Three days. That's all it took for Eta Element's player score to crater from 7.3 to 6.5 — and it's still dropping. This might be the fastest community manager-induced meltdown in gacha gaming this year.
The drama kicked off when the official community manager posted a series of wildly inappropriate messages in the game's Discord server (known as '爆典' — explosive hot takes that age like milk). But here's the kicker: the CM's avatar is literally the game's mascot character Louise. Players are now saying that every time they look at Louise, they can't unsee the CM's legendary bad takes. The original poster quipped it's 'like a cursed fusion of the Niu Zhe Zhe incident and Girls' Frontline 2' — invoking two of the biggest community management disasters in recent Chinese gacha history.
The original post included links to earlier related threads for context. Based on the screenshots, the situation escalated far faster than anyone anticipated.
As the score went into freefall, the devs issued an apology. But according to players who infiltrated the official server, the vibe inside was... very different. Hardline defenders were saying 'there was no need to apologize,' and some even claimed the negative B站 reviews were all from 'astroturfing bots' (水军) — supposedly disgruntled workers who didn't get paid and decided to bomb the ratings out of spite. One player described the level of copium as 'truly otherworldly.'
Things got even wilder as the discussion kept drifting. Reports from the server say someone tried to link Eta Element's drama to Girls' Frontline 2: Exilium to rehab its image; others steered the conversation into an ML (Male-oriented Love) debate, arguing about whether another game, Dust White, counted as 'true ML.' Classic deflection tactics.
Several commenters pointed to eerily similar cautionary tales from the past. The original post specifically showcased the 'graveyard' of 《异尘：达米拉》(Reverse: 1999 / Yichen: Damira) — a game that reportedly crashed and burned for the exact same reason: marketed as a waifu game for male players but delivered yuri/GL storylines instead, dying on arrival.
Players also dug up a previous fan art contest held by the devs, where the first prize was reportedly a measly 300 yuan — and the judging was allegedly rigged based on 'quality' rather than any transparent criteria. One controversy after another stacking up, player confidence is basically at zero.
One commenter nailed it: 'Developing in a bubble makes you tone-deaf to market shifts. The era of "the Chinese market is a catch-all for anything" is over.' Another wrote: 'Humans truly never learn from history. So many predecessors have face-planted, and yet here we are watching the same movie again.'
As for whether the CM actually got fired? The original poster's title — phrased as a hopeful question — suggests even they don't know yet. But given how fiercely the 'copium huffers' in the official server are defending the status quo, a swift resolution seems unlikely. One thing's for certain: as long as Louise remains the mascot, this saga is permanently tattooed on the game's face.
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