The Gallows — Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy describes how Riverbend Interactive (“Riverbend,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) collects, uses, shares, and stores information when you play The Gallows on the web, on Android (com.riverbend.thegallows), or on Windows and Linux desktop builds, including Steam.
The Gallows is a social deduction game. You pick a city, sit a table with neighbors (or with townsfolk who fill empty chairs), and talk in the square. We designed the game so that we do not need an account from you, we do not read your device location, and we do not run advertising trackers. Some information still moves because a multiplayer hanging cannot work in a vacuum. This policy explains that movement in plain language.
By downloading, installing, or playing The Gallows, you acknowledge this Policy. If you do not agree, do not use the game.
1. Who we are
Riverbend Interactive is the controller of personal information described in this Policy. We operate The Gallows from the United States. For privacy questions, contact us at contact@riverbendinteractive.llc.
This Policy applies to the game client, our game servers (matchmaking, city lookup, reports, and Workshop tables), the Android application, and the desktop builds. It does not apply to other players, to Valve / Steam, to Google Play, to OpenStreetMap, to STUN providers, or to other third-party sites we do not control.
2. What we do not collect
To be explicit, The Gallows does not:
- Request or read GPS, Wi-Fi scanning, or cell-tower location. The Android build does not include location permissions (ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION, ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION, and ACCESS_BACKGROUND_LOCATION are removed).
- Create player accounts, passwords, or profiles on our servers.
- Ask for your real name, email, phone number, or postal address in the game (except if you email us).
- Access the microphone, camera, contacts, photos, or files on your device, other than storage the operating system uses to keep the app itself.
- Show ads, or use advertising identifiers (including AAID / IDFA) for marketing.
- Sell your personal information, or share it for cross-context behavioral advertising.
- Embed analytics, crash, or marketing SDKs in the Android or web client.
- Process payments inside the game. Purchases through Google Play or Steam, if any, are handled by those stores under their own policies.
- Use precise geolocation, biometrics, health data, or government identifiers.
3. Information you give us
You choose what to type. We treat the following as user-provided information:
- Display name. A short in-game name (up to 24 characters). It is shown to other players at your table and is stored on your device. It is also sent to our matchmaking heartbeat while you sit in a lobby, and to other players over the mesh.
- Chosen city. The name of a town you type or tap (for example “Boston”). We do not take this from your phone’s location. Featured cities are resolved locally. If the name is not already in our list, we look it up by that text through OpenStreetMap Nominatim so we can place a downtown. Nominatim receives the search string. On the web, that lookup is made by our servers, so Nominatim sees our server address. On Android and desktop, the client may query Nominatim directly, in which case Nominatim may also see your network address. We do not send GPS coordinates.
- Chat and wills. What you say in the square, whispers, last wills, and death notes. These travel to the other chairs at your table over a peer-to-peer connection. We do not keep a standing log of ordinary chat on our servers.
- Workshop tables. If you publish a custom map, roles, or events, the pack (town name, author name, map, role list, and event list) is uploaded so neighbors can join by code.
- Reports. If you flag a player, the game copies our contact email (contact@riverbendinteractive.llc) so you can write us from your own mail app. Flagging also lets you mute that player on your device. We do not collect an in-game report form.
- Email you send us. If you write to the privacy address, we receive whatever you include (typically your email address and the body of the message) so we can reply.
4. Information collected automatically
The game generates a random mesh identifier for your session (a short id such as a peer token). It is not your hardware advertising id, and it is not stable across reinstalls.
When you sit a public square, the client sends a brief heartbeat so others can find an open table: city, region, country, room id, and your display name. Heartbeats expire in about twenty-five seconds if you leave.
To connect you to neighbors, the client talks to our signaling service with your peer id, display name, room, and WebRTC handshake data (offers, answers, and ICE candidates). Those records are kept only long enough to complete the handshake (on the order of one minute) and are then discarded.
Standard web and app hosting logs (IP address, time, requested path, user agent) may be recorded by the infrastructure that serves the website and APIs. We do not use those logs to build marketing profiles. We may use them to keep the service up, to debug outages, and to respond to abuse or legal process.
5. Information that stays on your device
The following is stored locally on your device (browser storage or app storage), not in a Riverbend account:
- Your last display name and last chosen city (local storage).
- Muted player ids and names (local storage).
- Workshop drafts you saved (local storage).
- Achievement progress (local storage on Android and web; the Android build does not show the Steam ledger).
- A session flag that you already watched the studio intro (session storage, cleared when you close the tab or app session).
You can clear this by clearing site data in your browser, or by clearing the app’s storage / uninstalling The Gallows on Android. Desktop Steam builds may also write achievement state through Steam, which is governed by Valve’s privacy policy.
The Android application allows ordinary system backup (allowBackup). If you use device backup, your local game storage may be included in that backup by the operating system.
