Privacy notice

Version 2026-10-28.3 · last updated 28 October 2026

This notice explains which personal data Viewerville processes when you visit this website, watch the stream here, or take part in the town by typing !join in the Twitch chat. The short version: we keep it to the minimum, we use no tracking, we set a cookie only if you sign in to your own page (section 4.4), and you can leave or delete your data at any time with a chat command.

1. Who is responsible

The controller under Art. 4 (7) GDPR is:

Kevin Wendel
c/o NORDINITY #63330
Norderkamp 1
24803 Erfde
Germany
E-mail: [email protected]

This is the operator named in the imprint. Viewerville is the project, the Twitch channel viewerville and this website. "We" means the operator.

Twitch is a separate service with its own responsibility for the data it processes about you (your account, your chat, the stream). Please read the Twitch Privacy Notice. We only describe here what we do ourselves.

2. Visiting this website

Server logs. When you open a page, our web server automatically records your IP address, the date and time, the requested address, the status code, the amount of data sent, the referring page and your browser's user agent. We use this to deliver the site, to keep it secure and to find errors. The legal basis is our legitimate interest in a secure and stable website (Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR). The logs are deleted after 7 days.

Hosting. The site runs on a dedicated server that we rent from a hosting provider. The provider supplies the hardware and network and processes data on our behalf under a data processing agreement (Art. 28 GDPR).

No tracking, and cookies only if you sign in. Reading this site does not set cookies and does not store anything on your device. We use no analytics or advertising tools and load no fonts, scripts or images from other websites. There are two exceptions: the Twitch embed described in the next section, and only after you click, and the sign-in on your own page at /me, which sets one cookie, see section 4.4.

E-mail. If you write to us, we process your e-mail address and your message to answer you (Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR, or Art. 6 (1) (b) if it is about your participation). We delete the correspondence when the matter is settled, unless we must keep it by law.

3. Twitch stream and chat on this site

The stream and the chat on our home page come from Twitch. They are not loaded until you click "Load stream and chat". Before that, your browser does not contact Twitch.

When you click, your browser connects to Twitch servers (player.twitch.tv and www.twitch.tv). Twitch then receives, among other things, your IP address, technical data about your browser and the page you are on, and it may set or read cookies and similar identifiers. If you are logged in to Twitch in the same browser, Twitch can link the visit to your account. We have no influence on this processing. Data may be transferred to the USA, please see the Twitch Privacy Notice for the safeguards Twitch uses.

The legal basis is your consent (Art. 6 (1) (a) GDPR and section 25 (1) TDDDG), which you give by clicking the button. We do not remember your choice, so you are asked again on your next visit. You can withdraw your consent at any time by leaving or reloading the page. Without the embed, you can watch directly on twitch.tv/viewerville, which is governed by Twitch's own terms.

4. Taking part in the town

Viewerville is a game that runs in the Twitch channel. You only move in if you type !join yourself (and follow the channel). Without !join, we create no character and no game data about you.

4.1 What our chat bot reads

Our software reads the chat of the channel to recognise commands such as !join. Chat messages that are not commands are not stored, with one exception: if our automatic moderation (see below) steps in because of a message, we keep that message together with the decision for 14 days so that the decision can be reviewed. If you are a resident, your chat messages may appear for a few seconds as a speech bubble above your character in the stream. Messages with links never appear, emotes are left out, and unsuitable words are filtered. The text is not stored. You can switch the bubbles off at any time with !bubble off. To see which residents are present, we also query Twitch for the list of users connected to the chat. For people who are not residents, this information is not stored.

4.2 Data we store about residents

We do not store your profile picture, your e-mail address, your chat messages or your follow date, and we do not build any profile beyond the game itself. We do not make decisions with legal or similarly significant effects. Part of the chat moderation is automatic: our software acts through the channel's own Twitch account, which has full moderation powers in the channel, and can delete messages, warn, and time out users for a limited time, based on fixed rules (for example link spam, message floods, blocked terms). Permanent bans are decided by a person unless the pattern is clearly an automated spam account. If you think a decision was wrong, tell us at [email protected] or ask for unbanning through Twitch, and a person will review it. The channel also uses Twitch's own tools such as AutoMod, which Twitch operates.

4.3 Purposes and legal bases

• Running the game for you (resident, home, job, coins, relationships): Art. 6 (1) (b) GDPR, performance of the terms of use that you accept by typing !join.
• Moderation, protection against bots and abuse, security and stability (name filter, join limits, minimum account age, automatic chat moderation, moderation records, technical logs): Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR, our legitimate interest in a safe and friendly town.
• Fulfilling legal obligations, for example answering requests of authorities: Art. 6 (1) (c) GDPR.

Providing the data is not required by law or contract. Without it, we cannot offer you a resident. If you are a minor, please make sure that your parents or guardians are fine with you taking part.

