Terms of Service — The Guide Forge

1. About The Guide Forge

The Guide Forge ("Platform", "we", "us", "our") is an online marketplace where creators publish and sell gaming guides, and gamers purchase and read them. These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your access to and use of the Platform, including all features, content, and services offered at theguideforge.com.

By creating an account or using the Platform, you agree to be bound by these Terms. If you do not agree, you may not use the Platform.

2. Eligibility

You must be at least 13 years of age to create an account on The Guide Forge. If you are under 18, you represent that you have your parent or legal guardian's consent to use the Platform. We reserve the right to request proof of age at any time and to terminate accounts that do not meet this requirement.

3. User Accounts

You are responsible for maintaining the security of your account credentials. You must not share your password or allow others to access your account. You are responsible for all activity that occurs under your account.

You agree to provide accurate and complete information when creating your account and to keep that information up to date. We may suspend or terminate accounts that contain false or misleading information.

4. Creator Responsibilities & Content Ownership

Creators who publish guides on the Platform represent and warrant that:

All content they publish is original or they have the necessary rights and permissions to publish it.
Their content does not infringe upon the intellectual property rights of any third party, including game publishers, other creators, or rights holders.
Their content is accurate to the best of their knowledge and does not contain intentionally misleading information.
They comply with all applicable laws and regulations regarding content they publish.

Ownership. Creators retain all ownership rights in the content they publish. By submitting content to the Platform, creators grant The Guide Forge a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to host, store, display, reproduce, distribute, and promote the content on and in connection with the Platform for as long as the content is published. This license terminates when the content is unpublished or removed, except for archival backup copies retained during the retention periods described in our Privacy Policy.

We reserve the right to remove any content that violates these representations or our content policies without prior notice.

5. Token Economy & Purchases

The Guide Forge uses a virtual token system for transactions on the Platform. Tokens are purchased with real currency (USD) via Stripe and are used to buy guides, palettes, effects, and other digital goods.

Purchases are final. All token purchases are non-refundable once completed.
Tokens are not real currency. Tokens have no cash value and cannot be redeemed for cash by buyers. They are a platform-specific medium of exchange.
No cash redemption for buyers. Only creators who have earned tokens through guide sales, subscriptions, gifted guides, or ad revenue may request a cashout, subject to the cashout terms below.
Token categories. Your balance consists of three kinds of tokens, each with its own policy:
- Purchased tokens — tokens bought directly with real money via Stripe.
- Earned tokens — tokens received from guide sales, subscriptions, gifted guides, or ad revenue. Only earned tokens are eligible for cashout.
- Bonus tokens — tokens granted as part of a paid membership, promotional campaign, level-up reward, or other non-purchase grant. Bonus tokens are spendable on the Platform but are not redeemable for cash.
Token expiration. Purchased tokens expire 12 months from the date of purchase. Earned and bonus tokens expire 6 months from the date they were credited to your account. Expired tokens are permanently removed from your balance with no refund or extension. You can view your token balance, categories, and expiry dates in your token activity ledger at any time.
Minimum guide price. All premium guides must be priced at a minimum of 1,000 tokens (equivalent to $10 USD). The platform enforces this minimum at time of publication — guides priced below this threshold cannot be published. Free guides may be published at no cost to the reader.

6. Platform Fees

The Guide Forge retains 15% of all guide sales as a platform fee. Creators receive the remaining 85% of the token value from each sale. This fee covers platform operation, payment processing, content delivery, and support infrastructure.

We reserve the right to modify the platform fee structure with 30 days' notice to affected creators.

7. Content Moderation & Removal

We reserve the right to review, moderate, and remove any content on the Platform at our sole discretion. Reasons for content removal include, but are not limited to:

Violation of these Terms or our content policies
Copyright or intellectual property infringement claims
Content that is misleading, fraudulent, or of exceptionally low quality
Reports from other users that are substantiated by our review

Review process.Guides may be scanned automatically at publish time (including with AI-assisted classifiers powered by Anthropic's Claude models) and may additionally be reviewed manually by our moderation team before or after publication. Guides that are flagged by automated or manual review may be held, edited, unpublished, or removed. Creators whose content is removed will be notified in-app or by email and may appeal the decision through our support channel.

8. Creator Cashout Terms

Creators may cash out earned tokens (tokens received from guide sales, subscriptions, and ad revenue) subject to the following conditions:

Creators may request a cashout once their earned token balance reaches a minimum of 2,000 tokens (equivalent to $20 USD).
Creators must have a connected and verified Stripe account to receive payouts.
The platform retains a 15% fee on all guide sales, subscriptions, and gifted guide revenue — creators receive 85% of all earnings. The fee is deducted before payout.
Cashouts may be requested manually at any time the minimum is met, or scheduled automatically on a weekly basis (every Monday) or monthly basis (the 1st of each calendar month).
We reserve the right to delay or withhold cashouts if we suspect fraudulent activity.

