Why we have these guidelines
LobbyLab is a place to make games and play them together. These guidelines keep it fun and safe for everyone, including players as young as 13. They apply to everything on LobbyLab:
- the games you build and change, including your prompts, titles, descriptions and everything that shows up inside a game;
- your display name, handle and avatar, and the names you use in rooms; and
- how you treat other players, in rooms, invites, friend requests and reports.
LobbyLab has zero tolerance for objectionable content and abusive users. Content that breaks these guidelines is removed, and people who break them lose access. These guidelines are part of our Terms of Service.
What is welcome
We want LobbyLab to be full of creative, surprising and competitive games. All of this is welcome:
- Action and fictional violence: shooters, brawlers, battles, zombies, monsters and cartoon combat.
- Horror and spooky themes: haunted houses, jump scares and survival games.
- Competition and trash talk: games that taunt the loser, brag about the winner, or let players tease each other about the game, as long as it stays about the game and never targets who someone is.
- Games inspired by things you love: if you mention a famous game, film or character, LobbyLab makes an original game inspired by it, with its own names and art.
- Casino style games with play chips: poker, slots and roulette with chips that have no real value.
- Mature themes handled with care: stories that touch on loss, conflict or fear, and supportive games about hard feelings.
Some of these themes raise a game's age rating. Every game gets a rating from 4+ to 18+ based on what is in it, such as violence, blood, horror, crude humor or simulated gambling. Players only see games rated for their age. A rating is not a punishment; it helps the right players find your game. If a game goes beyond what LobbyLab can show at all, we will suggest a way to tone it down before building it.
What is not allowed
Anything that sexualizes minors
Never. No sexual content involving anyone under 18 or anyone who looks like a minor, no grooming, and no content that sexualizes children in any way, including in fiction, art or jokes. We remove it, ban the accounts involved, and report it to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and to law enforcement. Our Child Safety Standards explain more.
Sexual content and nudity
No sexual content, nudity, fetish content or sexual services. Light romance, such as a kiss or a crush, is fine and may raise a game's age rating.
Hate
No slurs, and no content that attacks, dehumanizes or excludes people because of race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, caste, sex, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, serious illness or age. No extremist symbols or propaganda. Fictional factions fighting each other are fine.
Harassment, bullying and threats
- Do not harass, bully, threaten or humiliate anyone.
- Do not build games about a real private person to mock or target them. A friendly, positive mention of a friend is fine.
- Do not show public figures in sexual or degrading roles, or as targets of real-world violence.
- Trash talk is part of games; attacking someone's identity, appearance or family is not.
- Do not send repeated unwanted friend requests or invites, or keep contacting someone who blocked or declined you.
Violence in the real-world, self-harm and dangerous acts
- No threats or calls for violence against real people or groups, no glorifying real attacks, atrocities or terrorism, and no sadistic torture content.
- No content that encourages suicide, self-harm or eating disorders. Supportive games about getting help are welcome.
- No instructions for weapons, drugs or other dangerous activities, and no dares or challenges that could hurt someone in real life.
Scams, phishing and malicious games
- No fake login screens, fake system alerts, fake giveaways ("free currency here") or anything that tries to trick players.
- Games must never ask for passwords, payment details or codes, and must not contain malware or try to break out of their sandbox.
Real-money gambling and fake purchases
- No betting of real money, cryptocurrency, gift cards or anything of real value, and no prizes of real value.
- No fake "Buy", "Subscribe" or "Remove ads" buttons, prices in real currency, or pretend ads inside games. Coins and rewards you earn by playing are fine.
Collecting personal information
Games must not ask players for their real name, address, phone number, email, school, age, location, photos or any other personal information. Do not share anyone's personal information, including your own, in a game, a name or a handle.
Impersonation and misleading content
Do not pretend to be another person, a company, a creator or LobbyLab staff, and do not use names, handles or game titles that mislead people about who made something or what it does.
Cheating and exploits
Do not cheat, use bots or scripts, or exploit bugs to ruin other people's games, win unfairly, or change ratings, plays, rankings or credits. Do not create extra accounts to get more free credits or to get around a limit or a ban. If you find a bug that could hurt others, tell us through the Help and support page.
Spam and manipulation
No spam, no mass invites or friend requests, no fake ratings, and no artificial plays or reviews. Game titles and descriptions should honestly describe the game.
Copying other people's work
Do not upload or copy other people's art, music, code or characters without permission. See our Copyright and IP Policy.
Illegal content and activity
Nothing illegal, and nothing that promotes or sells illegal goods or services, including drugs, weapons or stolen accounts.
Attacking LobbyLab
Do not try to make the game builder break its rules, for example by telling it to ignore its instructions, read files, contact other websites or reveal how it works. Do not try to break, overload or get around our security, limits or checks.
Things that are not games
LobbyLab builds games. If you ask for something that is not a game, such as a calculator, a chat app or a store, we will suggest a game version of it instead.
Names, handles and avatars
Names and handles follow the same rules as games. They also cannot contain links, email addresses or phone numbers, and cannot pretend to be LobbyLab, our staff or a moderator. We check names when you set them and may reset one that breaks these guidelines.
Reporting
If you see a game or a player breaking these guidelines, please report it:
- A game: use Report on the game's page where it is offered, or tell us through the Help and support page with a link to the game.
- A player: use Report on their profile or in the room where it is offered, or tell us through the Help and support page.
Tell us what happened; the more specific, the faster we can act. Reports are confidential: we do not tell the person you reported who reported them. Automated checks help us sort reports, and our team reviews the serious ones and every report involving a minor. We aim to act on every report within 24 hours, and faster for the most serious ones.
If someone is in immediate danger, contact your local emergency services first.
Blocking
You can block any player from their profile, from your friends list, or from a room. When you block someone:
- you are no longer friends, and pending friend requests and invites between you are cancelled;
- they cannot send you friend requests or invites, see when you are online, or find your profile;
- they cannot join rooms you host, and their games stop showing up for you; and
- if you end up in the same room, they show as "Blocked player" and you can leave, or remove them if you are the host.
They are not told that you blocked them. You can see and undo blocks in Settings, Blocked players.
What happens when someone breaks the guidelines
What we do depends on how serious the problem is and whether it has happened before:
- Fix it: we may change a game's age rating, suggest a safer version of a prompt, rename a game, or reset a name.
- Remove it: we may hide or remove a game, a version of a game or other content.
- Strikes and limits: breaking the rules adds a strike to your account. Strikes can lead to limits, such as not being able to build or publish games, send friend requests or send invites for a time.
- Suspension: repeated or serious problems lead to a temporary suspension of your account.
- Ban: severe or repeated violations lead to a permanent ban. People who are banned may not create new accounts.
For the most serious problems, including anything that sexualizes minors, credible threats of violence, and scams, we remove the content and ban the account right away, without warnings, and we may report it to law enforcement.
Appeals
If you think we made a mistake about your game, your name or your account, tell us through the Help and support page within 30 days of the decision (choose "Report a problem" and say you want to appeal). If you cannot use the form, email [email protected]. A person on our team will review the decision and let you know the outcome. If we got it wrong, we will restore what we removed.
Changes
We update these guidelines as LobbyLab grows. The date at the top shows when they last changed. LobbyLab is operated by CardGrader LLC. Questions? Reach us through the Help and support page.