Wellbeing & Responsibility

A world people can escape into carries a responsibility a game does not. The more meaningful Harimu becomes, the more carefully it has to treat the people in it.

Healthy escape vs. avoidance

Escape can be healthy: rest, play, community, a chance to be someone new or try another way of living. It becomes harmful when it replaces things a person needs – sleep, work, relationships, care. Harimu should be a place people come back from feeling better, not a place they cannot leave.

Time and wellbeing tools

• Optional session reminders and personal time limits.
• A world that does not punish absence: offline players are protected (e.g. inflation protection for small balances), so no one feels forced to stay logged in.
• No streak penalties or fear-of-missing-out mechanics designed to compel daily logins.
• Easy ways to take a break, pause, or leave without losing your identity.

Minors

• The minimum age is 16 (per the Decisions Log). Age gating applies at sign-up.
• Any future real-money, mature-content or high-intensity features need additional protections for younger users [VERIFY].

Consent

• Players opt in to deeper features (memory with AI characters, linking real identity, data use beyond the basics).
• AI characters’ memory of a person can be viewed and cleared by that person.

AI disclosure

• Every AI leader, citizen and character is clearly labeled as AI, everywhere, in every phase.
• No AI may claim to be human.

Data and privacy

• Collect only what the world needs. Explain what is stored and why.
• Players can export and delete their data (account deletion flows are in the tech design).
• Conversations with AI are handled under clear, published retention rules [VERIFY].

User agency

• Only the player changes their own character’s core choices (faith, nation within the rules, identity).
• AI can influence the world but never acts on a player’s behalf without consent.

Mental health resources

• Easy access to support resources from anywhere in the world.
• AI characters are designed to recognize signs of distress, respond with care, and point toward real-world help rather than deepen dependence.
• Harimu does not present itself as therapy.

Avoiding exploitation and addictive design

• No loot boxes or chance-based paid rewards.
• No monetization targeting vulnerable players or exploiting loneliness through AI companionship.
• Engagement is not the only success metric; wellbeing signals matter too.

Governance of the AI

• AI leaders act only within a deterministic legal action set; every decision is logged.
• Published rules for what AI can and cannot do, and how that changes between phases.
• Human oversight of AI behavior, with the ability to pause or roll back.
• A clear process for players to report AI behavior and get it reviewed.