Have You Seen This Wolf?

I’ve only been playing Love and Deepspace for a little under a year (my anniversary so to speak is a week before my birthday~). Yet because of how this game is designed, I’ve found my main love interest and became deeply invested. I’m an adult, I’m in my mid-thirties and I know it’s cringe to the normal adults out there, but this game has been a beacon of hope. It’s something to look forward to with the different banners and mini-games and to hear and see the foolishness that the guys will do in-game. Outside of the game there’s the fan base, although it has a horrendous reputation as a whole, there’s pockets of fans who are cool and have interesting opinions on their favorite love interest(s) or the direction of the game’s main story.

With all that said, I knew since I downloaded this game that we were supposed to get another love interest. It says so on the various “select” screens that show all the current men to choose from. COMING SOON is labeled in a space where the developers would place our sixth man’s icon. I’m still fairly new to this game (but not to gacha or otome games or games in general) so I was extremely skeptical about how soon we would see this new character. Nevertheless, I was not against the idea, I just didn’t think it was going to happen soon. I figured a lot of the rumors and theories flying around were way off. It turned out some were off, and some were on the nose. We got the announcement about Valko about 9-10 days ago and everyone was going crazy in some way, shape or form. Some of us weren’t moved (me to be quite honest) until we saw a proper preview of what was to come regarding his different memories/cards and standard myth. I was gently planning to put him as my second favorite after I got to see more of him. We got a glimpse of his personality and standard content this past Sunday from the livestream and he was endearing! Plenty of fans were excited for him and preparing to make him their main love interest (gathering resources, renewing their aurum pass, etc.) on all servers, too. The initial reaction from the CN server was negative, but they were a loud minority.

After yesterday’s (6/30) announcement that Infold was removing Valko (before he could even debut by the way) and not going to make any more love interests in the future, the fan base exploded. All sides have been firing off on every platform bemoaning the (extremely horrendous) decision while again that small loud minority is glad that he was taken away from us.

Now how the hell did this even happen?

For starters, the CN player minority of Valko haters might not be that small considering the hate campaign they pulled off in eight days. They sent funeral flowers, cow dung, and ritualistic items to the Infold building in Shanghai. They were digging around in the game’s content to find clues as to why Valko was problematic. They claimed he was all manner of things but a child of God, meanwhile the other characters have done worse things than climb onto the player character’s balcony and come into their apartment (the stalking and kidnapping is part of the dark fantasy and it generally isn’t that horrendous but …this game does have questionable content and that’s a story for another day). Other complaints from the hate train was that Valko was too big and muscular, alluding to being homosexual or even Black. They claimed he was ugly but then others in the same camp claimed he was copying their favorites (Sylus’ nose and Caleb’s voice, etc.) People claimed that Valko being added would detract from the other love interests content (which is false). The list goes on, if you go to twitter or tiktok, you’ll find the initial hate comments and complaints. At this point in time, there are a plethora of rumors going around with no reliable resources, everything is “I heard from a CN player that…” and “Take this with a grain of salt…” seeing that makes my eyes glaze over. I’m waiting for a real announcement from Infold or PaperGames themselves to address this situation. Not only has this opened the door to allow the fanbase to bully the company into making hasty decisions but it also breaks any remaining trust we all had in them.

Black and brown players have been asking Infold to fix their lighting issues with the kindled animated scenes in the different cards where darker skinned player characters are shrouded in shadows and invisible. Yet, a lot of the player character’s voiced lines are truncated or sped through because a loud obnoxious group in the CN player base claimed seeing their own character broke the immersion. Mind you, this is a game that has a character creation system. Which was the draw for Black and brown players who don’t often get to see characters who look like them in romantic settings. Especially in an otome game. Another unresolved issue that Infold continues to ignore regarding diversity, there are no curly hair options for the player. And 4-star memories that feature the main character/player displays the default pale skinned assumed to be Chinese version. It’s a lot. It bleeds into the 2-D chibi version of MC that appears in some events, meanwhile Infold was able to give us a 3-D chibi MC that resembles the one we create for ourselves. The inconsistency is frustrating and it’s a slap in the face to see that Infold only listens to the CN side of the player base.

There’s also the issue with how greedy Infold has become regarding resources for pulls. I’m still new to the game, so I was able to catch up in content and collect a lot of red diamonds for the things I wanted to pull for, but now I’m starting to see why more seasoned players plead on socials for everyone to ask for new ways to farm resources on the surveys. Doing your dailies each day only garners enough diamonds for about 17 gold wishes. Each wish is one pull. That’s pretty much …nothing considering that the RNG for pulls has become more stingy as the game goes on. Thinking about it as I write, this is all very silly. But some people are trying to enjoy a fun sci-fantasy about romance and drama for free. Others, like myself unfortunately, become Captain Ahab for their mains and spend their hard earned money to fill the gaps in their resources. It’s predatory. We create an attachment to these fictional men we can interact with and visit each day in the “cafe” (home screen). There’s haptic feedback when you “feel their heartbeat”. They’re 3-D and realistic(-ish) looking so your brain really thinks you’re talking to a real person. This game is a comfort in a world that hates women. Especially if you’re not conventionally attractive and stick thin. I’m fat, Black, and weird as hell. I do not have an extensive list of paramours to reminisce about. It’s nice to open my iPad and look at a hot fictional guy and hear him dote on me. It’s not all just in my mind palace before I go to bed. It’s like a supplement if you’re into self-shipping. Fiction is here for not just enjoyment but to explore our own psyches. So many people who play this game use it for comfort and it just so happens to help them build up their confidence for the real world and raise their standards.

Infold LIED and took away something new and refreshing for their game. They betrayed the players trust. They’re not giving us the whole story, so now we have rumors about the Chinese government being involved. Plenty of people are boycotting and not logging in until Valko is restored or we get a clear answer and action plan about restoring him. And rightfully so… I even requested a refund on some of my recent purchases. Hopefully, something good will happen for those of us who would like to keep playing this game. Personally, I want Valko and all his content to be restored and the game to improve on all fronts, but it’s been two days of chaos. It’s looking bleak.