RetroMP is a program for playing retro and arcade games online. The RetroMP Team runs its online service: the lobby server at lobby.retromp.net, and the storage and relay servers it uses. This policy explains what information the service collects, why, who can see it, how long it is kept, and what you can do about it.
Contact
For any question about this policy or your information, or to ask for a copy or deletion of your data, open a support ticket from the Support page in RetroMP. If you can no longer sign in, make a ticket from any account and tell us which account it's about.
What we collect
Your account
- The name you choose for RetroMP, and when the account was made.
- When you last signed in, and the IP address you signed in from.
- Your role (player, moderator or admin), and any mute or ban on the account, with its reason.
- Sign-in tokens that keep you signed in on your computers. We store only a hash of each, and keep each account's ten newest.
- Accounts made before sign-in services were available have a password. We store only a salted Argon2id hash of it, never the password itself.
Signing in with start.gg, Steam, Discord or Google
When you sign in with one of these services, you sign in on that service's own page. RetroMP never sees your password there. The service tells us:
- Google: your Google account ID and your name. We ask only for basic sign-in ("openid" and "profile"). We do not receive your email address, contacts, files or anything else from your Google account. Google also offers your profile picture's address, which we don't keep.
- Discord: your Discord user ID and display name (the "identify" permission). We don't receive your email address, servers or messages.
- Steam: your Steam ID, through Steam's OpenID sign-in. If we can, we also look up your public Steam name, to suggest it as your RetroMP name.
- start.gg: your start.gg user ID, gamer tag and profile address.
We store the ID, name and profile address so the service can sign you in to your RetroMP account. Only what is needed for that is kept, and none of it is used for anything else.
Tournament organizers on start.gg: if you let RetroMP run your start.gg bracket, you also give RetroMP permission to read and report your tournaments' results. We store the access token start.gg issues for that, and use it only to follow the brackets you connect and to report their results. You can revoke it at any time in start.gg's settings.
Playing
- Which lobbies you're in, your online status, and the matches you play: the game, your opponent, when, and the result.
- Ranked play: your rating in each game, your sets and their scores, and season standings.
- Events and brackets you sign up for or organize, and the results of your sets.
- Your friends list, friend requests, blocked players, and the private lobbies you have.
- Your profile picture, if you upload one, and images and details of events you post.
Messages
- Room chat: passed on to the people in the room. The server keeps only recent lines, in memory, and doesn't save them, unless someone reports a player: the report includes the room's recent chat.
- Direct messages: stored so you can read your conversations later. We keep the newest 500 messages of each conversation.
Replays
Matches you play in the lobby are recorded on your computer. For most systems, the recording is also put online so it can be watched and shared. A replay holds the game's inputs, the players' names, the score, and when it was played. Anyone using RetroMP can find and watch online replays, and anyone you give the link to can open one. They are deleted after one year. You can turn recording off in RetroMP's settings.
Support tickets and reports
- A support ticket holds what you write, and our answers. If you choose, it can also include:
- details about your computer: operating system, processor, graphics card and RetroMP version;
- the end of RetroMP's log file;
- a screenshot;
- a crash dump after RetroMP crashes.
- A report of a player holds who reported whom, the reason, and the room's recent chat, so moderators can review it.
Your IP address
Your IP address is used:
- to connect you to the lobby and to other players;
- to measure ping between players for matchmaking;
- to choose a relay server when one would give you a better connection;
- to limit abuse, for example too many sign-in attempts or banned addresses.
We also use it to show your country's flag next to your name. The country is looked up on our own server, with DB-IP's free country database, and is not sent anywhere.
How we use it
- To run the service: signing in, the lobby, matches, matchmaking, ranked play, events, brackets, replays and messages.
- To keep it safe and fair: moderation, handling reports, preventing cheating and abuse, and enforcing bans.
- To answer support tickets and fix problems.
- To keep the service secure, and to keep backups.
We don't sell or rent your information, use it for advertising, or build profiles for anyone else.
What other players can see
- Your name, profile picture, country flag, online status, and what you're playing or watching.
- Your ranks and ratings, recent sets, season results, and your online replays.
- Your linked start.gg name, on your profile, so tournament organizers can recognise you. Your Steam, Discord and Google accounts are not shown to other players.
- Your messages, in the rooms and conversations you send them to.
- Your IP address, to opponents: matches connect players' computers directly, as in most online games. The other players in a match, or someone you measure your ping to, can see your IP address. If a match goes through one of our relay servers instead, your traffic passes through that relay.
Who else handles it
- Our hosting providers. The lobby server runs on a rented virtual server. Replays, game start files, crash dumps, RetroMP's updates and the relay servers run on Google Cloud. These providers store and process data only to provide those services to us.
- start.gg. We report results to start.gg for brackets an organizer runs from there.
- The service you sign in with. Each one knows you used it to sign in to RetroMP, under its own privacy policy.
- Cover art. The RetroMP program downloads game cover pictures from libretro's thumbnail server (thumbnails.libretro.com), which sees your IP address when it does.
- When the law requires it. We may disclose information if we must by law, or to protect players or the service from harm or abuse.
Google user data
RetroMP's use and transfer of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements. We use the Google account ID and name we receive only to sign you in to RetroMP and to suggest your name when you make an account. We don't transfer them to anyone, use them for ads, or let anyone read them except as this policy describes.
How long we keep it
- Your account and gameplay records: while your account exists.
- Direct messages: the newest 500 of each conversation.
- Online replays: one year.
- Crash dumps: 180 days.
- Room chat: only in memory, and lost when the server restarts.
- Server backups: made nightly and kept for 14 days.
- Server logs (which include names and IP addresses): kept for a limited time, for troubleshooting and security.
Your choices
- Sign-in services: link or unlink them on your profile in RetroMP. Each account keeps at least one way to sign in.
- Revoking access on the service's side:
- Google: your Google account's third-party access;
- Discord: Settings → Authorized Apps;
- start.gg: your account's developer and connections settings.
- Replays: turn recording off in RetroMP's settings.
- Blocking: block players, so they can't message you or send you requests.
- A copy, a correction, or deletion: ask through a support ticket. We'll answer within 30 days. Deleting your account removes it along with its sign-in links, friends and blocks, direct messages, ratings and season results, support tickets (and their screenshots and crash dumps), reports, profile picture, the events you posted, and the online replays of your matches. Ranked sets you played stay in your opponents' histories, without your name. Backups that hold your data expire within 14 days.
Depending on where you live, for example in the EU or UK, or in California, you may have further rights over your information. These include the right to access, correct, delete or move it, to object to how it is used, and to complain to a data protection authority. Ask us through a support ticket and we'll help.
Security
Signing in to the lobby is encrypted, our websites use HTTPS only, and passwords and sign-in tokens are stored only as hashes. Our staff need two-factor sign-in to reach the admin tools, and every staff action is logged. No system is perfectly secure, but we work to protect your information and will tell affected players about a breach that puts it at risk.
Your own computer
RetroMP keeps some things on your computer: your settings, a saved sign-in if you choose to stay signed in, your replays, play statistics and its log file. These stay on your computer unless you choose to send them, for example your log with a support ticket.
This website uses no cookies, scripts or trackers. The only cookie we set is for staff signing in to the admin tools.
Children
RetroMP isn't directed at children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect information from them. If you believe a child under 13 has an account, tell us through a support ticket and we'll delete it.
Changes
If we change this policy, we'll update the date at the top. If a change is significant, we'll also announce it in RetroMP before it takes effect.