Fuck Snoot Game - Tumblr Posts
Facts
This is a PSA...
FUCK THAT STUPID "PARODY" OF GOODBYE VOLCANO HIGH!
Why? Why?!
It was made by members of 4chan, the worst site on the internet BY FAR! The complete opposite of KO_OP--filled with right-wing rhetoric and intolerant of any piece of media that dares to be different! If you like the "parody game" and its related products, then you're saying that you support 4chan, warranting a block from me.
2. Lazy and unambitious design. GVH is all-around unique; high schoolers having to deal with the lead up to a cataclysmic event, deciding how to spend their time up to that event, and every character is an anthropomorphic dino. Plus, the game is a blend of rhythm and cinematic adventure, a novel choice in game design. Plus, the characters are all written like believable teens with understandable issues (the effects of the impending meteor, for instance), with plenty of non-forced conflict.
The OTHER game, meanwhile... stole the designs of the main characters and appropriated them into high school drama cliches, plus, the design for the main teacher blatantly rips off an Adult Swim character, for some reason. The worst part is the main character, though! It's just some muscly guy with a blank face! No eyes, mouth, hair, NOTHING ON THE HEAD! Goddammit, seriously, that is the WORST character design I have ever seen in my life!
Plus, THAT game is just another throwaway dating sim VN that can NEVER reach GVH's level.
3. LGBT ERASURE! THIS. IS. WHY. YOU SHOULD NOT LIKE THE GAME!
GVH's main characters are queer one way or another: Fang is non-binary, Rosa is a transgender woman, Sage is a transgender man, and it's possible for Fang to enter a relationship with Naomi. Reed is also hinted to be in a relationship with a male classmate, Alvin. Plus, there is some subtext regarding the pairings of Trish/Rosa and Sage/Stella, as well as in Naser's arc.
Meanwhile... THAT game is basically a vehicle by its creators to espouse 4chan bullshit. Fang is an enby when you first meet them, but their "happy ending" has the player character convince them to detransition. RED FLAG! RED FLAG! And the only endings where they stay an enby are the ones that don't give them any respect! This is bad messaging! Apparently, they're saying that the only way to find happiness in life is to throw away your queer identity! FUCK THAT SHIT!
Again, that is huge disrespect towards a likeable representation of an enby.
Note: Rosa, Sage, and Naomi's queer characteristics were envisioned DURING the rewrite, so it was after THAT game was revealed. Make of that what you will.
4. It blatantly disrespects KO_OP, and frankly, the company does not deserve it.
Goodbye Volcano High was released in August of last year, but it was actually revealed as far back as summer 2020. It was VASTLY different back then--it was more like a traditional visual novel, except with the same anthropomorphic dinos and unique designs. By the time GVH was released, it had gone through a huge story rewrite, resulting in the final product.
Unfortunately, there's a whole backstory in the development of GVH.
2020 was when COVID-19 was ravaging the world, and KO_OP's workers were struggling with the disease, putting a major dent in the game's production and delaying it for a while.
Also, the rewrite started not long after the game was revealed. Admittedly, this was due to a mistake on KO_OP's part in their choice of a writing crew, but the writing team was replaced, so good on them.
Also during development, they were harassed by 4chan and other unsavory people, culminating in THAT game. Basically, there's an undercurrent of PTSD--on the KO_OP Discord, if you bring up THAT game or any other hugely offensive content, you'll get a warning or a ban. Is it any wonder they hate THAT game?
Also, as I mentioned in a previous post, KO_OP should be admired for withstanding all that crap and releasing GVH three years after its initial announcement, the payoff being that it has its own dedicated fanbase and was nominated in three major awards ceremonies. Like GLAAD!
5. Real-World Events
Probably the worst part is that THAT game has a fanbase, even after a terribly heartbreaking event in February.
Two words: Nex Benedict.
Seriously, to still support that game, even in light of similar tragedies... That's inhumane.
