itch.io

 Your entire argument collapses on a completely false assumption.

 The political controversy was never inside the game. The game itself contains no political content, which is why the volunteer translators dedicated their time to translate it in the first place. No one knows in advance that someone they helped is going to pull out a knife and hurt them.

 The issue arose because the developer chose to broadcast hostile political statements on external social media after receiving and releasing the completed translation.

 Blaming the volunteer translators for the developer's post-release betrayal is pure victim-blaming. They didn't "know all of this"—their free labor was exploited by a hypocritical author. Get your basic facts straight before calling others "dumb."

Before jumping in to comment, please actually figure out what happened. Nobody put a gun to the developer's head to authorize the Chinese translation, either. In fact, the author personally communicated with the translator about the localized content, knowing full well from the start that they were Chinese.

They silently reaped all the popularity and traffic generated by the translator's hard work, only to turn around and pull a political stunt after taking all the benefits. Calling players "ungrateful" when it is the developer who exploited free labor and then backstabbed the community is pure hypocrisy.

A game being free does not give a developer a hall pass to exploit unpaid labor or disrespect the country of the very people who supported them. The Chinese translators offered their work completely for free, fan creators and cosplayers built traffic and enthusiasm for free, and the community gave goodwill for free. A free price tag doesn't excuse backstabbing the volunteers who helped you grow.

You are right, let's keep this polite. I agree that our textbooks are different, as every country has its own national narrative to maintain. To be honest, I didn't want to discuss political issues too much at first either, as arguing about them here is ultimately endless.

Originally, all we wanted was to approach the game with goodwill and enjoy it peacefully. However, the core issue is that the author publicly provoked our political stance on social media (including Chinese platforms). Doing this after accepting the completed translation from Chinese volunteers is highly disrespectful and hypocritical.

As for whether I will continue playing, let me borrow a concept from Marxist literary theory: literature and art belong to social ideology. A creator's stance, perspective, and values will consciously or unconsciously permeate their work. Whether explicit or implicit, a work inevitably carries the author's cognition and attitude towards the world.

Therefore, I will not play a game whose creator openly disrespects my country's sovereignty and dignity.

Have a good day to you too.

 It’s hilarious how you preach that "history is a science," yet your entire response reads like a copy-pasted, heavily sanitized Wikipedia summary, completely crumbling the moment real historical archives and international law are brought up.

 Let’s lay out the legal and historic realities for anyone watching:

 1. The "Hoang Sa Fleet" Myth: Your precious "Hoang Sa Fleet" was merely a local Nguyen Dynasty group salvaging shipwreck debris and collecting sea produce. Under international law, informal salvage activities do not equate to state sovereignty. Meanwhile, China's official administration dates back centuries earlier—as recorded in the Song Dynasty text Wujing Zongyao (《武经总要》), Chinese naval forces were already conducting routine patrols over the Paracel Islands.

 2. Cairo Declaration & 1946 Reclaiming: You quoted the Cairo Declaration while conveniently cutting out key context. Following WWII, in 1946, China officially dispatched warships—including the Taiping (太平) and Yongxing (永兴)—to legally reclaim, garrison, and set up sovereignty markers on both the Paracel and Spratly Islands under the Cairo and Potsdam Declarations. This legal takeover was fully recognized by Allied powers at the time.

 3. Legal Estoppel & Signed Archives: In 1958, Prime Minister Pham Van Dong sent an official diplomatic note explicitly recognizing China's sovereignty. Under international law (such as the 1931 Eastern Greenland precedent), a state cannot legally retract signed diplomatic commitments. No amount of copy-pasting or emotional breakdown overrides signed state archives.

 4. The Core Issue: My original point was always about your community enjoying free labor from Chinese volunteers while backstabbing players. You derailed this into politics because you couldn't defend that hypocrisy.

 Spamming the comment section with unhinged screaming and copy-pasted Wikipedia paragraphs only proves you have zero logical arguments left. I strongly suggest taking a breather, as your emotional state seems severely unhinged right now. I have no obligation to educate someone who treats a sanitized curriculum as divine truth. Believe whatever fairy tales keep you sane—the rest of the world relies on facts. I’m done here.

Honestly, it is not my responsibility to give you a free history lesson or fill in the blanks your country's school textbooks conveniently erased.

My original point was simple: disrespecting unpaid Chinese volunteers and provoking players after benefiting from their free labor is pure hypocrisy. Yet, you chose to derail the discussion into history, hoping to deflect from your bad faith.

