The contents of this thread was originally written in a pinned thread on my Bsky 'art' account.
It's probably easiest to contact me on Bsky, as I'm most active on there, but I'll share a guide from Tumblr underneath as well as the contents of the FAQ thread I made.
On Bsky
If you are interested in a Webglaze invite key please follow this 3 part instructions guide for streamlining the process for both of us. I get 20 invite keys regularly and keep a wait-list.
1. Follow me so I can follow DM you back the invite.
2. Please prepare some kind of proof of you being an artist.
3. Like & reply to the Bsky thread when you've done both step 1 and 2.
Important! I've locked the thread so only followers can reply to it. You can unfollow me on there after you've gotten the invite if you want.
On Tumblr
The process is similar to Bluesky.
1. Comment below this post and I'll follow you when I see it and comment back.
2. If your blog is an art blog there's no need to prepare anything, but otherwise please prepare some kind of proof of you being an artist.
3. Message me when you see my reply.
Other general info
> JFYI. You can both share link in your reply or DM. If it's to another website than the one you are messaging me on I need to verify you on there through messages and I can't sign up everywhere.
Websites I am on:
Tumblr
Artgram
Inkblot
Pillowfort
Artfol
Artfight
Cara
Repurposed meme fanart of mine.
Thank you for coming to my 🧵thread-talk!
FAQ Below
Q1: Why are you using this account instead of @707kat.bsky.social?
A1: Because I don't want my main accounts DM to be overrun with webglaze related DMs.
Q2: What happens if you run out of invites?
A2: I get invites renewed regularly and keep a wait-list. I also know others handing out keys.
Q3: Why do I have to prove I'm an artist?
A3: Webglaze is run by @theglazeproject.bsky.social and they use resources in the form of compute on glazing your work. In order not to have bad actors abuse it they and the people handing out keys try to vet that it's artists that get invites.
Q4: Are you affiliated with and if not why are you handing out invites?
A4: I'm not. I'm an independent hobby artist who was entrusted with a special account that generate invite keys. I and several others volunteer our spare time to hand out keys to other artists.
Q5: Why doesn't the team do it themselves?
A5: The team does hand out keys, but they are a small research team and the volume of the requests is overwhelming. That might be why you haven't received a key from them when making a request. Here's their instructions on how to get an invite from them.
Q6: Glaze and Nighshade is snakeoil. It doesn't work.
A6: Glaze and Nightshade are not a permanent solutions. The team acknowledges this on their website and explains why that is as well as acknowledges instances where it's been broken in the past by other researchers. See Risks and Limitations.
Q7: If it's not a permanent solution, then why do it at all?
A7: I'll let the Glaze team speak for themselves here:
source: Glaze- What is Glaze.
Risks and Limitations.
Research in machine learning moves quickly, and there are inherent risks in relying on a tool like Glaze.
Changes made by Glaze are more visible on art with flat colors and smooth backgrounds. The new update (Glaze 2.0) has made great strides along this front, but we will continue to look for ways to improve.
Unfortunately, Glaze is not a permanent solution against AI mimicry. Systems like Glaze face an inherent challenge of being future-proof (Radiya et al). It is always possible for techniques we use today to be overcome by a future algorithm, possibly rendering previously protected art vulnerable. Thus Glaze is not a panacea, but a necessary first step towards artist-centric protection tools to resist AI mimicry. Our hope is that Glaze and followup projects will provide protection to artists while longer term (legal, regulatory) efforts take hold.
I've been playing Mystic Messenger on and off since early 2017. I've paid for in-game currency, won an MM related event on Twitter, played the game many times over saved my HG and hearts, as well as bought both VIP packages and plentiful of Cheritz official merch. (I have a whole closet full of the stuff)
I had well over 6K HG in game that I got through a natural progression of ingame play time as well as getting HG every time there was an event, birthday etc. and now all of that is banned because @cheritzteam involved some kind of AI targeting system.
I did not cheat or alter the game to have more hearts. My account has been semi inactive except for me checking in for details about the game, because Mystic Messenger didn't stop being part of my life just because I semi quit the fandom.
