Terms of Service

Gathered (“we”, “us”) operates gatheredalbum.org. By using the site, or by making, keeping or sending anything on it, you agree to these terms. If you do not agree, please do not use the service.

What Gathered is

Gathered makes three digital things, and two small ones beside them, each delivered as a private web link. Nothing is printed or shipped.

The house. A 3D house of your own to play in, in your browser, alone or with one other person. The terrace, with its pool, and the living room are free to try, without an account. Keeping the house, free during early access, keeps it and everything you did in it, opens every room, and includes one key: a private link that lets one other person into your house as its second player. They never pay. Before keeping it, you can invite one person for one day, once per house: they play and talk with you in it, but can’t change anything or keep anything, and when the day ends what they left is deleted. A house can also be made for someone (“A house for …”): it is the same house, their name goes on the door, and the key is meant for them. What is inside a house, and what unlocks as you play, may change as we improve it.

The book. A digital book for someone. You choose a painting, write a message, add photographs, voice recordings or songs, and — if you want — invite other people to add their own pages. Their photographs hang on a wall behind the book.

The pop-up card. A digital card: a painting that stands up as it opens, a music-box tune, and your words and voice, sent as a link.

The awards night and the treasure hunt. Two small digital gifts for one person, each sent as a link. An awards night hands out the awards you write, one at a time, and lets the person you sent it to record acceptance speeches, which you can hear at your own private link. A treasure hunt shows the clues you write one at a time, each opening only when the answer to the one before has been typed, and ends with where you hid your present. The present itself is yours to buy and hide; we only make the clues.

Accounts, links and keys

You do not need an account to try a house, to contribute to someone else’s book, or to send a card. A house you start is held against a private link your browser keeps; once you keep it, the email address you gave when you kept it can sign in and open it anywhere. If you create a book, we hold it against a browser session and, if you give us an email address, a recovery link sent to that address.

Anyone holding a link — a book link, a house’s key — can open it in the role that link carries. Keep your links and your key private; give the key only to the person you mean it for. A key lets its holder into the house and everything in it, but not change the name on the door or take the house off the street: those stay with the owner, or with the person a house was made for. A friend’s one-day link works the same way, for its day only, and lets them change nothing in the house.

Early access

Gathered is in early access. While it is, everything on it is free: keeping a house, with every room and its key, and making and sending a book, a pop-up card, an awards night or a treasure hunt. Nothing is sold, and we never ask for payment details.

The founding promise. Everything you keep or send during early access stays free for as long as Gathered runs. That includes after paid versions arrive: if we start charging, it will be for new things you choose to keep or send, with the price shown before you are asked for anything.

Early access can change or end. Before it ends we will say so on this site, and write to the email address you gave us when you kept a house or sent a book. Some things are paused during early access, such as pop-up cards made by hand from your own photograph.

As nothing is sold during early access, there is nothing to refund. If something doesn’t work, write to support@gatheredalbum.org and we will fix it.

Your content

Everything you and the people you invite add — words, photographs, recordings, songs, messages, and whatever you leave in a house — stays yours. You give us permission to store it, display it where you put it, and show it to the people you share it with. That permission exists only so the product can work. We do not sell your content, use it in advertising, or show it to anyone outside what you shared without asking you first.

By adding content, you confirm that you have the right to share it, and that you have permission from anyone identifiable in a photograph or recording.

Do not upload or write anything unlawful, anything that infringes someone else’s rights, anything sexual involving minors, or anything intended to harass a person. That includes the name on a house’s door, which can be seen from the street. We may remove content, change a door name, take a house off the street, or close a house or a book that breaks this, without notice.

The artwork

Your licence covers the artwork inside what you made, kept or sent — a house, a book or a card — and nothing else. You may not extract, resell, or redistribute the image files, or use them outside it. The Real Places collection is photographed by us.

The music

A pop-up card’s tunes are public-domain melodies, played on the music box of the Musyng Kite soundfont as published in midi-js-soundfonts, which is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0. Our recordings of the tunes are shared under the same licence.

Availability

We try to keep houses, books and cards online and working, but we do not guarantee uninterrupted service, and we are a small operation. Keep your own copies of anything irreplaceable. We are not a backup service for your photographs. A free house nobody has been inside for a while is cleared away, as the privacy notice describes.

We may change or discontinue features. If we ever have to shut down, we will give reasonable notice and a way to retrieve what you made.

Liability

To the extent the law allows, Gathered is provided as-is, and free of charge during early access, and we are not liable for indirect loss or for losing something you kept no copy of. Nothing here limits liability that cannot lawfully be limited.

Changes and contact

We may update these terms. Material changes will be noted on this page with a new date. Questions go to support@gatheredalbum.org.

These terms are governed by the law of the People’s Republic of China.

Gathered · support@gatheredalbum.org