Public gameplay records stay in your browser.

Scope

What Mastery Quests itself collects

The public Mastery Quests website, the Faculty Build Composer, and current public Mastery Quests games do not automatically send gameplay records to a Mastery Quests database. The composer processes faculty selections in the browser, and generated games are static files that run in the browser.

Mastery Quests does not require a school email address for its current local game workflow and does not sell personal information or use gameplay information for behavioral advertising.

Local browser storage

What may stay on the device

Current multiple-choice games also save the question wording, answer choices, and the chosen answer with a version reference. Newer snapshots include available learning-objective labels and the correct choice after an accepted answer. Unfinished exam selections and rapid guesses have no saved answer key. These snapshots help instructors review answer patterns after questions have been revised. The saved text comes from the game’s authored questions and answer choices. They are included in downloaded game data and in anonymous collection only when that collection is enabled.

Games may use browser local storage to preserve the state needed for the student experience. Depending on the game or mode, that can include a display name or pseudonym, current room, saved run, game mode, question-performance records used by the mastery report, streaks, scores, achievements, artifacts, completion status, sound preferences, and local run data used to create a downloadable results file.

This information remains in that browser profile until the game removes it or the user clears site data. Clearing browser storage, using private browsing, changing browsers, or moving to another device can remove or hide saved progress.

Results and CSV exports

Submission is an intentional step

Public games can generate a completion or gameplay CSV file in the browser. Current public Managerial games include richer local timing, visibility, focus, and selection/copy measurements. Creating or downloading that file does not automatically send it to Mastery Quests or an instructor.

If an instructor requires the file for an assignment, the student chooses to submit it through their LMS, email, another institutional system, or another course process specified by the instructor. Once submitted, that copy is governed by the policies, access controls, and retention practices of the receiving institution or service.

Website hosting data

Ordinary web requests are different from gameplay records

Like other hosted websites, the services that deliver Mastery Quests pages and game files may process ordinary request information such as IP address, browser type, timestamps, and security or diagnostic logs. That infrastructure data is handled by the hosting provider under its own terms. It is not a Mastery Quests question-by-question gameplay record.

Course use

Educational records and FERPA considerations

If a student submits a results file, screenshot, completion code, or other game record as part of a course, that submitted material may become part of the student's education record. The instructor and institution are responsible for handling it consistently with FERPA, institutional policy, approved technology practices, and applicable records requirements.

Students should direct questions about an assigned submission, access, correction, retention, or alternatives to the instructor or institution that assigned the activity.

Your game data

Shared visibility, with different collection settings

Public polished games, including Managerial Intelligence Directorate, Economic Realm, Macro Command System, and Micro Domains, remain local-only for telemetry for now. Supported gameplay records stay on the device unless deliberately downloaded and submitted; downloading a CSV does not transmit or submit it. Private or class-specific builds, including Composer-generated games, can transmit anonymous gameplay and interaction data only when the instructor/deployer explicitly enables collection. Collection is OFF by default. Ordinary collection supports operational, instructional, and product analytics: improving game and content quality, understanding aggregate usage, identifying commonly missed concepts, questions, and objectives, supporting future faculty dashboards, and evaluating aggregate gameplay and interaction patterns. It is not research by default. Separately designated research requires its own institutional/research decisions and dataset handling. Names, email addresses, LMS account identifiers, university identifiers, and free-text responses are not intentionally included in application telemetry. The disclosure in that build shows its current transmission setting. Its random persistent browser identifier can link runs; it is not a verified identity.

Where supported, choose Download Game Data to inspect your own game record, including the behavioral fields in a downloaded/submitted file. Timing, visibility/focus, selection and copy counts describe interactions. Selected or copied content, clipboard contents, keystrokes, screenshots, unrelated-tab URLs and browsing history are not recorded by this telemetry. A tab switch or copy event alone does not establish misconduct, intent, attention, cognition or learning.

In private builds, turning off future transmission cancels queued unsent events and keeps local recording/download available. The setting persists after refresh when browser storage is available. Re-enabling does not replay cancelled events. It cannot retract requests already in flight or delete accepted records. Previously distributed files do not automatically receive newer notices or controls.

Private application telemetry follows the owner-approved 730-day rolling retention policy for whole runs, measured from the latest stored server receipt. Automatic daily checks remove eligible runs at the next successful check; a recent event protects the whole run. Turning off future collection does not erase accepted records, which remain subject to this policy. This is a project policy, not a legal or institutional retention requirement. An authorized administrator can remove eligible server records; that does not delete CSV copies, backups, or provider logs. Export recipients are responsible for those separate copies under their approved arrangements.

