I can't sit back and watch this boycott be sabotaged from the inside through toxic positivity and spineless concessions, all under the guise of a false sense of "collective kindness" mainly spread by bigger accounts...
For anyone who still fails to see the sheer magnitude of the damage, here is the exact breakdown:
1. The reaction to anti-fans attacking our tags
The foolish decision: Changing our main hashtags out of fear and immediately blocking anyone who dared to criticize the move. Then, once the damage metastasized and misinformation spread like wildfire, they quietly walked it back while pretending none of it was their fault.
The real result: They destroyed our algorithmic momentum, erased weeks of hard-earned engagement, and severely delayed our visibility on the trending topics.
2. The release of a highly anticipated banner
The foolish decision: Instead of enforcing the most fundamental rule of a boycott (zero pulls), they actually posted guidelines telling people it was fine to pull on the "3rd or 5th day" to "help." Who on earth boycotts on a scheduled spending delay?! Those who were going to spend were going to do so anyway.
The real result: They handed out a psychological free pass. Players who were originally holding the line ended up pulling because these accounts falsely claimed it was "safe for the movement to spend a few days later." That is the exact opposite of a boycott.
3. Cowardice and blatant hypocrisy regarding the JP server
The foolish decision: Japanese players told people not to comment on a collaborator's posts out of fear of "losing future LADS events." In response, people began gaslighting global players who were simply showing love for Valko. They had the audacity to draw a false equivalence between politically sensitive, historical dates in China and some people's selfish desire not to miss out on gacha events. To make matters worse, they paraded charts claiming JP was the "most successful" boycott based on relative percentage, completely ignoring basic math, as JP has one of the smallest total player populations.
The real result: Infold will look at the lack of public pressure, see the event generating revenue, and assume the global community has accepted Valko’s cancellation. All of this just because a privileged subset of players is terrified of losing future events, while the rest of the world doesn't even get regional events and is still on the front lines fighting every single day.
A boycott that doesn't hit a company's bottom line and public image is not a boycott, it’s just performative virtue signaling. Soothing your own ego won't bring Valko back; strategy, unyielding pressure, and financial consequences will. STOP making excuses for mediocre decisions influenced by "leaderships"...
[Translated from Portuguese]
I'm not going to waste any more time stating the obvious, so here goes for anyone who wants to read:
The concept of "coming off as rude" and "the companies won't bring more collabs" IS ONLY NEGATIVE IF YOU'RE LOOKING AT YOUR OWN BELLYBUTTON.
In the end, not consuming anything, demanding the character's return, and not spending with the company is what will REALLY help us.
Infold isn't Japanese, it's Chinese. The way they usually "boycott" companies from their own country simply doesn't work against foreign giants. Gacha companies don't interpret silence as "deep protest," they interpret it as conformism and acceptance.
In fact, Infold will take advantage of exactly that passivity to keep profiting. If Global and CN were to imitate this boycott method, we'd be screwed, so reflect on that—it's not hard... Both CN players and global players are boycotting using the same methods, but you don't want to because you're afraid of missing out on some damn event and coming off badly, when, AGAIN, the game is CHINESE.
We couldn't care less if Inflop doesn't do more events. If they're not capable of solving this problem they caused and RESPECTING THE PLAYERS, we hope they go EOS.
EOS = NO ONE GETS ANY MORE EVENTS, I think you get it now.
this user seriously, perfectly worded exactly how I've been feeling about the toxic positivity that has unfortunately been plaguing the movement. that too in such a composed manner, while on the other hand i was holding myself back from going completely ballistic. not to mention certain people are so quick to deem you as insensitive or disrespectful, or too negative, even when you present them with actual facts.
day by day i feel like I'm losing my tolerance for those who keep dictating us on what to do, while simultaneously posting pictures of themselves playing the game, completely ignoring the basic concepts of a boycott while trying to act like the leaders.
it has gotten to a point where I couldn't care less if people's feelings are hurt, you simply cannot call yourself a boycotter when you're STILL playing the game, logging in, contributing to infold's performance metric. like this seriously should've been common knowledge?
the whole point of a boycott is that you're supposed to be fucking annoying and relentless. you're supposed to be loud on social media, while having absolutely 0 presence in or around the thing you're boycotting, in our case it is infold/papergames' releases. their games. you're supposed to be insufferable about what you want.
you're supposed to be the cold dagger wedged between their ribs; agonizingly painful, but if they dare pull it out with no intention of treating, they'll bleed to death.
so let's keep certain basic things in mind.
stop changing hashtags every other day on twitter, instagram, facebook, etc and stick to only 3, one of them HAS to be #bringbackvalko, and the other two MUST be established and popular. prevents the loss of momentum.
completely delete the game. if you truly want to boycott, just delete it. there will be no pulling for so and so banner on the nth day. it just doesn't make sense.
no need to attack, just be relentless. keep spamming your love for valko, ESPECIALLY under official posts. don't worry about being annoying, the antis didn't care either when they mass emailed infold to delete valko, when they harassed the developers, valko mains, and did all that shit. they are undoubtedly much worse, so why the FUCK would we let anybody guilt-trip us into thinking we're the problem?
stop worrying about there not being any future collabs or events. global fans of all people never even be bothered by this because infold has never done any of the like for us. our boycott is supposed to hurt them wtf stop pitying them🤦remember that whatever happens is all on them, because they broke their promise, they angered us, the betrayed us, they have always been overlooking us. infold will reap what they sow.
and for the love of whatever, whoever you find holy, use common sense, critical thinking, actual knowledge, whatever helps you differentiate facts from fallacies. stop taking random accounts as your leaders just because they have a large follower count, blue checkmarks, more likes or whatever. there is no leader. there is no official spokesperson. there is no hierarchy or social ranking. you are either a boycotter or you aren't. simple as that.
be loud as hell on social media, but a complete void in their metrics. if you want to contribute but don't feel like posting (which is understandable, esp considering how hateful valko antis are) just be the void. delete the game. free your devices from the burden of this heavy ass game.
if we're being annoying that means it's working. stop pitying infold or valko antis, basically the ones who are SUPPOSED to be "bothered" by the boycott in the first place. and please, stop trying to guilt-trip us into thinking we're "policing people" or "forcing others to boycott." because while we're not doing that shit, you seriously can't deny the basics of boycotting while deluding yourself into thinking you're morally correct.
to put it simply, you can't have your cake (a moral high ground, social status as an advocate for a good cause) and eat it too (indulge in the comforts and pleasures of the very thing you claim to be against). it doesn't fucking work like that.
gracieabrams
dailybridgerton
kianamaiart
origamiaround
