Created by a team of sex workers and allies, OnlyBans is an online game about social media censorship and digital discrimination against sex workers. Assuming the role of a sex worker, players in OnlyBans attempt to establish an online fanbase and earn money through posting erotic images.
Players encounter content moderation algorithms, shadow-banning, and other threats based on sex workers’ actual experiences and findings from Posting Into The Void, a report on the impact of FOSTASESTA by Hacking//Hustling. As players attempt to evade being censored by social media platforms and flagged by payment processors, they also encounter a supportive sex worker community, meeting peers who offer tips on mitigating platform data extraction and protecting one’s identity. Through an encounter with an otherworldly entity called M0THER AI, OnlyBans offers a speculative future vision of how marginalized communities can unite to protest these unjust policies and create better alternatives.
Lena Chen – Creator
Lena Chen – Writer
Maggie Oates – Programmer
Goofy Toof – Graphic Designer & Videographer
Avatar Lilith (insta) – Sound Designer
SH – Programming Assistant
Amala Azul, Fae Brite, Hellbait, J.P. (Themme), Lync Johnson, Quin, Karren, Nimina Harley & Stonerdomme – Image and Story Contributors
Lena Chen is a Chinese American writer and artist creating performances and socially engaged art. She has exhibited at Transmediale (Berlin), Färgfabriken (Stockholm), Haus der Kulturen der Welt (Berlin), Science Gallery Detroit, among others. She has been awarded grants and residencies from Sundance Institute and Burning Man Global Arts Fund. She has spoken at Oxford, Yale, Stanford, Ars Electronica, re:publica, and SXSW. Currently pursuing a Ph.D. in performance studies from UC Berkeley, she earned a BA in sociology from Harvard University and a MFA from the Carnegie Mellon School of Art.
Goofy Toof is a queer erotic filmmaker, performance artist, and animator, and self-proclaimed big weirdo. Winner of Best Comedy at the London Fetish Film Festival, her asexual porn parody film CREAMPIE GLORYHOLE is currently touring across film festivals worldwide.
Maggie Oates is a technologist-caregiver and sex work advocate with an interest in experience design, sex, online safety or computing technology.
Avatar Lilith is an audiovisual artist and designer encouraging others to reject linearity and embrace alternative forms of reality through sound, performance, and indoctrination.
Created by a team of sex workers and allies, OnlyBans is an online game about social media censorship and digital discrimination against sex workers. Assuming the role of a sex worker, players in OnlyBans attempt to establish an online fanbase and earn money through posting erotic images.
Players encounter content moderation algorithms, shadow-banning, and other threats based on sex workers’ actual experiences and findings from Posting Into The Void, a report on the impact of FOSTASESTA by Hacking//Hustling. As players attempt to evade being censored by social media platforms and flagged by payment processors, they also encounter a supportive sex worker community, meeting peers who offer tips on mitigating platform data extraction and protecting one’s identity. Through an encounter with an otherworldly entity called M0THER AI, OnlyBans offers a speculative future vision of how marginalized communities can unite to protest these unjust policies and create better alternatives.
Lena Chen – Creator
Lena Chen – Writer
Maggie Oates – Programmer
Goofy Toof – Graphic Designer & Videographer
Avatar Lilith (insta) – Sound Designer
SH – Programming Assistant
Amala Azul, Fae Brite, Hellbait, J.P. (Themme), Lync Johnson, Quin, Karren, Nimina Harley & Stonerdomme – Image and Story Contributors
Lena Chen is a Chinese American writer and artist creating performances and socially engaged art. She has exhibited at Transmediale (Berlin), Färgfabriken (Stockholm), Haus der Kulturen der Welt (Berlin), Science Gallery Detroit, among others. She has been awarded grants and residencies from Sundance Institute and Burning Man Global Arts Fund. She has spoken at Oxford, Yale, Stanford, Ars Electronica, re:publica, and SXSW. Currently pursuing a Ph.D. in performance studies from UC Berkeley, she earned a BA in sociology from Harvard University and a MFA from the Carnegie Mellon School of Art.
Goofy Toof is a queer erotic filmmaker, performance artist, and animator, and self-proclaimed big weirdo. Winner of Best Comedy at the London Fetish Film Festival, her asexual porn parody film CREAMPIE GLORYHOLE is currently touring across film festivals worldwide.
Maggie Oates is a technologist-caregiver and sex work advocate with an interest in experience design, sex, online safety or computing technology.
Avatar Lilith is an audiovisual artist and designer encouraging others to reject linearity and embrace alternative forms of reality through sound, performance, and indoctrination.
