trying to be cute and consistent in my writing by giving all the lads li's safewords
but like... I genuinely think xavier, sylus and zayne are stoplight truthers. xavier would be too lazy or too impatient so an easy system like that works. sylus and zayne value clear communication and color systems can be precise.
rafayel would need a safeword bc he loves color and his dirty talk would be colorful. but "dolphin" would absolutely nuke the mood.
same with caleb because he's just conditioned to hear "mayday" as a distress call and why fuck with what works
I hate how valko is so underdeveloped so picking one for him is like throwing spaghetti at a wall. what if he's actually another stoplight truther? like low key i think his will have to change but until he's released, because im a hater, its "paper" lol
I can't wait for silent whispers to drop. I need something to fill the sylus/caleb/valko void that love and deepspace is currently carving in my otome loving heart.
if he doesnt come back I don't know what im gonna do with all the writing I've done for this fandom. I was saving it for a fun kinktober debut to posting fic again.
and all of it so far was for lads bc high key this games writing inspired me. but if valko doesnt come back then like posting it will feel so icky. I don't want to create content that might promote a game/company that sucks ass, ya know
I hate it here.
infold get your shit together and give me my goddamn wolf, Zayne and MC didnt cuck Caleb just to die in my drafts.
I caved to my curiosity about the 6.0 update and after a long shower, I have thoughts...
The server is back up now and the "coming soon" is officially removed everywhere. The empty spaces that once promised a 6th LI are so much more prominent and heartbreaking.
Am I still somewhat hopeful that Infold/Paper Games silence and pulling ouy of BilibiliWorld last minute means that this isn't over? Yes. But that is only because despair is expensive and I have bills to pay.
I'm just looking at this from the macro now and thinking about how sad it is that one of Infold/Paper's selling points as a global game was to be an ambassador of Chinese culture. It was an incredible tool that built soft power. As Love and Deepspace threatens to sing its swan song, its final Chinese cultural export will be their weak will and weak mindedness.
The Valko-Anti's, that used valid critique to remove a planned love-interest, are inherently weak-minded. Yes, Infold/Paper carry most of the blame for this mess becayse they are greedy and flawed, but how weak minded must you be to believe that in-app purchases amounts to voting shares? Buying the same $120 in groceries every month, but doesn't give me the power to stop my local grocery store from selling kale just because I don't like it. Nor does bringing new food products to the store will somehow lessen my appreciation for the items that have always been and always will be on the shelves. But that is exactly how the Valko-Antis think and act. I would pity fools that cut off their nose to spite their face, but I simply don't. Their misery is self-inflicted and deserved.
Infold/Paper are just as pathetic as the vocal minority that they apeased with this move. It cannot be overstated that their management holds most of the blame as they are the ones who made the decision to sacrifice the hard work of the creative teams. Hard work that is/was the beating heart of this game.
They betrayed the core of what the story of Love and Deepspace was about by turning a hunter into a housewife. MC was multi-faceted, showing women that being powerful and being vulnerable are not mutually exclusive. That you can love stuffed animals, be clumsy, be a badass, and through it all be deserving of unconditional love. Now, with the tainted version of the 6.0 update, I only see how they want to put that beautiful complex character into the kitchen.
Maybe I'm falling for the sunk-cost fallacy, but I'm not giving up the fight just yet. I am going to do what I can to keep the faith and be louder than the weak-minded. I want to read the story the creative teams wanted to tell, I need to believe that change is still possible. And if it does course correct, I will bring my near-whale spending back to Linkon City.
Sadly, the same cannot be said for everyone and I understand. For many the trust has been broken, immersion is shattered, and even if Infold/Paper brings Valko back, their legacy is tainted.
