Skillz Chat & Direct Messaging Rules

Skillz chat rooms provide a forum for members of the Skillz community to communicate, answer questions and get to know their fellow players. Chat is not available in all games but should be coming to additional Skillz games soon.

THE BELOW RULES GOVERN YOUR PARTICIPATION IN CHAT.  PLAYERS WHO VIOLATE THESE RULES MAY TEMPORARILY OR PERMANENTLY LOSE CHAT PRIVILEGES AT SKILLZ’S SOLE DISCRETION. DEPENDING ON THE SEVERITY OF AN OFFENSE, PLAYERS MAY BE PERMANENTLY REMOVED FROM THE SKILLZ PLATFORM ENTIRELY.  SKILLZ RESERVES THE RIGHT TO MODIFY THESE RULES AT ANY TIME, AND YOUR CONTINUED USE OF CHAT CONSTITUTES YOUR AGREEMENT TO ABIDE BY THE RULES.

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Privacy

• Content posted in the chatrooms is seen by many players.  Skillz cannot be responsible for any information or content shared by you.
• Personal information (whether your own or that of another player) should not be shared in chat under any circumstances. This includes information such as your name, phone number, home address, location, financial information, credit card number, passwords, or any other personally identifiable information. Neither Skillz staff nor the chat moderators will ever request this information in a public chat room. 
• In choosing your username, anonymity is a choice. Should you elect to share any identifying information such as your name within your username, Skillz cannot protect your privacy, and specifically disclaims responsibility for your privacy.  
• Impersonating or pretending to be anyone else (including other players, chat moderators, Skillz employees, or game developers) is not permitted. This includes parody avatars, usernames, or profiles.

Inappropriate Content

• Profanity, obscenities, or the use of numbers, letters, or symbols to disguise such words is not permitted.
• Indecent, lewd, pornographic, slanderous, abusive, obscene, violent, insulting, threatening, or harassing language or content, in Skillz’s sole discretion, may not be used or uploaded in any way.
• Please keep comments appropriate for public consumption. Nudity, drugs, and sexually explicit content are strictly prohibited.
• Advanced fonts, Java, tables, HTML, or other programming codes or commands are not allowed in messages.
• Spamming/flooding the channel with the same message repeatedly or posting a series of illegible comments/ gibberish is not permitted.
• Comments promoting and/or glorifying suicide or providing instructions on how to self-harm.
• Conversations that can cause disruption, such as politics or religion, are not allowed.

Harassment & Hate Speech

• Do not engage or encourage others to engage in any targeted abuse against any other user. 
• Comments or activities that attempt to intimidate, degrade, abuse, or bully others, or creates a hostile environment for others, will be considered harassment and are prohibited.
• Comments that promote or encourage discrimination, harassment, or violence based on race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, disability, medical condition, physical characteristics, or veteran status will be considered hate speech and result in loss of chat privileges.
• We do not tolerate violent, graphic, or gory content on Skillz or any actions or content that advocate for or threaten violence of any sort, including threatening or promoting terrorism, physical assault, coercion, or any acts of violence.

Sexual Harassment

• Making unsolicited sexual advances or objectifying statements relating to the sexual body parts/practices towards another player.
• Repeated comments related to another player's perceived attractiveness after the player makes it clear that the behavior is unwanted.
• Sending unsolicited nude media and making statements of performing sexual acts to another player.

Direct Messages

• All Skillz Chat Rules apply to Direct Messages, with a few exceptions. You can share promo codes and personal information at your discretion and at your risk.
• If someone sends you inappropriate information or content via a direct message, please contact Support by tapping on the message and reporting the player, as the chat moderators do not have access to your direct messages. 
• Skillz reserves the right to review all direct messages.

Promotion & Solicitation

• Posting of referral links or promo/invite codes (Skillz or otherwise) is not permitted.
• Using chatrooms for promotion is strictly prohibited.  This includes self-promotion, promotions of any other company, services, or products, or links to other websites, social media, YouTube, PayPal, CashApp or other similar websites or services, or any similar behaviors in Skillz’s sole discretion.
• Solicitation of sexual services and trafficking is not tolerated.

Fraud and Fair Play Matters

• The use of bots or other automated technology in chat is not allowed. 
• Fraud, including but not limited to impersonating or deceiving another user to illicitly obtain personal information, financial information, passwords, account information, or otherwise, is prohibited.
• Accusations of abuse or cheating are not permitted in chat. If you believe someone needs to be investigated by Skillz, please use the “Report Player” link on their in-game player profile to alert our Digital Referee Team. We review all reports and take action only when a player violates our Terms of Service. We will not create a situation where players feel unwelcome simply because they are skilled or have won prizes in-game.

Moderators

• Chat Moderators can be identified by the MOD badge on their account next to their player name. 
• If a Moderator requests you stop violating the Skillz Chat Rules, and you either do not understand or agree with the moderator, please contact Skillz Support by opening a support ticket. 
• Deliberately disobeying, harassing, or fighting with the Moderators will result in temporary or permanent loss of ability to participate in chat.

Miscellaneous

• Please contact Skillz Support if you would prefer not to have access to Skillz chat rooms.
• All chat mutes and bans are binding until expiration or removal upon appeal to Skillz Support. Attempts to circumvent a mute or chat ban by using other accounts will not only increase the length of suspension but may lead to a permanent loss of chat privileges or complete removal from the Skillz platform. You may appeal a loss of chat privileges by contacting Skillz Support. 
• Skillz is a global company. You must abide by all local, national and international laws while on the Skillz platform.