Reaction to YandereDev’s “Hate and Shame” Video

DISCLAIMER: I am not a psychologist or political expert.
(And I’m definitely NOT a gremlin.)

This has little to do with the Yandere Simulator game itself.

Since I suck at introductions, let me summarize some parts of the “Hate and Shame” video instead (though I encourage you to watch the whole thing).

YandereDev emphasizes the statement, “Imagine yourself in the following situation.” Most of your public activities are pleasant or at least innocent, but the few dumb things you did are collected by haters which YandereDev calls “gremlins”. With no regard for your good deeds, these gremlins will weaponize the dumb things you did to create an exaggerated narrative that you’re an overall bad person. As this narrative spreads, more people, including your supporters, may turn into gremlins too.

Gremlin activity can go beyond just sabotaging your reputation. As YandereDev described, they may prank-call you, send weird things to your house, send you disturbing content like gore, and the worst thing for me personally, having the police break into your house.

Over time, as the gremlins intensify their attacks, your mood will plummet and your personality will grow bitter. Thoughts of gremlins will preoccupy your mind as your productivity worsens and your public interactions get more unnecessarily rude, making the gremlins happier and giving them more “weapons” to use against you.

But it’s not just your mood and personality which will get negatively affected. Your business, career, or project will suffer too because your co-workers, fans, and/or friends may discover the gremlin propaganda and, if they believe what they saw, they’ll abandon you.

YandereDev presents a dilemma related to you addressing the gremlin propaganda: Do you explain it to your coworkers/customers/fans so that they understand why you and your work are getting negatively affected but risk looking like a “whiny baby” to some other people? Or do you not let your supporters know so they won’t be exposed to drama but you’ll be less likely to get someone to understand your feelings and your project’s status?

LT, why are you writing about this?

I have two main motivations.

First, I’m an aspiring video game developer. As a fan of video games, I occasionally stumble into news on the video game industry as a whole to get inspiration for my future business and project or to simply gush at my favorite games (I got my Info-chan eyes on you, Hypixel Studios).
I understand that video games can get super controversial among players (not necessarily the law). The controversies I remember the most so far are the inclusion of Byleth in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the lack of Hytale blog posts in mid-2019, and the lack of a full National Pokédex in Pokémon Sword and Shield.
With Pokémon Sword and Shield in particular, GAME FREAK’s morale was almost annihilated. Junichi Masuda, director of the Pokémon games, made an apology statement: something that I’ve never seen him do publicly in all my years of following the Pokémon franchise. When YouTuber MysticUmbreon started the #ThankYouGAMEFREAK hashtag, he was met with backlash.
These controversies are why I want to be extra careful in what I do when developing games or even writing on this blog (though I admit I still slip a lot). Good thing I got addicted to Competitive Balance after playing lots of D&D and imagining lots of numbers in my head.

Second, I’ve seen other people besides game developers whose sources of livelihood were annihilated because of gremlins, though mainly for political reasons. In Nancy Rommelmann’s PragerU video “How to Become a Dangerous Person”, she narrated how challenging the #MeToo movement’s opinions caused a former employee of her husband’s coffee business to claim in public that Nancy’s views were “vile” and “dangerous”. In an email, the same employee said Nancy’s opinions created a “demoralizing and hostile environment to employees”, which then made the current employees resign out of fear.

I’m happy that Hytale, Pokémon, and Yandere Simulator have so far survived gremlin attacks, but I’m fearful that my future open-world RPG project might not.

Okay then, LT, how would you react to gremlins?

YandereDev “genuinely wants to hear the community’s answers”, so here goes.

Let’s be real: I’m 21 years old chronologically, but because of my Asperger’s syndrome, I’d say I have the emotional maturity of a 12-year-old.
When I posted a humorous self-deprecating artwork of me with a Stormtrooper helmet missing a Kweebec from point-blank range, I got asked some questions: “Why are you wearing a Stormtrooper helmet and a suit and tie in a fantasy block game? Why shouldn’t you be given a ranged weapon?”
I got slightly offended because the art was not meant to be taken seriously and, in the case of the suit and tie which are part of my Author Avatar’s standard outfit, Hytale avatars can be given modern outfits. When I answered the questions, I tried to be as polite as possible without showing my feelings.
And don’t get me started with actual Drill Sergeant Nasties.

