#faradaycages

Note: This is not intended to be prediction but rather speculation.

To get it out of the way: Yes, I think we are going to get Valko back. I have zero idea about the timeline for this but the State Media shifting their stance is a Really Big Deal in a positive way.

(I plan on this post being one of many posts exploring some of the political, socio-economic, and historical context behind why the events since June 30th have popped off like they have. So yeah, follow me if you like reading the ramblings of a 30-something fandom elder who never gets to use her political science degree for anything anymore.)

My current speculation is that Infold may be under some form of voluntary media blackout. I do believe the CCP is involved but not in the way most people have assumed. My theory is that China may be planning on using The Valko Incident and Infold/PaperGames as a springboard to introduce even further restrictions on gaming and social media for minors.

Historically, China has viewed gaming (and eventually social media use) as a form of harmful addiction for minors. They introduced restrictions on the amount of time those under 18 could play video games daily back in 2019. Then proceeded to further amend these restrictions in 2021 and 2023 to increasingly limit the amount of time minors can game or be on social media. Based on those dates, it seems like they are potentially due for another amendment soon.

It is a known issue that, despite robust facial recognition and ID-based age verifications already in place, a significant majority of Chinese children and young adults are able to find workarounds involving using older relatives' accounts, using pictures of older relatives for face recognition, and even buying gaming accounts off the black market.

But why does this even matter, Faraday?

It matters because gaming companies are one of China's most robust sources of soft power globally as well as bringing in a large amount of revenue from global consumers.

As of right now, this entire Valko Incident has created a lot of negative publicity for Chinese gaming companies as a whole - not just for Infold/PaperGames. I have seen countless people across various social media platforms state that the cancellation of Valko is just another incident on a long list of similar incidents within China-based games that has soured them from ever engaging with another China-based game again. This has not fallen on deaf ears - it is my opinion that the CCP is very much aware of the radical shift in global sentiment. This is further strengthened by the fact that some state media outlets have run articles calling for balancing global concerns with domestic concerns by Chinese gaming companies as the global consumers have grown to be a significant portion of these companies' revenue. What I find most interesting about what the state media outlets have had to say? Their condemnation of misinformation campaigns, the weaponization of sensitive Chinese historical events, the use of 'water armies', and other underhanded tactics to harm a company's reputation and revenue stream.

Okay? Still with me?

So, to review, we have:

an aggressive misinformation campaign that may have been started or helped by a rival company/companies that was bandwagoned by Antis who skew young (with many of them being minors).

a country that believes gaming and social media are harmful addictions for youths.

a large amount of negative publicity for a sector of a country's economy that they value for economic, political, and cultural export reasons.

a gaming company that has provided almost no announcements or updates to their player base in over two weeks.

Now we are all on the same page with the background context.

My current theory regarding Infold's complete silence since Valko's cancellation is that the CCP has requested or 'suggested' a media blackout for Infold as they are planning on introducing new, stricter regulations on minors in gaming. They are investigating and getting pieces in place for this to happen and want to use Infold & The Valko Incident to do that.

The Valko Incident goes far beyond Chinese youths acting like entitled idiots and bullying Chinese gaming companies into kowtowing to their demands. This has broken containment. It has negatively impacted a very significant source of soft political power for their own government and made their country's gaming industry as a whole look untrustworthy to very profitable global markets.

It's clear that their current gaming restrictions are not actually working as intended. In an increasingly globalized and interconnected world, the Antis have shown they can do more than just bully a company to get what they want. They were able to actively impact an aspect of their own government's political influence abroad (gaming = soft power). I can't imagine the CCP not taking a stand about this.

To end this giant ramble: I think we will be getting Valko back but it might take a little time.

I have another half dozen or so (NOT) Fact post idea percolating in my head so let me know if you found this post interesting or informative.