Summary
It’s been a rough couple of weeks for newly launched free-to-play games.
Just last week,The First Descendantwas criticized for its"predatory" monetization practicesandseemingly dodgy drop rates. Now,Once Human, which only launched yesterday, is being review-bombed on Steam due to major privacy concerns.
“Identity Theft Speedrun”
When you boot up a new game, you’re likely to expect that there will be some terms of service to adhere to. What you’re less likely to expect is that those terms of service will ask for a “government-issued ID”. That’s exactly what Once Human does.
Under the “Personal Information we receive from you” section of the policy, it states they may collect “first and last name, title, prefix, email address, telephone number, (instant) messaging account, postal address, date of birth, age, gender, country/region, and government-issued ID, such as passport information.” That seems a lot, and has caused major concerns within the game’s fledgling community. This policy has led to a swathe ofnegative reviews on Steam, with dozens of players sharing their distrust for what they’re expected to agree to.
“One of my fastest “Uninstalled” games so far. The Privacy Policy is a no-go for me,” oneuser wrote, with many more stating that the terms of service made them “close” or “uninstall” the game.
Another player referred to the game as an “identity theft speedrun,” a sentiment echoed by others who quickly compared it to spyware. Some users even reported that when they booted up the game, other programs were also openedin the background of their PC.
Currently, the game has over 3,000 Steam reviews, sitting at mixed with just 56% of those reviews positive.
Netease’s Official Response
Starry Studio, a subsidiary of developer and publisher Netease, quickly noted the flurry of negative reviews and released a statement in Once Human’sofficial Discord server.
The statement claims that the company would only collect government-issued IDs when “the local laws require us to do so, when the identity of a user’s parent must be verified to obtain consent for their child, or when the user wishes to correct their age information.” Adding that “ID information is deleted immediately after we have fulfilled the purpose for collecting the ID information in the first place.”
It also states that it will only collect “information such as social media account usernames, names, and address in user surveys that users voluntarily participate in” and that players can “provide as much or as little information in these user surveys if they choose to respond to the survey at all.”
While the concerns are valid, Netease’s response should go some way to quelling any concerns players have.
It’s also a positive sign that Netease is listening to player feedback, as it’s the second response they’ve given within the first 24 hours of Once Human’s launch. Shortly after the game became available, players were disappointed to learn that theycould only ever create one character, and that character would be permanently locked to a single server. Starry Studio quickly rectified that issue, confirming in their official Discord that “multiple-character creation is now available!”
Once Human
WHERE TO PLAY
Once Human takes the MMO in new directions, placing the player in the role of a Meta-Human in the midst of a post-apocalyptic future. You must survive Stardust, an alien creature infecting and influencing a dark and chaotic world.
