The BuildingPrivacy policy
We want The Building to be a place where you can relax, so we keep data collection to a minimum and explain clearly what happens with it.
1. Who we are
The Building is a free browser game available at https://cozyblock.games. In this policy, "we" and "us" refer to the team that runs the game. You can reach us through the contact page.
2. What we store today
Signing in with Google. To play you sign in with your Google account (Google Sign-In). Google sends us a signed token that proves who you are; from it we keep a one-way hash of your Google account identifier, linked to your player identifier, and the email address of your Google account (only when Google says it is verified). Your email is visible only to the game's moderators in a private admin area, to recognize accounts, answer requests and handle reports; it is never shown to other players. We do not store your real name or your profile picture, and we never get your Google password. Your saved game (the data listed below) is stored on our server (Microsoft Azure Table Storage) under your player identifier, so you can continue on any device. Google processes the sign-in under its own privacy policy.
Your progress is also kept on your own device, in your browser's localStorage:
- your character (name, appearance and personality traits);
- your apartment layout, finishes and door setting;
- your relationships with the residents and the building's event log;
-
a random player identifier (for example
p-3f9a…) that is not linked to your identity; - small technical values such as the last time you played, used to prepare the "While you were asleep…" summary.
3. Multiplayer: what other players see
When multiplayer is available, the game exchanges small messages with our server (Azure Functions on Microsoft Azure) so that people in the same building can see each other. While you play, the following is shared with the other players in your building: your random player identifier, your character's name and appearance, your apartment number, layout and door setting, your position and movements, the chat messages you type and the interactions you choose (for example "Say hi").
To deliver these messages we store them temporarily in Azure Table Storage and delete them automatically after about 10 minutes. We also store which apartment belongs to your random player identifier and when you last played (updated a few times a day), so that every player gets a different home; apartments unused for 30 days are given to new players. We also store your random player identifier together with a secret token, so that nobody else can send messages in your name; this record contains no personal data. If you buy a family house we also store its colors with it. Notes and gifts that players leave on an apartment door are kept, with the sender's character name, until the owner reads them; then they are deleted from our server and stay only in the owner's browser. Chat is filtered for offensive words on our server and in the game, and it is shown only to players who are close to you in the building. Please never share personal information in chat. If multiplayer is unavailable, the game keeps working offline and nothing is sent.
Talking to game characters. When you use "Talk" with a Resident, a shop worker or a neighbor walking around, the message you type, the last lines of that conversation, your character's name and the character's name, role and place are sent from our server to Anthropic's Claude API, which writes the character's reply. Their replies are generated by AI. These conversations are private: other players do not see them, and we do not store them on our server (they stay in your browser until you close the page). Anthropic processes them under its own commercial terms and privacy policy. Please never share personal information with the characters.
"About me" (optional). You can add to your character your age, where you are from, your gender, your sexual orientation, your relationship status and what you are looking for. Every field is optional and you can change or clear it at any time from Me → About me. What you fill in is saved with your game and shown to the other players who open your character's menu, so only share what you are happy for other players to see. Some of these details (such as sexual orientation) are sensitive: we only store and show them because you choose to add them, and we never use them for advertising. Players under 18 cannot say they are looking for a relationship.
Sharing your home (optional). If you turn on Me → Share my home, a
public web page shows your character name, your "About me" details and a plan of your home's
furniture at cozyblock.games/home/<your home number>; search engines may
list it. Turn it off at any time and the page disappears.
Moderation. To keep the building friendly, the moderators can see, for each player, the character name, email, when they joined and last played, their home, coins, badges and the reports about them. If you report a player, we store your report (reason and comment) with the last chat lines you saw, so the moderators can check what happened. You can also block a player: this is saved only in your game. Moderators can warn players, change coins, free an apartment, suspend an account for some days or permanently, and delete an account; these actions are logged. Reports and moderation records are kept as long as they are needed to keep the game safe, and are deleted with your account on request.
Visit statistics (no cookies). To know how many people visit the site, each
page (except the private admin area) sends a small anonymous signal while it is open: the
page address, how you arrived (for example a search engine, a social network, a link tag
such as utm_source, or "direct"), the kind of device, your country and how long
the page has been open. To find your country your browser asks the public service
ipwho.is, which receives your IP address for
that lookup; our statistics keep only the country, never the IP. A random session id is kept
only in the page's memory, nothing is stored on your device, and a daily pseudonymous code
(that changes every day and cannot be turned back into your IP) only tells visits of the
same person apart within one day. The statistics are collected by the same owner's tracking
service hosted at trade2spike.com and kept for a few days.
4. What we do not collect
Apart from Google sign-in and the advertising described below, we use no tracking pixels or third-party cookies, and we do not ask for your real name or location (your email comes only from Google Sign-In, as described above).
Like any website, our hosting provider (Microsoft Azure Static Web Apps) automatically processes technical data such as your IP address and browser type in order to deliver the pages securely. This processing is governed by the provider's own privacy terms.
5. Advertising and cookies
To keep the game free we show Google AdSense ads on the website pages, never over or inside the game. The only exception is optional: inside the game you can choose to watch a full-screen video ad (the "🎬 +50" button) to earn coins; it never starts on its own. Google and its partners may use cookies to show and measure ads and, with your consent, to personalise them based on your visits to this and other websites. Visitors in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland are asked for consent through Google's certified consent message before any advertising cookie is used; elsewhere our own banner lets you accept, keep essential storage only or turn advertising off. You can change your choice at any time with Cookie preferences. Details are in our cookie policy. Learn how Google uses data in advertising and manage personalised ads in Google Ad Settings.
6. Children
The Building is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. If you believe a child has provided personal information to us, please contact us and we will delete it.
7. Your choices and how to delete your data
To remove your progress from a device, use Sign out in the game settings or clear the site data for this website in your browser settings. Your game stays saved in your account on our server: to receive a copy of it or to have it deleted together with the link to your Google account, contact us through the contact page. You can also remove the game's access from your Google account settings at any time.
8. Security
The site is served only over HTTPS with security headers that restrict which scripts and connections the page may use.
9. Changes to this policy
We will update this page whenever our practices change and adjust the effective date above. Significant changes will also be announced in the game.
10. Contact
Questions or privacy requests? Visit our contact page.