Their final export of Chinese Culture will be cowardice.
how i, someone who works in finance and not marketing, would have recommended infold/paper games hard pivot to save their reputation and the multi million dollar game that they're currently driving into the goddamn ground.
in almost no particular order:
I would have postponed Valko's release (not outright nuke him). too much money was invested in to his development and early marketing; it would be stupid to waste that for what looks like a completely salvagable situation. clearly a social contract between the company and the cn players was violated in what (according to xhs) felt like an abrupt release when the game is already underdeveloped.
directly and appropriately address the controversy in the new Isaiah/Xavier section of World Underneath that references 731 (then silently changed to 611). while an apology won't appese everyone, an actual thought out one that acknowledges that their oversight was careless and there is no excuse for it when it caused such great hurt to the cn and kr players. that will do numbers in saving face. promise to build safeguards like review codes that immediately flag all sensitive numbers, phrases, and events in cn history that could prove as detrimental to the players as possible -- then actually do it.
pivot development to building out the main story (especially for caleb and sylus). that has been a major gripe with everyone and should be addressed. there is a significant content gap that needs to be acknowledged and addressed. actually commit to pushing out more main story updates annually (like 3 a year that includes 2 li's at a time, that way they don't have to be as long because they're more frequent, they can even align them with the fiscal quarters). this is where they could reintergrate Valko too -- but not before a caleb update. I would also recommend running an og3 update or something after valko so anyone who mains the og3 don't feel neglected for the new3.
update the wish pool mechanics. yes, its a gatcha and gambling is literally the point. but the cn fans are die hards for their mains and one of the complaints is that a new li will fuck up the 50/50 more (statistically i disagree but I also digress). the mechanic in multi-banners where you can choose your favorite three and then designated a precise wish, but like in the xspace echo pool too and constantly. instead of designating a wish you're just designating an li priority. keeps people who hate an li from having to see an li. you can even lock this in the aurum pass as a perk for buying it monthly.
make it possible to sell chocolate for diamonds. dear god if there is one completely universal complaint it is the resource farming plateau. yes, it will be a financial hit, but also whales will still whale. it doesnt have to be an even 1 for 1. personally I think that the amount that we can farm is embarrassingly low. the senior hunters contest should at least entitle players to 20 pulls (3000 dias) if fully completed (it would still take like 2 months to farm 80 pulls). and for long time players have an Otto audit calculates what they would be owed if this mechanic existed the entire time they played (i know infold has that data somewhere) and then give them that difference as a show of good faith. yes it would be a shit ton for some and would reduce revenue, but you'll also keep people around and reward their loyalty without making them feel used.
development or release road map would be nice. I know that part of the game's addictiveness is its use of fomo and this would take away some of it for sure. but also everyone checks the leaks and plants accordingly. having an idea that q3 will include a main story or something would help silence the criticism about how slow the main story updates. with a story pivot and valko delay, it would be a good faith way to show the players that they are sticking to a longterm plan to rebuild trust. and if there are delays just fuckin say that, people are so much more forgiving if there's some kind of communication. everyone feels like they're screaming into the dark with the surveys.
obviously all these things can't be implemented at once, but they can be worked toward, especially the accelerated main story schedule (which i low key think they should do in tandem with new myths and/or myth reruns). especially since I know that story is written at least a year in advance to account for coding, mo-cap, voice acting.
its not even all the complaints that exist for lads either, i didn't touch on
the bloat of the game
the neglect of the roguelike sub-games
the lighting issue that plagues anyone with an mc that isn't lead-paint white
the (personally speaking) disingenuous criticism of valko being "rapey" when Rafayel is straight up allergic to consent at times *cough*throne of eros*cough*
and Caleb's tragic sanitization in the western localizations. like actually ret-con it so the west aligns his character with the cn/asia version.
I also think that maybe infold/paper games should worry less about extravagant money eating in-person events and only do in-person events at conventions and exhibitions -- but I understand that its a big pull for cn players so I concede.
also somewhere in the background I'd say they need to start testing a better farming system so being f2p isn't a complete joke. only a minor joke.
a lot of my proposed ideas don't fully maximize profit, but I also think infold/paper games fucked up royally, so its best to take the hit rather than butcher the cash cow prematurely. so infold/paper games you can totally plagerize any and all of this for 200,000 dias. if this game doesnt go bust im trying to r3 netherlord caleb when he reruns.
