Terms of Service

1. Who we are and what this covers

NetworkBound Game Hosting ("NetworkBound", "we", "us") provides hosted game servers at networkbound.org. These Terms form a binding agreement between you and NetworkBound covering your use of the service, including the free tier.

By creating an account or using a server, you accept these Terms, the Acceptable Use Policy, and the Privacy Policy. If you do not accept them, do not use the service.

2. Eligibility

You must be at least 13 years old to hold an account. If you are under 18, you may only use the service with the involvement of a parent or guardian, and that adult accepts these Terms on your behalf.

If you create an account on behalf of an organisation, you confirm you are authorised to bind it.

3. Accounts

You are responsible for everything that happens under your account, including anything done by people you give access to.

Keep your password private and tell us promptly if you believe your account has been accessed by someone else.

We limit accounts per network connection to prevent abuse of the free tier. If you share a connection with other legitimate users and are blocked by this, contact us and we will resolve it.

4. The free tier

The free tier is offered as-is and without any guarantee of availability, capacity, or continuity. It exists because spare capacity exists.

Free servers are suspended automatically after a period without players and resume when someone connects. Expect a short delay on that first connection.

We may change free-tier limits, suspend free servers, or stop offering the free tier at any time. Where practical we will give notice, but we are not obliged to.

We may delete a free server and its data after a prolonged period of inactivity. Keep your own copies of anything you care about.

5. Paid plans, billing and cancellation

Paid plans are billed monthly in advance in US dollars through Stripe, our payment processor. Your subscription renews automatically until cancelled.

We never receive or store your full card details. Stripe handles payment information directly.

You can cancel at any time from your account. Cancellation stops future charges; your service continues until the end of the period you have already paid for.

If a payment fails we may suspend the affected servers. If it remains unpaid we may delete them and their data.

Refunds are governed by our Refund Policy.

We may change prices with at least 30 days' notice to the email on your account. Continuing to use a paid plan after the change takes effect means you accept the new price.

6. Your content

Everything you upload or generate on a server — worlds, configuration, mods, plugins, player data — remains yours. We claim no ownership of it.

You grant us only the permission needed to run the service: to store, copy, transmit and back up that content so your server works.

You are responsible for having the right to use anything you upload, including mods, plugins and game files.

You are responsible for your own backups. Backup features on paid plans are a convenience, not a guarantee.

7. Acceptable use

Your use of the service is subject to the Acceptable Use Policy. Breaching it may result in suspension or termination without refund.

8. Suspension and termination

We may suspend or terminate a server or account if you breach these Terms or the Acceptable Use Policy, if payment fails, if required by law, or if your use threatens the stability or security of our systems or other customers.

Where the situation allows it, we will contact you first and give you a chance to fix the problem. Where it does not — active abuse, an ongoing attack, illegal content — we may act immediately.

You may close your account at any time. On closure or termination we delete your servers and their data. Ask us before closing if you want a copy.

9. Availability

We do not offer a service level agreement or an uptime guarantee on any plan. We run this carefully and monitor it, but we are not promising a number.

Maintenance, hardware failure, network problems, upstream provider issues and abuse mitigation can all interrupt service.

10. Disclaimers

The service is provided "as is" and "as available", without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement, to the fullest extent permitted by law.

We do not warrant that the service will be uninterrupted, timely, secure, or free of errors, or that data will not be lost.

11. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, NetworkBound is not liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, or for lost profits, lost data, or loss of goodwill.

Our total liability for any claim relating to the service is limited to the greater of the amount you paid us in the three months before the claim arose, or twenty-five US dollars.

Some jurisdictions do not allow certain limitations, so parts of this section may not apply to you. Nothing here limits liability that cannot lawfully be limited.

12. Indemnity

You agree to indemnify NetworkBound against claims, damages and reasonable costs arising from your content, your use of the service, or your breach of these Terms or the Acceptable Use Policy.

13. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms. Material changes will be announced on the site and, for account holders, by email at least 14 days before they take effect.

Continuing to use the service after a change takes effect means you accept the updated Terms.

14. Governing law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Washington, United States, without regard to its conflict of law rules. Disputes will be brought in the state or federal courts located in Washington State, and you agree to their jurisdiction.

Nothing here removes consumer rights you have under the mandatory law of your own country of residence.

15. Contact

Questions about these Terms: [email protected]