4.4 Your own page on the web

Instead of the chat, you can look at your card on your own page at viewerville.com/me: your home and job, how your figure looks and the clothes you can buy for it, your coins of the last days, your friends and the open requests that wait for your answer, and the state of the town. You sign in with Twitch. We ask Twitch for no permissions: Twitch only tells us your user ID and login name, we use them to find your character, and we do not keep the Twitch token (it is revoked right after the sign-in). Anybody can sign in; if you do not live in town, the page only shows the town and how to move in.

Only you see your page. It shows your money, the names of friends only where you made the friendship together with !friend (the bot names both of you in the chat then; friendships that simply grew are only counted, and so are rivals), your partner and your housemates, and requests that others made to you. This is shown only to you and never to other viewers or in the stream.

Buttons instead of typing. The page has buttons for what you could also type in the chat (finding your figure in the stream, buying and wearing clothes, speech bubbles, romance and peace on or off, waving, friend requests, dates, shared homes, blocking, marrying, breaking up, moving out, running for mayor and voting, !forget). A button runs exactly the chat command of the same name for your own character, under the same rules and waiting times, and it is logged like a chat command. We do not post it in the channel chat: the answer of the town is shown only to you on your page. Nothing is sent to anyone else except what the command itself does in the town (for example a request that waits for the other person's answer).

One cookie. After the sign-in, your browser keeps a signed cookie named vv_viewer (only for the path /me, not readable by scripts, and only sent to us) with your Twitch user ID and login name. It is strictly necessary to show you your own page (section 25 (2) no. 2 TDDDG, so no banner is needed). It expires after 14 days and is deleted when you press "Sign out". A short-lived cookie that protects the sign-in against forgery lives for ten minutes. The legal basis for showing you your page is Art. 6 (1) (b) GDPR (the terms of use); for the cookie it is our legitimate interest in a safe sign-in (Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR). Moving out or typing !forget does not delete the cookie from your browser, but the page then shows nothing of the deleted data.

4.5 The extension in the Twitch player

Viewerville also has an extension for the Twitch player, the Viewerville Town Card: a button at the edge of the video that opens your card in a window over the stream (and the same card in the Twitch app). It is in preparation and becomes available once Twitch has approved it; this section applies from then on. It shows what your own page shows (section 4.4) and has the same buttons, which run the chat command of the same name for your own character, under the same rules and waiting times. The answer of the town is shown only in the window.

Your identity is shared only if you agree. Twitch gives the extension a signed token. Your Twitch user ID is in it only after you press "Share my Twitch identity" and agree in the dialog of Twitch. Without it the extension shows only the town, which everybody can see in the stream or ask for in the chat, and nothing about you. We ask Twitch for no other permissions.

What our server receives. With each request of the extension our server receives that token (the channel, your role in the channel, an identifier that Twitch makes up for you, your Twitch user ID if you shared it, and the time it expires) and what every request carries: your IP address and your browser's user agent, which are recorded in the server logs as described in section 2. We check the token with a secret that only Twitch and we know, use it to find your character and to answer, and do not store it. The extension itself sets no cookies and stores nothing on your device. The window links to this notice and says that the link opens this site.

Twitch. Twitch serves the extension and receives data when you use it, as it does for every extension. We have no influence on this processing, please see the Twitch Privacy Notice. The legal basis for showing you your card is Art. 6 (1) (b) GDPR (the terms of use); sharing your identity is your own decision in the dialog of Twitch (Art. 6 (1) (a) GDPR), and you can take it back there.

5. How long we keep data

• While you live in town: your data is kept as long as you are a resident.
• Moving out: if you type !leave, stop following (confirmed after about one to two hours), are inactive for 60 days or are banned, your character moves out. Your state is kept in an archive for 60 days so you can return where you left off with !join. After that it is deleted automatically.
• Immediate deletion: !forget deletes all your data at once, including the archive. To avoid accidents the bot asks you to type it a second time within 60 seconds. This cannot be undone. One thing stays: the moderation record keeps only your user ID, the rule, the action and the time until it expires after 90 days (your name and the message text are removed), so that rule violations cannot be wiped by deleting the data.
• Votes: in the game, a vote is deleted when the votes are counted at the end of the election, or of a vote of the town (project poll, vote of no confidence). The event log of the database, from which the town can be rebuilt after a failure, keeps who voted for whom until you type !forget or the town is reset. Nobody can read it in the admin area: the log page there only says that somebody voted.
• Clothes: what your figure wears is shown in the stream like the rest of your character. The clothes you bought stay in your game state and in the archive when you move out. The event log of the database keeps what you bought, and when, until you type !forget or the town is reset.
• Backups: we keep backups of the database for 14 days. Deleted data disappears from the backups when they expire. If a backup ever has to be restored, earlier deletions are carried out again. To be able to do that, we keep a short list of the Twitch user IDs (numbers only, no names) that were deleted, for 15 days.
• Logs: website logs 7 days, technical game logs 14 days, moderation records 90 days (flagged message text 14 days).

