Last updated: 25 October 2026
Who we are
The MMObserver (https://www.mmobserver.com) is an independent news site about MMORPGs and online games. It is published by Emilien LECOFFRE, who is the data controller for the processing described below.
For any question about your data or to exercise your rights, write to mephistos.ecudechene@gmail.com. We are not required to appoint a Data Protection Officer and have not done so.
We collect as little as possible. You can read the whole site without an account. We run no advertising, sell no data, build no profiles and make no automated decisions about you. Comments are closed and the site has no contact form or newsletter.
What we process, at a glance
| Processing | Data | Purpose | Legal basis (GDPR) | Retention | Recipients |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hosting and server logs | IP address, date and time, page requested, browser (user agent), referring page | Deliver the site, keep it secure | Legitimate interest, Art. 6(1)(f) | Up to 12 months | o2switch (France) |
| Audience measurement (Jetpack Stats) | IP address, browser, page viewed, referring page, browser language, country, time | Count visits per article, in aggregate | Consent, Art. 6(1)(a) | Raw logs: 28 days at Automattic. Aggregated counts: no personal data | Automattic |
| Embedded YouTube videos | IP address, browser, cookies and device identifiers, viewing activity | Play game trailers inside our articles | Consent, Art. 6(1)(a) | Set by Google | Google (YouTube) |
| Consent management (Complianz) | Your choice for each category, stored in cookies on your device | Remember and respect your cookie choice | Legal obligation, Art. 6(1)(c) and Art. 7(1) | 6 months, then we ask again | None: stays on your device |
| Author photos (Gravatar) | IP address and browser, sent when the image loads | Show the author’s photo | Legitimate interest, Art. 6(1)(f) | Set by Automattic; we receive nothing | Automattic |
| Login protection | IP address, username tried, time of attempt | Block password-guessing attacks | Legitimate interest, Art. 6(1)(f) | Lockouts: 20 minutes to 24 hours. Failed-attempt counter: 12 hours | Automattic (Jetpack Protect) |
| Editorial accounts | Name, email, password (hashed), two-factor settings | Run the site | Legitimate interest, Art. 6(1)(f) | While the account is active | o2switch |
When you browse the site
Hosting. The site is hosted by o2switch SAS in Clermont-Ferrand, France. Like any web server, it records each request in technical logs: your IP address, the page requested, the time, your browser and the page you came from. We use these logs only to run the site and investigate attacks.
Audience measurement. If you accept the “Statistics” category, we use Jetpack Stats, provided by Automattic, to count how many people read each article. Automattic receives your IP address, browser, the page viewed, the referring page, your browser language and country. It keeps these logs for 28 days and shows us only aggregated figures: we never see your IP address or who read what.
Jetpack Stats sets no cookie on your device. It does not count visits from our own logged-in editors, and it respects your browser’s Do Not Track setting. Until you accept the “Statistics” category, Jetpack Stats is not loaded at all.
Cookies and your consent
We ask for your consent before loading anything that is not strictly needed to run the site. On your first visit, our banner lets you accept or deny the “Statistics” and “Marketing” categories, and denying is as easy as accepting. You can change your choice at any time with the “Cookie settings” link at the bottom of every page, or from our Cookie Policy.
| Name | Set by | Purpose | Duration | Consent needed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| cmplz_functional, cmplz_statistics, cmplz_preferences, cmplz_marketing, cmplz_consented_services | Complianz (our site) | Remember your choice for each category | 6 months | No (strictly necessary) |
| cmplz_banner-status, cmplz_policy_id | Complianz (our site) | Remember that you saw the banner and which version of our policy applied | 6 months | No (strictly necessary) |
| hybridmagDarkMode | Our theme | Remember whether you chose dark mode | Until you clear it | No (requested by you) |
| wpEmojiSettingsSupports | WordPress | Check whether your browser displays emoji, kept in session storage | Until you close the tab | No (strictly necessary) |
| YouTube cookies (for example YSC, VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE, PREF) | Google, from youtube.com | Play embedded videos; Google’s own analytics and advertising | Session to about 8 months, set by Google | Yes (“Marketing”), never set before you accept |
| WordPress login cookies (wordpress_logged_in_*, wordpress_sec_*, wp-settings-*) | WordPress | Keep editors signed in | Session to 1 year | No (only set for logged-in editors) |
Our banner is provided by Complianz, a plugin that runs on our own server. Your choice is stored only in the cookies above, on your device: it is not sent to us or to any third party. Each time our cookie policy or banner changes, Complianz keeps a dated copy, so we can show what information was presented when you made your choice.
We do not use advertising or social media cookies ourselves. Embedded YouTube videos can set Google cookies, but only after you accept them (see Embedded videos below).
Comments, author photos, videos and links
Comments. Comments are closed on the site, so we collect no comment data. If we open them in the future, we will update this policy first.
Author photos. The author’s photo shown on articles is loaded from Gravatar, a service of Automattic. To display it, your browser connects to Gravatar’s servers, which receive your IP address and browser information. We do not send Gravatar any data about you.
Embedded videos. Many of our articles embed game trailers hosted on YouTube, a Google service. These videos are blocked until you accept them: a placeholder is shown instead. Once you accept, YouTube can set cookies and collect your IP address, device information and viewing activity, which Google may also use for its own purposes, including advertising. Google acts as an independent controller for that use; see Google’s privacy policy.
Links to other sites. Our articles link to game studios and other websites. Once you follow a link, that site’s own privacy policy applies.
Site security
To protect the site against password-guessing attacks, we record the IP address, the username tried and the time of each failed login attempt.
- After 3 failed attempts, the IP address is locked out for 20 minutes; after repeated lockouts, for 24 hours. Failed attempts are forgotten after 12 hours.
- Jetpack Protect, provided by Automattic, checks login attempts against a shared list of known malicious IP addresses.
- Accounts are reserved for our editorial team and protected by two-factor authentication.
These measures only concern people who try to log in. Ordinary readers are not affected.
Who receives your data
Only the providers below receive personal data, each for the purposes listed above.
| Provider | Role | Location | Transfer outside the EU |
|---|---|---|---|
| o2switch SAS, Clermont-Ferrand | Web hosting | France | None |
| Aut O’Mattic A8C Ireland Ltd., Dublin (Automattic group) | Jetpack Stats, Jetpack Protect, Gravatar | Ireland, with possible access from outside the EEA | Covered by the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses |
| Google Ireland Limited, Dublin | YouTube videos, only after you accept them | Ireland and United States | EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework and Standard Contractual Clauses |
You can ask us for a copy of the safeguards that apply to these transfers.
Your rights
Under the GDPR and the French Data Protection Act, you have the right to:
- access your data and get a copy of it;
- have it corrected or erased;
- restrict its use, or object to processing based on our legitimate interest;
- receive the data you gave us in a portable format;
- withdraw your consent at any time, with the “Cookie settings” link at the bottom of every page, without affecting what was done before;
- give instructions on what happens to your data after your death.
To exercise these rights, write to mephistos.ecudechene@gmail.com. We will answer within one month. We may ask for proof of identity if we have a reasonable doubt about who is asking. Since we hold very little data, we will often only be able to confirm that we hold nothing about you.
If you think your rights have not been respected, you can lodge a complaint with the French data protection authority, the CNIL, 3 Place de Fontenoy, TSA 80715, 75334 Paris Cedex 07, France, or with the authority of the EU country where you live.
Changes to this policy
We update this policy whenever the site starts or stops processing personal data, for example if we add a tool, open comments or change our consent provider. The date at the top of this page shows the latest version. Our publisher and hosting details are in our Legal Notice.