Alukos Terms of Service

1.1.These Terms of Service ("Terms") are an agreement between you and Alukos ("we" or "us"). They cover your use of alukos.com, the Alukos game servers, the Alukos Discord bot, the PIM program, and every other service we offer (together, the "Service").

1.2.By creating an account or using the Service, you agree to these Terms, our Privacy Policy, and our Copyright Policy.

1.3.Some parts of the Service have their own rules: the Code of Conduct, the Master Ruleset, each game's rules, and each event's rules. Those rules are part of these Terms. If an event's rules and these Terms disagree about that event, the event's rules apply to that event.

1.4.If you do not agree to these Terms, you must not use the Service.

2.1.You must be at least 13 years old to create an account. If the law where you live sets a higher age for using a service like this without a parent's permission, you must meet that age or have your parent's or guardian's permission.

2.2.If you are under 18 (or under the age of majority where you live), you must have your parent's or legal guardian's permission to use Alukos, and your parent or guardian must agree to these Terms for you. They are responsible for your use of the Service.

2.3.You must not use the Service if we have banned you, or if the law where you live does not allow you to use it.

2.4.An event may set its own age or location rules, for example for events with prizes. See section 9.

3.1.You must give a real email address and a true date of birth when you sign up.

3.2.New accounts are reviewed before they are activated. We may approve or reject any signup, and we may block an email address from signing up again.

3.3.You may have only one Alukos account. You must not create, buy, sell, borrow, or share an account. You must not let anyone else play on your account, and you must not play on anyone else's.

3.4.You are responsible for everything done on your account. Keep your password, passkeys, authenticator app, and recovery codes safe. Tell us right away if you think someone else got into your account.

3.5.If your account has any role beyond a regular player (for example, admin, moderator, or tester), you must set up a second sign-in factor (a passkey or an authenticator app). You will not be able to use the rest of the site until you do.

3.6.Your username, display name, and avatar must not impersonate anyone, include hate speech, or be sexual or threatening. We may change or remove a name that breaks this rule.

4.1.You may browse Alukos and make an account without verifying anything. To take part in ranked matchmaking, scrims, and competitive events, you must:

(a) link a Discord account to your Alukos account; (b) verify a phone number that can receive text messages; and (c) install and run PIM when the queue or event requires it.

4.2.A Discord link is permanent. You cannot unlink it or move it to another Alukos account without help from Alukos staff.

4.3.One phone number can be verified on only one Alukos account. We may refuse some kinds of phone numbers, such as some internet-based (VoIP) numbers.

4.4.Some queues may have fewer requirements. The queue or event page says what it needs.

5.1.PIM is the Alukos anti-cheat program for Windows. Every league, ladder, and tournament match requires PIM, and so does every ranked matchmaking match. Other queues and scrims say on their page whether they require it.

5.2.PIM runs only when you join an Alukos match through PIM. It does not start with Windows, and it stops on its own a few minutes after your match ends.

5.3.While it runs, PIM sends Alukos basic information about your PC, information about your game, your in-game ID, and a recording of each league, ladder, and tournament match. The Privacy Policy explains this in more detail.

5.4.PIM does not record your keystrokes or your screen. It does not use your microphone or camera. It does not read your browsing history, your documents, or your clipboard. It does not change your game.

5.5.A match that requires PIM is played through the Alukos connection relay. You can join that match only through PIM, from the PC you registered with PIM.

5.6.You must not block, tamper with, take apart, reverse engineer, imitate, or interfere with PIM, the connection relay, or the data they send, except where the law allows it in spite of this rule.

5.7.You may remove PIM from your PC at any time. You then cannot play in matches that require it.

6.1.You must not cheat. This includes:

(a) using or having cheat software, scripts, macros, or hardware that gives you an unfair advantage, such as aimbots, wallhacks, or triggerbots; (b) changing game files, configs, or the game itself to gain an advantage that the rules do not allow; (c) using a bug or exploit in a game, a map, a mod, a server, or Alukos on purpose; (d) ghosting, which means getting information you should not have during a match, for example from a spectator or a stream; (e) throwing a match, fixing a result, or agreeing on a result in advance; and (f) boosting, which means playing on another account, or having someone play on yours, to change a rating, rank, or record.

6.2.You must not avoid a ban or penalty. This includes making a new account, using another person's account, playing as a ringer for a banned player, or playing on a team while your account is banned.

