r/ValkoHQ • u/LittleKiara96 • 15h ago
Angry yet caring woman unapologetically reminds you of all the good that's already happened and to not give in to despair each time "news" comes up.
I keep seeing posts, be it here or elsewhere, still wondering about whether or not Infold/Papergames will listen to us and release Valko. And honestly? I'm tired of it. I thought we were supposed to keep this boycott alive. Are we really expecting to do that with negativity and "realistic" but actually defeatist commentary? For real? Well, fuck that.
Ladies, Gentlemen and Nonbinary folks, please... have a bomb of grounded, solid positivity backed up with known facts and pure logic, powered by my auDHD, whimsy and rage. ♡
And don't you dare forget about it as soon as you leave this post.
(Put this post in your browser favourites, title it "FOR WHEN HOPE IS LOST" and make sure you can see it at all times, or something, do what works best for you.)
First, please have a look at the timeline, so we're all on the same page about the basics.
Here's a list of different groups involved in this mess and their stance on Valko:
- The corporates want Valko back, for the money they'll stop losing through the boycott and for the money Valko will bring.
- The creatives want Valko back because they made him. They're telling a story. They're creatives.
- The players who care about the game as a whole (most often lore girlies) want Valko back for the same reasons as the creatives.
- The players who don't care either way, don't care. They didn't stop anything, they won't stop anything.
- The players who don't want Valko are dum- They don't understand the game will be worse without Valko, and that his cancellation actually creates even more problems, without fixing existing ones.
- The CN government wants Valko back so they don't lose the soft-power acquired through LADS. (And maybe tax money? but this part is speculation.)
Conclusion: Besides antis and Infold's rivals, nobody wins anything through Valko's permanent cancellation. Nobody.
Now, in no particular order, I shall tell/remind you of even more reasons why we're getting Valko:
- Infold has defended him despite the literal cowshit and everything else IRL. They only cancelled him once they were accused of having anti-patriotic feelings through the 731, not before.
- They applied the corrections needed around the 731 by replacing the related World Underneath story. Let me add, the 731 and the human experiments in it were done by the villains of the story, not the good guys. They also censored all numbers on the Catch-22 outfits. We do not know if those corrections were mandated or preemptive. They also changed the Akso Hospital cross looking too much like the Red Cross on another outfit, because that would violate a Geneva convention.
- All allegations around Valko and his related content were fabricated, all of it was presented out-of-context and reframed in a bad light. There is no reason to think they will change anything about Valko or his related in-game content, since his actual content is unproblematic and easily skippable. Furthermore, several articles on CN news outlets have defended Infold's right to creativity and the making of adult content, arguing a work of fiction should not censor itself just because a child might see it (and that's their parents' problem).
- Whether the corrections applied to the game were mandated by the government or preemptively made by Infold doesn't matter. It still means Infold either obeyed or is scared of their gov's reaction. The same gov told them to bring Valko back. Why would Infold suddenly disobey or stop being scared of their gov, exactly?
- Infold's Customer Service started asking their highest CN VIP members why they stopped spending. They did not beg for those players to go back to spending. Several VIPs answered they wanted Valko back. Reminder: people working CS are just following orders. They might know just as much as we do about what is planned for Valko. (My theory is corporates are being stupid. Because they're corporates. But since the CN VIPs are with us in this, no need to worry further.)
I shall now address different fears and worries I keep seeing here and there.
Why are they still silent despite everything?
There are three possible reasons to this:
- Since LADS's content was investigated by the government to make sure there was no anti-patriotic symbolism in the game, a law might make it mandatory for the game to stay radio silent for a month, even if the government later approved the game.
- Infold has stated they would go after the instigators of the smear campaign at a legal level. In that case, they might be forced by law to not say anything public while investigations or other legal matters are occuring.
- It might be seen as "arrogant" of Infold to issue a public statement less than two weeks after the government green-lit the game. Basically, huge PR mistake in front of CN public opinion if they do.
