#it would include some old shall we date otome games too

[moonlit-escape]

imma be so real with you guys rn i've always seen mcd and mystreet as the twilight of the minecraft roleplaying sphere.

[krys-does-otome]

Week of Otome Bonus! Day 8: If I Could Create My Own Otome Game, What Would It Be Like?

If I could create my own otome, what would it be like? What would I include? What tropes would I burn in a fire and never allow within ten feet near my project?

Let’s see, shall we?

I know for sure wouldn’t be too picky when it comes to the genre. I think I prefer it more when genres interact with others to give a more dynamic story. I know that romance will be the core element (because otome), but other than that? Anything goes with me. 

I do have a soft spot for fantasy and magic and old time chivalry, however, so I would find some way to incorporate that.

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In a similar vein to Hustle Cat, I would like to have the option of choosing pronouns for the MC, with the ability to change it at any time. I’d want the game to be as LGBTQ+ friendly as possible. It likely wouldn’t contain every pronoun in existence, but at least have enough to cover a wide audience.

In a similar vein, I would also prefer if no options were cut off because of this choice.

I would let you date who you wanted and present how you want to. Wanna date hot guys? Go for it. Cute girls? Right on, friend. That sweet nb babe with the nice butt? Sure thing. All of them at the same time? Go get them, tiger! And, the most controversial of all: just want to be friends or just be one big supportive extended family? Abso-fucking-lutely allowed.

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It probably more depends on the game I play, but I would love for there to be more ‘older’ characters in otomes, both as MCs and as Love Interests. Not just young adults (early 20s) being the majority, but people closer to their 30s and above. I don’t think falling in love stops after a certain age, and while innocent first love does have it’s time and place, how many otomes focus on finding love for the second or third time? How many focus on the importance of lasting love rather than that first spark? How many actually focus on building intimacy and trust in the relationship rather than just skipping right to the bumping dirty bits part? Again, most of these have their time and place, but it’s not something I crave when I’m playing an otome. I like the buildup of the relationship, earning each other’s trust and small moments of intimacy that build and grow over time. Call me old fashioned, but the relationship feels more real and believable this way for me. 

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I’D LET THE MC HAVE FRIENDS OUTSIDE OF THEIR LOVE INTERESTS, GOOD GOD. HOW HARD IS IT TO HAVE GOOD FRIENDS IN AN OTOME WHEN YOU WANT TO BITCH ABOUT YOUR BAE/LIFE IN GENERAL BEING AWFUL?

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It doesn’t have to be loud and bombastic, or badass and cool, I just want an MC with some personality. This also includes the meek and shy MC, or, regretfully, the innocent, naive MC. I know that otome companies seem to have this idea of the ‘Blank Slate’ MC is more inclusive for more people, but I don’t think that’s the case.

It always bothers me when an MC has their eyes/face intentionally covered up (IE, hair covering their eyes, for example). I like it more when I can see their entire face and expressions, to see them as their own character rather than a ‘stand in’ for the reader. An MC is more memorable to me if she has story and personality of her own. 

Chizuru from Hakuoki is sweet, but meek, but she is determined to find her missing father, no matter what stands in her way. Cardia (from Code: Realize) starts off without a personality (she’s basically a doll, for lack of a better term), but grows into her own as she has adventures with her friends. Heejung (Dandelion) is a college student trying to find her way to independence while dealing with her insecurities and traumas from her past. IkeSen’s MC, even not having an in-game canon name, still has so much personality. She was a girl just about to begin her career as a fashion designer in the modern era when she’s suddenly warped 500 years into the past and is suddenly rewriting history by (unintentionally) saving the life of Nobunaga Oda from his original fate. And while Nobunaga takes an interest in her (to put it lightly), she won’t let anyone push her around. She earns her place amongst the warlords and will put her foot down if she’s had enough of anyone’s crappy behavior. 

With me, I want my MC to be their own character with their own character arc. I want them to grow as their own person, just like their love interest. It feels more satisfying than having a passive blank slate tell me what’s going on, when I’d rather have someone participating in the action.

