B)

💖💖💞💫🍫🌸

[nikki-blogging]

A cure friendy for you

[nikki-blogging]

This update was such a thing a beauty, theres even camera adjustment now. All we need is life makeovers expression options and sn would literally be perfect

[nikki-blogging]

Its time for my annual begging papergames to just run the anniversary events on nikkis birthday instead of running our story updates out of order to most of the year 🙏

[nikkifan2000]

background blur… stickers behind nikki… sticker opacity slider… filter toggle for stickers… no more accidentally moving nikki when im trying to adjust a sticker… BRIGHTNESS SATURATION AND CONTRAST SLIDERS IN GAME

it has been so many years. finally. Finally.

[nikki-blogging]

I'm not saying there's zero privacy issues here and maybe they will sell the data to 3rd party companies but i think the particular nefarious plot they have with the period tracker is the parasociality it wants to create between the player and nikki, which the game has already been doing since launch, but instead of faux text conversations, it now revolves around your menstrual cycle, this asks for details of your real life in a way the game hasnt before.

This makes it feel like an escalation, before the text convos the player initiates were a premade list of broad, nonspecific moods, and nikki may ask broad generic questions like if you enjoyed sports or were a student . This represents a crossing of the boundary between the fantasy friendship between the fictional self insert and nikki and details of your own real life. So it makes me rather uncomfortable.

I think their secondary motivation is that they want to further establish themselves as the girl studio that makes games by and for girls, any game aimed at a male or even neutral audience were never going to add this feature lol. It directly alienates half the population. It's a bold statement of target demographic that papergames has advertised itself as and what's brought them such success despite operating in a male dominated space. Papergames demonstrates their continued commitment to appealing to women ('s wallets)

[nikkigameslore]

Paper has always been focused on a female orientated audience since it started as a company.

"Founded in August 2013, Paper Games ("the Company") is a growing internet company in the interactive entertainment industry. The Company started from developing female-oriented mobile games, among which are some famous names such as Nikki Up2U, World Traveler, Miracle Nikki, Love and Producer, and Shining Nikki."

Further its not new for CN games to add a period tracker, particularly not for games targeted at a female demographic (like SN) its seen as a caring gesture and pops up a lot in otome games, LADs might have been the first to introduce this to an English audience (I think?) and given they're under the same company, it made headlines and brought more people to the game, and Nikki is positioned as being the players friend it does make sense that they would try it again.

There's no direct monetary incentive to the period tracker. Sure, they could sell the data but it isnt even really reliable data since many players from LADs would put in any date just to see the interaction, and from what ive seen many players from Nikki are just ignoring it, like so many of the other features they've added.

Messing around with doesnt seem to actually do anything. Theres a clear data button thay removes any dates youve put in. Nikki gives the standard advice at the bottom of the calendar. No dialogue or texting options have changed when using the texting dialogue. I tried turning on/off the period chat button but it didnt seem to do anything.

But again at the end of the day it is just another feature that can be ignored if you dont want to use it.

[eggsnatcheskneecaps]

Yeah, this will be my marketing classes talking, but you are very much supposed to pick a target audience 💁

If I were on the marketing team, it'd be a no brainer to define the target audience as women. Girly women, as well. It's a pink game about fashion. Considering it's a game, I'd say kids, but you want money, and you want whales, so likely adult women are a bigger focus.

It's annoying that marketing has a decision over the game, but that's how you end up with features like these.

It is also annoying, sure, that SN just forgets your gender and makes you a woman (I'd know as somebody who used a male mc until they could switch to enby), but they are just focusing on the main demographic as most companies do.

There are a lot of things that could easily be switched, but we know Papergames is. Lazy. And greedy. To say the least. And they are definitely just choosing not to waste a few hundred more bucks on making 5 more features for who they consider an insignificant demographic.

It'd overall be considered bad business to focus on the Inbetweeners.

Again, not excusing them and I'm not looking to be the capitalist™ in your replies, but that's just how it works.

And I do find it morally neutral? (As much as you can get) To define a target demographic.

[nikki-blogging]

The part of my post about papergames being a company for women wasnt intended as criticism. It was meant to mean that they added it to assure its female playerbase that the game is for them. Tbh i see that as a good thing, the exclusively female target demo is part of the reason i fell in love with love nikki.

The only objective issue with the period tracker is the potential privacy concerns. I think it would be odd if they deactivated a whole feature from the player depending on their gender, even if it resulted in a funny situation here. And i don't think periods are a shameful thing that should be hidden away from any male player. I'm not sure what other alternative would have been wanted here. It's already an ignorable side feature someone doesnt have to use if it doesn't apply to them.

And the male mc option is just as much of a marketing decision as having a female target audience or a period tracker.

[nikki-blogging]

The only truely offensive sn feature is the baby and her worthless wardrobe whom ive been neglecting for a year. Like at least most of the other useless features just seem like some bullshit they threw togther and forgot about but the baby keeps popping up in rewards and getting new story chapters like shes important

[designers-teaparty]

Nikki period tracker should have a "I don't get periods" option but Nikki still complains about how bad hers are ever month

[nikki-blogging]

Unfortunately the shining nikki discord server doesnt use emojis to assign roles anymore so i cant see the numbers and they could be different from the actual in game surveys but i think it was like 8 women to 1 man, there were more they/thems than men. So i won't say theyre really risking their bottom line on focusing in on the female player base even if it may alienate male players, like making the protag's official design a girl.

[nikki-blogging]

I'm not saying there's zero privacy issues here and maybe they will sell the data to 3rd party companies but i think the particular nefarious plot they have with the period tracker is the parasociality it wants to create between the player and nikki, which the game has already been doing since launch, but instead of faux text conversations, it now revolves around your menstrual cycle, this asks for details of your real life in a way the game hasnt before.

This makes it feel like an escalation, before the text convos the player initiates were a premade list of broad, nonspecific moods, and nikki may ask broad generic questions like if you enjoyed sports or were a student . This represents a crossing of the boundary between the fantasy friendship between the fictional self insert and nikki and details of your own real life. So it makes me rather uncomfortable.

I think their secondary motivation is that they want to further establish themselves as the girl studio that makes games by and for girls, any game aimed at a male or even neutral audience were never going to add this feature lol. It directly alienates half the population. It's a bold statement of target demographic that papergames has advertised itself as and what's brought them such success despite operating in a male dominated space. Papergames demonstrates their continued commitment to appealing to women ('s wallets)

[nikki-blogging]

Not specifically a fan of the flowers but these are so cute i could cry 😭

[nikki-blogging]

Any privacy concerns aside, the period stuff is just uncomfortable to me. Like it's a boundary of parasociality im not willing to cross with this fictional character and her phone gambling parents

[nikki-blogging]

Im literally blogging

[nikki-blogging]

I never gave the game my number either

[nikki-blogging]

Ill use the diary feature but nikki doesn't need to know when im bleeding, that's just too much

[nikki-blogging]

If you put a horrendous schedule into the period tracker will nikki worry and beg you to see a doctor

[nikkifan2000]

shining nikki global update tomorrow genuinely includes a period tracker by the way

[karamelise]