I logged into Once Human on March 13, 2026, ready to scavenge in Nalcott. But the first thing I saw wasn't a Deviant or a loot crate. It was the Fair Play Announcement. And wow, did it hit hard. Between March 6 and March 12, the devs dropped the hammer on 137 players. 75 of them were banned for cheating. Four more were punished for maliciously affecting other players. As a Meta who has been wallhacked, aimbotted, and teleported on more times than I can count, I felt a weird mix of relief and frustration. Relief that justice exists. Frustration that it took this long. But hey, better late than never.

The announcement also admitted something rare: the AI model is still learning, so false bans can happen. I appreciate that honesty. If you get hit by a mistake, you can appeal through the in-game screen. I once got a warning email for a building glitch I didn't even know I was exploiting. Scary? Yes. But I appealed, explained my side, and the team reviewed it. So I trust the process... mostly.

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Let me tell you about my worst raid. It was a Tuesday night. My squad and I had built a solid base in RaidZone. We were proud. Then a player flew over our walls, clipped through our foundation, and one-shot our generator with abnormal damage. No footsteps. No warning. Just chaos. We reported him with clips and timestamps. A week later, I saw his name on the ban list. That felt good. Really good. The report system works, but only if we use it.

The devs listed the most reported cheats this cycle: wallhacks, aimbots, flying, teleporting, clipping through walls, and abnormal damage. I've seen all of them. Every single one. And I've reported every single one. Sometimes I wonder if I'm just feeding a black hole. But then the ban list updates. And I see familiar names. So I keep reporting.

Here's a quick breakdown of the language violations from March 6 to March 12. 144 penalties total. Because space is limited, they didn't list names. But the numbers tell a story.

Penalty Duration Number of Cases
30 days 2
7 days 15
1 day 104
2 hours 23

💬 I've been on the receiving end of some nasty chat. Once, a player told me to uninstall and worse. I reported it. Two hours later, I got a notification that action was taken. That small win made me feel seen. The devs say they're upgrading smart filtering to reduce false positives and improving manual review. Good. Because toxic chat ruins the vibe of Nalcott faster than any cheater.

Now, the compensation system. Since the anti-cheat damage compensation mechanism launched, 608 grants have been issued to 203 players during this period. That's huge. But it's not perfect. I lost a full set of gear to a teleporting cheater last month. I submitted a ticket with match details, date, time, and specific losses. I didn't get compensation. And you know what? The devs apologized for that. They said the scope can't cover everything yet. They asked for feedback to improve their algorithms. So I gave it. Every report, every ticket, every clip helps them get better. If you've been affected, don't stay silent. Submit feedback through official customer support. Include everything. Your pain is data. And data leads to change.

The future plans sound promising. Real-time data monitoring. Retrospective enforcement against groups that cheat, carry cheaters, or harass others. Periodic retroactive penalties. Publishing penalized accounts in each Fair Play Announcement. They'll also check for alt accounts and ban those too. That last one is key. Cheaters love their alts. Ban the main, they hop on a smurf. But if you ban the whole network? That hurts.

🏗️ Building mechanics have been buggy lately. I've seen players stack foundations into the sky or phase through walls. The devs are optimizing those issues. Players who exploit building glitches get warning emails and may have their territories reclaimed. Severe cases get account bans. I saw a neighbor lose their entire base because they abused a clipping glitch. Part of me felt bad. Most of me felt satisfied. Fair is fair.

RaidZone is supposed to be a survival competition. Emphasis on competition. Not cheating. Not exploiting. Not harassing. The devs reiterated that any individual or team action that disrupts the fair environment is strictly prohibited. I agree. I play RaidZone for the thrill of outsmarting other players, not for getting killed by someone who's literally flying. So I report. I encourage every Meta to do the same. Use the in-game reporting system. Use official feedback channels. Submit evidence. Upon verification, action will be taken.

We also need to talk about the ban list. The devs published a list of players penalized for severe violations. I scanned it. I recognized a few names from my server. One of them had killed me through a wall two weeks ago. I smiled. Then I felt a little sad. Why do people cheat? What's the point of winning if you didn't earn it? I'll never understand.

The list of players banned for speech violations wasn't published due to space limitations. That's fine. I don't need names. I just need to know that the system works. And it does. Slowly. Imperfectly. But it works.

So here's my takeaway as a regular Meta. The fight against cheaters is not won in a day. It's won in ban waves. In reports. In appeals. In compensation tickets. In kind words. In fair play. The devs are trying. They're not perfect. But they're listening. They admitted false bans can happen. They apologized for missed compensation. They're optimizing chat filters and building mechanics. They're tracking alt accounts. That's more than many games do.

I'll keep playing Once Human. I'll keep reporting cheaters. I'll keep using kind words in chat. And I'll keep hoping that one day, I can log in without seeing a flying player in my raid zone. Until then, I'll trust the process. And I'll thank the devs for the 608 compensation grants, the 137 bans, and the 144 chat penalties. Every action counts.

Let's work together, Metas. Report violations. Reject malicious actions. Protect Nalcott. And remember: fair play isn't just a rule. It's the reason we play.

Thank you for your understanding and support. See you in the wasteland. 🛡️

Beyond reporting cheaters and trusting the ban waves, there's another way I keep my gaming experience fair: making sure I'm not overpaying for the games and DLC I play between raids. I started checking this price comparison site before every purchase, and it's saved me more than a few bucks on titles I would've bought at full price. If you're like me and you'd rather spend your money on cosmetics or a new survival game instead of paying extra for the same download, it's worth a look.

Fair play applies to your wallet too. Do a quick search before you hit buy, compare a few storefronts, and keep the savings for the next expansion. See you out there, Metas.