r/loveanddepression

As it gets to almost 8 am in China, I'm wondering if we'll get any updates today. I've seen people reporting they added a new plushie without notice, so maybe..?

I need some hopium :')

I made an account on XHS (RedNotes) a few days ago, because I saw some posts and comments saying to go support CN girlies who also want Valko back. There is an option to make an auto translation of most things that are written on the app. It’s very practical, but the translation made some posts a bit robotic.

The first thing I notice is that, indeed, Valko was truly hated by numerous people. The post that was criticizing him made tens of thousands of likes. While the ones loving him were at maximum a few thousand. I think I needed to see it with my own eyes to actually believe that they were thinking he was gay for being “too muscular” and simply what they think gay men would like. But what I didn’t really saw on the global side, is that for many Chinese people, he was seen as some kind of self absorbed man, with no manners, gross etc. I think it’s more of a cultural thing, but for them, he was acting like a child (many of them were comparing him to their undisciplined younger brothers). That's probably why many thought that he was made for a more western audience in mind (which might be true, but for them, it’s like forgetting their roots).

Then, I saw many posts about the controversy about “boiling in hot pot”, but also with “inviting a wolf to our home”. In the comments, most were also referring to the 731 incidents. Starting from this moment, his upcoming release on the game wasn't a LaDS players only issue. There were some more officials press releasing news on those matters, claiming problematic behaviors against women. And as a national sentiment grew over the 731 incident, a massive number of players decided to stop playing the game, dropping their reviews, spreading the word etc. But what I've found, is that actually, many people who were supporting all of this weren't actually LaDS players. I saw an enormous amount of people from other fandoms (outsiders, as they call themselves) supporting “Miss Hunter” on this battle. When we know that, it’s also clearer why the situation grew bad this quickly. But this also means they have less leverage than we thought, because if they are outsiders, it means they didn’t initially spend on the game. We, global players, also made between 40 and 50% of the total revenue. And most of us are boycotting.

When the official letter from the Love and Deepspace team was released, the reaction from the CN side wasn't good either. They could have felt like they won, but from my understanding, it was far from the truth. There were a few concerns that were not addressed, like:

- The fact that LaDS was for all sex orientation (yes that's one of their main concerns, and yes that's homophobic). Especially the fact that they now call global players “Hunters” and not “Miss Hunter”

- That Infold was removing content about cultural traditions and moving away from their roots

- Properly apologizing for the 731 incident

- Properly apologizing for insulting women and undermining women's safety (I often saw comments saying what the main things they need to apologize for are rh and rn, which I found could mean rŭ huá = anti-China and rŭ nu = misogyny. For them, patriotic sentiment and protecting women's safety are the most important things)

So actually, the buycott wasn't even only about Valko, but a few things that escalated and for some, were a concern since quite some times, but they took advantage of the Valko situation to address what was annoying them. They are not logging in, giving bad comments on LaDS, sending mails to newspapers, and also involving the government. Which means that we are not the only ones who are boycotting, they are too, but for completely different reasons (and in opposition to Valko return, unlike us).

Now though, many silent CN players who enjoyed Valko are now speaking up. Before, they didn’t dare for the most part, because they were heavily bullied. I saw many posts saying they will not be silent anymore. They also call themselves “normal players”. Most of us who want Valko back and share our love for him use the hashtag #loveandtheplateau, which currently have more than 200 millions of views et 2,4 millions of notes. Many have thousands of likes, but it mostly doesn’t reach the previous hate for Valko and some posts that are continuing to buycott him.

So now, I don’t really know what will happen, because on the global side, the backlash is massive; people are uniting for Valko in a way I never thought possible in the LaDS community (and even outside of it). Most are boycotting, signing petitions, commenting etc but on the CN side, there is also a good portion of people who are hating on LaDS by all means possible, many of whom are not even players. They also might use bots or “paid commenters” since I saw so much comments being identical.

From my understanding, there will probably be a bigger loss on the global side if they don’t bring Valko back than there will be on the CN side if they let things like this, since they are still boycotting despite their announcement. Meanwhile, the involvement of the government is a completely different matter, and I have trouble predicting what would happen. If we are strictly speaking from a financial and reputation point of view, bringing Valko back is way more logical. But from a political and cultural side, I am not sure. Because of that, many CN players are asking global players to share their cultural appreciation for Chinese culture and how they learn more of it through Love and Deepspace. The government needs to understand that there is much more positivity involving the game than what is spread right now and that if they decide to let down Valko, or worse, EOS the game, they will lose soft powers.

Very recently, more Chinese are speaking up against the original claims, saying that they were trivializing dark past and history, and many “outsiders” didn’t know where they are standing for. I also saw some people saying the whole thing was suspicious because of how the topic trended and skyrocketed while it was on a working day and hours. There might be more than this. The opinions are shifting and people are speaking up. The next days will help to clear the fog concerning the situation, especially after the 7th of July. I think the fact that authority is speaking up against the slandering campaign, the usage of bots and AI, makes more Chinese people switch side. Also, I saw many people being deceived by news coverage, saying they were just following the trend but didn’t make a true journalist job.

Note : I'm not a native speaker, sorry for the typo.

so i just saw a tweet that there’s a new plushie in the claw machine. however there was never an announcement! it looks like a raccoon?

i assume they knew the backlash on any post would be strong, so they just put it in the game without one? with most of us not logging in, we wouldn’t know (if it weren’t for the others telling us). however ive been chronically online liking every bring back valko post so 😭

i hope the silence is to solve all the issues and put out a proper statement. or else what’s next? is valko just gonna be sat in the cafe in the next update without telling us anything 💀

on another note, we’ve kept the topic trending for days now. they can only stay silent for so long

fyi i do think it’s a good thing, it means they are observing everything and will post after important dates for the country.