In June, NetEase’s game Onmyoji had a serious PR crisis. Angry players were accusing NetEase employees of secretly modifying game character designs maliciously and intentionally and posting offensive comments online toward fans of the character. On June 6th, the Official Weibo of Onmyoji shared an apology letter from the central character of this PR crisis and clarified that the person is not a NetEase employee.
The one who apologized is called “建模苍蝇小妹” (meaning “3D Modeler Miss Flies”) on Weibo. In June, Onmyoji was involved in another PR crisis about hiring an “internet water army” or paid posters to attack players who said negative things about the game. At that time, players found that the Weibo user “Miss Flies” had insulted other Onmyoji users and threatened to remove or modify the outfits of their beloved characters on Weibo.
A copy of a screenshot taken from Weibo where “Miss Flies” was attacking the game character and insulting other players. The Weibo has been deleted as of this moment.
Miss Flies posted several forecasts of Onmyoji version updates before, and those forecasts proved to be accurate afterward. They also shared various intel about the Onmyoji development and operation that was very likely only something an inner source could possibly know. Those actions made many people believe that “Miss Flies” is a NetEase employee and capable of fulfilling their threats.
A screenshot of Onmyoji Weibo shows it shared two photos of the apology letter.
In the handwritten apology letter posted on June 6th, “Miss Flies” claims they are just a regular player instead of a NetEase employee and never had a chance to cooperate with NetEase. All the info they shared before was obtained “through inappropriate channels”. They are sorry for their actions, leaking game update info, misleading players that they can modify game contents at their will, and insulting other players. At the end of the letter, there is a red fingerprint on the name “3D Modeler Miss Flies”.
A screenshot of Onmyoji’s official announcement on June 21st shows they claimed they would find out who the user was and pursue their legal liability.
The players were not fully satisfied with the apology. Some think using an online ID instead of their real-life name is informal and lacks sincerity. Some were angry that NetEase did not bring a lawsuit against “Miss Flies”, although they claimed they would. Some thought it was just a fake show trying to ease the PR crisis and that “Miss Flies” was an employee of NetEase and would still be in the future.
Screenshot showing a player questioning Netease about why they did not bring a lawsuit against that user and NetEase’s reply.
Source: Weibo