Onmyoji Writers Caught Using Character Dialogue to Mock Players as 'Bugs Screeching' — Community Rages at Devs' Petty Move

A long-running gacha game's official writers mocking their own playerbase as 'bugs screeching' through in-game character dialogue? That's exactly what just happened in Onmyoji's test server, and the community is absolutely livid.

It all started with a simple test server activity: players could click to copy chat channel messages for point rewards. The event itself was unremarkable, but the official description referenced the 'echo bug' (应声虫) meme — a beloved self-deprecating term from the Onmyoji community, where players jokingly call themselves 'echo bugs' for copy-pasting funny copypastas in public chat.

The problem lies in the second half of the text. According to the original poster's analysis, the event description used phrases like 'bugs screeching' (虫虫怪叫), which players interpreted as the devs mocking them through character dialogue — comparing players to bugs making noise. Some even pointed out the tone was basically saying 'here, beggar, take your scraps' — channeling the ancient Chinese phrase 'Jie, lai shi' (嗟，来食), a condescending way of tossing food to the less fortunate.

Players also reported that in the test server's story content, the writers had a character named 'Tamatori' (玉取) directly mock Onmyoji players, with dialogue so out-of-character it felt like the character was possessed by the game designers. Commenters drew comparisons to the infamous 'Li Menggan' controversy — another case of writers injecting personal grudges into game text.

The comment section erupted instantly. One player fumed: 'How can an official team be this petty — deliberately grossing out their own players?' Others joked about 'bugs screeching 2.0,' linking it to similar past controversies. One commenter quipped they could practically see the words 'Here, beggar, eat!' — even mashing up the 'Li Menggan' quotes with the classical allusion, sarcastically noting 'Is this some literary sophistication, or just pure skill at being恶心人?'

Notably, some players mentioned that the Onmyoji community boards and Weibo have been on fire with drama lately — 'too much entertainment.' Another sharp observer pointed out that the event text was also mocking players who copy-paste complaints and mass-report on Weibo and other platforms — meaning the devs didn't reflect on player feedback at all, but instead embedded passive-aggressive shade directly into event copy.

As of now, NetEase has not responded to the controversy. From 'echo bug' to 'bugs screeching' — taking a community's own self-deprecating meme and flipping it to mock the players — this is shaping up to be one of the most iconic gacha game copywriting L's of 2023.