Privacy

Lhowon.org provides:

  • the pregame lobby and chat room for Marathon internet games
  • online accounts and registered chat names for players
  • leaderboards and personal statistics

Aleph One is the open source engine which powers the Marathon games on PC, Mac, and Linux. When we say "Aleph One," we mean any of the Marathon games distributed by the Aleph One project, or any other game running in the Aleph One engine. Ports of the engine may lack some or all online features.

Access to information in the pregame lobby and chat room is available to anyone running Aleph One and connected to the Internet Game lobby. Public data on the website is available to anyone in the world.

How we protect your personal information

Lhowon.org has an online account system to register your username and remember your personal statistics. To use these features, you need to provide an email address, select a username, and enter a password. Your email address will never be shared without your permission. Your username will be displayed publicly on leaderboards and stats pages, and visible in the pregame lobby.

Within Aleph One, you can set a chat name different from your username. Any chat names you use may be displayed publicly on the site. Other players in the pregame lobby can see your username through the ".info" command.

We detect your time zone so we can display information in your local time. You can change your time zone and display preferences in your account settings page. Your account preferences will never be shared without your permission.

Your email address is used to send an initial message after you sign up and if you need to reset your password. We may contact you via email if we notice a problem with your account, or if you ask us to contact you through our contact form.

We reserve the right to send you email announcements about important new features or changes at lhowon.org. We have never sent any announcements so far, but if we do, we will provide clear instructions on how to unsubscribe.

How we protect your password

Passwords are one-way encrypted and not recoverable by us. However, if our password database is compromised, hackers could use it to guess your password. Please don't use the same password as you use for your bank account or email.

The website uses HTTPS encryption when you log in through the web. This keeps your password secure unless you connect through an HTTPS proxy (like computers in some work environments). Please don't log in at work if you don't want your IT guy to see you slacking off.

Aleph One 1.2 uses HTTPS encryption when you log in through the game. Version 1.1 and earlier sends your password unencrypted when you log in. Please update if you are using version 1.1 or earlier.

What we remember about your games

Events (like login, gather game, join game, leave game, logout) initiated through Aleph One's pregame lobby are logged and used to build statistics about number of players, time played, popular levels, etc. Both your username and any chat names you use will be displayed publicly.

Your username will be associated with any games that you play. The history of all games you play through Aleph One's pregame lobby is displayed publicly. If you opt in to leaderboards and stats through Aleph One, your player ranking, kills, deaths, etc. for each game may also be displayed.

If you opt in to leaderboards and stats through Aleph One, information about each game you play will be logged, including solo or LAN games that aren't started through the pregame lobby. This includes time played, kills, deaths, bullets fired, etc. Aggregate statistics will be displayed publicly. The history of your solo games will not be displayed publicly. We may show details of your game history to you when you are logged in.

What we remember about chat

Chat messages in Aleph One's pregame lobby are logged. Lhowon.org administrators may review chat messages to resolve disputes, or to find ways to improve lhowon.org or Aleph One. Private messages between users are also logged and may be reviewed. Chat and private messages will not be displayed publicly.

Any user actions in chat including moderator actions are logged. If you have a problem with another user or moderator, please contact us.

Only chat messages in the global pregame lobby are logged. Aleph One provides game-specific chat features, visible only to players in a single game. These messages are not sent to lhowon.org or anyone outside your game.

Messages sent through our contact form will only be read by the lhowon.org administrators, and not shared without your permission. The messages are delivered to administrators via unencrypted email, so please don't include sensitive information like your password.