Terms of Service
Effective 15 August 2026
1. Accepting these terms
These terms are an agreement between you and The Idle Shard. By ticking the box, creating an account, or playing the game, you confirm that you have read these terms and that you agree to be bound by them.
If you do not agree with any part of them, please do not create an account or play.
2. Who may play
You must be at least 13 years old to create an account. Registration is currently invite-only while the game is in development, and we may decline or withdraw an invitation at our discretion.
You are responsible for keeping your password secret and for everything done through your account. Do not share your account or let anyone else play on it. Tell us promptly if you think someone else has access to it.
3. One account per person, per household
You may hold ONE account, with ONE character, and there may be only one account per household. This is the rule the game is balanced around: extra accounts feeding a main one distort the economy and take rewards away from everyone playing fairly.
We monitor for multiple accounts, including accounts sharing an IP address. If we find you operating more than one account, or attempting to get around this rule — for example by using a VPN, a proxy, a mobile connection, or another network to disguise that accounts belong to the same person or household — we may suspend or permanently ban every account involved WITHOUT PRIOR WARNING, and without refund of anything purchased.
If several people genuinely live in one household and each want to play, contact us BEFORE creating a second account so we can look at it. Asking first is always treated better than being found later.
4. Fair play and conduct
Play the game as it is meant to be played, and treat other players decently.
You must not:
- use bots, scripts, macros or any automation to play for you
- exploit bugs rather than reporting them, or deliberately abuse a fault for gain
- buy, sell or trade accounts, characters or in-game items for real money outside the game
- harass, threaten, impersonate or abuse other players or staff
- attempt to gain unauthorised access to the game, its servers or another account
- interfere with the running of the game or the experience of others
We may remove content, reverse in-game transactions, suspend or ban accounts, and take any other step we reasonably consider necessary to protect the game and its players.
5. BritCoin, donations and refunds
BritCoin is a virtual in-game currency. It is not money, it has no value outside the game, and it cannot be exchanged for cash or transferred out of the game. Buying BritCoin buys you a limited, personal, non-transferable licence to use a game feature — it is not property, and you do not own it.
BRITCOIN MAY BE WITHDRAWN AT ANY TIME. We may change, devalue, suspend, remove or discontinue BritCoin, anything it buys, or the Donation Store itself, at any time and for any reason, without notice and without compensation. The same applies to any item, currency, character or progress in the game.
ALL PURCHASES ARE FINAL AND NON-REFUNDABLE. Payments support the development of the game and are treated as donations. We do not give refunds for BritCoin that has been spent, for BritCoin that remains unspent, for accounts that are suspended or banned, or where the game changes, resets, or ceases to operate.
Because BritCoin is delivered to your account immediately, by purchasing it you ask us to supply it straight away and you acknowledge that you lose any statutory right to cancel once it has been delivered. Nothing in these terms removes rights you have by law that cannot be excluded.
Do not raise a chargeback instead of contacting us. If you dispute a payment with your bank rather than talking to us first, we may permanently ban the account.
6. The game is in development
The game is an early test build, and is provided as it is. Features may change or be removed, the game may be unavailable, and CHARACTERS, ITEMS AND PROGRESS MAY BE RESET OR WIPED — including a full reset — at any point during development.
We do not promise that the game will always be available, that it will be free of faults, or that it will continue to exist. We may stop running it at any time.
7. Ownership and your content
The game, its code, artwork, text and everything else in it belong to The Idle Shard or its licensors. You may not copy, sell, reverse-engineer or redistribute any part of it.
Anything you type into chat or submit to us — including names, messages and bug reports — you allow us to use for the purpose of running, moderating and improving the game.
8. Suspension and termination
We may suspend or terminate your account at any time if you break these terms, or where we reasonably believe it is necessary to protect the game or its players. Where a breach is serious — such as the multiple-account rule in section 3, cheating, or abuse — we may do so immediately and without prior warning.
You may stop playing and ask us to delete your account at any time. Deleting your account does not entitle you to a refund of anything purchased.
9. Liability
The game is provided without any warranty, to the fullest extent the law allows. We are not liable for lost progress, lost items, lost BritCoin, downtime, or any loss arising from your use of or inability to use the game.
Nothing in these terms limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud, or for anything else that cannot be limited by law.
10. Privacy
Our Privacy Policy explains what data we collect and what we do with it, including how IP addresses are used to enforce the one-account rule in section 3. It forms part of these terms.
11. Changes to these terms
We may update these terms as the game develops. If we make a significant change we will say so in the game or in our Discord server. Continuing to play after a change means you accept the updated terms.
12. Governing law and contact
These terms are governed by the law of the United Kingdom.
If you have a question about these terms, or you need to ask about the household rule in section 3, speak to us in our Discord server: https://discord.gg/PpcRgMheS3
See also our Privacy Policy.
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