Privacy policy

The International Game Developers Association ("IGDA") is committed to respecting the privacy rights of members, users and all visitors to the web site. The following policy describes how the IGDA protects information it receives from visitors to its web site:

What information does the IGDA collect and how does the IGDA use it?

You may visit and use many features of our site without any registration at all, however, in order to participate in the online discussion forums, mailing lists, monthly newsletter and posts to the various resource databases, we require you to either become an IGDA member or create an IGDA user account. When you register, we will collect mandatory contact information (your name, email address, mailing address and work phone), and optional demographic information regarding your business (such as your job title, type of business, number of employees, etc.). In order to register or renew your membership on the site, your credit card information will also be collected.

We use the information we collect to tailor your experience at our site to content that we think you might be interested in, to display content according to your preferences, to process and tailor your membership and to provide a faster method for you to submit information to IGDA, and receive back information or products you desire. We also use your IP address to help diagnose problems with our server, and to administer our site. In addition, your IP address is used to gather broad aggregated demographic information, such as the number of visitors from a geographic area.

On occasion the IGDA hosts contests and promotions. When you enter a contest or other promotional feature, the IGDA may ask for additional information, including further contact and demographic information, as well as consumer preference information so that we are able to better administer the contest and notify winners.

Members and registered users will receive the IGDA's monthly email newsletter, which includes notifications from the IGDA and IGDA partners and sponsors about important functionality, changes to the web site, new IGDA services, special offers we think you'll find valuable as well as overall news of the IGDA and the game development industry. If you would rather not receive the newsletter you may do so by either opting-out on your MyProfile page, or by submitting such an unsubscribe request to admin -at- igda -dot- org.

How does the IGDA protect visitor information?

The IGDA implements a variety of security measures to maintain the safety and confidentiality of your personal information. User personal information is contained behind secured networks and is only accessible by a limited number of employees who have special access rights to such systems. When you register or access your personal information, we offer the use of a secure server. All sensitive and credit information supplied by users is transmitted and protected via Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology and then encrypted into the IGDA's databases to be only accessed as stated above (credit card information is NOT stored once your membership fee is processed).

To ensure compliance with updated security technology, the IGDA recommends using one of the following browsers, each of which can be downloaded free of charge: Netscape Navigator (http://www.netscape.com), or Microsoft Internet Explorer (http://www.microsoft.com/ie). To ensure the highest level of security available today, the IGDA suggests that you choose the 128-bit encryption version from the download options. If you do not have access to a browser that supports at least 48-bit encryption, your information may not be processed by the IGDA's servers, or may not be securely transferred through your web browser to the IGDA's servers.

When you submit information to us (or to any other web site) over the Internet, the information may travel over many networks and systems that are not under the control of the IGDA. The Internet is not completely secure and others may intercept the information that you are sending. Further, anything you voluntarily provide in any public area of the IGDA web site, including in any discussion forum or mailing list, will be publicly available to other visitors on the web site and potentially to other third parties, and you should always exercise caution when deciding to publicly disclose any of your personal information. The IGDA is not responsible for submissions to discussion forums or mailing lists and your submissions could be used by others in ways that the IGDA is unable to control. Please see our Terms of Use for further information.

Does the IGDA use "cookies"?

Cookies are bits of electronic information that a web site can transfer to a visitor's hard drive to help tailor and keep records of his or her visit to the site. Cookies allow web site operators to better customize visits to the site to the visitor's individual preferences. The use of cookies is standard on the Internet and many web sites use them. Although most web browsers automatically accept cookies, you can usually change your browser to prevent or notify you whenever you are sent a cookie. This gives you the chance to decide whether or not to accept it. Even without accepting a cookie, you can still access most of the features on the site. The IGDA uses cookies in the discussion forums so that they can help provide its visitors with a better experience at the forums, and to save your password so you don't have to re-enter it each time you visit the forums. If you would like more information about cookies, we suggest you visit http://www.cookiecentral.com.

Does the IGDA disclose the information it collects from its visitors to outside parties?

The IGDA does not, and never will, sell or trade any personally identifiable information that visitors provide in any registration, purchase, or contest submission on the web site. The IGDA does from time to time share data solely in an AGGREGATE form (that will not enable third parties to personally identify individual users, including you) to partners for marketing, advertising, or other uses. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the IGDA reserves the right to disclose any personal information about you to law enforcement or other government officials as the IGDA, in its sole discretion, believe is necessary or appropriate.

The IGDA's special note to parents

Pursuant to the provisions of the Federal Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), we are not permitted, and therefore do not, collect personal identifiable information from children we actually know to be under thirteen years of age without the consent of that child's parent or legal guardian. The IGDA is a general audience web site that does not contain content specifically directed to children under the age of 13.

How does a visitor opt-out, remove, or modify information they have provided to IGDA?

After gathering any user information, the IGDA offers users the opportunity to remove their information from our database so as not to receive future communications or to no longer interact with the web site until they later chose to by sending such a request to the IGDA at info@igda.org, or as set forth below under "Contact Us." IGDA additionally provides users the opportunity to update and modify any information they have previously provided by viewing their MyProfile page.

In addition, our monthly email newsletter will always contain instructions on how to discontinue receipt of the newsletter. However, if a visitor at anytime chooses to no longer receive such information and opt-out from any future mailings, they should simply reply to the IGDA's removal instructions and request to be removed from any such list and/or mailings, or they may also send such a request to info@igda.org.

Third party links and co-brand relationships

In an attempt to provide increased value to our visitors, the IGDA may choose various third party web sites to link from its own site. The IGDA also participates in co-branding and other relationships to offer e-commerce and other services and features to its users. However, even if the third party is affiliated with the IGDA, the IGDA has no control over these linked sites, each of who have separate privacy and data collection practices independent of the IGDA. Data collected by our co-brand partners or third party web sites (even if offered on or through our site) is not received, stored, or used in any way by the IGDA. As such, the IGDA has no responsibility or liability for these independent policies or actions, and is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of any such web sites. These linked sites are only for your convenience and you therefore access them at your own risk. Nonetheless, the IGDA seeks to protect the integrity of its web site and the links placed upon it and therefore requests any feedback on not only its own site, but for sites it links to as well (including if a specific link does not work).

Public Forums

The IGDA makes discussion forums and mailing lists available at the web site. These resources are read-only for non-registered visitors to the IGDA web site. Only IGDA members and registered users may post to these resources. As such, please remember that any information that is disclosed in these areas immediately becomes public information and you should exercise caution when deciding to disclose your personal information. The IGDA is not responsible for submissions in discussion forums and/or mailing lists and your submissions could be used by others in ways that the IGDA is unable to control. Please see our Terms of Use for further information.

Your Consent

By using our web site, you consent to the collection and use of information by the IGDA as set forth in this Privacy Policy. If we decide to change our privacy policy, we will post those changes on this page so that you will always be aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what limited circumstances we disclose it. Continued access or use of the web site shall constitute your express acceptance of any modifications to this Privacy Policy.

Contact Us

The IGDA welcomes your questions, comments, and concerns about privacy. Please contact us with any and all feedback pertaining to this, or any other issue.

You can reach us by the various means outlined on our Contact Us page

Terms of Use

Please also visit the IGDA's Terms of Use establishing the use, disclaimers, and limitations of liability governing the use of the entire IGDA web site.