Playing fair

When you sign up you agree to the game's user agreement. These are its rules in plain words. The full text is on the User agreement page, under Help in the menu.

• You must be 13 or older to play.
• One account per person. Don't play more than one account, and don't use accounts to help one another.
• Keep your password to yourself. Don't share, sell or trade accounts.

• Play by hand. No scripts, bots or programs that play for you or load pages by themselves.
• Don't use bugs to your advantage. Report them in the Report errors and bugs forum instead.
• Game money, shares and goods have no value outside the game. They can't be sold or swapped for real money, and you may not offer to do so.

These rules cover everything other players can see: mail, forum posts, blogs and team shout boxes, and the names you choose for yourself, your secretary, your company, your buildings and your team, as well as logos. Names and logos must be suitable for everyone.

• No bullying, harassment, threats or personal attacks.
• No hate against anyone for who they are, no sexual content and no swearing.
• Nothing illegal, and nothing that encourages anyone to harm themselves or others.
• Don't share anyone's personal details, including your own: real names, addresses, phone numbers, photos or social media.
• Don't ask other players to meet up, to move to another app, or to send you pictures.
• No spam or advertising, and don't pretend to be the game staff or another player.
• Follow the forum rules shown in each forum (see Forums, mail and blogs).

What you write stays yours, but by posting it you let the game show it.

If you see something that breaks these rules, report it: every message, forum post and blog post, and every player, company, logo and team page, has a Report link. Reports go to the game staff, and the player you report is not told who reported them. You can also block a player, so that neither of you can mail or invite the other to a team.

If you think someone is in danger, or a child is being harmed or approached by an adult, tell the police straight away (999 in an emergency) or report it to CEOP at ceop.police.uk, and report it in the game as well.

The rules of the game, its numbers and the user agreement may change between rounds.