Once Human Ban Reports: Transparency or Dangerous Exposure?

Once Human Ban Reports: Transparency or Dangerous Exposure?

The gaming community often celebrates transparency in moderation. Players want fairness, and platforms need accountability to show that rules are enforced. However, recent behavior from Once Human raises serious concerns about privacy, safety, and legal compliance.

On 21/10/2025, Once Human released a “Fair Play Announcement” detailing hundreds of banned players. The report included region, server, ID, and nickname for each banned account. While some characters in usernames and IDs were censored, our team found it alarmingly easy to identify individuals.

Why This is Risky

Many gamers reuse the same usernames across platforms, sometimes adding minor variations like underscores, hyphens, or numbers. Server IDs and partial account IDs further reduce the effort needed to trace someone. Even partial disclosure can lead to targeted harassment or doxxing.

For example, a banned user displayed as -**HINGED- with ID 1525**187 in the North America server can often be traced to other social platforms if they reuse the same nickname. In the wrong hands, this information becomes a tool for harassment.

Step-by-Step Risk Analysis:

1. Username tracing: Partially censored nicknames can still match common variations on Discord, Steam, VR platforms, or social media.

2. Server correlation: Server names narrow down the user’s community and potential friends list.

3. ID matching: Even a partially hidden numeric ID can be combined with username and server info to confirm identity.

4. Parent accounts and minors: Children playing through parents’ accounts may appear in these reports. Exposing them could violate child protection laws like COPPA in the U.S. or the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Legal Implications

• GDPR (EU): Article 5(1)(a) states personal data must be “processed lawfully, fairly, and in a transparent manner.” Publishing identifiable data without proper anonymization may breach this law.

• PDPA (Asia/Southeast Asia): Similar obligations exist to protect personal data from public disclosure.

• Child Protection Laws: Platforms accessible to minors have additional responsibilities. Publishing partially identifiable data about accounts likely used by children could constitute a violation under COPPA (U.S.) or equivalent EU/Swedish regulations.

Community Concerns

Players trust anonymity to protect their personal safety and freedom of expression. By releasing easily identifiable information, Once Human risks:

• Harassment and doxxing of banned users.

• Minors being exposed through parental accounts.

• Erosion of trust between players and the platform.

Visual Example:

Recommendations for Safer Transparency

1. Stronger anonymization: Remove nicknames entirely or replace them with random strings.

2. Aggregate reporting: Report total bans per region or violation type instead of listing individual accounts.

3. Legal review: Ensure all public disclosures comply with GDPR, PDPA, COPPA, and relevant national legislation.

4. Age checks: Implement reviews to avoid exposing minor users.

5. Community communication: Explain statistics and trends without compromising personal identifiers.

Conclusion

Transparency in gaming moderation is essential, but Once Human’s current reporting methods create significant privacy and legal risks. Users, including minors, can be exposed and harassed. Gaming platforms must balance accountability with protection, ensuring public reports do not compromise player safety. Until Once Human implements stronger anonymization and legal safeguards, the community remains unnecessarily vulnerable.