6. What others can see

Viewerville is a public stream. If you are a resident, your display name (as a name tag), your character, your home and your public in-game activities can be seen by everyone who watches. We have switched off the storage of past broadcasts (VODs) and clips on our Twitch channel, so the channel keeps no recordings of the stream. We cannot prevent viewers from recording the live stream themselves (for example with screen recordings), and we have no control over such copies or over how Twitch itself handles broadcast data, see the Twitch Privacy Notice. Deleting your data in the game does not remove you from copies made by others.

Partners. Romance is off until you type !romance on, and a partnership needs both people to switch it on and to agree (!date). Two partners show two small hearts above their characters whenever they are close together, and they go to the café together, which everyone can see. Our bot answers !date and !breakup in the public Twitch chat and names the other person in its answer, so everybody in the chat can read who asked whom and who is together. !me only says that you are in a relationship, never with whom. Either of you can end it at any time with !breakup or !romance off.

Shared homes. Two friends share a home only when both ask for it (!roommate). A small sign at the door of a shared home shows the names of everybody who lives there in the stream, and our bot names the other person when it answers !roommate in the public chat. !me names your housemates as well, since the sign shows them anyway. Either of you can leave at any time with !moveout.

Weddings and town occasions. Two partners marry only when both ask for it (!marry). The wedding is held on the town square two days later, and everybody can see it: the stream shows a banner with the names of the couple, a part of the town gathers at the square, and our bot names both of you in the public chat when it announces the wedding and when it tells how it went. !me only says that you are married, never to whom. A marriage ends with !breakup, !romance off, !leave or !forget, and a break-up calls off a wedding that is booked. The market (every Saturday), the town festival and the inauguration of a new mayor (whose name is public anyway) work like the other town events: whoever types the command takes part, and the entry is kept in the event log like the other entries of town events.

Mayor elections. Once enough residents live here, the town elects a mayor every two weeks. Anybody who has lived here for a while can stand with !run; then your name, slogan and programme points are public in the stream and in the chat for the days of the election, and our bot names the candidates in the public Twitch chat. Your vote (!vote) is secret: the bot's answer never says whom you voted for, nothing in the stream shows it, and the count only publishes totals. When the votes are counted, the stream and the chat name the new mayor and the number of votes, and the town keeps the result of the last elections with the names of the candidates and their vote counts (not who voted for them). The mayor's name is shown in the stream for the whole term. If a mayor moves out or is away for a week, the runner-up of the election takes over. !forget removes your vote and your candidacy; in the results of past elections your name is replaced by "a former resident".

What the mayor decides, and votes of the town. The mayor sets the tax rates and the budget shares of the town, picks the building project of the week (or lets the town vote on it) and can give the town a motto (!tax, !budget, !project, !motto). Every decision is announced under the mayor's name in the stream and in the public Twitch chat, and the motto, a text the mayor types, is shown under the mayor's name in the stream while they hold office (our name filter checks it). Anybody who lives here can vote in the poll about a project and, after a few unhappy days, in a vote of no confidence in the mayor (!vote). These votes are secret in the same way as the votes of an election: the bot's answer, the stream and the result never say who voted how, they only publish totals, and the mayor's name in the vote of no confidence. The event log keeps who voted how until you type !forget or the town is reset, and nobody can read it in the admin area. !forget removes your votes in the polls as well.

What the admins can do to the town. The operator and the admins the operator names can, in the protected admin area, close a candidacy for a resident, take the mayor out of office, fix a tax rate in an emergency and give coins to the town. Every step is written to an admin log with the time, the admin's Twitch name and what was done. For a closed candidacy the log keeps the name of the resident. A closed candidacy only means that you cannot stand for mayor; everything else works as before. The log entries about you and these steps in the event log are removed when you type !forget.

7. Who receives data

• Our hosting provider (processor), see section 2.
• Twitch is the source of your Twitch data and receives data when you use its embed or watch the stream. Twitch is not our processor.
• Authorities if we are legally obliged to disclose data.

We do not sell data and do not use it for advertising. Moderators who help us run the channel can see the resident list and the logs in a protected admin area.

8. Your rights

You have the following rights under the GDPR:

• access to your data (Art. 15), correction (Art. 16), erasure (Art. 17), restriction of processing (Art. 18) and data portability (Art. 20);
• to object at any time to processing based on our legitimate interests (Art. 21);
• to withdraw a consent at any time with effect for the future (Art. 7 (3));
• to lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority (Art. 77), for example Der Hessische Beauftragte für Datenschutz und Informationsfreiheit (HBDI) (https://datenschutz.hessen.de).

How to use them: the fastest way is in the chat: !me shows your card, !leave moves you out, !forget deletes everything. For anything else, write to [email protected]. To protect you, we first check that you control the Twitch account, for example by asking you to type a one-time code in the channel chat. We answer within one month.

9. Security

The website is delivered over an encrypted connection (HTTPS). The game data is stored on our own server in the European Union. Access is limited to the operator and named moderators, and the admin area requires a Twitch login. We keep the software up to date and store as little data as possible.

10. Changes

We update this notice when the game or the law changes. The version and date are shown at the top. If a change affects your rights significantly, we announce it on this site and in the channel. Earlier versions are available on request.