soyamilkbeancurdpudding

Maybe the message I was trying to convey got misunderstood, and for that I apologise. You said "Viki has hired professional subbers", and I was simply trying to explain otherwise. I brought up other websites because I've had this conversation with many on Reddit, and many truly do not understand the difference between Netflix/Amazon Prime/Viki VS KissAsian/Dramacool and believed that KA/DC are "better" because they are free, so why can't other platforms have it free either? Because they have better video players?

I have to clarify - I have nothing against people using other websites. Though many use them because they simply do not wish to pay a single cent, there are some who do it for justifiable reasons - unable to fork out the money, however small that amount may be; being region-locked on all possible streaming platforms, among many other reasons. I always give people the benefit of doubt. I have re-read my previous post and it does sound like I was against people using those sites, and for that, I apologise again. But I do believe we should only use such sites at the very last resort - when there are no other "better" free options available. I have seen, many times, when people share these sites when they obviously stole from fansubbers, or when Viki/YouTube already have the subs (free; Viki actually do have some free dramas that do not require passes) and those sites have the exact same subs there.

"I can assure you that the other sites you mention actually have their own subbers/subbing teams & their own teams"
> Perhaps we're looking at different dramas on those sites. I too, can assure you that I have seen Japanese/Korean dramas where subs are from Netflix/Viki/fansubs that have their own pages. I know fansubs who have their own sites/Instagram/Facebook pages and are constantly begging people not to watch from those sites because they stole his/her/their subs, so if you don't already know, please be aware that there is also the opposite situation for what you said too.

"I'm not talking down about Viki"
> You definitely do not sound like you were talking down about Viki in this second message. If that was what you were trying to convey in your first message, then your first message was really very misleading. To me, your first message sounded like you were one of those people who shit on Viki because you paid for membership but don't have your subs one hour after the videos are released. It sounded like you didn't know how Viki worked at all, and not like someone who have already spent 14 years on Viki. Thus, my first reaction was to explain. God knows how many don't understand how the whole "community subs" thing work on Viki.

You too, should relax. There's no need for you to low-key attack me personally. I understand that I was being defensive in my first post (apologising for that again, I'm learning everyday and is still trying to figure out how to change the way I type to best discuss sensitive topics around here on the net), and you are free to point out where I'm wrong. We can have a civil, open discussion. But pointing out that I am wrong, educating me on a different perspective, giving me constructive criticisms is different from personally attacking to prove your point.

Note: Spoiler because it's too long and I don't wish to clutter the page.

No, Viki does not have hired professional subbers. Subbers on Viki are VOLUNTEERS that sub during their free time because of their passion. They DO NOT GET PAID to release the subs right after the official release of the episode. You pay for the Viki subscription for Viki to buy the license for the dramas, not for the subtitles. Viki is essentially a legal streaming site (like Netflix and Amazon Prime, only without the hired professional subbers), unlike Dramacool and KissAsian which steals subs from others and makes revenue off ads on their sites. Of course, there's YouTube which is free and legal (if uploaded by official channels), but there's no need to put another legal website down just because you'd rather watch on YouTube.

Be mad at Viki for all you want, but not the subbers, please. They work hard to push out subtitles of high-quality as fast as possible, only to always get hated on because they are "slow". They don't deserve all the unnecessary hate and threats.

Note: Caps because there is no bold function here, and I wanted to emphasise.

I see. Sorry for being defensive earlier, but I was a little turned off by the strong words used then (i.e. "horrible", "dumb"). I didn't enjoy the song as much either, but I didn't think it warranted such strong words used to describe it, even if liking/disliking a song is subjective.

I personally think that the incidental songs are brilliant (in terms of music and lyrics) and am loving them more than the opening/closing songs.

You'll need to pay extra for the 4 episodes released on Thursday if you're watching it from the app, but if you're watching it via other means... :D

I personally am not a fan of the song compared to the rest of the OST, but have to disagree about you saying that Jolin's voice is weak and pitchy. She sounded alright to me. It might just be the song? But to each his/her own I suppose. Also, not sure why some would say the lyrics are dumb. "dumb" is such a negative word to use. It may not be written as beautifully as some of the incidentals, but I thought it was fine. I have heard songs with worse word choices.

And here's the English translation of the ending song, "Magnifying The Sweetness" by Luo Yu Tong (the female lead):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27Y_nLLmgo0

If you're watching it raw, 8 episodes will be released this week, so you'll be able to watch till episode 18 on Thursday night.

