Terms of Service

Mode Labs is the trading name of FOCAHQ PTY LTD (ACN 689 791 875, ABN 92 689 791 875), a company registered in Victoria, Australia. In these Terms, "Mode Labs", "we", "us" and "our" mean that company.

These Terms apply to everything we run (together, the "Service"):

• the website at modelabs.studio, including the Threshold, the World archive, the Game record, and the Store;
• Base Reality (formerly Verdict), our real-world mission app, and its website at basereality.modelabs.studio;
• Versus, our browser game at versus.modelabs.studio;
• Rotlingo, our slang-learning game at rotlingo.modelabs.studio;
• Day One, our game in development;
• our community spaces, such as our Discord servers and social media accounts; and
• citizenship, physical products, and anything else we sell.

The product sections at the end of these Terms add rules for a specific product. If a product section and the rest of these Terms disagree, the product section wins for that product.

By using any part of the Service, you agree to these Terms and to our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, do not use the Service. Some products also ask you to confirm specific rules before you play or post; those confirmations form part of these Terms.

• You must be at least 13 to use the Service. If you are under 18, you need permission from a parent or guardian.
• Some products have a higher minimum age. Versus is for people aged 18 and over.
• If you create an account, give accurate information, keep your sign-in details secure, and tell us at contact@modelabs.studio if you think someone else is using your account. You are responsible for what happens on your account.
• You may not create an account for someone else or use the Service if we have banned you.

Holding to enter the record on modelabs.studio ("crossing the Threshold") gives your browser a sequential witness number and records the time you crossed. No account, name, or email is needed. You can choose to add a display name later. Your standing never unlocks or locks any content: every page stays readable to everyone.

Witness numbers are issued once and are not reassigned. If you clear your browser data, the site will no longer recognise you, but the numbered entry remains on the record.

• Citizenship is a paid membership that renews automatically each billing period until you cancel. The price and billing period are shown before you pay. Payments are processed by Stripe.
• Prices are in Australian dollars. Mode Labs is not registered for GST, so no GST is charged; if that changes, the price shown before you pay will say so.
• You must be 18 or older to buy citizenship. Players aged 13 to 17 can still claim their game record and join the free founding register.
• Founding citizenship is capped at 100 numbered positions. A founding number is permanent and is never reassigned. If your membership lapses, your position is marked as sleeping, not resold.
• Your chosen display name appears on the public Founding Register. You can ask us to change it at any time.
• Citizenship records your place in the Mode Labs record. It is not an investment, a share, or a financial product, and it does not entitle you to any profit, revenue, or exclusive content.
• You can cancel at any time, from the link in any receipt or from the citizenship page on modelabs.studio. Your citizenship continues until the end of the period you have already paid for, and no further payments are taken.

The Algorithm Game is played in public, on Instagram, Discord, and other platforms, under the rules posted with each round. When you take part in public, we may cite your public handle and your public action in the record. If you ask us to stop citing you, we will stop in future entries and review existing ones.

"Your content" means anything you submit to the Service: photos, clips, packs, captions, comments, messages, names, feedback, and similar material.

• You keep ownership of your content.
• You give us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to host, store, copy, process, display, and share your content as needed to run, secure, and improve the Service, and to show it to the people your settings allow. This licence ends when your content is deleted, except for copies we must keep by law or that others have already shared within the Service.
• We will only use your content in our marketing if you have opted in to that within the product, or we have asked you and you have agreed.
• You promise that you have the right to submit your content, including permission from anyone who appears in it and from whoever owns any music, video, or images it includes.
• We may review, refuse, hide, or remove content that breaks these Terms or that we reasonably believe creates risk for others or for us. We do not have to monitor content, and in most products we do not review content before it appears.

When you use the Service, you must not:

• break any law, or help or encourage anyone else to;
• harass, bully, threaten, stalk, or demean anyone, or target anyone for their identity;
• post or show sexual content, nudity, graphic violence, self-harm, or anything involving a minor in a sexual or unsafe way;
• record, photograph, or show another person without their permission;
• share someone else's private information;
• impersonate anyone or misrepresent who you are;
• cheat, exploit bugs, or manipulate scores, records, or rankings;
• access, scrape, probe, or interfere with the Service or its systems without our permission, or use bots or automated accounts; or
• use the Service to send spam or advertise without our permission.

Our community spaces may have extra rules posted in them. You must follow those too.