I have been writing with my RP partner for over 9 years about the characters and their lives. And it's been a stable part of my life for all of that time. So I'm angry that I had my account banned because I got flagged for having a high volume of HG. I paid for a good chunk of those and were frugal with using them for resetting chatrooms etc.
If this happened to you there's a Reddit thread where they are collecting and sharing information regarding the bans. Write Cheritz and let them know this isn't okay. If enough of us write hopefully they'll roll back the bans, or at least remove the ban on people who didn't mess with the game like they are being accused of.
I really hope this is resolved before the Choi's birthday next month and the 10 year anniversary this summer!
Cheritz customer support got back to me and asked for the receipts. They've gotten them, but I think what's happening is seriously twisted. No shade on the workers at the company, they are just doing their job.
But...
They have our emails, why haven't any of us who got banned received any notifications that they were blackballing/banning our accounts? Wouldn't they be able to see history of purchases etc.?
---
Help: If you don't have receipts for HG!
Let them know that you got the HG and hearts through natural gameplay. Clearly they have no way of knowing that you didn't. I know people who have gotten their accounts back without receipts.
---
About what's happening
The wide sweep ban points to them employing some faulty AI system to flag all accounts that seems 'suspicious'.
Surely accounts that after near a decade and a lack of DLC drops since 2021 easily could have accumulated that, and so many more HG, through just regular gameplay?
My accounts been up more than 9 years. Many of the others who have been taken down was up since 2016. What happens to the accounts of people who aren't terminally online (like me) or doesn't keep taps on the fandom anymore ? Do they just have their accounts deleted and find out when they remember Mystic Messenger is a thing and it's been 10 years?
I expect to get my account back, but I also expect that anything else can happen. The sudden idea to ban year-old dormant accounts makes me suspect that something else is coming. With the recent track record I worry it's something worse.
They ask for our 'kind patience', that ran out for me a while ago over other employment of AI in their company and games. This was just a cherry on top of a sh¡t sundae.
So salvage your MM memories, they might get another unwarranted artificial face-lift soon. This is just me speculating. I hope I'm wrong.
I've been unbanned after providing receipts for several of my many purchases mentioned above, but the language have suddenly shifted from banned => restriction?
How Cheritz treats users in 2026.
Accuse them of fraud in a mass ban event done by a faulty AI system, insisting that they prove they didn't cheat the in-game system playing a decade old game.
Cheritz not having made an official apology about sweep and rolled it back speaks volumes!
Instead they've doubled down in private emails "apologising" to individual users, insisting that there's been weird HG movements on their account when they can't prove it.
And now they pretend like it was a temporary restriction after they literally banning and accusing me (and so many other players) of fraud/tampering with their app to game the system?
---
I know I was already pissed at them for their overt generative AI use in their games, on SoMe and everywhere else, but this just made me really angry. I swear if this is part of a move to slopify MM.
from piecing together every photo i could, here's what i think his home could possibly look like!
i'm assuming his parking garage is one story and has a ramp to go down where you'd be met with his gate
i also think his bedroom would lead down that stairway next to his gate. taking into thought of when Yoosung is over and says Seven slams his door to work, there must be a door at the bottom of those stairs (this also makes his place 3 stories like that said)
the light blue, i am assuming is his kitchen. based on the fact that Seven created all the photos (minus Zen's) in the April Fools DLC, he must have taken them in his house.
if you'd do anything different i'd love to hear why! this is just what makes sense to me based on all the lore ik
I've been playing Mystic Messenger on and off since early 2017. I've paid for in-game currency, won an MM related event on Twitter, played the game many times over saved my HG and hearts, as well as bought both VIP packages and plentiful of Cheritz official merch. (I have a whole closet full of the stuff)
I had well over 6K HG in game that I got through a natural progression of ingame play time as well as getting HG every time there was an event, birthday etc. and now all of that is banned because @cheritzteam involved some kind of AI targeting system.
I did not cheat or alter the game to have more hearts. My account has been semi inactive except for me checking in for details about the game, because Mystic Messenger didn't stop being part of my life just because I semi quit the fandom.
