SwarmControl, an online game controlling robotic swarms: solve tasks, win stars, help science! The SwarmControl project aims to understand the best ways to control a swarm of robots by a human. The project achieves this through a community of game-developed experts. The project is continuously changed to promote the creation of experts and to become the most effective exploration tool. To achieve this, the project gathers and analyzes data.

If you are under 18, your parent or guardian must agree to these terms; please have your parent or guardian read, explain, and agree to the terms.

There is a simplified explanation at the bottom of this document.

By playing the game, using the website or associated communication channels, or creating an account, you acknowledge that:

1. We are recording gameplay data for analysis and research. The game gathers and reports data generated by your activities in the game. If you create an account, this data will be associated with your account. If you play without an account or offline, data will be gathered anonymously by assigning you an anonymous identifier. If you log in with an account from a third party project, data will be associated with an identifier provided by that project and data may be reported to both SwarmControl and that project. Your IP address will not be recorded. Gameplay data such as robot configurations, scores, algorithms, tool and algorithm usage, progress, and time played may be logged and analyzed.
2. We may post surveys on the website. To better understand who plays the game, we may occasionally post research surveys on the website. These surveys will ask basic questions about topics such as motivation or demographic information, such as age, gender, and education level. Participation in these surveys is entirely voluntary.
3. Data used for research may be made public or shared with collaborators. Data and analysis may be shown in the game, on the website, and used in external publications, presentations, promotional materials, and other public venues. Data logged by the game may be shared with domain experts for analysis. We will contact you for permission before externally associating data analysis with your account name. However, your account name may appear without explicit permission in external demonstrations of the game or website, including presentations, videos, screenshots, and publications.
4. The project may terminate, suspend, or block your account at any time.
5. Project members may contact you with your account email. When creating an account, you provide an email address. This email address may occasionally be used to contact you in relation to the game. You can opt out of this email contact at any time.
6. Scientific discoveries will be made publicly available and Rice University will handle ownership of discoveries. All significant scientific discoveries (such as structures, algorithms, etc) made in game will be made publicly available. In the event that some discoveries may warrant patent protection, Rice University will handle the patent application process. US patent law will govern IP attribution for each discovery. Individual players who contributed to the discovery will be considered co-inventors for any discovery produced through play. Data logs of player activity will assist in determination of attribution.
7. You can opt out of further data gathering at any time. To do so, discontinue use of the game software, the website, chat, and other communication channels associated with the project.
8. This policy may change in the future. This policy may change at any time. You will be asked to agree to the new terms.

Here is a simplified explanation:

1. The game records how you play. We look at this for science and to make the game better.
2. We may ask you questions about yourself. You do not have to answer them.
3. We are sharing what we learn with others from all over the world. That is how science is done. We have to share so others can learn, too.
4. If you are not playing nicely, we can remove your account.
5. We may send you email about the project. You can ask us to not send you email.
6. Scientific things you find in the game will be made public. Rice Univesity will help decide who owns them.
7. If you want us to stop gathering data from you, stop using the game and website.
8. We may change these rules. You will have a chance of agreeing to the new rules.