We respect the rights of creators. If you believe content on the Service infringes your copyright or other rights, email contact@modelabs.studio with:

• a link to, or description of, the content;
• the work or right you say is being infringed;
• your name and contact details; and
• a statement that the information is accurate and that you own or act for the owner of the right.

We will review every complete notice and remove or disable access to content that we reasonably believe infringes. We aim to act within 5 business days. If your content is removed and you believe that was a mistake, you can reply to tell us why. We close the accounts of people who repeatedly post infringing content.

Several of our products ask you to do things in the real world: missions, physical challenges, and on-camera games. Taking part is always optional.

• Only do what is safe and legal for you. Never take part while driving, in traffic, on private property without permission, or anywhere you could hurt yourself or others.
• Stop if you feel pain, dizziness, or discomfort. Physical challenges are not medical or fitness advice.
• Respect the people around you. Do not involve anyone who has not agreed to take part.
• You are responsible for your own actions and safety. To the extent the law allows, we are not responsible for injury, loss, or damage caused by how you choose to complete an activity.

We, or our licensors, own the Service and everything in it other than your content: the software, designs, text, artwork, the Mode Labs, Base Reality, Verdict, Versus, and Day One names and marks, and the record itself. You may use the Service for your own personal, non-commercial purposes. You may share links to and screenshots of public pages. Anything else needs our written permission.

• Prices, taxes, shipping costs, and delivery estimates are shown before you pay. Prices can change, but a change never affects an order you have already placed.
• Physical products are sold through our Shopify store, and citizenship and Rotlingo Aura+ through Stripe. Those providers process your payment details; we never see your full card number.
• Our products come with guarantees that cannot be excluded under the Australian Consumer Law. For a major failure, you are entitled to a replacement or refund, and to compensation for any other reasonably foreseeable loss or damage. You are also entitled to have goods repaired or replaced if they fail to be of acceptable quality and the failure is not a major failure.
• Beyond those rights, we do not offer refunds if you change your mind, unless the checkout page for that product says otherwise. To ask for a refund, repair, or replacement, email contact@modelabs.studio with your order details.
• If a physical order arrives damaged or does not arrive, tell us within 30 days of the expected delivery date and we will put it right.

Some products are in alpha, beta, or another early stage. They can change, lose features or data, or stop working while we build them, sometimes without notice. We will try to tell you before we shut down a product you use. Early-stage products are provided as they are, without promises that they will always be available or work without errors, except for any guarantees the law does not let us exclude.

Parts of the Service rely on other companies, such as Apple and Google app stores, Google sign-in, Discord, Instagram, Shopify, and Stripe. Your use of those services is also governed by their own terms. We are not responsible for services we do not control, and links to other sites are not endorsements.

Nothing in these Terms excludes, restricts, or changes any right or remedy you have under the Australian Consumer Law or any other law that cannot be excluded. Subject to that:

• the Service is provided "as is" and "as available", and we do not promise it will be uninterrupted, error-free, or suitable for any particular purpose;
• we are not liable for any indirect or consequential loss, or for loss of profits, revenue, data, or goodwill;
• where the law allows us to limit our liability for failing to meet a consumer guarantee for services that are not of a kind ordinarily acquired for personal, domestic, or household use, our liability is limited to supplying the services again or paying the cost of having them supplied again; and
• our total liability to you for anything arising from the Service is limited to the greater of the amount you paid us in the 12 months before the claim and AUD 100.

You can stop using the Service at any time and, where a product allows it, delete your account. We may suspend or close your access, or remove your content, if you break these Terms, if we are required to by law, or to protect other people or the Service. Where it is reasonable to do so, we will tell you why. If we close a paid membership without a breach on your part, we will refund the unused portion. Sections that by their nature should continue after termination (such as content licences already granted for shared copies, liability, and governing law) continue.

These Terms are governed by the laws of Victoria, Australia. If you have a problem, please email us first and we will try to resolve it in good faith within 30 days. If we cannot, either of us may take the dispute to the courts of Victoria, Australia, and you also keep any right you have to bring a claim where you live.

We may update these Terms as the Service changes. We will change the date at the top of this page. For significant changes, we will give reasonable notice before they take effect, for example in the product or by email. If you keep using the Service after a change takes effect, the new Terms apply. If you do not agree, stop using the Service and, for a paid membership, cancel it.

Base Reality (formerly Verdict) is a free phone app for iPhone and Android, with a website at basereality.modelabs.studio.