9. Prohibited Content & Conduct

The following content and behavior are strictly prohibited on The Guide Forge:

Illegal content: Any material that violates applicable laws or regulations.
NSFW content: Pornographic, sexually explicit, or excessively graphic violent content.
Harassment: Content that targets, threatens, or harasses individuals or groups.
Hate speech: Content promoting hatred or discrimination based on race, ethnicity, gender, religion, sexual orientation, disability, or other protected characteristics.
Malware or exploits: Content that promotes or distributes software exploits, cheats that violate game terms of service, or malicious software.
Spam or manipulation: Artificially inflating views, ratings, or sales through automated or deceptive means.
Impersonation: Pretending to be another person, creator, or organization.

Violations may result in content removal, account suspension, or permanent ban at our discretion.

10. Subscriptions & Membership

Creator subscriptions. Creators may offer subscription access to their guides. Creator subscriptions are billed monthly in tokens. By subscribing to a creator, you agree to the recurring charge until you cancel. You may cancel a subscription at any time; access continues until the end of the current billing period.

Platform membership. The Guide Forge also offers a paid platform membership billed in real currency through Stripe at monthly, quarterly, or annual intervals. Membership benefits include ad-free browsing across the Platform and a recurring token bonus (credited as bonus tokens subject to the token policy in Section 5). Membership renews automatically until cancelled. You may cancel at any time from your billing settings; cancellation stops future renewals, and membership benefits remain active through the end of the then-current billing period. Membership fees are non-refundable except where required by applicable law.

10b. Advertising Revenue

The Platform may display advertisements on free guides and on general browsing pages to visitors who do not have an ad-free membership. A share of net advertising revenue attributable to a creator's free guides is credited to that creator in earned tokens via our audit ledger, and is eligible for cashout under Section 8.

Advertising revenue is inherently variable. The amount credited depends on site traffic, visitor geography, ad fill rate, the availability and performance of our third-party ad network, and other factors outside our control. We make no guarantee of any specific ad revenue amount, and we may pause, reduce, or suspend the display of ads at any time — including during periods when no ad network is active or during review by an ad network partner.

11. Dispute Resolution

If you have a dispute with another user or with the Platform, you agree to first attempt to resolve it informally by contacting our support team at legal@theguideforge.com.

If informal resolution is unsuccessful, any disputes arising out of or relating to these Terms or your use of the Platform shall be resolved through binding arbitration in accordance with the rules of the American Arbitration Association, rather than in court. You agree to waive your right to a jury trial or to participate in a class action.

Nothing in this section prevents either party from seeking injunctive or equitable relief from a court of competent jurisdiction.

12. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, The Guide Forge and its operators, employees, and affiliates shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages arising out of or related to your use of the Platform.

The Platform is provided "as is" and "as available" without warranties of any kind, whether express or implied, including but not limited to implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement.

We do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any guide content published by creators. You acknowledge that you use guide content at your own risk.

Our total liability to you for any claims arising out of or related to these Terms or the Platform shall not exceed the amount you have paid to us in the 12 months preceding the claim.

13. Account Suspension, Deletion & Termination

Suspension. We may suspend your account at any time for violation of these Terms or for suspected fraud, abuse, or platform manipulation. Suspended accounts may be restricted from publishing, purchasing, cashing out, or using specific features while under review.

User-initiated deletion & 48-hour grace period. You may request deletion of your account at any time from account settings. Deletion requests enter a 48-hour grace period during which you can sign in again and cancel the request to restore full access. After the 48-hour window elapses, deletion is processed automatically by our scheduled job: your profile is anonymized, published guides are unpublished, and account identifiers are removed, subject to the retention rules in our Privacy Policy.

Token handling on deletion. Any unspent tokens remaining at the time deletion is processed are forfeited and are not converted to cash, unless otherwise required by applicable law. We encourage creators with an earned-token balance at or above the cashout minimum to request a cashout before initiating deletion.

Platform-initiated termination. We may terminate or permanently ban an account for egregious or repeated violations of these Terms, including intellectual-property infringement, fraud, abuse, or manipulation of the token system. Upon termination, your right to use the Platform ceases immediately.

13b. Governing Law

These Terms and any dispute arising out of or relating to them or your use of the Platform are governed by the laws of the State of Texas, United States, without regard to its conflict-of-laws principles. Subject to Section 11 (Dispute Resolution), you and we consent to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located in Texas for any matter not subject to arbitration.

14. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. When we make material changes, we will notify you via email or through a notice on the Platform. Your continued use of the Platform after such changes constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms.

15. Contact Us

If you have questions about these Terms, please contact us at legal@theguideforge.com or visit our Support page.