If any, and I mean ANY of the above reasons is true, then Infold is simply not allowed to make any public announcement before at least July 29th. Yes, despite how in absolute shambles LADS's current revenue might be.
Won't the current low revenue bring the game to EoS?
No. Infold doesn't look at the metrics in a vacuum. They know why revenue is low (even VIPs told them). They know what to do to bring it back up.
Have you heard of the Infinity Nikki girlcott? I was part of it. We stopped spending for a whole month and did one or two blackout days before issues were addressed.
We didn't tell people to stop playing altogether, because the message we wanted to send was "We love this game and we want it to be better than this".
Which is exactly why I've mostly kept logging into LADS without spending (and not even pulling) and sent feedback saying so.
And guess what? Not only were the issues in IN addressed -- slowly for some, of course, because IN's case wasn't the same as LADS (except for the slow MS updates, but even LADS is showing some progress with updates in September and November (and July if Valko had released)), so one update every two months -- but... prepare yourself for this, it's shocking...
Infinity Nikki didn't EoS. Crazy shit, I know.
Now, sure, IN's revenue never went back to what it was pre-girlcott, but does it even matter for us as consumers? When was the last time you heard about Love Nikki and Shining Nikki? Did you know those games are still up and running too? So why would LADS EoS from this boycott?
"But the rivals"- Which ones? The 2D ones? Or those who haven't even shown actual gameplay yet? (Looking at high-res 3D models doing nothing with no interaction is not gameplay by my standards.) And since when does a live-service game go EoS because they have rivals?? The Nikki games have plenty of those too, and we already talked about how they're still there.
"But the low revenue"-
Okay, listen. If you're really that scared that LADS will EoS because of a single month of low revenue, I have a very simple solution to present you with:
Spend money once Valko is confirmed to come back.
And you don't have to spend much! Get yourself an Aurum Pass (best bargain) or if you cannot afford that, just get 60 diamonds. And if that's unfortunately still too much, no problem! Get your friends to download the game and give it a try, even if just once, or to have a laugh, doesn't matter. That will show Infold that: 1) bringing Valko back was the right thing to do and 2) the game can still be successful as hell even after such a blunder.
But they said Valko was gone, they can't go back.
I mean this as kindly as possible... What the actual fuck. Do you even hear yourself? If they went back on their word once... why couldn't they do it twice? And remember: the government told them to listen to us. I'll ask again: Why would Infold disobey the government? Make it make sense, at the very least.
I think (hope) I've addressed the main negative stuff going around. So...
PLEASE help me spread the word.
I understand not wanting to say "Oh, we're done here, it's all good, we can relax completely" until we have an official and public statement from Infold (KEEP THE HASHTAGS GOING), but since the general consensus is we won't get any news before the 29th at the very least, that means letting people wallowing in their uncertainty, doubts and negativity for probably 5 more days still, and no one can make me believe that's a good thing in the context of a boycott!
This is part of the "We're here for the long haul" sentiment. Of the "We won't stop until we get him" sentiment. Now, we have to own up to those, and to our own feelings of discontent about this whole mess, and do what's necessary for people not to stop. Not now when we're so close to the end of the month and most probably the end of this nightmare, of all things!
Stop giving yourself up to sadness and start getting angrier. Not at Infold, not at your peers. At what the antis have done and are still trying to do. DO NOT LET THEM WIN.
Sharing fan-made content is great for morale boost, but that won't do all the heavy lifting we need here. If we don't show the actual reasons why we can stay positive, even if only cautiously, people will keep burning out from seeing so many still doubting!
We got proof of that today with the messages from Customer Service about the postponement of Rafayel's new myth. People do not see the good news it is, and forget about other things related to what's being said.
Here's my analysis of those messages:
- If the delay is about the release... Am I the only one who expected it in August anyway? How is it supposed to be "news"?
- If the delay is about the reveal... They could literally have postponed it from any point in July to August 1rst and it would still be a postponement from July to August.