• Base Reality issues missions. You answer one by taking a photo with the in-app camera before the deadline. Missions are optional; the real-world activities section above applies to every mission.
• Before you join, Base Reality asks you to agree to its community rules, which have zero tolerance for objectionable content and abusive users. You can report any proof or user, and block any user. We review reports within 24 hours and remove content and users that break the rules.
• Proof photos are checked automatically for sexual and violent content, and may be hidden by our team.
• Who can see your proofs depends on your privacy setting. We will only feature your proof in our marketing if you turn on "Feature my proof", which is off by default.
• You can delete your account at any time in the app, or by request on the Base Reality website.
• If you downloaded Base Reality from the Apple App Store: these Terms are between you and us, not Apple. Apple has no obligation to provide maintenance or support for the app, and is not responsible for any claims relating to it, including product liability claims, claims that it fails to meet legal or regulatory requirements, consumer protection claims, or intellectual property claims. If the app fails to meet a warranty that applies to it, you may notify Apple and Apple will refund the purchase price (if any); Apple has no other warranty obligation. Apple and its subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these Terms and may enforce them against you. You confirm you are not located in a country subject to a US Government embargo and are not on any US Government list of prohibited or restricted parties.

Versus is a browser game of short, real-world duels at versus.modelabs.studio.

• Versus is for people aged 18 and over. You confirm your age when you first agree to the game rules.
• Some modes use your camera or microphone to score you. They stay off until you turn them on.
• In a live duel, your video and audio are sent directly to the other player. You are responsible for what you show and say. Do not show anyone who has not agreed to be on camera, and do not show anything the conduct section prohibits.
• Versus does not record duels. The other player could still capture their screen, so never show anything you would not want shared.
• Duels currently start from a room link you send to someone you know. If we open matching with strangers, we will update these Terms first.
• You can report or block a player at any time. Reporting a player also blocks them from you. Reports go to our team, but duels are not watched live.
• Clip packs and other uploads: you must own everything you upload or have permission to use it, including from the people shown and the owners of any music or footage. Packs are private unless you share them; public packs are reviewed before they are listed. The copyright and takedown section above applies.
• Scores are measured by software and can be wrong. Records and rankings are for fun. Unless a specific event says otherwise in writing, there are no prizes, and we may correct or remove results that look mistaken or dishonest.

Rotlingo is a browser game for learning internet slang, at rotlingo.modelabs.studio. You can play as a guest or make a free profile.

• You must be 13 or older to use Rotlingo. You tell us your birth year when you make a profile, and we do not create profiles for anyone under 13.
• Lessons explain slang as people really use it, including some crude or offensive words, so you know what they mean. Explaining a word is not endorsing it. Slang changes fast and our meanings are our best reading: use the report button on any card you think is wrong.
• Your username, XP, streak, and Aura+ crown appear on the public Rot League leaderboard. Choose a username that does not reveal who you are.
• Hearts, gems, chests, XP, and streaks are part of the game. They cannot be bought with money, have no cash value, and cannot be exchanged, transferred, or cashed out.
• Aura+ is an optional paid membership. The price (currently A$4.99 a month) and what it includes are shown before you pay. It renews automatically every month until you cancel. Payments are processed by Stripe. Prices are in Australian dollars and no GST is charged while Mode Labs is not registered for GST.
• You must be 18 or older to buy Aura+. A parent or guardian may buy it for the profile of a teenager they are responsible for.
• You can cancel Aura+ at any time from Manage on your profile. It stays on until the end of the month you have paid for, and no further payments are taken. Beyond your rights under the Australian Consumer Law, we do not refund part-months.
• Aura+ perks are cosmetic and convenience features inside the game. We may change them, but we will not take away the main perks during a month you have paid for. If we stop offering Aura+, we will refund the unused part of your current month.
• You can delete your profile at any time from your profile page. Deleting it cancels Aura+ straight away.
• Rotlingo is an independent Mode Labs game. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by Duolingo. Names of memes, shows, games, and creators mentioned in lessons belong to their owners and are mentioned only to explain slang.

Day One is a game for PC that is still in development. It is not yet available to play. When it is released, it will come with its own licence terms, shown through the store you get it from, and we will add a summary here. Until then, the only part of Day One you can use is signing up for updates, which our Privacy Policy covers.

FOCAHQ PTY LTD, trading as Mode Labs
ACN 689 791 875 · ABN 92 689 791 875
Victoria, Australia
Email: contact@modelabs.studio