6.3.You must not harass, threaten, or abuse other players or staff, and you must not use hate speech. This applies in game, on alukos.com, and in the Alukos Discord.

6.4.You must not grief. Griefing includes leaving or not joining a match on purpose, killing your own team, blocking your team, and wasting other players' time on purpose.

6.5.You must not try to attack or overload the Service, our game servers, or other players, for example with denial-of-service attacks or by trying to find a player's IP address.

6.6.You must report a cheat or exploit to Alukos staff instead of using it or sharing it.

7.1.Every Alukos match server is run by Alukos. No player receives the remote admin password (RCON) for a match server, including captains.

7.2.Results are taken from the match server's own log. Players do not report scores by hand for matches played on our servers, unless an admin asks them to.

7.3.Matchmaking results count right away. League, ladder, and tournament results count once an admin approves them, unless the event approves results from the server log automatically. An admin may still flag and review any result.

7.4.An admin may void a match. A voided result is final and never counts. If the match needs to be played again, it is played as a new match.

7.5.Alukos records league, ladder, and tournament matches. We may keep these recordings (demos) for as long as we choose, and we may use them for anti-cheat, disputes, stats, replays, and analysis. Your in-game name, your play, and your in-game chat may be in these recordings. Alukos never shows in-game chat from a demo anywhere on the site.

7.6.Game servers run in data centers in several countries. The server for a match is chosen by its format or event, or by where the players are connecting from.

7.7.Servers run by a Game Server Operator (GSO) are not used for matchmaking or competitive events. The GSO who runs that server sets its rules.

8.1.If you break these Terms or any rules in section 1.3, we may:

(a) warn you; (b) give you a matchmaking cooldown; (c) remove you from a match, or ban you from the rest of a match; (d) forfeit or void your match; (e) remove you or your Roster from an event; (f) suspend your account for a set time; or (g) ban your account for a set time or permanently.

8.2.Matchmaking penalties for leaving or missing matches are applied automatically and apply to ranked matchmaking only. Unranked matchmaking is never penalized.

8.3.A member of the Alukos staff reviews and decides every ban. No ban is automated. Every ban can be appealed (see 8.6).

8.4.Bans are public. The Banned tab on the Players page and your profile show your ban's category, length, and dates. Your profile also shows your past bans, so that repeated behavior is visible. A ban that was overturned on appeal is not shown. The reason an admin writes, the evidence, and your appeal stay private.

8.5.A repeat offense may get a longer or harsher penalty than a first offense.

8.6.You may appeal a ban or suspension from your account. A staff member reviews each appeal. If an appeal is approved, the ban is lifted and removed from your public ban history. The result of an appeal is final.

8.7.While you are banned, you can still sign in, view the site, and appeal. You cannot take part in matches or events.

8.8.A ban for cheating may cause your team's matches to be forfeited. If your cheating ban is overturned on appeal, those forfeits are reversed.

9.1.Each league, ladder, and tournament has its own page with its format, dates, rules, and any prizes or entry fee.

9.2.To enroll in an event, your Roster must meet the event's requirements. Every player in a competitive event must meet section 4.

9.3.Alukos does not take payments. Before any event with an entry fee or a prize, that event's page will explain how payment and prizes work, and we will ask everyone to agree to updated Terms before such events.

9.4.To receive a prize, you may have to prove your identity, age, and where you live, and give any tax forms the law requires. You are responsible for any taxes on a prize. We may hold or cancel a prize if a player broke the rules, or if the law where the winner lives does not allow it.

9.5.We may change, delay, or cancel an event, for example if too few teams sign up or our servers fail. If we cancel an event that had an entry fee, we will refund the entry fees we collected.

10.1.The person who creates a Team is its Team Owner. The Team Owner controls the Team and its Rosters and is responsible for them.

10.2.Team names, tags, logos, and Roster names must follow section 3.6. They also must not use another team's or company's name or logo without permission.

10.3.A Team's name and tag history, and its match history, are public and stay public, including after the Team or a Roster is retired.

11.1."Your content" means anything you upload or post on the Service, such as demos, clips, names, logos, profile text, comments, and messages.

11.2.You keep ownership of your content. You give Alukos a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to host, store, copy, process, show, and share your content, and to make clips, stats, replays, maps, and other analysis from it. We use this license only to run, improve, and promote the Service. The Copyright Policy explains how long this license lasts.

