The Creator Pledge

Most apps you use are built around squeezing more out of you: more attention, more data, more spend. Volvelle is built around getting out of your way so you can play.

• Volvelle will be open source. The full source will be public. You will be able to read it, fork it, run your own copy. It will be licensed under AGPL, with a commercial exception for anyone who wants to use the code outside that license's copyleft terms. We are finalizing a security review of the source before we publish it.
• There's always a free way to play. The system-agnostic battle map is free to use with no account, and the full app is always free to self-host under the AGPL. You never have to pay to play.
• Some hosted conveniences may be part of a subscription. Running the hosted version costs money, so some of its conveniences may need an optional subscription, now or later. When something that was free becomes paid, we say so plainly and date it. The same feature is always free to self-host, so it is never out of reach.

• Your data is yours. Exportable, deletable, portable.
• Never sold. Not to advertisers, not to data brokers, not as a "data partnership."
• Never used to build a profile of you for ad targeting, behavioral prediction, or resale.
• Stored with row-level security from day one: your data is scoped to your account at the database level, not just in application code.

• No ads. Ever. Not banner ads, not "sponsored content," not affiliate-stuffed item descriptions.
• No surveillance capitalism. No behavioral profiling, no tracking pixels, no cross-site identifiers.
• No lock-in, no enshittification. Enshittification works by trapping you, and you cannot be trapped here. The entire app is open-source and free to self-host, so if you ever dislike how the hosted version works or what it charges for, you can take your data and run the whole thing yourself for free. That escape hatch is permanent, and it is what keeps us honest.
• No dark patterns. No fake urgency, no manipulated cancel flows, no designed-to-confuse pricing pages.

Some commitments about how Volvelle is made, not just used:

• Transparent AI usage. Where AI helped build the app or generate content, we say so. See the AI Diligence Statement for specifics.
• Public roadmap and changelog. What we're working on and what shipped is visible.
• SRD respect. Game content uses the SRD 5.1 under CC-BY-4.0 only. No scraped or unlicensed rules content.
• Community-driven development. Issues, PRs, and feedback will be public on GitHub. Decisions get explained.

Volvelle is built to be usable. Mobile-first chrome, keyboard-navigable, screen-reader friendly, and explicit about color contrast. Accessibility is built in from day one.

We won't always get it right on the first try. When we miss, we fix it, and the changelog calls out the fix so you know what got better.

This is a living document, but the locked commitments above are locked: they don't move without a clearly-marked version bump and an explanation in the changelog.

When we change a locked line, the change is visible: dated, with the reasoning published. You'll never wake up to a quietly-amended promise.

Updated 2026-06-28. The pricing commitments in the open-core section above were loosened: the hosted version may now use an optional subscription for some conveniences. Everything else is unchanged, including the privacy commitments, no ads, never pay-to-win, no dark patterns, and free self-hosting.