Privacy & Cookie Policy

This Privacy & Cookie Policy explains how Toronto Life (“we”, “us”) collects, uses, shares and protects personal information when you visit torontolife.ai, play the game, or buy advertising. It is written to comply with Canada’s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and the privacy principles behind it: accountability, consent, limiting collection, limiting use and retention, accuracy, safeguards, openness, individual access, and the right to challenge us.

We’re a small project operated from Toronto, Ontario, and we try to collect as little as we can get away with. If anything below is unclear, email hello@torontolife.ai. This policy is part of our Terms of Service.

Account information

• Email address and a hashed password (we never store the password itself).
• Your handle and display name.
• Your confirmation that you are 18 or older, and the date you signed up.

Your character (avatar)

• The avatar you build: skin tone, hair style and colour, clothing and accessories, and your selection of man or woman for your character. This is a cosmetic choice for a fictional character and is shown to other players; it is not treated as a statement about your real identity, and you can change it in the game.
• Traits, aspiration, “birth lottery” origin, and an optional bio you write.

Gameplay and economy records

• Game state: needs, skills, XP, level, current venue, home, job, car, jail status, presence (last seen time).
• Economy records: in-game cash, bank balance, loans, investments, transactions, shifts worked, fines, rent, and transfers to other players. These are fictional game values, but we keep a ledger so we can detect cheating and fix bugs.
• Civic records: elections you run in, your platform, and the fact that you voted (who you voted for is stored so we can count once per player; it isn’t shown to others).
• Achievements and venue visits.

Social and user content

• Messages you send in venue chat and direct messages, friend requests, blocks, relationship requests and statuses (dating, engaged, married) with another player.
• Reports you make about other players, and reports made about you.

Payment information (advertisers only)

• If you buy an ad: your business name, contact email, website URL, tagline, the image you upload, the slot and weeks you book, and the amount paid.
• Card details are entered on and processed by Stripe. We never receive your full card number; we store Stripe’s session and payment identifiers so we can match the payment to your booking and issue refunds.

Device and technical information

• Standard server logs: IP address, browser type and version, operating system, referring page, pages requested, and timestamps.
• A device fingerprint: a hashed combination of browser and device characteristics (for example screen size, time zone, language and browser features). We use it only for abuse prevention — detecting multiple accounts, ban evasion and bots. It is not used for advertising or analytics.
• Aggregate counters, such as total site visits and sign-ups, which contain no personal information.

• No GPS or precise location. The map is fictional. We never ask for or read your device’s location. (Your IP address may indicate a rough region, as with any website.)
• No social login. We don’t connect to Google, Apple, Facebook, Discord or any other identity provider, and we don’t read your contacts.
• No advertising trackers. No third-party ad pixels, no retargeting, no cross-site tracking.
• No real names, government ID, photos of you, date of birth or gender. We ask you to confirm you’re 18+, and that’s it. (Your avatar’s man/woman choice is about the character, not you.)
• No selling of personal information. Ever.

We use personal information only for the purposes you’d reasonably expect from a game like this:

• To run the game — sign you in, save your character, run the economy, show you other players in the same venue, deliver chat and messages, count election votes.
• To keep it safe and fair — enforce the Terms, investigate reports, detect cheating, bots, multiple accounts and ban evasion, and respond to abuse.
• To process advertising orders — take payment through Stripe, review creatives, display approved ads, issue refunds, and send receipts and booking emails.
• To talk to you — password resets, important service notices, and replies when you contact us. We don’t send marketing email unless you ask for it.
• To improve the game — aggregate, de-identified statistics such as which venues are popular or how many shifts were worked this week.
• To comply with law — tax records for ad sales, responding to lawful requests, and defending legal claims.

Consent. By creating an account you consent to the collection and use described here. For purposes that are obvious from the context (saving your game, delivering a message you send) your consent is implied; for anything new or unexpected we’ll ask first. You can withdraw consent at any time by deleting your account, subject to legal retention requirements.

We use a minimal set of cookies and browser storage. None of them are advertising cookies and we don’t allow third parties to set cookies on our site.