I have been writing with my RP partner for over 9 years about the characters and their lives. And it's been a stable part of my life for all of that time. So I'm angry that I had my account banned because I got flagged for having a high volume of HG. I paid for a good chunk of those and were frugal with using them for resetting chatrooms etc.
If this happened to you there's a Reddit thread where they are collecting and sharing information regarding the bans. Write Cheritz and let them know this isn't okay. If enough of us write hopefully they'll roll back the bans, or at least remove the ban on people who didn't mess with the game like they are being accused of.
I really hope this is resolved before the Choi's birthday next month and the 10 year anniversary this summer!
Cheritz customer support got back to me and asked for the receipts. They've gotten them, but I think what's happening is seriously twisted. No shade on the workers at the company, they are just doing their job.
But...
They have our emails, why haven't any of us who got banned received any notifications that they were blackballing/banning our accounts? Wouldn't they be able to see history of purchases etc.?
---
Help: If you don't have receipts for HG!
Let them know that you got the HG and hearts through natural gameplay. Clearly they have no way of knowing that you didn't. I know people who have gotten their accounts back without receipts.
---
About what's happening
The wide sweep ban points to them employing some faulty AI system to flag all accounts that seems 'suspicious'.
Surely accounts that after near a decade and a lack of DLC drops since 2021 easily could have accumulated that, and so many more HG, through just regular gameplay?
My accounts been up more than 9 years. Many of the others who have been taken down was up since 2016. What happens to the accounts of people who aren't terminally online (like me) or doesn't keep taps on the fandom anymore ? Do they just have their accounts deleted and find out when they remember Mystic Messenger is a thing and it's been 10 years?
I expect to get my account back, but I also expect that anything else can happen. The sudden idea to ban year-old dormant accounts makes me suspect that something else is coming. With the recent track record I worry it's something worse.
They ask for our 'kind patience', that ran out for me a while ago over other employment of AI in their company and games. This was just a cherry on top of a sh¡t sundae.
So salvage your MM memories, they might get another unwarranted artificial face-lift soon. This is just me speculating. I hope I'm wrong.
I've been playing Mystic Messenger on and off since early 2017. I've paid for in-game currency, won an MM related event on Twitter, played the game many times over saved my HG and hearts, as well as bought both VIP packages and plentiful of Cheritz official merch. (I have a whole closet full of the stuff)
I had well over 6K HG in game that I got through a natural progression of ingame play time as well as getting HG every time there was an event, birthday etc. and now all of that is banned because @cheritzteam involved some kind of AI targeting system.
I did not cheat or alter the game to have more hearts. My account has been semi inactive except for me checking in for details about the game, because Mystic Messenger didn't stop being part of my life just because I semi quit the fandom.
I have been writing with my RP partner for over 9 years about the characters and their lives. And it's been a stable part of my life for all of that time. So I'm angry that I had my account banned because I got flagged for having a high volume of HG. I paid for a good chunk of those and were frugal with using them for resetting chatrooms etc.
If this happened to you there's a Reddit thread where they are collecting and sharing information regarding the bans. Write Cheritz and let them know this isn't okay. If enough of us write hopefully they'll roll back the bans, or at least remove the ban on people who didn't mess with the game like they are being accused of.
I really hope this is resolved before the Choi's birthday next month and the 10 year anniversary this summer!
What is this??? Have you got a robot flagging people with high hourglass counts? I'm banned? I've played the game since the beginning, finished all the routes, purchased the believers pack and the ViP and all the DLCs . I played hours and hours and i did have a lot of hourglasses since there wasn't any new content to spend them on!
I've been playing Mystic Messenger on and off since early 2017. I've paid for in-game currency, won an MM related event on Twitter, played the game many times over saved my HG and hearts, as well as bought both VIP packages and plentiful of Cheritz official merch. (I have a whole closet full of the stuff)
I had well over 6K HG in game that I got through a natural progression of ingame play time as well as getting HG every time there was an event, birthday etc. and now all of that is banned because @cheritzteam involved some kind of AI targeting system.
I did not cheat or alter the game to have more hearts. My account has been semi inactive except for me checking in for details about the game, because Mystic Messenger didn't stop being part of my life just because I semi quit the fandom.
