Legal

Digital Services Act

Last updated: October 25, 2026

Idle Forge lets players write text that other players read: player names, clan names, Clan Rules, Clan Chat and World Chat, a chat room that every player can read. Because we store that text for players, Idle Forge is a hosting service under the EU Digital Services Act (Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, "DSA"), and because World Chat shows it to every player, an online platform. This page gives the information the DSA asks us to publish, in one place.

Who provides Idle Forge

Idle Forge is provided under the name Pieters Studios by Solusiv, the sole proprietorship (eenmanszaak) of Joey Pieters, registered with the Netherlands Chamber of Commerce (KvK) under number 67882552, Haselackers 49, 7824 LL Emmen, the Netherlands. Solusiv is established in the Netherlands, so there is no separate legal representative in the EU. Our supervisor for the DSA is the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM), the Dutch Digital Services Coordinator.

Contact points

For players and anyone else (DSA Article 12):

Email support@pietersstudios.com. A person reads every message; we do not use a chatbot.
In the game: Settings → Contact Us, which starts an email to the same team with the details we need to find your account.

For authorities of EU Member States, the European Commission and the European Board for Digital Services (DSA Article 11): support@pietersstudios.com.

You can write to both contact points in English or Dutch.

Reporting illegal content

Anyone, including people who do not play Idle Forge, can tell us about content in the game that they believe is illegal.

Players: report the message, the player or the clan in the game (see How to report). For a threat, self-harm or anything that puts a child at risk, choose that reason: one such report goes to a person straight away. Other reports in the game go to a person once several players report the same content or player (see How we moderate). If you want an individual decision on a notice about other illegal content, email it to us.
Anyone: email support@pietersstudios.com with the subject Illegal content notice.

To help us act quickly, please include:

why you believe the content is illegal (and, if you know it, which law it breaks);
where it is: the clan name or "World Chat" and, if you can, the player name, and roughly when the message was written or the text was shown;
your name and email address. You do not have to give them if your notice is about the sexual abuse or sexual exploitation of a child;
a statement that you believe in good faith that the information in your notice is accurate and complete.

What we do with your notice:

If you gave an email address, we confirm that we received your notice. A report made in the game is confirmed in the game, under Forge Chat › Activity.
A person reviews every notice of illegal content sent by email, and every report in the game that opens a moderation case, and decides what to do with it. Some content that players report in the game is hidden automatically while it waits for that review (see How we moderate), but the decision on a notice, and any action against a player, is always taken by a person.
We tell you what we decided and how you can challenge that decision: by email, or in the game under Forge Chat › Activity for a case that started from your report in the game.
We never tell the player you reported who you are, unless the law requires it.

World Chat messages are removed after 24 hours and Clan Chat messages after 7 days. Please report as soon as you can, so the content still exists when we look at it. Content that has been reported in the game is kept for review: a moderation case keeps a copy of the reported content and the messages around it for up to 180 days, and reports and our record of moderation actions are kept for up to 180 days.

How we moderate

The rules for what players may write are the Community Rules, which are part of our Terms of Service. We enforce them in three ways:

Automatic filter. Everything written in World Chat, Clan Chat, Clan Rules, clan names and player names is checked by software when it is sent. Our filter refuses the links, email addresses, phone numbers, social media handles and invitations to move to another app that it recognises. No filter catches everything, which is why players can report what it misses. A chat message with words that are not allowed is hidden from everyone except its writer; a name or Clan Rules text with such words cannot be saved.
Automatic hiding after reports. A World Chat message that two different players report is hidden for everyone until a moderator has looked at it. A message or Clan Rules text that a player who takes part in that chat reports for a threat, self-harm or child safety is hidden for everyone at once, also after a single report, until a moderator has looked at it; each player can trigger this only a few times a day. This hides the content only; it does not count against the writer.
Automatic short mutes. If 3 of a player's chat messages are hidden by the filter or removed by a Clan Lead or Captain within 7 days, that player is muted in chat automatically: 24 hours the first time, then 3 days, then 7 days. World Chat and Clan Chat count together. Software never suspends or bans a player.
Our moderators. People on our team review reports and cases, and can hide or restore content, warn a player, mute a player, suspend a player from chat for a number of days, ban a player from chat permanently, and undo each of these.

Clan Leads and Captains can also remove messages and mute members in their own clan, and delete their own clan's recruitment cards in World Chat; they cannot mute anyone in World Chat. They are players, not Idle Forge staff; if you think one of them misuses this, report them or email us.

We act carefully, objectively and in proportion, and we take the rights of everyone involved into account, including freedom of expression.

How we explain our decisions

When we, or our filter, hide something you wrote or limit your use of chat, the game tells you:

what was restricted, and for how long;
the facts and circumstances we relied on, such as the message concerned and whether it was reported;
which rule of our Community Rules or Terms it broke. Decisions in the game are taken under the Community Rules, which also forbid illegal content; if we act on an email notice because content is illegal, our reply names the law and why;
whether the decision was taken automatically or by a person, and whether automatic means were used to detect it;
how you can challenge it: by asking us to look at it again, or in court. As explained below, out-of-court dispute settlement under the Digital Services Act does not apply to us.

We show this in the game because we do not have your email address.

Asking for a review, and other ways to challenge a decision

Ask us to review it. Email support@pietersstudios.com with the subject Moderation appeal, your player support ID (in Settings) and why you think the decision was wrong, within six months of the decision. A person looks at it again, free of charge, and we reply by email within 14 days. If we were wrong, we undo the decision.
If you reported content and disagree with what we decided, you can ask for a review in the same way.
Go to court. You can always take a dispute to a court. If you are a consumer living in the EU, you can do this in the country where you live.
Out-of-court dispute settlement. As a micro enterprise we are not required to take part in out-of-court dispute settlement under Article 21 of the DSA, and we do not currently do so.

Threats to life or safety, and child sexual abuse

If we become aware of information that makes us suspect a crime that threatens someone's life or safety, we promptly inform the police of the EU country concerned and give them the information we have. If we cannot tell which country is concerned, we inform the Dutch police or Europol.

Content that sexually exploits children, and attempts to groom a child, are removed, the player is banned from chat, the evidence is preserved and kept out of sight, and we report it to the Dutch police and to Offlimits, the Dutch hotline for online child sexual abuse. When there is a link to the United Kingdom, we also report it to the UK National Crime Agency, directly or through NCMEC, as the UK Online Safety Act requires; when there is a link to the United States, we also report it to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC). We keep the evidence for as long as the authority needs it.

Our size, and what this means

Solusiv, which publishes Idle Forge as Pieters Studios, is a micro enterprise within the meaning of Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC. As a result, the DSA's annual transparency reports (Article 15) and the extra duties for online platforms in Articles 20 to 28 do not apply to us. If the ACM or the European Commission asks, we will tell them the average number of monthly active players of the features that show player-written text, as Article 24(3) requires.