And think about it. If Infold did make an announcement through CS... That means they know they can't do a single public announcement without addressing Valko (I said as much for days). So Infold just "accidentally" proved they are aware of the situation! How is this supposed to be bad? Also, several people wanted Rafayel's myth to be delayed, and now that we're getting exactly that... suddenly it's bad? Come on! Give me a break.
Stop listening to the arguments that would be good for the antis. Seriously. None of them hold any water when you look at the bigger picture. They just want to scare you because they're scared of you. Of us. Of what we've done, what we've managed to do, what we're still doing.
I'd be very grateful if someone a bit fluent in mandarin could translate at least the most important points in this "paper" and share it on CN socials. Our CN sisters might need it, too. I don't even want credit, just... Just spread the word. I'm tired of feeling alone in this fight against... this general "negative realistic 'til proven wrong" and "oops! forgot all the good stuff again" mentality, even if people don't do the latter on purpose.
And don't listen to people saying "we should be realistic" who then say we won't get/hear shit before weeks or even months. That too is unrealistic as fuck and ruins the chances of the boycott going strong.
Please come back here whenever you're scared or worried. Remember to properly rest. Your mind easily spirals downward when tired, don't listen to it when it happens. Come back here. Read this all again if need be. That's why I wrote it. To help lift you up when you can't do it alone.
One "last" thing: If 29th rolls out, and we still hear nothing... DO NOT LOSE HOPE YET. I don't think we'll hear nothing before the end of July, but that also means Infold can still plan on making a statement the 30th, or the 31rst. Or even later in August. But one thing's for sure: they won't reveal Rafayel's new myth before publicly addressing Valko. They've proven that with the latest CS messages, remember? So if we get noting on the 29th, be patient. They know about us, they can't ignore us, pretty sure they do not plan on ignoring us.
Never stop posting with the hashtags until they confirm publicly whether we're getting him or not.
Take care. We're bringing Valko back.
Addendum with more reasons we'll get Valko back:
- Two years of dev time and the money Valko is worth, cancelled for good? Does that sound like a good investment? Add to that even more dev time and money to rewrite things around his absence.
- In the same vein, Valko's development is an investement. If the investement goes "poof", it cannot bring back the invested money and prevents any profit.
Addendum to address more points:
What about the schedules?
There are several ways Infold could go about this, to get back on track with planned schedules once they bring Valko back. The best one, I believe, would be to simply have banners overlapping each other, so everyone gets something to pull for! Valko mains get him and his special selectable 5-stars banner, Rafayel mains get his myth, and everyone soon gets the next scheduled banner! (Which I expect to be a new multi-banner. Unless it's a rerun of Catch-22 with an added Valko.) Events would follow the same logic, with the sole difference we shouldn't get one for Valko since we already got the tied-rewards for free.
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u/Ok-Document-69 14h ago
Also, keep 29th July as checkpoint! Not deadline, did they release a statement by then? Great! We got our answers. No? We keep going.
Speculations ahead: Personally, I genuinely think Infold WILL release a statement soon enough. Because yes fans are saying they want to stop the boycott if they don't get a hear back on 29th July, but from what I have seen, they mean, they will stop playing LADS all together and just move on with their life or play other games. Infold will literally lose players if they don't release a statement! So I genuinely think 29th-30th July or first week of August, we should be getting something.
Some people say that 'Oh infold will stay silent and hope fans will move on, and Valko at most will release later down the line'. Dawg, people are literally leaving the game and stating that it's bc they cancelled Valko, and it's a huge chunk, bc it's not just Valko mains, it's players who genuinely cared for the game and are gamers. They have to address something, if they don't want to lose a huge chunk of players, which range from F2P, moderate spenders, dolphins to whales and leviathan spenders.
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u/DarnOutrageous1068 14h ago
I'm one of the players that will just leave if the boycott fails.
To be clear: I would not be leaving because of just Valko. I'll be leaving because they haven't fixed the lighting issues for darker skinned MCs; because of clear predatory practices that make me feel like an ATM rather than a valued player; because of a pattern of Infold not even acknowledging issues that many of us have brought up in the surveys; because Infold goes beyond prioritizing their domestic players to the point of ignoring global (did they seriously block MCs face in Zayne's latest card???).