Well, when I first read your first comment, my initial reaction was: "what does this person have against Chinese?" and was immediately offended. I couldn't help it; there are way too many openly hating on Chinese on the Internet, both the race and the nationality, especially with what happened this year. However, on a second read, I realised that your words could have been neutral. Your second comment confirmed it.

I do not think that it is wrong of you to have a type (that is, not Chinese women), and I also do not think it is wrong for people to be offended by your initial statement. If anything, all should have been cleared by a clarification comment, like you mentioned. However, you were defensive and your arguments a little off-putting, which may have fuelled the offensive responses, which then spiralled into this mess.

Now, to end this off, I quote @/irmar from Viki, because I felt that she said everything that I want to say more eloquently than I can:
"Sometimes people don’t understand others’ intentions, and there is miscommunication. When it happens, it is because each one of us comes from a different background (here at [MDL] also from different countries and cultures) and carrying a different baggage. Thus, even for people who share language, culture etc., the same word may mean slightly different things because it triggers memories and experiences from one’s life, which are different for each person. Even more so when it’s only writing, without being able to see the expression of the face or hear the tone of voice, which colours the words and gives them additional shades of meaning. Recognising that such a “communication gap” may easily happen, makes us more tolerant of others and less ready to get fired up. Also more careful before judging a situation and passing judgement."
Might I also add, it'd also make us more careful when writing.

I'm Chinese, and it took me two reads to realise that you probably have no ill intentions behind your words. On any other day, I would probably have just scrolled past it, but since this conversation started, I thought to add my two cents -

You have to realise that these are all written words, and people have no knowledge of your tone. Add on the fact that this is the Internet; people have no knowledge of who you are and everyone comes from all walks of life, and will be interpreting your words based on their own experiences. Thus, you can hardly blame some for being offended as your sentence can cause some misunderstandings.

This may be a friendly and peaceful community, but I personally don't think that we should treat the discussions / comments here as casually as we would treat our friends. For example, if a friend find a joke I crack about her race funny and not take offence to it, does that means others won't too? We really shouldn't use the "my friends don't take offence to this, so you shouldn't too" card in such situations.

Agree with many of your points! But just to add on -

I too, thought that there won't be much romance, but it seems like Yang Mianmian has taken a romantic interest to Jing Chu faster than I thought (see Episode 12 preview). The romance between the main leads are close to zero in the past 10 episodes because Mianmian's still a high schooler, but despite the lack of romance, I'm loving their interactions and chemistry.

Also, the cases in this drama are better than I thought. I have low expectations for MangoTV "idol dramas" when it comes to mystery/thriller, but the first two cases are well-written and there's such a thin line between the good and the bad that makes it a tad bit more realistic (well, as realistic as an idol drama can get). I personally won't mind watching this drama solely for the cases.

Definitely loving this drama so much. It's so underrated both in China and internationally!

As a huge fan of the original novel and gaming, this entire situation is extremely depressing. I don't think many understand the magnitude of this situation on Weibo - sure, it isn't as bad as the Xiao Zhan saga (and hopefully, will never be), but the hate / witch-hunt is real. The related hashtags may have topped Weibo when the trailer first dropped, but for every positive post, there's at least five more negative ones. The haters have taken over the comments sections of the official Weibo of the drama and every related post on the casts' own Weibo, even going as far as to "infiltrate" the 超话 (similar to sub-reddits) of the drama till it had to be locked down, and creating fake 超话s to spread hate.

I am by no means supporting their behaviour, but there is no doubt that there are some justifiable reasons for their anger - the author of the novel had allegedly based many of the characters off many real players and gave them similar IDs; the love story between Lu Sicheng and Tong Yao is similar to that of an actual player and a caster; and many small details is said to be based off real-life events (e.g. the two bases being side-by-side).

Whew, this has gotten long. I had actually just wanted to share an unbiased, different point of view of this entire situation. I won't be that optimistic about it; you would know things are bad if the e-sports team they're collaborating with came out with a statement neither supporting nor opposing the drama. I personally am not as invested in the LPL scene despite being a LoL fan, so I'm not certain if I'll be as mad as they are about this issue if I were. Novels / Dramas are meant to be unrealistic anyway, so I read the novel without giving it much thought. But, as one (of the few reasonable) esports fan noted, they're just trying to protect their idols; anyone would do the same for theirs. Of course, how some of them went about doing it is very wrong. But hey, there are bad apples everywhere.