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I talked about this in my Favorite/Least Favorite Tropes post a few days earlier, and I think it bears repeating here: I don’t like it when someone thinks that their thoughts and feelings are the only ones that matter, that they matter more than someone else’s (especially the MCs), and proceeds to do terrible things because they can. No talking about these feelings, no one stopping them or telling them to stop, that what they were doing was wrong. The MC suddenly being okay with this gross behavior and letting the love interest have their way and holding on until everything’s over.

This will not happen in my game. Consent is something that’s important to me and I refuse to have that taken away if I made an otome game. Even if I include a yandere character, consent is not going to be taken away. Any MC of mine will have the ability to say ‘no’ and have it mean something. It won’t lead to a bad ending, and it won’t take away from anything plot important. There are plenty of ways to be dramatic without taking consent away from anyone.

[ads-is-shady-blog]

#5) [Otome Games/BTS] An Update on Aeon Dream Studios - hiatus, founder leaving, allegations of emotional abuse and non-payment by a former employee, + more

View the discussion on reddit here: https://www.reddit.com/r/HobbyDrama/comments/amiuas/otome_gamesbts_an_update_on_aeon_dream_studios/

Post (words by original poster linked):

This is an update to my previous post here which has some background and a Tl;dr at the end for those who need it. It's time for an update as a lot has happened in the past month.

Before that, though, here's something I missed in my last post: a scandal in June 2018 where ADS tweeted on their official account to call out a fanfic author on Wattpad for copying ADS's work. The tweet included an image containing the author's username, leading the fifteen-year-old author to receive harassment from TTEOTS fans who had seen the tweet. Considering TTEOTS itself did not have legal permission to be using BTS's likenesses, the call out post seems rather hypocritical. There was also an exchange in the replies where the devs passive aggressively blamed a fan who asked for help due to the app being glitchy.

So, to recap where we left off:

The studio went silent for a couple of months at the end of 2018, letting a promised release date for TTEOTS pass without comment. In mid-December the CEO emerged to link her inability to work to a BTS member sustaining a minor injury, and then pushed back Echoes to 2019 (initially promised for March 2017), giving no date for further TTEOTS content.

January has brought renewed anger and attempts to raise awareness by ex-fans and customers who have been burned by the studio.

January 14th

In two tweets on her personal account, the CEO decried the capitalisation and dehumanisation of BTS through merchandise and idolatry and condemned fans for buying products that contributed to this. This was certainly an ironic tweet to make for someone who:

dehumanised BTS by turning them into characters for her game without their consent;

promoted the game using BTS's faces, name and existing fanbase, and strongly encouraged fans to pay for crowdfunding, TTEOTS merch and, later, the monetised Premium version;

enticed fans to buy Premium by promising Premium-exclusive content such as eventual romantic content with said characters, further dehumanising the members of BTS without their consent.

Several people responded pointing out the hypocrisy of making such tweets after capitalising on the faces of BTS, but the CEO did not respond; instead one fan chimed in to defend the studio.

January 18th

The CEO posted a new blog on ADS's official website announcing a hiatus for financial reasons. It is no longer accessible for reasons I'll explain, but there is a cached version viewable here. The hiatus will last until at least March and means writing and programming will continue but almost everything else is paused and their social media presence will be reduced. Elaborating, she explained that they had "been on hiatus in some ways since September [2018]", having slowed work due to budgetary constraints.

The post also included a vague paragraph about a personal financial settlement she was owed from a person referred to as "He-Shall-Not-Be-Named" which she had planned to invest into ADS, but allegedly he had dragged out the proceedings and this, combined with the "untimely" cease and desist from BigHit Entertainment and decreased sales, led to financial difficulties. During the hiatus, which will last until March or later, the CEO wrote that she would work on novels and commissions in order to help the company.