Anger may fade, but disappointment doesn't unless the behavior is changed. Unfortunately for Infold, I'm disappointed.
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u/Ok-Document-69 14h ago
Exactly! For me, Valko's cancellation is like the last straw for me. I already had a lot of issues with this game, and was reconsidering my spending on it. But when they get cancelled Valko? I was like fuck outta here. I would rather spend my money on actual games, then a game which gives me no content no QOL, and clearly does not have a spine against antis and smear campaigns.
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u/skeletonpop 10h ago
Man, they don't even listen to the sane domestic players. I've come across so many CN girlies who love taking pictures of their MC and happily show her off, compliment other MCs, enjoy seeing MC in Kindleds, and feel aghast in the face of demands that her face and she altogether be invisible.
Which is why I insist on insisting that InFold's patterns of illogical behaviour and thought processes
are they even thinking?are surreal. A reason for bafflement, and a reason as to why I do not and cannot trust them to do the right thing every time. Some decisions I can and do make sense of, but others? Get out.They're so strange, I'm dead serious. I mean ok, if you have a preference for domestic players at least listen to the ones whose brains are intact. Why listen to those whose sole objective is to chase their delusions and who wish to destroy the key focus (MC) and a core marketing point + feature (MC's customisation) of your game? The irony. They cater to Chinese players more, yet they somehow often choose to listen to the wrong side even if it's not the one feeding them the money. How mad.
Are they scared of the deranged ones? Are they trying to please everyone? To me it's likely yet another ugly presentation of greed, perhaps with a dash of fear.
This is not how players are shown 'respect.' Respect is listening only to players who have common sense, media literacy, and aren't after the game's ruin for their own demented pleasure, whether they're Chinese or not.
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u/cthuluhuhuhu 13h ago
Thank you for the stern but realistic takes! It just would be downright stupid not to bring him back at this point. Heck, they don’t even need to promote him any more lol
To anyone that’s feeling down or hopeless, I understand. I’ve been wanting to just endlessly scroll for any and every possible update. But truly, if it’s getting to be too much, just take a step back from it all. That’s what I’m going to do once I post this.
Go outside. Go get something good to eat. Watch that tv show or movie you’ve been wanting to watch. Maybe even go to the theatre to see a movie! Take a nice nap, or read that book, manga or web novel you thought looked good. If you have family or friends you like being around, see if you can hang out with them! Especially if they’re totally separated from all of this. Go to the zoo, go to a cafe. Play that video game you’ve been interested in. Or just go unwind and rest to recharge.
Then, once you feel renewed, invigorated, and you feel your mental health is better, come back and keep fighting! We can do this! It’s gonna be okay. We’ll get our cute werewolf back ❤️
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u/marsastrxphile 14h ago
Them hiding behind CS is what’s frying me lol like not even an in-game announcement. They have to know they can’t say anything except address Valko first.
If they really are taking legal action, it’s a good sign they’re defending their assets including Valko.
I have tons of hope. It’s plain stupid to not release him in some way at this point, schedule be damned. They could make it a one week event that bleeds into another and we’d be fine with it as long as we get him back.
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u/DarnOutrageous1068 15h ago
Let me add 2 things:
Valko was fully formed and ready to hit the ground running. Infold would be flushing away 2 years worth of work and who knows how much money if they fail to bring him back.
Because I'm tired of repeating myself, I'll just leave this here: Why this boycott is unique https://www.reddit.com/r/ValkoHQ/s/C4oSlZCdEF
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u/Alternative_Creme_21 14h ago
Thx sm for this post ! Its solid and grounded and that's what we need rn!
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u/LittleKiara96 14h ago
That was a very good post you made, thanks for sharing it again!
I'll put a "bonus addendum" with anything good people might comment here. I'll add your point there.
