TERMS OF SERVICE

07/06/2022

USE OF THIS SERVICE DOES NOT CONSTITUTE MENTAL HEALTH CARE/TREATMENT OR LEGAL ADVICE, AND DOES NOT CREATE AN ATTORNEY-CLIENT RELATIONSHIP, A THERAPIST-PATIENT RELATIONSHIP OR ANY OTHER SORT OF CONFIDENTIAL RELATIONSHIP. THIS SERVICE IS NOT A SUBSTITUTE FOR PROFESSIONAL HEALTH CARE OR LEGAL COUNSEL. IF YOU BELIEVE YOU ARE IN DANGER OR NEED EMERGENCY HELP CALL 911, YOUR DOCTOR, OR OTHER LOCAL AUTHORITIES.

At the Games and Online Harassment Hotline, our goal is to provide emotional support and access to existing resources. PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING BEFORE USING OUR HOTLINE. Your use of our free, text message-based, confidential emotional support hotline is governed by the following Terms of Service, and by using the services of the Games and Online Harassment Hotline you agree to the terms below.

We may change these Terms of Service from time to time. Any changes will be effective immediately on posting, and every time you use the Hotline you will be shown the current Terms of Service for acceptance. We do not provide support services by email, but you can contact our customer service team with questions about these terms by email at hello@gameshotline.org and you can find a list of other hotlines and support resources at https://gameshotline.org/resources. If you no longer wish to receive messages from the Games and Online Harassment Hotline, you may opt-out at any time by texting the Hotline the word STOP. You may opt back in by texting START at any time.

I. TERMS, CONDITIONS, AND LIMITATIONS

1. THE HOTLINE IS NOT A SUBSTITUTE FOR PROFESSIONAL OR MEDICAL SERVICES.

Our hotline staff is trained to provide emotional support, but WE DO NOT PROVIDE MENTAL HEALTH CARE OR LEGAL COUNSEL. Using our text (SMS) based Hotline services is not a substitute for professional services and does not create a therapist-patient, attorney-client, or any other confidential relationship.

2. IF YOU BELIEVE YOU ARE IN DANGER OR NEED EMERGENCY HELP SEEK IT IMMEDIATELY.

The Games and Online Harassment Hotline is not an emergency services provider and does not provide suicide prevention or other emergency intervention. We will not contact third parties on your behalf, we do not engage in non-consensual active rescue, and will only contact police or other authorities as required by law, though we reserve the right to do so if you make a credible threat of violence against others. For more information on our commitment to privacy please see our Privacy Policy below.

If you believe you are in physical danger from others or suffering a medical or mental health emergency seek assistance from others who can help you. Call 911 for traditional EMERGENCY SERVICES or 998 for THE NATIONAL SUICIDE PREVENTION HELPLINE.

3. YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR HOW YOU USE OUR HOTLINE

It is your sole decision and responsibility how you will use or not use the resources and support we provide, and you assume all risk associated with your use of the Games and Online Harassment Hotline, including actions you take or don’t take, such as the decisions to begin, modify, or stop mental health treatment. You also accept responsibility for assuring the availability, competence, and licensure of any professional who you choose to contact as a result of your use of the Hotline.

The Games and Harassment Hotline is provided as is with all faults and defects, and we disclaim any warranty, express or implied, regarding the availability of our services; any specific result from its use; or the results of actions you or a third party take or fail to take after use. Any third-party services, resources, or sites we provide links to are outside of our control and we have no responsibility for and make no warranties regarding their content, policies, or practices.

By using our service you accept these responsibilities and agree that your remedy for any damages resulting from the use of our services will be limited to $100 USD or the amount you paid us for use of the hotline, whichever is higher. Under no circumstances will Games and Online Harassment Hotline, its employees, volunteers, or agents be liable for any special, incidental, indirect, or consequential damages of any kind.

If your specific jurisdiction does not allow the exclusion, limitation, or disclaimer above, the contents of this section shall be applied to the greatest extent enforceable under applicable law.

II. PRIVACY POLICY

1. WE WILL PROTECT PERSONAL INFORMATION YOU PROVIDE US

During your use of the Games and Harassment Hotline we may collect or ask you for Personally Identifiable Information (“PII”), including your zip code. Providing this information to us is voluntary and we will never require such information to use the hotline. We may also collect PII such as your phone number and service provider. We will protect it with the same commercially reasonable degree of care that we use to protect our own confidential information.

We will never disclose your Personally Identifiable Information except for the following special circumstances:

  • At your request we will use your PII to contact you or to provide you a list of other resources you can access.
  • We may anonymize and then use your Personally Identifiable Information internally for research, training, operations, security, and similar purposes that improve our services and can include sharing anonymized data with our employees, volunteers, and agents.
  • We may disclose PII as required by law, on receipt of a valid court order, or as required for other legal and official processes.
  • We may disclose PII for the purpose of public safety, such as if we receive a credible threat of violence against a third party.

The Games and Harassment Hotline values your privacy, but we cannot provide representations or warranties that our security measures will always be sufficient to prevent access to or interception of PII by third parties.

2. WE PROHIBIT THE FOLLOWING MISUSES OF THE HOTLINE

In addition to your responsibility for how you use our hotline and any actions you take or don’t take as a result, you understand that we prohibit the following misuses of our hotline and materials. Any such misuse is a breach of this agreement that may result in termination of access to our services, loss of the above privacy protections, and other consequences. You agree not to use the Games and Harassment Hotline:

  • In any way that violates any applicable federal, state, local, or international law or regulation;
  • To exploit, harm, or attempt to exploit or harm minors in any way;
  • To threaten, harass, or otherwise inappropriately abuse the Games and Online Harassment Hotline, its employees, partners, agents, volunteers, users or agents in any way;
  • To send, upload, post, receive, download or use content that is illegal, copyrighted, or in violation of these terms in any way;
  • To gather or attempt to gather personal information for the purpose of marketing, selling to third parties, researching, harassing or otherwise making unsolicited contact with the Games and Online Harassment Hotline, its employees, volunteers, users or agents in any way;
  • To impersonate or attempt to impersonate another person or entity;
  • For conduct that we determine restricts or inhibits anyone’s use or enjoyment of the hotline, may cause harm, or exposes the Games and Harassment Hotline or its users to liability;
  • To interfere with the operation of the Games and Online Harassment Hotline, copy, adapt, decompile, reverse engineer, use our logo or make derivative works of any portion of our services.

Even without proof or reasonable suspicion of the above misuses, the Games and Online Harassment Hotline reserves the right to unilaterally terminate or adjust your access to our services for any reason, such as if we determine you would be better served by an alternate form of support.

3. COPYRIGHT AND SEVERABILITY

All content included in or services, such as text, graphics, logos, buttons, icons, images, photographs, audio clips, digital downloads, data compilations, and software, is the property of the Games and Online Harassment Hotline or its respective owner and is protected by United States and international copyright laws.

If any term above is invalid and must be excluded, all other terms shall remain and the invalid term shall be deemed replaced to the extent permitted by the valid term that comes closest to expressing the intent of the replaced term.