Terms of Use: Survivor Rules of Engagement

2. Acceptance and modifications

These Terms form a binding agreement between you and the operator of Zombival. We may modify these Terms from time to time. If we make material changes, we will update the "Effective and last updated" date and, where appropriate, post a notice on the Service. Your continued use of the Service after the changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms. If you do not agree to the updated Terms, stop using the Service.

3. Description of the Service

Zombival is a free browser-based arcade game in which players draw quarantine lines to reveal hidden screens, capture stylized infected enemies and earn high scores. The Service includes the website at zombival.com, the game canvas and its rules, the gallery of unlocked stage screens, the leaderboard system, server-side scoring endpoints, and related pages and assets. Features and content may change as the project evolves.

4. Eligibility and age

The Service is intended for a general English-speaking audience and contains stylized horror, zombie themes and arcade violence. It is not directed to children under 13. Players between 13 and the age of legal majority in their jurisdiction may use the Service only with the involvement of a parent or legal guardian, and the parent or guardian is deemed to accept these Terms on behalf of the minor. If you are below the age of digital consent in your jurisdiction (typically 13 in the United States under COPPA), do not use the Service and do not enter any personal information, including as your survivor nickname.

5. License to use the Service

Subject to your compliance with these Terms, we grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable, revocable license to access and use the Service for your personal, non-commercial entertainment. This license does not grant you any rights to copy, modify, distribute, sell, lease, lend, reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble or create derivative works of the Service or any of its components, except to the extent applicable law expressly permits notwithstanding this limitation.

6. Survivor names and player conduct

You may enter a survivor name to be used for local scores and leaderboard records. Survivor names must comply with the following rules:

• Do not use names that are unlawful, defamatory, abusive, harassing, hateful, sexually explicit, violent, threatening, or that promote discrimination, terrorism or self-harm.
• Do not impersonate any person, brand, public figure or organization.
• Do not use names that contain personal information (yours or anyone else's) such as full legal names, phone numbers, email addresses, postal addresses, account credentials or financial data.
• Do not use names that infringe trademarks, copyrights, rights of publicity or other intellectual property rights.
• Do not use names intended to disrupt, mislead or interfere with the Service or its users.

We may, in our reasonable discretion, refuse, remove, edit or replace any survivor name that violates these rules, applicable law or the spirit of fair play, with or without prior notice.

7. Prohibited uses

When using the Service, you agree not to:

• Attempt to gain unauthorized access to the Service, its servers, scoring endpoints, databases, infrastructure or related systems.
• Use bots, scrapers, automated tools, headless browsers, modified clients, network manipulation or any technique to falsify, manipulate, inflate or otherwise tamper with scores, runs, gallery unlocks or any data on the leaderboard.
• Probe, scan, test or stress the Service for vulnerabilities without our written permission.
• Reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble or otherwise attempt to derive source code, except where applicable law expressly permits this notwithstanding contractual prohibition.
• Use the Service to transmit any malware, virus, worm, trojan, rootkit, time bomb or other malicious code.
• Use the Service to spam, phish, distribute commercial solicitations, or send unsolicited communications.
• Frame, mirror, deep-link or otherwise present the Service as your own.
• Use the Service for any unlawful, deceptive, fraudulent, infringing or otherwise harmful purpose.
• Use the Service in any way that violates the terms of any third-party service incorporated into the Service, including Google AdSense, Google Analytics and Google's program policies.
• Interfere with another player's enjoyment of the Service, including by harassment, exploiting bugs that you have not reported, or coordinating to manipulate the leaderboard.

We may, in our reasonable discretion, suspend or terminate access for any user who violates this Section 7.

8. Intellectual property

Zombival, the Zombival name, the Zombival logo, the in-game wordmarks, the visual design (including the toxic-green, blood-magenta and bruise-purple palette, CRT scanline overlays, character archetypes and stage names), the artwork that can be unlocked in the Gallery, the source code of the website and game client, the source code of the score API, the layout of the leaderboard, and all related text and assets, are owned by or licensed to the operator and are protected by United States and international intellectual property laws.

Except as expressly permitted by these Terms, you may not copy, modify, distribute, perform, display, license, sell or otherwise exploit any part of the Service.