11.3.When you make a demo or clip public, other signed-in Alukos players may watch it, study it, clip it, and use it in their own analysis on Alukos. When you share it with a Roster, that Roster's current members may do the same.

11.4.You must have the right to upload everything you upload. You must not upload content that is illegal, that breaks someone else's rights, that contains malware, or that shows another person's private information.

11.5.We may remove content that breaks these Terms or the law.

11.6.Alukos may keep and use the competitive record of every match, such as scores, stats, and which account played. This record is part of the Service and stays after you stop using it.

12.1.You must not:

(a) scrape, crawl, or copy the Service in bulk by automated means without our written permission; (b) test or probe the security of the Service without our written permission. If you find a security problem, tell us at [email protected] and do not use it; (c) get around a rate limit, captcha, verification check, or access control; or (d) use the Service to send spam or to collect other players' personal information.

13.1.The Alukos Discord server and the Alukos Discord bot are part of the Service. Discord's own terms also apply when you use Discord.

13.2.When you link Discord, the Alukos bot may send you direct messages about your matches and may add you to the Alukos Discord server and match voice channels when you ask it to join voice.

14.1.Alukos is an independent community platform and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any game publisher. Game names and trademarks belong to their owners.

14.2.You must own a legal copy of each game you play on Alukos.

14.3.Game mods (such as zPAM, PAM, and rPAM) and maps used on our servers belong to their creators.

14.4.The Service links to and relies on other companies' services, such as Discord. Their terms apply to your use of them, and we are not responsible for them.

15.1.You may stop using the Service at any time. To delete your account, or to get a copy of your information, email [email protected]. The Privacy Policy explains what we delete and what we keep, including that your username stays on your match records.

15.2.We may suspend or close your account if you break these Terms, if the law requires it, or if your account harms the Service or other players. We will usually tell you why, unless the law does not allow it, or telling you would help someone cheat or get around a ban.

15.3.Sections 6.2, 8.4, 11.2, 11.6, and 16 to 19 continue after your account ends.

16.1.The Service is free and is provided "as is" and "as available". We do not promise that it will be available at any time, free of errors, secure, or that any game server, stat, or result will be correct.

16.2.PIM cannot catch every cheater, and a match with PIM can still include a cheater. We may change, pause, or stop any part of the Service at any time.

17.1.To the fullest extent the law allows, Alukos is not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, or consequential damages, or for lost profits, lost data, lost prizes, or lost rankings, that come from your use of the Service.

17.2.To the fullest extent the law allows, our total liability for any claim about the Service is limited to the greater of (a) the amount you paid Alukos in the 12 months before the claim, or (b) US$50.

17.3.Some places do not allow these limits. If you live in one of them, some of these limits may not apply to you.

18.1.If someone makes a legal claim against Alukos because of your content, or because you broke these Terms or the law, you agree to cover our reasonable costs of that claim, including lawyers' fees, to the extent the law allows.

19.1.If you have a problem with Alukos, contact us first at [email protected]. Most problems can be fixed this way.

19.2.These Terms are governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, USA, without regard to its conflict-of-law rules.

19.3.Any court case about these Terms or the Service must be brought in the state courts in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, or in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. Either side may also bring a claim in small claims court if it qualifies.

19.4.If you live in the European Union, the United Kingdom, or another place whose consumer laws give you rights that a contract cannot take away, those rights still apply to you, and you may bring a claim in the courts where you live.

20.1.We may change these Terms. When we do, we update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page.

20.2.If a change is important, we will tell you at least 30 days before it takes effect, by email or with a notice on the site, and we will ask you to accept the new Terms when you next sign in. A change needed to follow the law, or to stop cheating or abuse, may take effect sooner.

20.3.If you do not agree to a change, you must stop using the Service and may ask us to delete your account. If you keep using the Service after the change takes effect, you accept it.

20.4.Email [email protected] for an earlier version of these Terms.

21.1.If a court finds part of these Terms cannot be enforced, the rest still applies.

21.2.If we do not enforce part of these Terms right away, we can still enforce it later.

21.3.You may not transfer your account or your rights under these Terms to anyone else. We may transfer these Terms to a new owner of the Service.

21.4.These Terms, together with the documents in sections 1.2 and 1.3, are the whole agreement between you and Alukos about the Service.

Email: [email protected]