Privacy Policy

Esports Authority is run by MLG Anakin, a gaming and esports creator. This page explains what information we collect when you use the site, how we use it, and how we keep it safe. We built this site for our community, and looking after your information is part of that.

Information We Collect

• Account details you share when you sign in through Google, Steam, Discord, or Twitch, such as your name, email address, profile picture, and platform username or ID.
• Your username is what other people see. Your real name is shown only to your own teammates, to the organizer of an event you are in, and to players you and they have both chosen to support, unless you tick "Show my real name publicly" on your profile.
• Profile details you choose to add, such as your country, positions and a separate contact email.
• If you connect a YouTube channel, we read basic public channel details, like your channel name, so we can confirm the connection. We do not read your videos, comments, or any private data.
• If you link a Minecraft account, we store the username and UUID you provide so it can be verified.
• Your activity on the site, such as wheel spins, wallet balances, card packs opened and the cards you hold, Flip Battle results, achievements, quest completions, and shop orders. We keep this so the site works correctly and so prizes and rewards go to the right person.
• A Steam trade link, only if you choose to add one, so we can send you items you win or purchase.
• For in-person events like our softball, baseball and ice hockey tournaments: your team name and roster, a self-reported skill level/division, game scores, and stats built from those scores (such as Elo and the ATK/DEF/OVR team ratings), plus whatever contact email you provide for tournament updates.
• A profile picture, if you upload one. It is stored on our servers and shown publicly beside your username - on your profile, on your player card, and on leaderboards. You can replace or remove it at any time from your profile page, and removing it deletes the stored image.
• Your XP, account level, and which cosmetic items you have unlocked and are wearing. Which cosmetics you wear is public, because the point of them is that other people see them.
• Messages you send: team chat, event chat, wall posts on profile and team pages, team polls and votes, emoji reactions, organizer messages to captains, and private supporter messages. Event chat and wall posts are public and show your username. Team chat is visible only to that team (the staff channel only to its staff). Supporter messages are visible only to the two people in the conversation; either person can delete their own copy, and a message deleted by both is removed. We do not read private messages except to investigate a report or keep people safe.
• If you were invited by a friend, which account invited you, so both of you get the invite rewards.
• If you donate, the amount and the name you choose to show (or Anonymous) on our public funding page. We never see or store your card or bank details - donation platforms handle those. If you tip an event organizer in Gold Coins, we record who tipped which event and how much. If you support us on Patreon, we store your Patreon tier on your account so your perks apply.
• Basic technical details like your IP address and browser type, used only for security and troubleshooting.
• If you buy a custom web address for your profile, team or event, the address you chose and when it expires. Custom addresses, and the numbered address every player page has, are public.
• For leagues: the season schedule, standings and any games an organizer moves to a new date or time (make-up games), which show publicly on the league page.

Your Location

We do not collect or use your location. The site, and the Google maps embedded on event pages, are blocked from asking your device for it. If you want directions, the map's link opens Google Maps, where any location use is between you and Google.

The Distance filter on the Browse page works from a town or address you type in, not from your device. That place is looked up with OpenStreetMap to get its map point, and the result stays in your browser - we do not save it to your account. Venue addresses organizers type into the event builder are looked up the same way.

How We Use Information

• To run core features: signing in, wallets, spins, quests, cards, the shop, and the leaderboard.
• To run tournaments and events, both online and in-person - schedules, brackets, rosters, scores, and standings.
• To reach you about an order, a prize, an event update, or a problem with your account.
• To keep the site secure and to catch abuse like duplicate accounts or exploited bugs.

We do not sell your information to anyone. We work with Google to show advertising on the site - see Advertising below for exactly what that involves.

Marketing Emails

We only send news, event updates and tips by email if you opt in, by ticking the email box on your profile page. It is never ticked for you. We keep a record of when you opted in and the wording you agreed to. Every one of these emails says who it is from and has an unsubscribe link that works in one click, without signing in, and takes effect right away. You can also untick the box on your profile at any time; the unsubscribe page explains both ways. Unsubscribing does not stop emails you asked for directly, like team invites or notices about an event you are in. These emails are sent through our email provider, Resend, which receives your email address and the message only to deliver it.

