13 details about the privacy of Miitomo

Síguenos en |     

The first game from Nintendo for mobile

Yesterday Nintendo made history with the worldwide release of its first game for mobiles devices, Miitomo.

A new path for the Japanese company in a category that they almost invented, the portable video game console, but where the landscape has really changed with the appearance of smartphones.

Miitomo is a free game/app, although with micro payments, that allows the user to create an avatar (a Mii) than can be used to play mini games, change clothes, take pictures and communicate with the Miis of our friends. The distinctive feature here is that the Mii that I create will ask me something, I will respond to it and then that answer will be shared with the Miis of my friends. Therefore, the app is a mixed between a video game, a social network and messaging service.

As has already been said, although the app is free, you can buy new content such as clothes. How? Well, you buy this content using the virtual currency from the game. Those coins can be gained by playing mini games, answering questions from the Miis, commenting the answers of your friends or buying them with real money.

On the other hand, and being Nintendo a brand very much associated with children, is interesting to point out that you must be at least 13 years old to play Miitomo.

Therefore, being this the first game from Nintendo for smartphones, and with micro payments, it sounds like a good idea to take a closer look at its privacy.

Miitomo’s Privacy Policy can be found here. Also interesting is the quite long FAQ section for the app.

Let’s go with those 13 details!

The privacy of Miitomo

1.- Some of the data that the app collects: your country and gender, your IP and MAC address, the serial number, telephone number, your Internet service configuration or device settings such as language or the display resolution.

2.- Nintendo could also have access to data such as your contacts or location. Although the user would be informed about that.

3.- If you buy something, after all Miitomo has in-app purchases, the app collects data such as the things that you have bought, how those things are used or the register of licenses.

4.-Some of the data that the app collects while your are using it: the nickname, profile and appearance of your Mii, the alphanumeric codes that identify your character and the ones from people who has interacted with you, the user content created and when you were or not online.

5.- Nintendo also compiles data from your activity during the game, the used features, the time of the day when you are playing, as well as your level and score.

6.- You can link your account of Miitomo with your Facebook or Twitter, so you can find your friends easily. In that case, Nintendo will compile and merge the data gathered from both accounts.

7.-As has already been said, you must be at least 13 years old to use Miitomo. So, this is an app for teenagers or millennials (if there were any doubts, just check the first ad for the app in USA).

8.- The huge amount of information collected by Nintendo can be used to avoid activities that could be illegal, to comply with its legal obligations or to exercise its rights.

9.- The answers that we share with our friends can only be seen by them. When you comment an answer, that can be seen by: the user who made the comment, the user who received it and his/her friends.

10.- You can delete your Miitomo account. That implies that the data from your account, your answers and even your coins will disappear (unless your Miitomo account is linked to a Nintendo account).

11.-If you take a Miifoto, even if your Facebook and Twitter are linked to your account, those photos won’t be automatically published there. Having said that, if you publish the photo but later you want to delete it, that picture will just disappear from Miitomo. If you want to delete it from the social networks where you also shared it, you’ll have to go one by one.

12.- The information collected may be used in aggregated form for demographic or statistical analyses. Nintendo can also use that information for market research and marketing studies. In any case, we can block that use at any moment.

13.- The data compiled we’ll be shared with Nintendo Europe and all its subsidiaries, as well as Nintendo America.

In short, the first app from Nintendo for smartphones is a mix between video game and social network based on the popular Miis. It focuses on the teenager or millennial audience, it includes micro payments and a concept of privacy reasonable enough. Having said that, it’s really interesting how the more info you give to your Wii, answering its questions, the more coins you gain to pay for your goods… 

Happy miiting!

—–