Because we only use strictly necessary and functional cookies, we don’t show a cookie banner. You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings, but you won’t be able to stay signed in without the session cookie.

The billboards, lake plots, Gardiner banners and the stats-page sponsorship are real sponsors: businesses that pay to appear on the map. They are the same for every player, like a billboard on the Gardiner. We do not profile players, build interest segments, or share any player data with advertisers. Advertisers see nothing about you. If you click an ad, you leave for the advertiser’s website and their own privacy policy applies.

If you’re an advertiser, we use the contact information you give us to process your booking and to contact you about it. We don’t add you to a marketing list.

We don’t sell or rent personal information. We share it only with the service providers we need to run the game, and with others only in the limited cases below.

Service providers

• Supabase — our database, authentication, realtime messaging and file storage (including ad images). Your account data and game state live here.
• Vercel — hosts the website and runs our server code; processes request logs including IP addresses.
• Stripe — processes advertiser payments and holds card details; we receive only payment status and identifiers.

These providers may store data in the United States or other countries. When your information is outside Canada it is subject to the laws of that country, and we rely on contractual and technical safeguards with each provider. We choose providers with strong security practices and we only give them what they need to perform their service.

Other players

Your handle, display name, avatar (including man/woman), level, bio, relationship status, current venue, home, job, car, mayor status, origin, traits, aspiration, skills, net worth (cash + bank), join date, last-seen time and ban/jail status are visible to other players on your public profile and in venues. Your email, transactions, messages and votes are not.

Legal and safety

We may disclose information if required by law, a court order or a lawful request from a Canadian or foreign authority; to enforce our Terms; to protect the safety of a player or the public; or as part of a merger or sale of the project (in which case this policy continues to apply).

• Account and game data — for as long as your account exists. Accounts inactive for 24 months may be deleted after an email warning.
• Chat and direct messages — venue chat is kept for 30 days; direct messages until either participant deletes their account.
• Reports and moderation records — up to 2 years after the matter is closed, so repeat behaviour can be identified. Ban records tied to a device fingerprint are kept for the duration of the ban plus 90 days.
• Server logs — up to 30 days, unless needed for a security investigation.
• Advertising bookings and payment records — 7 years, as required for Canadian tax and accounting law. Ad images are deleted 90 days after a booking ends.
• Backups — rolling backups are overwritten within 30 days.

• Access and correction. You can see and change most of your information in the game and on the Account page. To request a copy of everything we hold about you, email us; we’ll respond within 30 days as PIPEDA requires.
• Delete your account. It’s self-serve on the Account page. Deletion removes your profile, character, economy records, friendships, messages you sent that are still stored, votes and reports you filed. Some records survive for the periods in section 8 where the law requires it (for example, if you bought an ad) or where needed for safety (for example, a ban record), and your messages may remain visible to the people who already received them.
• Withdraw consent. You can withdraw consent to any non-essential use at any time by contacting us. Withdrawing consent to essential processing means closing your account.
• Cookies. Control them in your browser (see section 5).
• Complain. If you’re not happy with how we handled your information or your request, contact us first. You also have the right to complain to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.

All traffic is encrypted in transit (HTTPS). Passwords are hashed, never stored in plain text. Database access is restricted with row-level security so players can only read their own private data; game-state changes go through our server, not the browser. Card data never touches our servers. Only the operator and vetted moderators can access the admin tools, and moderators see only what they need to handle a report. No system is perfectly secure; if we discover a breach that creates a real risk of significant harm, we will notify affected players and the Privacy Commissioner as PIPEDA requires.

Toronto Life is for players aged 18 and over. We don’t knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18. If you believe a minor has created an account, email us and we’ll delete it.

We’ll update this policy when our practices change or when the law requires. Material changes will be announced on the site (and by email for anything that affects your rights), and the effective date at the top will be updated. Previous versions are available on request.

The person accountable for our privacy practices is the operator of Toronto Life, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Email hello@torontolife.ai with the subject line “Privacy” for access requests, deletion help, complaints, or questions. We aim to reply within a few days and no later than 30 days.