Ex-fans linked the hiatus post in the Steam forums and in a post on /r/otomegames. Criticism was directed at numerous parts of the statement, including:

"We promised you guys a lot of things, and we’re going to deliver, come hell or high water. It might not be in the time frame I had planned, but it will be done. I am definitely known as a person of my word." (emphasis added)

A claim critics would happily dispute, and:

"Anyway, as a result I decided the best thing for us was to be honest, now that I knew more, and let the fans know exactly what was happening as soon as possible and take an “official” hiatus." (emphasis added)

This latter statement attracted particular criticism considering the studio had already been winding down development activity since September but had failed to inform fans and eventually went radio silent for roughly 2 months, leaving TTEOTS fans confused and worried about the status of the game. Further, this hiatus post was not announced anywhere on ADS's social media, leaving those who had noticed it wondering exactly how this constituted keeping fans in the loop.

January 25th

On the 25th, the CEO made several tweets, one of which began with:

"Lately, relationships have ended in my life. I'm grateful for the lessons I learned. Courage, generosity, empathy, honesty, openness are all traits required for a healthy relationship."

Perhaps coincidentally, that same day the other remaining founding member of the studio announced her departure for mental health reasons. As she is no longer an employee I will not link directly out of respect but here is a screenshot of the main tweet. This left ADS with two remaining employees - the CEO (the only remaining founder) and a writer who had formally joined the studio in February 2018 and who is allegedly now living with the CEO. This departure means there are now four former employees listed on the official ADS website. The third founder was the longest serving former employee at 2 years.

Shortly afterwards, the official ADS Twitter tweeted out a new hiatus statement on their official website, the previous one having vanished. The new post was shorter than the first - down to 426 words from the original 1,089 - and now included the departure of their founding member as a reason for the hiatus.

The tweet attracted a mix of supportive and critical replies, with former fans and backers wading in to demand answers about the two versions of the hiatus post and to back up frustrated TTEOTS fans. Unusually, the CEO appeared in the replies to respond to some of these criticisms, tweeting that:

anything perceived to be "shady" by critics was merely due to their founding member struggling with her mental health behind the scenes;

the second hiatus blog was the "same exact blog" as the original except for the addition of the founding member leaving (in fact the original was twice as long);

the only reason they didn't share the original hiatus post on Twitter was because the member responsible for sharing it had quit.

January 27th

The CEO posted two blogs on the ADS website: a post detailing her plans for restructuring and fulfilling their obligations, including hiring more freelance staff after the hiatus, and another detailing the struggles of ADS from their founding, written in response to a critic who had apparently claimed not to believe in the recently departed founding member's mental health issues. (I am unsure what comment(s) the CEO was referring to specifically as the reference is vague.)

As you've probably guessed, ex-fans picked this latter post apart too.

"I haven’t seen all the bad things out there about us. I don’t read them, because I know that some of it is made up,and would only distract me from my job. I know the truth, and I have always been honest, even if there were things I couldn’t say. I have no motive to lie, and I know these people don’t know or understand me." (emphasis added)

Critics wondered how the CEO could know if criticisms are made up if she doesn't read them.

"I thought of the possibility of course, of hanging it up, working on providing refunds to people (what, you REALLY thought we were so dishonorable as not to do that?)..." (emphasis added)

Of course, as mentioned in my last post, numerous customers had reported difficulty obtaining refunds (despite a threat from the devs that backers who were toxic would be forcibly refunded).

On their official Twitter account, they also announced plans to move away from social media and focus on communicating through the "healthy space" of their Discord channels. Ex-fans speculated this was a way to more tightly moderate speech and shut out critics. One began lurking in the official Discords, reporting on what the studio's remaining employees were saying and alleging that critics' arguments were being misrepresented by ADS devs to their fans in the Discord enquiring about the controversy.

This user also heavily hinted at having testimony from an inside source that supposedly included emotional abuse allegations against the CEO, but was holding off on saying anything due to concerns about preserving the source's anonymity.

28th January

Despite failing to give a release date elsewhere, the developers posted a backer-exclusive Kickstarter update which as a non-backer I cannot read, but according to a poster in the Steam forum it gives the release date for Echoes as March 2019, despite the hiatus.