If actual gremlins sabotaged me or my project in roughly the same scale as Yandere Simulator, I imagine I’d buy into their propaganda and conclude to myself that I’m really a bad person, a bad programmer, a bad boss, etc. as they say I am. I’d get thoughts of quitting or at least scrapping large parts of my project that I’ve probably built over many months.
Gremlins also blackmail YandereDev’s volunteers, so, if something similar were to happen to me, I’d probably think to myself, “Fine! I don’t need your help! I can do this by myself!” even though I know I can’t. When I screw up in front of my friends in real life, I think to myself that I’m a bad friend and I should just tackle life by myself.
At worst, I imagine I may simply threaten someone to “firetruck off” even if they told an innocent joke which I found offensive because my sense of humor was destroyed by gremlins.

As for this “2-week recreation of Yandere Simulator” (which I did not research on because I wanted to spare myself from the cringe), if a similar thing were to happen to my project, I’d probably vomit metaphorically. I'm not sure yet though if I'd wallow in sadness, rage at the intellectual property thief (says the lunatic whose Author Avatar is a thief), or begrudgingly ignore the thief. 
That one time a sentence of mine was copy-pasted in a malicious-looking ad was the tip of the iceberg, yet on a scale of 1 (calm) to 10 (super angry), that shot my anger up to 3.

On the bright side, instead of being discouraged by the gremlins, I may randomly think to myself instead, “Screw what they think! I’ll show those fools I can make a great game!”

What if you were completely immune to gremlin hate?

That’s a cool ability…though it doesn’t completely solve the gremlin problem.

Sure, being an “emotionless robot” as YandereDev said or “not giving a firetruck” as Mark Manson said can prevent productivity loss and negative personality changes, but remember, gremlins can sabotage others in ways besides simple hatred.
Businesses are dependent on customers. If they like a product, they will buy it, and the other way around. That’s why people involved in business give lots of firetrucks about how to improve their products and appeal to potential customers. When gremlins spread misinformation about how “bad” a product or its creator is, it will most likely reduce sales.
Similarly, potential employees often apply for jobs because of the benefits and because they want to use their talents to make a meaningful contribution. When gremlins claim that the employer is “bad”, even if it’s wrong, as long as it’s believable and entertaining, this will give employees the impression they’re either working for nothing or are contributing to someone’s “evil schemes”.

Then there are the other weird stuff YandereDev is experiencing like prank calls and weird mail. Prank calls can distract from work because, even if you can see the phone number calling you, it’s a few seconds (and probably a game design idea that popped out of nowhere) wasted on hearing the ringtone and pressing the “reject” button or picking up the phone then hanging up immediately. If you get extra paranoid, you may even deny a call from a well-meaning or important person that you don’t know.
Weird mail wastes time in similar ways, both email and physical mail. In the case of email, it may take longer to find the important mail when it’s buried in-between the weird mail, and even more time to deal with the weird mail such as by deleting them. In the case of physical mail, it’s time wasted on getting up from your work chair. (Heh, I sound like a lazy businessman.)

I imagine, if your reputation gets so bad, merely quitting your business/career/project then changing your official name and starting a new business/career/project won’t do. Gremlins are skilled stalkers (and some are hackers) so they can always unmask your former identity and use their old “weapons” against your new business/career/project. This can prevent you from being hired by employers or getting new customers because the misinformation has become so widespread. In other words, no matter what you try to do, the gremlins will always find a way to sabotage it.
It’s even worse if the gremlins somehow spread the misinformation to the police and the police believe it. It’ll forever taint your reputation as a criminal, further alienating you from employers and customers out of fear that they’ll be your “next victims”. God forbid the police actually punish you with something like a fine.

