Data Policy
Last updated 16 October 2026
This policy explains, record by record, what PygameOnline stores, who can see it, and how long we keep it. It goes with our Privacy Policy.
Our rules
- Collect as little as possible. No names, email addresses, birthdays or contact details. An account is just a username and a password.
- Use it only for teaching. Student data is used to run the site and nothing else.
- Nothing leaves our server. No advertising, analytics, outside sign-in or other companies' content.
- Schools stay in control. Teachers can download or delete a student's data whenever they want.
- Delete what we don't need. Old data is deleted automatically, on the schedule below.
What we store
| Data | Why | Who can see it | How long we keep it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Username | To log in | The student, their teachers, staff; the public if the student publishes a game | Until the account is deleted |
| Password | To log in | Nobody: only a salted one-way hash (PBKDF2) is stored | Until the account is deleted |
| Date joined and last login | So teachers can see who is active, and so unused accounts can be deleted | The student's teachers, staff | Until the account is deleted |
| Class memberships | So teachers can see their students | The student, the class's teacher, staff | Until the student leaves the class or the account is deleted |
| Projects: code, images, thumbnails, titles | The student's work | The student, their teachers, staff; the public if published | Until the student deletes it or the account is deleted |
| Learning progress: typing, debugging, achievements, scores, saved games, cards, XP | To show progress and unlock activities | The student, their teachers, staff | Until a teacher resets it or the account is deleted |
| Card art and notes | Students' drawings for the Packs game | The artist and staff; all users once approved | Until the account is deleted |
| Likes and reports | To rank games and flag inappropriate ones | Staff (reports); totals are public | Until the account is deleted |
| Play records | To count each player once a day | Nobody: stored as an account number or a one-way hash | 30 days |
| Login sessions | To keep you logged in | Nobody | 14 days, or until you log out |
| Staff log | So schools can see which teacher or staff member changed an account | Staff | Kept; after an account is deleted only its username remains |
| Web server technical log (may include IP addresses) | Security and fixing faults | Site administrators | At most 30 days |
Automatic deletion
A student account nobody has logged in to for 365 days is deleted, with all of its work and progress. Teacher, moderator and staff accounts are not deleted automatically. The deletion runs every day.
Deleting an account
A teacher can delete the account of any student who is only in their classes: open the class, choose the student, and use Delete account. Site administrators can delete any account. Deleting is immediate and can't be undone. It removes the account and everything in it: projects, uploaded images, card art, progress, likes and reports. Games the student published disappear from the gallery. The only thing kept is a line in the staff log saying which username was deleted, and by whom.
Taking a student out of a class does not delete their account. At the end of a course, teachers should download anything the student wants to keep, then delete the accounts they no longer need.
Getting a copy
Logged-in students can download everything we hold about them from their account page (click their username at the top of any page). Teachers and staff can download the same file for a student. It is a zip file with the code and images of every project and every record linked to the account. Passwords are never included.
Rules for teachers
- Make usernames that don't identify the student, for example
p3-falcon: no real names, initials with surnames, student ID numbers or email addresses. - Tell students never to put their name, contact details, or photos of themselves or other people in their projects.
- Give temporary passwords to students privately. They are shown once and never stored, and students must change them when they first log in.
- Delete accounts you no longer need at the end of the course.
- Tell us right away if you think an account has been misused.
Security
- All traffic is encrypted with HTTPS, and login cookies are only sent over HTTPS.
- Every request for a student's work checks that the person asking is the student, their teacher or staff.
- Uploaded images are checked to be real images and are never served directly from storage.
- Games and card art are approved by a moderator before others can see them, and games reported by several players are hidden automatically.
- If student information is ever exposed, we will tell the affected schools without delay, and as state law requires.
Contact
Questions or requests: ask your teacher, who will pass them to the site administrator.