The CEO also tweeted refuting past criticism that she was throwing employees under the bus in her updates, and closed by stating she would not be tweeting about negativity or rumours anymore.

29th January

A Twitter user who is the MDSOA Deluxe Edition Kickstarter's highest backer (to the tune of $2000+ USD, proof posted on their Twitter account) posted a series of tweets strongly condemning the studio. She claimed one employee from the studio had blocked her (something at least one other backer has also reported) and that she had been refused a refund.

In fact, when she had emailed the studio in November 2018 asking for refunds for physical Kickstarter rewards which did not yet exist almost 2 years after the Kickstarter in question - and indeed still do not exist - ADS responded that crowdfunded pledges are "donations" and "ordinarily considered non-refundable", with the promised rewards being "just a perk". (This screenshot of the reply is embedded in one of the tweets.) However, they generously stated they would "consider it" when they start sending out merchandise.

In fact, according to Section 4 of Kickstarter's Terms of Use, this is very much not true: "project creators must complete the project and fulfil each reward." Backers are owed regular updates, and if the project fails, creators must go to lengths to show why they failed, prove they used funds appropriately, and either refund backers with any remaining funds or use this money to complete the promised project in another form. The only way to terminate these obligations to a backer is to issue a refund, ending the contract between them.

And, in any case, the developers had promised refunds in December 2017 for those who wanted them and had set up a page for refund sign-ups which they posted about in January. As such, it's clear their email response was not consistent with their past statements, especially as some people were previously able to get refunds. What changed?

Again:

"I thought of the possibility of course, of hanging it up, working on providing refunds to people (what, you REALLY thought we were so dishonorable as not to do that?)..."

31st January

Meanwhile, ADS were posting teasers of new character designs for TTEOTS, including one of the redesigns that had been made necessary by the cease and desist in August 2018. As the main male characters had originally been based on BTS they had all appeared Korean, but the redesigns had changed the races of some characters to reflect a more racially diverse future.

On the 31st they posted a passive aggressive tweet with a meme gif alluding to comments they had apparently received in the past, encouraging people to unfollow if they were likely to be upset by future character designs, all of which are "various shades of brown", with one also being agender. Again a mix of supportive and critical replies followed; even some of the studio's supporters criticised the tone as condescending and unprofessional. Several responders appeared wary of being branded as racist for criticising Five's redesign for not fitting his established character. One or two even expressed views that the devs were intentionally avoiding adding white characters out of spite or pettiness. Matters were not helped by ADS making a couple of replies of a similar hostile tone.

1st February

At last, the "inside source" that had been hinted at came forward: the former Lead Artist and Art Director at ADS, Monzana21.

Monz alleged in a Twitter statement that she had been a victim of emotional abuse at the hands of ADS's current management, ended up in the hospital with extreme exhaustion, and when she left the company received only one and a half months' payment for 7 months of work. She appealed to people to question what is happening at ADS and why they have lost so many employees, but declined to give further information publicly in order to protect herself and her friends and coworkers. In other more recent tweets she added that people in the art community are also aware of abuse and mistreatment within ADS and the scamming of fans.

Replies were overwhelmingly supportive, with a couple of other Twitter users who had interacted with ADS chiming in to say that their experiences with ADS were also negative and they did not doubt the veracity of the allegations.

Since then, any tweets on the ADS Twitter have numerous responses asking about the abuse allegations and trying to spread awareness, but the studio still has plenty of eager responses from fans as well.

On her personal account, the CEO tweeted to thank those who believe in her for their supportive messages and retweeted this on the ADS Twitter, but there has otherwise been no official statement on the matter outside of Discord. There, the CEO has outright disputed the allegations (compilation), as has ADS's other writer (compilation), and members of the Discord (some of whom address the CEO as "mom") have mostly taken them at their word, while people who were already critical or doubtful of the studio appear more inclined to believe the former Lead Artist.

The #TTEOTS, #MDSOA and #MDE Twitter tags are awash with criticism towards the studio from numerous different users, and new tweets from the CEO and the official ADS Twitter are quickly met by former fans and backers banging war drums. The fallout from the abuse allegations has yet to settle and presumably more drama is to come.

