Terms of Service

1. About these terms

These terms are an agreement between you and Zer0Lag ("Zer0Lag", "we", "us"). They cover your use of the Zer0Lag website, accounts, multiplayer mods, game servers and subscriptions (together, the "service").

By creating an account or using the service, you agree to these terms and to our Privacy Policy. If you don't agree, don't use the service.

2. Who can use Zer0Lag

• You must be at least 13 years old.
• If you're under 18, a parent or guardian must read and agree to these terms for you, and they're responsible for how you use the service.
• Only an adult, or a minor with a parent's or guardian's permission, may buy a paid plan.
• You can't use the service if we've closed your account before, unless we say you can.

3. Your account and play key

Give us accurate details when you sign up. Your username is public: other players see it on servers and in games.

Your account comes with a play key, which the game mod uses to sign you in to our servers. Keep your password and play key secret. Accounts and play keys are for one person and can't be shared, sold or transferred. Only one connection per account is allowed at a time: connecting to a server disconnects any other connection made with your play key. Mods you download from Zer0Lag come with your play key already filled in, so don't share those copies either. You're responsible for everything done with your account and play key. If you think someone else has them, create a new play key from your account page, change your password and tell us. If you forget your password, you can reset it with a link we email to the address on your account, so keep that email account secure and up to date: anyone who can read it can reset your password. If an administrator sets up your account, they give you a temporary password, and you choose your own the first time you log in.

4. Games and mods

• You need your own copy of each game. Every player needs a legitimate copy of the game they play. Zer0Lag doesn't sell, distribute or stream games. Don't use the service with pirated or unlicensed copies.
• Our mods are unofficial. Zer0Lag isn't affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by the developers or publishers of the games we support. Game names, logos and artwork belong to their owners and are used only to identify the games.
• Check the game's own rules. Some games' licence agreements or online terms limit modding or online play. You're responsible for following the terms of the games you own. Don't use our mods in a way those terms forbid, for example in a game's official online modes.
• Mods can break. Game updates can stop a mod working until we update it. Mods can crash, cause bugs or, rarely, damage save files. Back up your saves before installing a mod. You install and use mods at your own risk.
• We may change, update or stop offering a mod or a supported game at any time, for example if a game's owner asks us to.

5. Servers

Zer0Lag runs its own servers, marked Zer0Lag on each game's page, that any eligible player can join. These are run by Zer0Lag, not by the games' developers or publishers. Paid plans can also include private servers that you control, within your plan's limits on how many servers you can have and how many players each can hold.

• We aim to keep servers running, but we don't guarantee they'll always be available, fast or error-free. We may restart, update, move or pause servers for maintenance, security or abuse prevention, sometimes without notice.
• If you own a private server, you control its name, settings and access, including its whitelist. You're responsible for what happens on it and who you let in.
• You can share a private server with your Zer0Lag friends from its page. They join it as your guests: they need a free Zer0Lag account but not a paid plan, even if the server is set to subscribers only, and only on servers shared with them. Their own plan, or none, still applies everywhere else. You can stop sharing at any time.
• Server data, such as worlds and saves, is not backed up for you. Deleting a server deletes its data permanently.
• Private servers need a plan that covers them. If your plan ends or no longer covers a server, we'll stop the server. See section 6 for when server data is deleted after an unpaid free trial.
• Don't use servers for anything other than running the game, for example mining cryptocurrency, hosting files or running other software.

6. Plans, billing and free trials

• Prices and currency. In South Africa, prices are in South African rand (ZAR) and include any taxes that apply. Everywhere else, prices are in US dollars (USD), converted from the rand price at a rate we set. We decide which applies from where your connection appears to come from when you check out. The price and currency on the Pricing page at checkout are the ones you pay, and they stay the same for your subscription unless we change them as described below.
• Payments are processed by PayFast for rand subscriptions and by PayPal for US-dollar subscriptions. We never see or store your full card or bank details. The payment provider's own terms also apply to your payment, and your bank or PayPal may charge currency conversion fees.
• Plans renew automatically at the end of each monthly or annual period, at the price for that plan and period, until you cancel. You authorise us, through PayFast or PayPal, to charge your payment method at each renewal.
• Price changes. If we change a plan's price, we'll tell you before it applies to your next renewal, so you can cancel first.
• Failed payments. If a renewal isn't paid, your plan lapses. Your private servers are stopped, but their data is kept so you can pick up where you left off when you subscribe again.
• Free trials. When we offer a free trial, you add a payment method at checkout but aren't charged until the trial ends. The plan then renews at the normal price unless you cancel before the trial ends. Each account gets one trial.
• Unpaid trials. If your trial ends and the first payment isn't received, your private servers stop. If you don't subscribe within 10 days after the trial ends, those servers and everything they saved are permanently deleted. We show the deletion date on your account and Pricing pages.

