Community Guidelines

Discussing games is not the problem

Games contain violence, horror, sexual themes, cruelty and grief, and talking about them honestly means describing those things. Writing about a brutal boss fight, a disturbing story beat or a game that upset you is entirely welcome, and moderation will not treat it as a breach.

These guidelines are about how people treat each other. The line is conduct directed at a person, not subject matter drawn from a game.

Ordinary swearing is not prohibited. Playthroughs does not filter or replace words, and a review that swears at a difficulty spike is not a breach of anything. What matters is context: the same word aimed at another person as abuse, or used as a slur, is a breach and can be reported and moderated.

Harassment and bullying

Do not target another person with insults, mockery, sustained unwanted attention or pile-ons. Disagreeing with someone's opinion of a game is fine, and strong opinions about games are the point of the place. Following someone around the app to undermine them is not.

If someone is bothering you, you can block them. Blocking is immediate, does not notify them, and hides their content from you.

Hateful conduct

Do not attack or demean anyone on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, disability, age, sex, gender identity, gender expression or sexual orientation. Slurs aimed at those characteristics are not permitted, including in usernames.

Threats and violence

Do not threaten anyone, encourage others to harm a person, or celebrate real violence done to someone. In-game violence is not covered by this rule; violence against real people is.

Sexual content and child safety

Do not post sexually explicit material or use the service to solicit sexual contact. Discussing sexual themes in a game, including in a review, is acceptable.

Playthroughs prohibits child sexual abuse and exploitation (CSAE) of any kind, including child sexual abuse material, sexualised depictions of minors, grooming, sextortion and the solicitation of a minor. This is absolute and admits no context or artistic exception. Such content is removed immediately, the account is suspended permanently, and the material is reported to the relevant authorities.

Self-harm

If you are struggling, you are not doing anything wrong by saying so, and talking about your own difficulties is not a breach of these guidelines. What is not permitted is encouraging someone else to hurt themselves, or giving instructions for doing so.

If you are in immediate danger, please contact your local emergency services. We are a game journal and are not equipped to provide crisis support.

Spam, scams and deception

Do not post repetitive promotional content, key-selling offers, referral schemes, phishing links or anything designed to mislead people into parting with money or account details. Recommending a game you like is not spam. Posting the same link across thirty reviews is.

Personal information

Do not post someone else's private information — home address, phone number, workplace, private messages, or anything else they have not chosen to make public. This applies whether or not you believe the information is already available elsewhere.

Impersonation

Do not present yourself as another person, as a games company, or as Playthroughs staff. Parody and fan accounts are fine when it is obvious to a reasonable person that they are not the real thing.

Unlawful content

Do not use Playthroughs to break the law, distribute pirated material or share content you have no right to share.

Reporting and blocking

Every comment, review, list, playthrough and profile has a Report action. Choose the category that fits best and add details if it helps explain the problem.

Reporting something is not a vote. A report is read by a person, who decides what to do based on these guidelines, not on how many reports arrived.

Reporting someone does not block them. After a report is submitted we ask whether you would also like to block that user, and you can decline. Block user is also always available on its own, from a profile or a comment, and takes effect immediately without notifying the person you blocked.

Playthroughs is run by one developer, so we do not promise a response time. Reports are read and acted on as promptly as we can manage. If something is urgent, email support@playthroughs.app directly.

What happens when a rule is broken

We use the least disruptive response that addresses the problem:

• Nothing. Plenty of reports turn out to be a disagreement rather than a breach, and we dismiss them.
• Content removal. The comment, review, list or playthrough is removed. Removal is permanent and we cannot restore it.
• A profile reset. Where the offending material is in a username, display name or biography, those fields are cleared and the account is given a neutral placeholder username.
• Account suspension. The account can no longer sign in. This is reserved for severe breaches or repeated ones.

The owner of a review, list or playthrough can also remove any comment on it, without involving us. It is your space and you do not need our permission to keep it civil.

If you think we got it wrong

Email support@playthroughs.app. Tell us your username, what was removed or restricted, and why you think the decision was wrong. We do not have a formal appeals process yet, and we would rather say so plainly than pretend otherwise. We will read what you send and reconsider.

Changes to these guidelines

We will update these guidelines as the service grows and as we learn where they are unclear. The date at the top reflects the most recent change.