I have been writing with my RP partner for over 9 years about the characters and their lives. And it's been a stable part of my life for all of that time. So I'm angry that I had my account banned because I got flagged for having a high volume of HG. I paid for a good chunk of those and were frugal with using them for resetting chatrooms etc.
If this happened to you there's a Reddit thread where they are collecting and sharing information regarding the bans. Write Cheritz and let them know this isn't okay. If enough of us write hopefully they'll roll back the bans, or at least remove the ban on people who didn't mess with the game like they are being accused of.
I really hope this is resolved before the Choi's birthday next month and the 10 year anniversary this summer!
I've kept semi-quiet for a couple of months, because frankly I just wanted to turn my back on Cheritz and forget about them. But then it was pointed out to me that they started objectifying Elly and I can no longer hold my tongue.
For those who aren't convinced these images are gAI. I ran them through Hive with the result of 100% gAI images. These tools are faulty and should be used with care, but in this case it's obvious just by looking at them and now the checker has confirmed it.
In the second one it couldn't figure out what gAI model was used, but in the second one it's 81% sure it's Stable diffusion. Some people think faultily that Stable Diffusion is safe to use, that is almost always not the case and definitely not here. Hive is one of the more trustworthy AI image checkers.
Cats aren't objects.
And Stable Diffusion is not ethical AI by a long shot. If you want to read up on How Stable Diffusion and other gAI models works, here's a resource:
data, unethical data, pretraining, generative ai generative models, ai, ai revolution, adapt or die, pretraining, finetuning
Also if you are an artist who want to protect your work against gAI models being trained on your work. Please check out the new and improved Glaze 2.0 that dropped a couple of days ago by the Glaze Team from University of Chicago. And if you want damage to injury, check out their other tool Nightshade.
What is Glaze?
Glaze is a protective layer you can put on your art that defends against AI Mimicry. That means that it can't learn from how you draw, but other humans can still see it perfectly and do so as they please. Enjoy this illustration from the original Glaze 1.0 Paper. You can read more about how it works <<HERE>>
Links to sources for the Text Bits from Cheritz posts:
Hello, this is Cheritz.
Some of the photos of our newest Ssumone, June, have not been polished enough to the game standard, and we will be u
Hello, dear lab participant.
We’re announcing the updated schedule for <The Ssum>‘s December update.
Harry Day 201 to Ending (71 days) + Ful
Do Not Ever Sent Hate and threats To Developers. Just don't. They are human beings with lives and it's a game they made.
You may not agree with their choices, you are allowed to criticize it, but in the end you have a choice to. You can walk away instead of putting more bad into the world.
I should probably have reposted the above post when Cheritz posted AI art of 707 on X-Twitter. They claimed that they didn't know, but they've got a track record of using AI imagery directly in the Ssum and making up excuses for why they did it. See the image here:
Their own artists might not want to draw backgrounds, but there's plenty of background artists looking for a good job be it freelance or not, also there's other ways to do backgrounds without stooping to using generative AI.
Look to what webtoons are doing with 3D environments painted over etc. There's programs that are consistent and reliable and not made with scraped content from artists, photographers etc.
The reason I didn't bring it up last year is because I've checked out on them after being deeply disillusioned by everything they were doing at that point and thought I had stopped caring.
I still don't really care. It's a company, I liked their game and I still like some of that game and their previous games, but if I don't like the new stuff they make I'm letting go for my own mental health and finding companies and projects that I'd like to support instead of supporting ones that clearly won't make something I'd enjoy anymore.
"The brand still exists, the people are different."
The brand name Cheritz might still exist, but most of the people involved with creating the OG Mystic Messenger are long gone from it's premises except for a select few. Alone through the timeline of making OG MM to the last DLC that dropped the revolving doors of staff was constant.
Brand loyalty must have a limit. A lot of good game companies that once made amazing games have been bought up or gone under through time. Staying at yelling at them is not going to make them change their behavior if they consistently try to push AI, then that's what they are about now. And yelling at or being nasty to them won't help.
