading and sharing it are restricted.
VM-9.2 Our automatic filter processes all text messages to block and mask content, as described in VM-3.
VM-9.3 We disclose communication data to courts, public prosecutors or other competent authorities only where the law requires it. Where the law requires us to keep traffic data (for example Law No. 5651 on internet publications), we keep it only for the period and purpose set by that law.
VM-10 · Automated measures
VM-10.1 If several different players report the same player within a short time, that player's chat is muted automatically for a limited period – with the current settings, when three different players report within 60 minutes, for 24 hours (CG-10.2). This mute protects other players while the reports are reviewed; it is not a sanction decision. You can ask for a review by a person at support@strikeheart.com.
VM-10.2 Automatic filters and other automatic signals, such as the number of reports, only help our moderators. Decisions on sanctions (AR-4) are based on review by a person.
VM-11 · Contact
VM-11.1 Questions about messaging or voice: support@strikeheart.com. Privacy requests: privacy@strikeheart.com.