What do you think YandereDev should do about his gremlin problem? How can you help?

This is a tough question since, again, I’m not a psychologist, among other things I’m not. I don’t know enough about business to deal with large packs of raging gremlins (other than activating SNAP mode and unleashing my Anti-Armor Limit Break if they get physical).

Interestingly, the harassment against YandereDev started back in January 2017 while the earliest hate-related post I can find in YandereDev's blog was published in June 2018. I’m both surprised and thankful he survived for that long and I kind of understand why he didn’t speak up sooner.
I imagine, if a harassment campaign against me begun and I didn’t crack immediately, I would think, “Eh. Let them whine all they want. They'll eventually get bored and stop then things will go back to normal. Besides, similar weird stuff has happened to me before.” I think YandereDev thought the same thing…at least before the prank calls and the SWAT team things.

First off, I appreciate YandereDev debunking the lies and rumors hurled against him. That’s a sign of honesty and vulnerability and I hope he keeps this up. (So, Osana and Oka, you’d better man up if you wanna confess to Senpai!) I think, by Mark Manson’s standards, the firetrucks he gave were well-timed.
Sure, it may invite more gremlin attacks, but with YandereDev having so many gremlin attacks already, if I were YandereDev and I have a choice of, #1, get more gremlins and no supporters, or #2, get more gremlins and supporters, I’d choose #2.
I imagine if YandereDev did not address the gremlin propaganda, it would create more gremlins anyway because the only side of the story that would be available to the public would be gremlin propaganda.
Side note: Massive thank-you as well to dyc3 for his Yandere Simulator code analysis. I appreciate how he tried to be as objective and constructive as possible, along with his “no bullying” rule. (I hope that rule gets into the gremlins’ “thick firetrucking skulls”.) With him around, I’m even more excited for a quality Osana to come out!

To be honest, though, I don’t know what YandereDev can do on his part since I don’t fully understand his personality. I’d advise him to do what I do and use the gremlin hate as a motivation to work better to prove the gremlins wrong, but #1, the gremlins are not interested in good qualities and #2, Mark Manson said to “meet them where they are, not where you are”; in other words, give advice based on their situation, not yours. (Then again, I enjoy the sweet feeling of harmless retaliation…)

I think all I can do is give YandereDev some Words of Affirmation, one of the 5 Love Languages.
With that said, you got this, YandereDev. Show those gremlins who’s the boss ‘round here. Keep up the hard work you’ve built up over the years. I’m excited for more from you. I know you can do it.

Speaking of “I know you can do it” as I end this post on a positive note…
I can’t help but internally scream “OOOHH!!!” in Mordecai’s and Rigby’s simultaneous voices as I watch YandereDev update the Osana testing checklist on his Trello page.
So far, he’s getting more than one thing done every day!
Man, I wish I could get good at testing games too.

Basically me when YandereDev gets things done.
From the Regular Show short "OOOHH!!!"

I wonder, though:
Hytale will have a content creator program which I think will grant people like YouTubers exclusive early access to some of the game’s features (basically an “enhanced” beta). ThirtyVirus’s argument in favor of this was that content creators will be more understanding or “chill” as they help Hypixel Studios look for problems while the general public “will NOT go easy on the game” and will hold Hypixel Studios to very high standards.
Hmmm, what if YandereDev pulled the same strategy and let specific YouTubers secretly have early access to Osana builds?
Then again, he said that there were advantages and disadvantages to Yandere Simulator getting popular on YouTube. Also, I think YandereDev doesn’t want content creators to give away Osana-related spoilers before officially releasing an Osana build to the public.

(If my predictions of YandereDev’s thoughts are correct, does that mean being a D&D Dungeon Master has taught me well on how to roleplay? Or is it because I was a salesman? Or because I’m learning about game development? Insert Evil Laugh.)

Insert mandatory "fuck you, Chinese Communist Party, for helping the Wuhan coronavirus spread."

Apologies for being three days late in posting this. Mom's getting more strict on my gaming PC usage.