Studio Policy

Community Review

Last updated: May 2026

Rusthorn games engage real subject matter. Before content engaging identity, harassment, safeguarding, sportswashing, or eligibility-controversy themes is locked for shipping, members of the affected communities review it. Their identities are not disclosed.

What gets reviewed

Any content engaging:

Race, ethnicity, or nationality framing of named characters
LGBTQ+ identity, including trans and non-binary representation
Disability, neurodivergence, mental health
Safeguarding and minor-athlete situations
Gender-based harassment
Sportswashing scenarios involving real-world-analogue regimes
Eligibility-controversy cards
Religious or political identity framing

Who reviews

People from the communities the content depicts. The studio does not publish their names. Naming reviewers from marginalized communities exposes them to harassment in motorsport-adjacent and gaming-adjacent online spaces, and turns review into a performative credit list, which is not what review is for.

You have to trust that the work happened. The studio earns or loses that trust through what ships.

How feedback is handled

Three possible outcomes per piece of feedback:

Adopted: change goes into the shipping build.
Adopted with modification: the underlying concern is addressed but the specific edit differs from what was suggested.
Not adopted: rare. The reviewer is informed before the decision is final.

The studio is responsible for what ships. Reviewers do not carry blame for shipped content; they offered input, the studio made the call.

What the studio does not do

Name reviewers, ever.
Pay reviewers a fixed fee or contract them as consultants.
Allocate revenue to "consulted communities" as a donation gesture.
Treat one reviewer as representative of an entire community.
Use review as a pre-emptive defense against post-release criticism.

Policy applies to all content categories without exception

Community Review is the studio's mechanism for ALL content engaging marginalized, vulnerable, or specialised-expertise communities. No content category is carved out for separate paid professional review. This includes minor-athlete safeguarding, mental health, substance use, identity content, sportswashing, eligibility controversy, religious or political identity, workplace harassment, and any future content category that engages a specific community's experience.

The studio's resource allocation is consistent: time and attention go to listening, not money to consulting fees. Players, journalists, and critics who want paid-professional sign-off on any specific content type are directed to this section.

Post-release feedback

If you find content in any shipped Rusthorn game that warrants review, contact sensitivity@cinderpoint.com. The studio commits to acknowledging within 72 hours and substantively responding within 14 days. Content can be patched after launch via the standard update mechanism.

Versioning

This statement is versioned. Changes are logged in the source-of-truth document maintained internally by the studio.

Ethical Monetization Commitment