How We Share Information

We do not share your personal information with outside companies, aside from the services that make the site work, such as our hosting provider and our payment processor, Stripe, and only as much as is needed to run the site. Some information, like your username, avatar, and public stats, is visible to other visitors as part of normal site features (leaderboard, standings, supporters wall) unless an opt out is offered and you use it. For tournaments, this also includes your team's name, roster, division/skill level, and scores/stats on public tournament and team pages - that's the same information any tournament bracket or league table would normally show. Photos or video taken at in-person events may also be used on the site or our social channels.

Google User Data

Esports Authority's use of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements. If you connect your YouTube account, that connection is only used to confirm your engagement with the channel for quest rewards. We do not use YouTube data for any other purpose, and we do not share it with anyone else.

Maps and Other Services We Embed

Event pages can show a venue on an embedded Google map. When a map loads, Google receives the usual details any website visit sends (such as your IP address and browser type) under Google's own privacy policy. Twitch streams and YouTube videos on the site work the same way under their own policies.

Cookies

Some settings are kept in your browser only and never reach us at all: whether you have turned cosmetics off for readability, whether you have chosen to play name effects even though your device asks for reduced motion, which sections you have folded away, and any tournament or league you have started building but not saved yet (so you can pick up where you left off). These live in your browser's own storage, apply only on that device, and are not part of your account.

Images you save from the site - a bracket, a standings table, a schedule card, or a short GIF when something on it is animated - are made on your own device. Nothing is uploaded to make them.

We use a small number of cookies to keep you signed in and to remember basic preferences. Our advertising partners also set their own cookies - see Advertising below.

Ads Booked on This Site

Booking your own ad is not open yet. When it is, ads booked directly with us are shown by us, not an ad network. For each one we count how many times it was shown and how many times it was clicked, as daily totals, counting each visitor at most once a day. To do that we keep a scrambled one-way code made from your IP address for two days - it cannot be turned back into your address and is never shown to anyone. The advertiser sees those totals and nothing else - not who saw or clicked it. Clicking an ad takes you straight to the advertiser's page; we do not pass anything about you to them.

Advertising

This site loads Google's advertising script, and Google ads show on some pages once Google approves the site. Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to this site or other sites. Google's use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to you based on your visit to this site and other sites on the internet.

These third parties may place and read cookies on your browser, and may use web beacons, your IP address, or other identifiers to collect information as a result of ads being served here. That information is used to select and measure the ads you see.

You can opt out of personalised advertising by visiting Google Ads Settings, or opt out of a third-party vendor's use of cookies for personalised advertising at aboutads.info/choices. Opting out does not remove ads - it stops them being tailored to you.

You can read how Google uses information from sites that use its services at policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites.

Visitors in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland are asked for consent through Google's consent message before any personalised advertising is shown. Visitors in US states with privacy laws see a "Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information" link, provided by Google, that lets you opt out of the sale or sharing of your information for advertising.

Accounts with an active Pro or Max subscription see no ads at all: neither our own ads nor Google's, and Google's advertising script is not loaded for them.

Pages for youth events are treated as directed to children. Because the site hosts youth events, every Google ad unit on the site is tagged that way, so no interest-based or personalised advertising is served through them, and we do not use advertising cookies to build a profile of anyone. Google ads are not shown in the tournament and league creators, the cart, or your profile.

Children

You must be at least 13 years old to have an account, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If we learn that a child under 13 has created an account, we will remove it and the information that came with it. Where the law where you live sets a higher age, such as 14 in Quebec, that age applies instead.

Youth events are welcome here. They are set up and run by adults: an adult organizer creates the event, and an adult coach or team manager enters the team and its roster. A child under 13 can play in an event without having an account. For players under 13, enter a first name, a nickname or a jersey number on the roster only - no email address, phone number or home address.

If you are a parent or guardian and want your child's name taken off a roster or an event page, tell us through the Contact Us page and we will remove it.

Names and Web Addresses

Team names, player names, usernames and custom web addresses are public. If one is being held to block, impersonate or pressure another team or person, we may take it back and give it to the person or team it rightfully belongs to, as set out in the Terms of Service. Doing so changes only the name or address, not the rest of the account's data.

Data Removal

You can ask us to delete your account and its associated data at any time by reaching out through the Contact Us button on the site. We will take care of it as quickly as we can.

Changes To This Policy

We may update this page as the site grows. If we make a meaningful change, we will update the date at the top.

Contact

Questions about this policy? Reach out through the Contact Us button on the site or message us on Discord.