*sigh*
I know this kind of post may not be your cup of tea, but I needed to get this off my chest. I love this game so much... It pains me to see that a supportive game, alongside its fans and creators, is being unfairly targeted by terrible people.
I stand by what I said in this post. I did my research before making this essay. That said, if there are any inaccuracies in here, I apologize.
However, I will not tolerate anyone who tries to argue in support of THAT game. If they do that, they get reported/blocked.
Sincerely, popart-vvv.
Why is humanity THIS hateful and ignorant?
Honest question here, if someone who liked snoot game wanted to have like a civil discussion with you, no bad faith arguing, no name calling or degrading things, just honest to god talk one on one, would you do it? Like just exchange why you like GVH and they like SG etc etc?
No. There's nothing to discuss, really.
Like with the Harry Potter books, there is no way to play Snoot Game on its own with the baggage of context that surrounds the people who created it and what they've done.
Cavemanon made their garbage VN to give the middle finger to KO_OP, wrote a story filled with anti-trans talking points and a narrative that justified it using queer characters they didn't own, blamed KO_OP for Snoot Game getting taken down from itch.io and sent targeted harassment to their Discord server in retaliation, painted a narrative of KO_OP secretly trying to defraud the Canadian government, and did a stream to mock GVH once it finally came out.
And under the pretense that Caveman had "won" an imagined battle for internet relevance, Snoot Game's fans continue to harass KO_OP staff on social media to this day, especially using the messages and images their VN promoted. And unlike Starfield or Guilty Gear, which had big press coverage when anti-LGBT backlash happened to their games, the ongoing harassment against GVH has barely been mentioned, because indie studios are easy targets.
What kind of discussion would a Snoot bro expect to have with me, a trans woman that witnessed this unfold over the past few years and has since been targeted by the same harassers? They claim I'm a pedo that wears diapers and shits myself in public for sexual thrills. You want me to break bread with people who talk like that about me?
The only thing I'd accept at this point is Cavemanon apologizing to KO_OP and deleting Snoot Game. And even then, I'd take it with a grain of salt.
I hate ignorant people, they know they're wrong and still put their entire ego on the table pretending they actually matter in the world.
Apparently snoot games “true ending” isn’t transphobic. Im not convinced
I'm guessing the argument for why it isn't transphobic is that SG!Fang isn't actually non-binary, but was pressured into identifying that way by Trish (who gets a massive case of Adaptational Jerkass here), which totally makes it morally justifiable to talk them into detransitioning.
Except that literally doesn't make it any better, because they're essentially taking someone else's trans character and erasing their transness, which is inherently transphobic no matter how you look at it.
All of Snoot Game's endings are transphobic. The game itself is inherently transphobic, as it only exists because a bunch of 4chan losers wanted to fuck Fang but didn't want it to be gay. It's not an otherwise decent VN with some icky surface level transphobia, it only appears that way because the developers were literally encouraged by other 4channers to tone it down, to make its insidious anti-queer narrative less blatant.
Anyway, if you wanna play a good 4chan visual novel, go play Katawa Shoujo instead.
this scene is just... uncontested my favorite one in the entire game. and i didnt even get to see it on my first playthrough! this entire scene and the dialogue choice that leads you to it are just.. god. the alternate dialogue choice that skips this scene is a kinda lighthearted joke in response to sage worrying about his future and i (and i presume most first time players) picked the joke. and then you go through the game again and get this scene and it just... it really recontextualizes pretty much everything about sage that weve seen up to this point and just... it hits. it really does. theres so much just in this three minute scene not only about the experience of being trans around people who barely or just dont support you, but also just like... the struggle of being yourself while also being taken seriously. and like going back through after you picked the other dialogue it makes you realize that, however small of a piece it was, you were a part of the problem. and god just... that last line - We don't owe them 'normal' ...
fuck yeah
One of my favorite scenes in Goodbye Volcano High. I've posted screenshots of it before, but you all deserve to see it in video form.