Terms of Service

Welcome to MakeAChessBot.com (the "Service"). These Terms of Service ("Terms") are an agreement between you and the operator of MakeAChessBot.com ("we," "us"). By creating an account or using the Service, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

1. Who may use the Service

You must be at least 13 years old to create an account. If you are between 13 and 17, you may only use the Service with the permission of a parent or legal guardian, and by using the Service you represent that you have that permission. We may suspend or delete accounts we reasonably believe belong to children under 13.

2. Your account

You are responsible for your account and for keeping your password secure. Provide accurate information at signup. You may not share, sell, or transfer your account. Contact us if you believe your account has been compromised.

3. The Service

MakeAChessBot.com lets you build custom chess bots — including but not limited to rules, weights, openings, avatars, voice lines, animations, names, and bios — and play them against built-in bots or other users' bots, including in live ranked matches with chat, spectating, leaderboards, puzzles, and learning tools. We may add, change, or remove features at any time. The Service is provided free of charge (see Section 6 on Pawns).

4. User content

"User Content" means anything you create or submit on the Service: bot names, bios, rules, rule descriptions, voice lines, uploaded or AI-generated avatars, chat messages, and similar material.

Ownership. You keep any rights you have in your User Content. You grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to host, store, display, reproduce, and distribute your User Content for the purpose of operating and promoting the Service (for example: showing your bot and its voice lines to opponents and spectators, or featuring notable bots on the site or our social channels).

Visibility. Bots, their names, avatars, voice lines, animations, match history, and ranked games are public — other users and spectators can see them. Do not put personal information in bot names, bios, voice lines, or chat.

Your responsibility. You are responsible for your User Content. Do not submit content that you don't have the right to use.

5. Rules of conduct

You agree not to:

• create User Content or chat messages that are hateful, harassing, threatening, sexually explicit, violent, or that target any person or group;
• impersonate any person, or use another person's name, image, or likeness (including celebrities and streamers) without permission;
• share anyone's personal information, including your own;
• upload avatars that infringe someone else's copyright or trademark, or that depict real people without their consent;
• cheat, exploit bugs, manipulate ratings or matchmaking, use automated scripts against the Service, or attempt to disrupt, overload, reverse-engineer, or gain unauthorized access to the Service;
• use the Service for any illegal purpose.

We use automated filters and may moderate content, but we cannot review everything. We may remove any User Content and warn, suspend, or ban any account at our discretion, with or without notice.

6. Pawns (virtual currency)

"Pawns" are a virtual currency used within the Service to unlock customizations. Pawns are earned through gameplay and achievements. Pawns:

• have no real-world monetary value and are not redeemable for cash;
• may not be sold, traded, or transferred outside the Service;
• are a limited, revocable license to access features of the Service, not property;
• may be adjusted, reset, or discontinued if we change the Service, and may be revoked from accounts that violate these Terms.

The Service has no real-money purchases. If paid Pawn purchases are ever introduced, this section will be expanded with purchase, refund, and parental-consent terms before those purchases become available.

7. AI-generated content

Some features (rule generation, avatar generation) use third-party AI services accessed through our hosting platform. AI outputs may be inaccurate or unexpected. You are responsible for reviewing AI-generated content you attach to your bot, and Section 5 applies to it fully. We do not guarantee that AI-generated avatars are unique.

8. Intellectual property

The Service — including its code, design, built-in bots, starter rules, animations, logos, and the "walking rook" — belongs to us or our licensors. We grant you a personal, non-transferable license to use the Service for personal, non-commercial purposes. Chess itself, of course, belongs to everyone.

9. Fair play and ratings

Elo ratings, leaderboards, achievements, and match results exist for fun. We may recalculate, reset, or correct ratings and results at any time, including to fix bugs or address manipulation.

10. Termination

You may stop using the Service or request account deletion at any time by contacting us or using in-app tools where available. We may suspend or terminate accounts that violate these Terms or for any reason with reasonable notice. Sections 4 (license, for content already public), 8, 11, 12, and 13 survive termination.

11. Disclaimers

The Service is provided "as is" and "as available," without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including fitness for a particular purpose, uptime, or that bugs will be fixed. Bots may behave unexpectedly. Matches may be interrupted. Data (including bots, Pawns, and ratings) may be lost. We are a small, independent project — please be kind.

12. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, we will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or any loss of data, Pawns, ratings, or bots, arising from your use of the Service. Our total liability for any claim relating to the Service will not exceed the greater of the amount you paid us in the past 12 months or USD $10.

13. Governing law and disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of New York, without regard to conflict-of-law rules. Disputes will be resolved in the state or federal courts located in New York. Before filing any claim, you agree to contact us and attempt to resolve the issue informally for 30 days.

14. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms. If we make material changes, we will post notice on the Service (and/or email registered users) at least 7 days before the changes take effect. Continuing to use the Service after changes take effect means you accept the new Terms.

15. Contact

A dedicated support email (support@makeachessbot.com) is coming soon. Until it is live, use the in-app feedback form to reach us — it goes straight to the operator.

Operator: MakeAChessBot, Westchester County, New York, USA.