If you actually cared about history and international law, you wouldn't ignore legal estoppel, Prime Minister Pham Van Dong’s official 1958 diplomatic note recognizing China's sovereignty, or your own pre-1974 official maps and geography textbooks. Citing vague "lecturers" doesn't change signed diplomatic archives or international law precedents.

I have zero interest in wasting more time arguing over a sanitized school curriculum. Believe whatever fairy tales you need to feel better, but facts remain facts. I’m done here.

You lecture me about "history," yet your own historical knowledge is a complete joke. Let's look at the actual timeline:

1. Before your country even existed as a state: As early as the Han Dynasty (2nd century BC), Chinese people had already discovered, named, and lived on the South China Sea islands. During this entire period, the northern part of what you now call Vietnam was literally a province/county directly governed by Chinese dynasties. How can a state claim "ancient sovereignty" over islands where Chinese people were already living before that state even came into existence?

2. The "Vietnam" name itself: The name "Vietnam" (Việt Nam) didn't even exist until 1804, when it was officially granted by Emperor Jiaqing of China's Qing Dynasty.

3. Your official betrayal in modern history: In 1958, North Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Van Dong sent an official diplomatic note to China explicitly recognizing China's sovereignty over the Paracel (Xisha) and Spratly (Nansha) Islands. Official Vietnamese geography textbooks up until 1974 clearly marked them as Chinese territory. You only flip-flopped and backstabbed after receiving tens of billions in Chinese aid and unifying your country.

From taking massive historical aid and then tearing up official diplomatic promises, to this game creator accepting free localization from Chinese volunteers and then turning around to provoke players—backstabbing after getting what you want seems to be a habit for you. Learn your own white-and-black history before trying to lecture others.

1.翻译老师免费汉化，难道作者在与译者交流的时候不知道她是中国人吗？怎么直到麦芽老师做完翻译工作了之后才跳出来说“我应该告诉那群傻子我根本不拿他们的领土主权当回事”，吃干抹净了砸锅，既要又要的嘴脸真的恶心，既没有对合作者的尊重也没有作为人的担当。

2.零个人拿政治说事，是你们作者先偷偷藏不住，非要发表一些扭曲的言论的哈，还要在中国社媒发表挑衅言论。译者抱着一腔热情汉化，到你和作者嘴里倒成了施舍，别自我感动了。

最后，西沙群岛和南沙群岛自古以来就是中国的固有领土，主权根本容不得你们颠倒黑白。

You are completely twisting the facts.

First, the Chinese translation was 100% voluntary and unpaid. The creator did NOT pay a single cent, yet directly benefited from the localization team's free labor and the traffic brought by Chinese players.

Second, it was the creator who first brought political issues into the open by making double-dealing and provocative statements on social media after enjoying the free localization. When you accept someone's free help and then turn around to disrespect them and challenge their national sovereignty, withdrawing support is the most justified response.

Respect is mutual. If a creator cannot show basic respect to the volunteers and players who supported her, she shouldn't expect unconditional tolerance in return.

This only highlights how despicable you truly are. Taking the localization team’s hard work for granted, then turning around to backstab them with a smug 'you fools got duped' attitude. Stealing the fruits of someone's labor while gloating about it isn't the flex you think it is.

Enjoy your game if you want, but don't silence players who care about their country's sovereignty and translators' labor. Fact-checking is not 'bs'.

我的天哪……抱抱你

If you harbored bias against China and rejected its territorial sovereignty from the very beginning, please don’t wait until Chinese translators have poured their time and energy into localization to post comments like 'we might disagree on the ownership of a certain territory' on Chinese social media. This hurts both the dedicated translators and the Chinese players who enjoyed your game—especially when you admitted to having foreseen this exact outcome.

该游戏作者的政治立场存在严重问题。如果你也重视国家主权，请不要下载、宣传该作者的游戏，更不要为其提供任何热度。

国家主权和领土完整是底线问题，绝不能被一句轻描淡写的“政治偏好不同”所掩盖。爱国不是单向的包容，我们对作品的喜爱，也不该成为他人傲慢与背刺的筹码。

【给同胞们的一点真心建议】

大家在选择支持和投入精力前，不妨先想清楚：我们的热情、时间以及汉化老师们的无偿付出，都值得被更尊重我们的人所对待。避开这类“既要流量又践踏底线”的作品，不仅是对原则的坚守，也是在保护我们自己的情感与心血不被轻慢。希望大家理性判断，避雷留心。