9. Gallery downloads

When you unlock a stage screen, the Service may offer that screen for download. Any image you download is licensed to you on the following basis:

• Personal, non-commercial use only, including private display, personal wallpapers and personal social posts crediting "Zombival – zombival.com."
• No resale, sublicensing, NFT minting, or distribution as a standalone asset pack.
• No use as training data, embeddings, datasets or model inputs for any machine learning system without our prior written permission.
• No removal of metadata, watermarks or attribution embedded in the file.
• We may revoke this license at any time. Upon revocation, you must stop using the affected files going forward (without obligation to delete files you have already personally retained, except where required by law or where the file was obtained in violation of these Terms).

10. User-submitted content

The Service does not require user-generated content other than your freely chosen survivor nickname. If you submit a nickname or send us an email or other communication, you grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicensable license to use, reproduce, display, transmit and adapt that content as necessary to operate the Service, communicate with you, and enforce these Terms. You represent and warrant that you have all rights necessary to make that grant and that the content does not violate any law or any third party's rights.

11. Advertising and third-party services

The Service displays advertising through Google AdSense (publisher account ca-pub-5070076210009776) and uses Google Analytics (measurement ID G-S1JG2CL1XT) and may use other third-party services such as font hosts, icon libraries and content delivery networks. These third-party services are governed by their own terms and privacy policies. We are not responsible for the content or practices of third parties, and inclusion of a third-party link or service does not constitute endorsement.

12. Privacy

Your privacy is important. Our Privacy Policy, Cookie Notice and Do Not Sell or Share notice describe how we handle personal information. By using the Service, you agree to those documents in addition to these Terms.

13. DMCA / Copyright complaints

We respect intellectual property rights. If you believe content on the Service infringes your copyright, please send a notice to hello@zombival.com with the subject line "DMCA Notice." The notice should include:

• A physical or electronic signature of the copyright owner or a person authorized to act on their behalf.
• Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed.
• Identification of the material claimed to be infringing and sufficient information to locate it on the Service.
• Your contact information, including address, telephone number and email address.
• A statement that you have a good-faith belief that the use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent or the law.
• A statement, under penalty of perjury, that the information in the notice is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on the owner's behalf.

Counter-notices may be sent to the same address. We may forward valid notices and counter-notices to the affected party. Repeated infringement may lead to termination of access.

14. Availability and changes to the Service

The Service is provided as an evolving project. We may add, change, remove or suspend features (including stages, characters, power-ups, the gallery and the leaderboard), reset or migrate score data, change the difficulty curve, change visual or audio assets, or discontinue the Service in whole or in part, with or without notice. We are not liable to you or any third party for any such modification or discontinuation.

16. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, in no event shall the operator of Zombival, its affiliates, officers, directors, employees, contractors, agents, suppliers or licensors be liable for any indirect, incidental, consequential, special, exemplary or punitive damages, including without limitation damages for lost profits, lost data, lost revenue, lost survivor names, lost scores, lost gallery unlocks, business interruption, personal injury or emotional distress, arising out of or related to your use of or inability to use the Service, even if advised of the possibility of such damages.

In jurisdictions that do not allow the exclusion or limitation of certain damages, our liability is limited to the maximum extent permitted by law. To the maximum extent permitted by law, our aggregate liability for all claims arising out of or related to the Service shall not exceed one hundred U.S. dollars (US$100.00) or the amount you have paid us for the Service in the twelve (12) months before the claim, whichever is greater.

17. Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless the operator of Zombival, its affiliates and their respective officers, directors, employees, contractors, agents, suppliers and licensors from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, judgments, awards, losses, costs, expenses and fees (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or related to: (a) your use of and access to the Service; (b) your violation of these Terms; (c) your violation of any third-party right, including any intellectual property right or privacy right; or (d) any claim that any content you provided to the Service caused damage to a third party.

18. Termination

We may suspend or terminate your access to the Service, or remove your survivor name and associated records, at any time, for any reason or no reason, with or without notice, including for violation of these Terms. You may stop using the Service at any time. Sections that by their nature should survive termination shall survive, including Sections 6 (Conduct), 7 (Prohibited uses), 8 (IP), 10 (User-submitted content), 13 (DMCA), 15-17 (Disclaimers, Limitation of Liability, Indemnification), 19 (Dispute resolution) and 22-25 (Miscellaneous).