You have a choice too.
aka on of the best RP partners and friend ( @maddeninghatter45 ) a girl could ever wish for! Today is the birthday of a very special person in my life ^-^ This is my first present to this lovely individual. I hope it will help make her day amazing (like all the other stuff she’s getting, because let’s face it, she’s awesome ;3 <3)
Thank you so much for being a positive presence in my life and keep on trucking Shanada! <3
Btw, Saeyoung would 100% hack into Cheritz's Twitter and replace that AI crime with this instead
And he'd write smth like: 'magical girl 707 has saved the day from the no-good, greedy, souless parody of her adorable likeness! >< Go buy ☆SEVENSTAR☆Drink with 50% off ☆RIGHT NOW☆ to aid in her heroic fight!!!'
The contents of this thread was originally written in a pinned thread on my Bsky 'art' account.
It's probably easiest to contact me on Bsky, as I'm most active on there, but I'll share a guide from Tumblr underneath as well as the contents of the FAQ thread I made.
On Bsky
If you are interested in a Webglaze invite key please follow this 3 part instructions guide for streamlining the process for both of us. I get 20 invite keys regularly and keep a wait-list.
1. Follow me so I can follow DM you back the invite.
2. Please prepare some kind of proof of you being an artist.
3. Like & reply to the Bsky thread when you've done both step 1 and 2.
Important! I've locked the thread so only followers can reply to it. You can unfollow me on there after you've gotten the invite if you want.
On Tumblr
The process is similar to Bluesky.
1. Comment below this post and I'll follow you when I see it and comment back.
2. If your blog is an art blog there's no need to prepare anything, but otherwise please prepare some kind of proof of you being an artist.
3. Message me when you see my reply.
Other general info
> JFYI. You can both share link in your reply or DM. If it's to another website than the one you are messaging me on I need to verify you on there through messages and I can't sign up everywhere.
Websites I am on:
Tumblr
Artgram
Inkblot
Pillowfort
Artfol
Artfight
Cara
Repurposed meme fanart of mine.
Thank you for coming to my 🧵thread-talk!
FAQ Below
Q1: Why are you using this account instead of @707kat.bsky.social?
A1: Because I don't want my main accounts DM to be overrun with webglaze related DMs.
Q2: What happens if you run out of invites?
A2: I get invites renewed regularly and keep a wait-list. I also know others handing out keys.
Q3: Why do I have to prove I'm an artist?
A3: Webglaze is run by @theglazeproject.bsky.social and they use resources in the form of compute on glazing your work. In order not to have bad actors abuse it they and the people handing out keys try to vet that it's artists that get invites.
Q4: Are you affiliated with and if not why are you handing out invites?
A4: I'm not. I'm an independent hobby artist who was entrusted with a special account that generate invite keys. I and several others volunteer our spare time to hand out keys to other artists.
Q5: Why doesn't the team do it themselves?
A5: The team does hand out keys, but they are a small research team and the volume of the requests is overwhelming. That might be why you haven't received a key from them when making a request. Here's their instructions on how to get an invite from them.
Q6: Glaze and Nighshade is snakeoil. It doesn't work.
A6: Glaze and Nightshade are not a permanent solutions. The team acknowledges this on their website and explains why that is as well as acknowledges instances where it's been broken in the past by other researchers. See Risks and Limitations.
Q7: If it's not a permanent solution, then why do it at all?
A7: I'll let the Glaze team speak for themselves here:
source: Glaze- What is Glaze.
Risks and Limitations.
Research in machine learning moves quickly, and there are inherent risks in relying on a tool like Glaze.
Changes made by Glaze are more visible on art with flat colors and smooth backgrounds. The new update (Glaze 2.0) has made great strides along this front, but we will continue to look for ways to improve.
Unfortunately, Glaze is not a permanent solution against AI mimicry. Systems like Glaze face an inherent challenge of being future-proof (Radiya et al). It is always possible for techniques we use today to be overcome by a future algorithm, possibly rendering previously protected art vulnerable. Thus Glaze is not a panacea, but a necessary first step towards artist-centric protection tools to resist AI mimicry. Our hope is that Glaze and followup projects will provide protection to artists while longer term (legal, regulatory) efforts take hold.
pixelskylines
blakekathryn
germansingergirl
discoholicmusic
ellievsbear