See Responsible Telemetry Use for interpretation and file custody, and the Telemetry Data Dictionary for field meanings.

Research

Formal research requires a separate basis

Mastery Quests does not automatically accumulate identifiable gameplay records for later research. If course-submitted records are proposed for formal research, that use should occur only after the appropriate institutional review, authorization, notice, consent, data-minimization, and confidentiality requirements have been satisfied.

Aggregated or properly de-identified information may be used to describe teaching or platform performance when individuals cannot reasonably be identified and the use is otherwise permitted.

Your choices

Local data and course submissions

• Clear locally stored game progress through the browser's site-data controls. Doing so may erase saved runs, achievements, artifacts, and scores.
• Use a personal or non-shared browser profile when saved game progress should remain private from other users of the same device.
• Before submitting a results or CSV file for a course, follow the instructor's directions and use the designated institutional submission method.
• If an assigned activity requires a submission and you have a privacy concern, ask the instructor about the purpose, retention, access, and any available alternative.

Security and retention

Protect the copy that actually leaves the browser

Browser storage saves your progress, but it does not provide the protection of a secure gradebook. Anyone with access to the same browser profile may be able to see locally stored progress. A student using a shared device should take that into account.

When a results file is submitted to a course, the receiving instructor or institution should use appropriate access controls and retain the file only as long as needed for the instructional, administrative, research, or records purpose that justified the submission.

Game records and completion codes should not be treated as infallible proof of identity or academic integrity. They can support course administration, but they should be considered alongside other evidence.

Service providers

Third-party infrastructure

The public site and linked game pages may use Cloudflare and GitHub Pages for hosting and delivery. Those providers may process standard technical information associated with web requests under their own privacy terms and the site's configuration.

Children

Intended audience

Mastery Quests is designed primarily for higher-education use and is not directed to children under 13. A school or instructor considering another audience is responsible for determining whether additional notice, authorization, or parental consent is required.

Changes

Updates to this notice

This notice may be revised when the platform, local-storage behavior, export workflow, hosting infrastructure, instructional use, or legal requirements change. The effective date at the top of the page will be updated when material revisions are made.

Optional telemetry

Optional telemetry on HTTPS hosts

You can choose to collect anonymous gameplay data when you create a game with the official Mastery Quests Composer. Collection is OFF by default. To send data, the game must be published on a supported HTTPS website. Permission to send data lasts 365 days for each generated game. Collection stops if that permission expires or is withdrawn, or if a player turns it off in their browser. Players can still play and download their game data. Data already received stays subject to the separate 730-day retention policy.

A game opened directly from a file on your computer can be played and can save a CSV, but it cannot send gameplay data to Mastery Quests. Publish the same file on a supported HTTPS website to enable collection while its permission is valid. Your LMS or network may still block data collection, so test the game the way students will open it. Anonymous records cannot confirm who played or reliably link the same player across different websites.

The National Engine uses an older data-collection setup. Check its own notice for details.

Email updates and faculty requests

Email updates and faculty requests

Email sign-up is a separate, optional service using Brevo. When enabled, it collects an email address and affirmative consent, then requires email confirmation before list enrollment. It does not enroll game players or faculty requesters automatically and does not connect subscriber emails to gameplay telemetry or classroom participation.

The site passes a sign-up email to Brevo over its backend connection. It does not keep a separate subscriber database or application log of sign-up bodies. Brief rate-limit checks help control abuse. Ordinary hosting and the email provider may process service logs under their own retention settings.

Active subscriptions remain in Brevo until unsubscribe or removal. Every update email must include the provider's unsubscribe link. Unsubscribing stops updates; Brevo may retain a suppression record to prevent accidental re-enrollment. Email wjbyrd@troy.edu to request removal of your contact record or help unsubscribing. Provider backups and previously delivered messages may remain under the receiving services' retention practices.

Faculty question-bank requests are sent by you to the creator's email address. The optional on-page helper prepares an email locally; it does not upload or store entries. The maintainer uses the correspondence to verify faculty eligibility and arrange private fulfillment, and aims to delete completed request correspondence within 90 days. Copies in your sent mail or other mail-system backups are controlled by those systems. Do not include student records in a request.

Contact

Privacy questions

For a course assignment, contact the instructor or institution that directed you to the game. For questions about the Mastery Quests platform, contact William Jennings Byrd at wjbyrd@troy.edu.