Tl;dr

Throughout January, angry ex-fans have increased efforts to raise awareness and turned ADS-related accounts and tags into a battleground on Twitter

Conspiracy theories abounded as a post about a hiatus for financial reasons was never shared, then vanished and reappeared significantly edited down a week later

A founding member of the company departed for mental health reasons

A $2k+ backer alleges she was refused a refund for items she had not received and was informed her Kickstarter pledge was a "donation" and "ordinarily non-refundable"

ADS stirred up further controversy with more passive aggressive tweets

A former employee came forward with allegations of emotional abuse and being underpaid for 7 months of work, which the remaining ADS members have refuted

[randomchick29]

50 Facts About Me (THANK YOU FOR 50 FOLLOWS!)

So... as promised in this post, I’m doing 50 facts about me because 50?! people followed me and my crazy masa obsessed cat mom ass. Thanks for enjoying my messed up commentary/rambles! Great, now I’m starting to sound like a youtuber that just wants money lmao sorry. Enough mushy stuff, and onto ze list!

Possible trigger warning: I’ll try to keep this as positive as I can, but there may be some things that can trigger some people (including but not limited to mental health, abuse/bullying, eating disorders etc.) If you are not comfortable with those topics, don’t read this.

1. My real name is Robin (middle name starts with Y and my last name starts with G)

2. I live in AZ

3. I LOVE FOOD. Part of the reason why I love masa and luka tbh... But seriously, food is great.

4. My fav foods are crab, ham, and burgers. See why I can’t become vegetarian 😂

5. I HATE onions with a passion.

6. My fav animals are owls, cats, hedgehogs, snakes, and whale sharks.

7. I have two dogs and used to have a cat (extremely long story short: My cat is in the “care” of an abusive psycho that isn’t allowed near me so I can’t see her ever again :/ but my sisters can) I still love Lucky (my cat) to death. She’s a sweet kitty (most of the time) and I miss her so much ❤️

8. My dogs are named Tucker and Bella. They’re both miniature schnauzers and they’re crazy. Tucker is a sweetheart, but he DOESNT. STOP. BARKING. He has a bit of a jealousy issue. When Bella gets attention, he starts barking and/or pushes her away from the human 😂 He hates when his people hug. He will jump on them and bark and growl. He also has stuffed animals that he LOVES. He uses them as pillows and carries them around. Bella is a lazy piggy ass. All she does is sleep and eat (like me haha). Half the time she’s too lazy to get up and go outside, and only responds when there’s food (once again, just like me 😅) They absolutely love each other though. Tucker licks her and grooms her and Bella follows him around and it’s just the cutest thing.

9. My lucky number is 9 because my birthday is 9/29 and my adoption day is 9/9 (see what I did there hehe get it? fact 9 is about my lucky number 9? no? okay...)

10. I’m adopted from an orphanage in (Eastern?) China

11. I have 2 sisters. They’re both in college but everyone who sees us on the street thinks I’m the oldest because I’m taller and curvier. One is 21 (but everyone thinks she’s like 16) and the other is 19 (people think she’s like 10 😂) No, none of us are blood related.

12. I’m 5’ nothing...

13. I’ve always been heavy for my height and age. I was and still am judged because of how much I eat and weigh. Because of this, I had an eating disorder in 4th grade and have always hated myself and envied my sisters for their tiny asian bodies.

14. I used to do tennis, dance, and swimming. I haven’t done any sports since then.

15. I can play 3 instruments, and tried many others. I played piano for 10 years, violin for 2, and French horn for 6 months.

16. I am EXTREMELY double jointed in my fingers

17. I have a fused tooth

18. My fingers bend back at the first knuckle way farther than most people’s

19. My hair is REALLY long and grows really fast. It goes to around my hip/tailbone area as of now.

20. My shoe size is a 7

21. My fav colors are red and green

22. My first fictional crush was Link. I was 8 at the time. We’re still going strong 7 years later.

23. Only a few months ago did someone top (wink wonk) Link: MASAAAA

24. My first otome was Shall We Date? Love Tangle after I saw an ad for it on trivia crack. My first route was Ryan. My fav is Nolan.