To end off, here's one of the best, unbiased article I've came across summarising the entire controversy: https://dramapanda.com/2020/11/falling-into-your-smile-continues-to-be-dogged-by-talks-of-plagiarism-in-the-e-sports-world.html

Everyone, let's spread love and not hate. ♥

I think they just wanted Solo to be an older father. Solo had his daughter when he was really young in the novel, and that's something they probably don't want to promote. (They even changed the storyline so Solo was two-timing lols.) And since they casted an "older" Solo, they had to cast an older Appledog as well.

I'm actually glad that they changed the actress. Both the actor and actress for Solo and Appledog in Go Go Squid are way too old for their characters. Han Shangyan is 29 years old; Solo is supposed to be the same age as him and Appledog, younger. However, they both look way older than him. Actually, the entire Solo team looks older than him, except for All, when everyone, except Solo, is supposed to be younger than him.

In this drama, I believe Xiao Bai is around 22 years old, and Appledog around 3 years older than him, so the actress casted looks about right.

The competitions in both dramas were not based on the books. In the books, K&K and SP are esports companies. Solo team was originally playing CS, and some of the characters took part in Starcraft (Solo, DT, Grunt, etc.). Majority of the "Fish Playing While Trapped in a Secret Room", which this drama will be based on, revolves around a fps game which I believe doesn't exist.

When Go Go Squid was first released, there were rumours that they were forced to change it, since esports is still frowned upon by the general public (despite the huge fanbase it has in China). After Go Go Squid aired, there was an increase in high schoolers applying to study Computer Science. Therefore, I won't be surprised if this is another move for them to promote robotics.

As much as I love the Grunt from Go Go Squid, the Grunt from the novel is an extremely arrogant character when it comes to his skills, and the actor from the first season is just too adorable. At least this actor has that aura that I was imagining Grunt would have when reading the novel.

Beautifully written piece! This drama didn't catch my eye when I first saw its synopsis, but I must say that I'll be adding it to my plan-to-watch list now after reading your article! Also, as a subber myself, thank you so much for mentioning Blitz Fansub! I love their subs, and have been following them for ages. There have been many who have been stealing their subs ever since they subbed the ever so popular Koi wa Tsuzuku yo Doko Made mo, and many new fans have been unconsciously supporting those stolen subs. Hopefully more fans will learn of Blitz Fansub and watch directly from their site.

Thanks again for the article and recommendation! (:

Go Go Squid's accurate? Nahs, definitely not. They were spamming WASD throughout all the CTF competitions, and were training for the competitions by improving their reaction speed. Though the computer screens during the competitions did show some stuffs that were accurate, like the nmap commands.

Allow me to also add - hacking is not all about just smashing your keyboard randomly and rapidly (aka, attempting to code). There are thousands and millions of very powerful online resources (you just need to know where to look) to help you speed up your hacking process; attempting to hack something as complicated as say, a security system or the government system, is definitely not possible in a matter of minutes by sheer coding. Moreover, depending on what you're trying to do, you're probably going to be trying to scan and analyse first, which will take a while.

As for CS students... some of the actual geniuses in my school that gets on the Dean's List every semester are those that organise weekly LoL get-togethers. So yes, such people really do exist. They probably just survive on 4 hours a day or something. And of course, there are people like me who barely scraps by because I watch too many dramas.

Nonetheless, great article! Thanks for introducing the world to CS! I've long gotten used to all these misconceptions of hacking that dramas gave to viewers though. The only drama that I couldn't stand is probably Go, Go Squid. How dare they change e-sports to CTF and not represent CTF properly?!?

I was very disappointed and very unsatisfied too. The built up to Ling Xiao's trauma and Chen Ting's mental illness was way too much for it to have ended the way it did. How can everything be solved with her reading Jian Jian's post about the past and attempting to commit suicide? It made no sense.

Also, this is me being selfish, but I was hoping for more Ling Xiao and Jian Jian scenes. Couldn't they have given us at least 5 minutes of fluff? They were too much, honestly.

You're too optimistic; I'd say that it was only amazing 70% of the time. But where it was amazing, it's was really, really, really amazing.

I've never watched the Korean version before, so I wouldn't know. Sorry!