Yes. Text-based games are traditionally free and it would only hurt our player base to try to change that.
[top]The account system gives us superior control over how characters are created and managed. It also allows us to separate players, who may have many characters, from the characters themselves, who tend to come and go. It allows us to permanently retain records and settings for a player, rather than lose all that information if the player deletes their current character.
[top]For the purposes of game balancing, and to defeat cheaters, each player is allowed only one account. Requiring a unique email address for each account helps to ensure that this is so.
[top]Any email address will do. Gmail or Yahoo emails are fine. We no longer disallow free email.
[top]Nothing. They're stored privately and securely in your account info, and aren't accessible to anyone but the SquidSoft.net staff. We don't send them to anyone else. They're just used to help ensure that each player has just one account.
[top]Probably not. There were a couple instances in the distant past when we had to switch servers unexpectedly, and had no way to notify the players of the move except via email. But we now have our own server and our own domain, so this won't be necessary again. The only time we send email to players is when they email us first.
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