7. Cancelling and refunds

You can cancel anytime on the Pricing page. Cancelling stops future renewals. You keep your plan until the end of the period you've already paid for, and you won't be charged again.

We don't give refunds or credits for partial periods, unused time, or a plan you didn't use. The exceptions are:

• if we charged you by mistake, for example twice for the same period; and
• any refund the law gives you a right to that can't be excluded by agreement.

To ask about a charge, contact us at support@zer0lag.net within 30 days of it.

8. Rules of conduct

When you use the service, don't:

• harass, threaten, abuse or impersonate anyone, or post hateful, sexually explicit or illegal content, including in usernames and server names;
• cheat or exploit bugs in ways that spoil the game for others on servers you don't own;
• attack, overload, probe or scan our servers, website or network, or get around access limits, whitelists, rate limits or plan limits;
• copy, reverse engineer or tamper with our servers, gateway or website, except where the law allows it regardless of these terms;
• share, sell or rent accounts or play keys, or sell or rent server access (sharing your private server with friends through the site is fine);
• resell the service or use it commercially without our written permission;
• use automated tools to create accounts or collect data from the service; or
• break any law, or help or encourage anyone else to do any of the above.

9. Your content

Your content is anything you add to the service: usernames, server names and settings, chat, and the worlds and saves your servers create. You keep ownership of it. You give us a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence to store, copy, run and show it only as needed to provide and protect the service. The licence ends when the content is deleted, apart from copies kept for the limited time described in our Privacy Policy.

You're responsible for your content. We may remove or change content, such as an offensive server name, if it breaks these terms.

10. Our property

The Zer0Lag name, logo, wordmark, website, servers and mods are owned by us or our licensors. We give you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable licence to download and use our mods with the service, for your own non-commercial play. Don't redistribute our mods, or publish modified versions of them, without our permission.

If you send us feedback or ideas, we can use them freely without paying you or giving you credit.

11. Suspension and closing accounts

We may warn you, remove you from a server, or suspend or close your account if you break these terms, if we must do so by law, or to protect players or the service. When the problem allows, we'll tell you why. If we close your account because you broke these terms, we won't refund any time left on your plan.

You can stop using the service anytime, and delete your account yourself with Delete my account on your account page. Deleting your account cancels any subscription, without a refund for time already paid for, and permanently deletes your private servers and their data.

The sections on games and mods, content, our property, the service "as is", limits on liability and governing law still apply after your account is closed.

12. The service "as is"

As far as the law allows, the service, including our mods and servers, is provided "as is" and "as available", without any promise or warranty that it will be uninterrupted, secure, error-free, compatible with every version of a game, or suitable for a particular purpose. Nothing in these terms limits a right you have by law that can't be excluded by agreement.

13. Limits on our liability

As far as the law allows:

• we aren't liable for indirect or consequential loss, or for loss of data, saves, progress, profits or goodwill, arising from the service, our mods or a game; and
• our total liability to you for all claims about the service is limited to the amount you paid us in the 12 months before the claim arose.

These limits don't apply to liability that the law doesn't allow us to limit, such as liability for fraud, or for gross negligence or intentional wrongdoing.

You agree to compensate us for any claim, loss or cost caused by you breaking these terms or the law, or by content you add to the service.

14. Changes

We may change the service and these terms. If we make a significant change to the terms, we'll tell you by posting a notice on the site or contacting you before the change takes effect. If you keep using the service after that, you accept the new terms. If you don't accept them, stop using the service and cancel your plan.

15. Governing law

These terms are governed by the law of the Republic of South Africa, and its courts can decide any dispute about them. If any part of these terms can't be enforced, the rest still applies. If we don't enforce a term straight away, we can still enforce it later. You can't transfer your rights under these terms to anyone else. These terms and the Privacy Policy are the whole agreement between you and us about the service.

16. Contact

Questions about these terms, or legal notices: support@zer0lag.net.