25. I still love MM, but I don’t have the time OR space on my phone to play (SORRY ZENNY)

26. I got in huge trouble when I was 10 coz I made a bunch of accounts that my mom didn’t approve of. I made an email, twitter, pottermore, quizilla (I miss that site smh), etc. And I did it MULTIPLE times. After she took the computer from me, she found out my DS had internet too. I didn’t have my DS for a long time. She would give it back after a while, and ID GO ONTO THE INTERNET AND YOUTUBE EVERY. DAMN. TIME. I got my DS back on Christmas in 7th grade coz I got games for it and she trusted me enough (and I had a phone by then so yay trust...?)

27. ...the twitter accounts still exist... I’ve looked back at them and I wanna kms holy crap it was bad. Lesson: 10 year olds shouldn’t be on twitter.

28. I love Harry Potter and The Inheritance Cycle (Eragon series). My fav HP book is Order of the Phoenix, and my fav IC book is Eldest.

29. My fav Zelda is a tie between Skyward Sword and Wind Waker

30. My fav Pokémon are Garchomp, Shaymin, and Breloom

31. We used to have so many games and systems. We had like 100-200 games, 2 gamecubes, 3 GBA’s, 4 DS’, 2 wii’s, and prob more 😂 We got only $150 from gamestop.

32. My fav youtubers are Chuggaaconroy, Rachel & Jun, and Glam & Gore.

33. I learned about sex through fanfiction (specifically, The Lemon of Zelda (pretty sure it’s been deleted tho coz I can’t find it))😂 I never got The Talk.

34. I may have looked at yaoi at school before...

35. I’m pansexual

36. Biggest turnoffs are arrogance, possessiveness, and bad hygiene.

37. Biggest turn ons are good chesticles and sense of humor.

38. I’ve had ONE bf and I dumped him after a day coz he wouldn’t stop calling me and I was scared of my mom. The thing is, we both liked each other for a LONG time and to my friend I was like “Yo ask who he likes” coz he was acting all sus and SHE TOLD HIM I TOLD HER TO ASK HIM and he’s like YA I LIKE ROBIN and I’m like WTF IS WRONG W YOU to my friend. Then he told me in class and it was really cute and I accepted. Then broke up w him OVER TEXT not even 24 hours later 😂 Dumb 7th grade ass

39. I’ve always been bullied because of how awkward and weird and annoying I am

40. My fav anime is Ouran

41. The only thing keeping me alive in freshman year (this past school year) was otome. Specifically Masa. My mind: What would Masa do without his kitten? Who would he chase through Azuchi? Who would be the pretty pillow/futon when he’s drunk? Damn, I love this man agh

42. I can reach my back much better than most people. I don’t need a back scratcher because I can reach my whole back.

43. I’m obsessed with makeup and nails, and used to love music, reading, and art.

44. My real baes are Huang Jing Xiang (fellow Chinese SPOTTED!) and Kato Kazuki

45. I sweat A LOT. I have to have a STRONG fan coz ac isn’t enough to keep me from sweating too much. And I live in AZ, so it’s even worse...

46. I still sleep with my baby blanket. I put it over my pillow coz it’s so soft (and I don’t have any other blankets)

47. My fav movie is Heathers (WELL FUCK ME GENTLY WITH A CHAINSAW)

48. I have HORRIBLE eyesight but I don’t like wearing my glasses coz the arms give me a headache and I don’t like them period

49. I love bad puns too much (I would make one here, but I don’t wanna be PUNished) 😂

50. I’ve gotten caught drawing... and writing... some NSFW things at bad times...

AAAAND DAS IT! Sorry it was more negative than I thought it would be, but I’m a really boring person with a boring life filled with drama and... That makes no sense does it. A boring life doesn’t have drama... I’m dumb. Should’ve stopped at DASSIT. Ok, I’m actually stopping lmao baiii 😊