6. Multiplayer, chat, and other players
The Gallows uses a peer-to-peer mesh (WebRTC data channels) so chairs at the same table can see the square in real time. Game traffic after the handshake goes from device to device. It does not pass through Riverbend as a standing chat archive.
WebRTC connection setup uses public STUN servers (by default Google stun.l.google.com and Cloudflare stun.cloudflare.com) so two devices can find a path to each other. During that setup, network addresses (including IP addresses) can be visible to the STUN service and to the other players at your table. That is how real-time play works. Do not sit a square with people you are not willing to be networked with.
We do not configure a TURN relay by default. Traffic is not sent through a Riverbend media server. If we later add a relay to help players behind strict firewalls, that relay would see the IP addresses of the two devices for the duration of the session, and we will update this Policy.
The player who hosts the hanging (the mayor of that table) runs the match on their device. They receive the actions needed to tick the night, and they send each chair only the view that chair is allowed to see. Other players at the table will see your display name, your movement in the downtown, and whatever you type into public or role chat.
If you publish or join a Workshop table, the custom pack is shared with the people who sit that code.
7. How we use information
We use the information above only to:
- Run the game: place you in a city square, fill empty chairs, sync the hanging, and let you publish or join a Workshop code.
- Look up a city name you typed so the downtown can be drawn.
- Review abuse you email to us, and to mute locally when you ask.
- Keep the service secure, prevent disruption, and comply with law.
- Unlock and display achievements you earned, including through Steam when you play a Steam build.
- Respond to your privacy or support emails.
We do not use in-game information to advertise unrelated products. We do not build a credit, insurance, housing, or employment profile about you. We do not engage in automated decision-making that produces legal or similarly significant effects about you (role assignment and night resolution are game logic, not a credit, housing, or employment decision).
8. Legal bases (EEA, UK, and similar)
If you play from a place that requires a legal basis to process personal data, we rely on:
- Performance of a contract — providing the game you asked to play (name, city, matchmaking, mesh handshake, Workshop packs).
- Legitimate interests — keeping tables fair enough to use, reviewing abuse reports, securing the service, and understanding outages. Those interests do not override your rights.
- Consent — where a platform requires it (for example optional Steam features you enable by launching through Steam).
- Legal obligation — if we must keep or disclose a record to comply with law.
9. Who we share information with
We do not sell personal information, and we do not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising.
We share information only as follows:
- Other players at your table — display name, movement, chat, network addresses needed to form the mesh, and the public facts of the hanging, as described in section 6.
- OpenStreetMap Nominatim — the city search string (and, on Android/desktop, possibly your network address) so we can resolve a place name. Nominatim’s own privacy terms apply to that request.
- STUN providers (Google and Cloudflare, unless we configure others) — network addresses needed to form a WebRTC connection.
- Hosting and infrastructure — the servers that deliver the website and APIs (including, where used, our database for signaling). They process data on our instructions to run the service.
- Steam / Valve — if you play a Steam build: persona, Steam id, achievements, stats, cloud ledger, and presence, under Valve’s policies.
- Google Play and device vendors — as needed to distribute and update the Android application.
- Authorities — if required by law, legal process, or to protect players, Riverbend, or the public from serious harm.
- A successor — if Riverbend is involved in a merger, sale, or reorganization, this information may transfer under this Policy.
10. How long we keep information
We keep as little as the hanging requires:
- Signaling and handshake data: about one minute, then dropped.
- Open-square heartbeats: about twenty-five seconds after you leave.
- Workshop packs on our servers: held so a code can be joined, then evicted as the store fills or the process restarts. Packs you save locally stay until you delete them.
- Abuse reports: kept long enough to review, then discarded. The in-service inbox is capped (on the order of a few hundred recent reports in process memory).
- Hosting logs: according to our host’s defaults, typically days to weeks, unless needed for security.
- Privacy and support email: as long as needed to handle your request, then deleted in the ordinary course of mailbox hygiene, unless law requires longer.
- On-device storage: until you clear it or uninstall.
- Steam data: according to Valve.
Because matchmaking and reports may run in short-lived server memory, some records vanish when the process restarts even sooner than the times above.
11. International transfers
Riverbend is based in the United States. The game, our APIs, Nominatim, STUN, Steam, and app stores may process information in the United States, the European Union, and other countries. Those countries may not provide the same legal protections as your home. Where required, we rely on appropriate safeguards (such as standard contractual clauses used by our processors) and on the fact that the processing is necessary to provide the game you requested.
12. Security
We use transport encryption (HTTPS) for our website and APIs, and WebRTC’s own encryption for mesh traffic. No method of transmission or storage is perfectly secure. A social deduction table is hosted among players; do not type secrets, payment details, or your real-world address into chat or a will.
You can mute other players from their name in the square, and copy our contact email to write us from your own mail app. Muting is local to your device.
13. Children
The Gallows is a social game with live chat among strangers. It is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you are under 13, do not play.
If you are 13 to 17, use the game only with a parent or guardian’s permission, and do not share information that identifies you in real life.