19. Dispute resolution, arbitration and class action waiver

19.1 Informal resolution first

Before filing a formal claim, you and we agree to try to resolve any dispute informally for at least sixty (60) days by sending a written notice describing the dispute to hello@zombival.com. The notice should describe the nature and basis of the claim and the specific relief sought.

19.2 Binding arbitration

Except for the matters described in Section 19.5, any dispute arising out of or related to these Terms or the Service that is not resolved informally shall be resolved exclusively by final and binding arbitration administered by a nationally recognized arbitration provider under its consumer arbitration rules, and conducted in English. The arbitrator shall have exclusive authority to resolve any dispute relating to the interpretation, applicability, enforceability or formation of these Terms, including any claim that all or any part of these Terms are void or voidable.

19.3 Class action waiver

You and we agree that each may bring claims against the other only in your or its individual capacity, and not as a plaintiff or class member in any purported class, collective or representative proceeding. Unless we expressly agree in writing, the arbitrator may not consolidate more than one person's claims and may not preside over any form of representative proceeding. If a court decides that applicable law precludes enforcement of any portion of this paragraph, then that portion shall be severed and the remainder shall continue in full force.

19.4 Opt-out

You may opt out of the arbitration agreement in Section 19.2 and the class action waiver in Section 19.3 by sending a written notice to hello@zombival.com with the subject "Arbitration Opt-Out" within thirty (30) days of first accepting these Terms (or the first material change to this Section 19 thereafter). The notice must include your survivor nickname, the email address you use to contact us and a clear statement that you wish to opt out. Opting out does not affect any other provision of these Terms.

19.5 Carve-outs

Notwithstanding Section 19.2, either party may bring (a) an individual action in small claims court, (b) a claim seeking equitable relief in a court of competent jurisdiction to stop unauthorized use or abuse of the Service or infringement of intellectual property rights, and (c) any other claim that applicable law does not permit to be subject to mandatory arbitration.

19.6 Costs

Each party will bear its own costs in arbitration except where the arbitration provider's rules or applicable law require us to bear specific costs.

20. Governing law and venue

These Terms and any dispute arising out of or related to them or the Service shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the United States and the U.S. state designated as the operator's principal place of business (the "Governing Jurisdiction"), without giving effect to conflict-of-laws principles. Subject to Section 19, any judicial proceeding shall be brought exclusively in the federal or state courts located in the Governing Jurisdiction, and the parties consent to personal jurisdiction in those courts.

Operator note: replace this paragraph with the specific state of organization or principal place of business of the operator before publication.

21. Force majeure

We will not be liable for any failure or delay in performance caused by events beyond our reasonable control, including acts of God, natural disasters, fires, floods, pandemics, governmental actions, war, terrorism, civil disturbances, labor disputes, internet outages, denial-of-service attacks, hosting failures, or the failure of any third-party service.

22. California-specific notice

California residents may report complaints to the Complaint Assistance Unit of the Division of Consumer Services of the California Department of Consumer Affairs by mail at 1625 North Market Boulevard, Suite N 112, Sacramento, California 95834, or by telephone at (800) 952-5210.

23. Severability and waiver

If any provision of these Terms is held to be unenforceable or invalid by a court or arbitrator of competent jurisdiction, that provision shall be modified to the minimum extent necessary to make it enforceable, or severed if it cannot be modified, and the remaining provisions shall continue in full force. No failure or delay by either party in exercising any right or remedy will operate as a waiver of that right or remedy.

24. Assignment

You may not assign or transfer your rights or obligations under these Terms without our prior written consent. We may assign these Terms in whole or in part to any successor of all or substantially all of the Zombival business or its assets.

25. Entire agreement

These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy, the Cookie Notice and the Do Not Sell or Share notice, constitute the entire agreement between you and Zombival regarding the Service and supersede any prior agreements between you and Zombival regarding the Service.

26. Contact

For questions about these Terms, contact hello@zombival.com.