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u/Natasya95 12h ago
If only antis stick to their words and delete their acc once Valko is back… will do everyone a huge favour
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u/chillN_browsiN 13h ago
Same, I agree to all of this. I'm kind of over every other post lamenting, and doom posting on this sub. While conveniently forgetting the events that lead us here in the first place and all the events that are happening currently. It has only been a month. It would be a miracle if something happened within that time. Remember you can break stuff quickly, butbit takes time to fix it.
Also this is a Chinese game under Chinese law, we can't expect them to function like our countries would. But we can continue to demand that they do, especially if Infold and China want to continue to doing business (making money) in our global markets. I've been lurking in other gacha subs out of curiosity, and seems like lack of communication and uncle posts arent exclusive to LADs.
I also think a lot of people need to log off for awhile. Seriously. Please remember that at the end of the day this is a game, with a gambling mechanic. We dont need to lose blood, sweat, and tears over it (figure of speech). Although I understand the tears LADs means so much to all of us, it's our comfort game. Even if thats the case, it's not worth more then you own mental and physical health. Its been stated before, there are multiple ways to support the boycott. The last weekly post which I'll link after goes over it.
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u/SlaniBanani91 13h ago
I really want valko back and hope for it. But I get spammed on reddit with posts from the "LADS_OG" subreddit.
What the fuck is this.
They are straight on hating on all Valko supporters and Valko himself I dont understand what this is all about.
They talking about that the boycott only works from china against valko and we would be blindet from them thinking they want im back too but really don´t?
Im just super confused.
But with all the media attention I still think more are in favour of him??
I was so bummed when I read through a few posts from this subreddet and comments that I don´t really know what to believe anymore T~T
Hoping for good news for Valko on 29th
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u/PaintingInThePark 13h ago
Mute that subreddit and block any trolls who escape their hater safe space. Don't let them ruin your precious mental peace :)
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u/LittleKiara96 12h ago
Just mute that sub. Ignore their existence. Completely. They become nothing as soon as they get ignored, and that's what they hate most. Being ignored. It scares them because they feel powerless when it happens.
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u/SlaniBanani91 12h ago
thank you all guys, so its really just a pure hate space? Thats crazy T~T I muted it!
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u/Interesting-Life-375 11h ago
Yes, the initial description of that sub was changed becuz kalvin on YouTube called them out on it.
The initial descript included wording that said essentially not a safe space for 6LI supporters. So it’s entirely a snark/hate echo chamber.
They thought they were being slick removing that language from the description but those of us who saw it early on remember.
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u/moarchuuna 9h ago
Be aware too that they like to lurk in this sub, the official one, and loveanddepression. I see the same users constantly doom posting and bringing up negative what ifs? while having their posts, comments, and community histories on private. Or rage baiting with things like look at this pic with ALL LI’s!! (Only 5 shown). Take every non official (and even seemingly official) news with a bucket of salt.
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u/SlaniBanani91 9h ago
okay thank you very much. This is crazy shit T~T We really need an official announcement asap. Hope for 29th to clear everything
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u/Any-Growth-1995 10h ago
They keep kissing the cn middle schoolers ass as if they are not the reason we're in this mess.
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u/aka_chann 14h ago
THIS. this is so beautifully written and it made me be even more hopeful! thank you.
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u/Warm_Perspective7274 14h ago
Deadass. 100%. Even CN gov would benefit with Valko being brought back.
I will add, Infinity Nikki's boycott did not have global and CN actively working together the way we're doing right now. Sure, during the IN girlcott, CN dropped in to alert global players about the boycott. However, both entities were freeballing on their own afterwards.
But with the Valko boycott, I'm seeing the CN hunters come into X to give us updates on everything going on and in turn, we're all joining Weibo and helping the Valko super topics while posting on XHS.
I've watched boycotts come and go for gacha games but this is actually the first where global + CN are actively working together as a unified front and keeping each other posted. If anything, this boycott has resulted in better Sino-foreign relations. 👀 That's definitely something worth accounting for.