If you believe a child under 13 has given us personal information, email contact@riverbendinteractive.llc and we will delete it.
14. Your rights and choices
Depending on where you live (including the EEA, UK, Switzerland, and certain U.S. states such as California, Colorado, Connecticut, Virginia, and others), you may have the right to access, correct, delete, or receive a copy of personal information, to object to or restrict certain processing, to opt out of sale or sharing (we do not sell or share), and to withdraw consent. You may also have the right to appeal a refusal and to lodge a complaint with a data protection authority.
Because The Gallows does not use accounts, we may need you to point us to a report you filed, a Workshop code you published, or a time and city so we can find what we still hold. We cannot reach into another player’s device, Steam, or a table that already ended.
You can, at any time:
- Change or blank your display name.
- Pick a different city, or stop searching cities.
- Mute a player, or copy our contact email to write us.
- Leave a table or close the game (heartbeats and signaling then expire).
- Clear local storage or uninstall the app.
- Use platform controls (Play, Steam, your browser) to limit backups and overlays.
To exercise a legal right, email contact@riverbendinteractive.llc. We will not discriminate against you for doing so. We do not “sell” or “share” personal information as those words are used in the California Consumer Privacy Act (including the CPRA), and we do not use sensitive personal information to infer characteristics about you. We have no “Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information” link because we do not sell or share. California Civil Code § 1798.83 (Shine the Light) requests may be sent to the same address; we do not disclose personal information to third parties for their direct marketing.
15. Cookies and similar technologies
The Gallows does not use advertising cookies, pixels, or cross-site trackers. It uses local storage and similar device storage for the items in section 5, which are required to remember your name, city, mutes, drafts, and intro. The website may also set cookies that our host or the web view needs to function. We do not use them to track you across other companies’ apps.
The web game loads the Figtree and Fraunces fonts from Google Fonts. Google may receive your IP address and user agent as part of serving those files. You can block third-party fonts in your browser; the game will fall back to system typefaces. This standalone privacy page does not load those fonts.
We honor “Do Not Track” in practice by not tracking you for advertising. Because we do not run advertising or analytics SDKs, a DNT or Global Privacy Control signal does not change the game’s behavior.
16. App stores, Steam, and other platforms
Google Play, Steam, and your operating system collect information under their own policies when you download, pay, review, or run the game. Riverbend does not control that collection. Steam achievements, stats, cloud files, and overlay features run through Valve when you play a Steam build.
17. Notice at collection (California and similar)
This section is the notice at collection required by the California Consumer Privacy Act. It does not replace the rest of this Policy.
Categories we collect, at or before the point of collection:
- Identifiers — in-game display name; random per-session mesh id; IP address and user agent in hosting logs; Steam id and persona on Steam builds; email address if you write to us.
- Geolocation — the city name you type or choose. Not precise GPS, not Wi-Fi or cell-tower location.
- Internet or electronic activity — matchmaking heartbeats, signaling handshakes, Workshop packs you publish, abuse reports, and in-game chat sent to other players at your table.
- Audio, photos, contacts, calendar, financial, health, biometric, government ID — not collected.
- Inferences and profiles — none, other than the game’s own role assignment at a table.
- Sensitive personal information — not collected, and not used to infer characteristics.
Sources: you; your device; other players at your table; Steam (Steam builds); Nominatim (city lookup results); our hosting logs.
Business purposes: operate the game, security, abuse review, legal compliance. We do not use this information for cross-context advertising.
Retention: as described in section 10.
Sold or shared for advertising: no. Third parties: as described in section 9.
18. Google Play Data safety summary
This section is a plain map for the Play Console Data safety form. It does not replace the rest of this Policy.
- Location: not collected. No location permission.
- Personal info: in-game display name, user-typed city name.
- Financial info: not collected.
- Health and fitness: not collected.
- Messages: in-game chat is exchanged with other players at the table. If you email us about abuse, we receive whatever you include in that message.
- Photos and videos: not collected.
- Audio files: not collected. No microphone.
- Files and docs: optional Workshop packs you create.
- Calendar and contacts: not collected.
- App activity: gameplay on-device; optional Steam achievements on desktop.
- App info and performance: no analytics SDK.
- Device or other IDs: a random per-session mesh id, not a hardware advertising id.
Data is used to operate the game and for abuse review. Data is not sold. Data is not used for advertising. Data is not shared for advertising. Data is encrypted in transit (HTTPS / WebRTC).
19. Changes
We may update this Policy. The “Effective date” and “Last updated” dates at the top will change. If we make a material change, we will post the new Policy in the game and at this page. Continued play after the effective date is acceptance of the revised Policy.
20. Contact
Riverbend Interactive
Privacy: contact@riverbendinteractive.llc
Product: The Gallows (Android application id com.riverbend.thegallows)
Region: United States
If you are in the EEA or UK and we appoint an EU or UK representative, we will list that representative here.