Just let us cook~!!!

Hey y’all,

Here’s the short version. We’re going on break because of the payment processor situation that is looming over all adult content (again). If you want to know why, read below. 

I promised myself last year that I wouldn’t bring drama or issues into this space, setting my focus on the work and trying to bring our fans some of the best work we’ve come to create to date. And doing it at all at a steady pace.

I also wanted to share the process with everyone, in hopes that maybe a random person out there might see it and be inspired to create their own works, SFW or Not.

The last week has been a stressful one. Around this time, almost every year, there’s a wave of censorship and banning of content that goes on that impacts various creative industries and spaces, including Patreon. 

Every time we see it we always ask the question, “when will we be next?”. Patreon, despite some of the decisions they’ve made in the past, have worked incredibly hard to keep adult content creators on their platform. 

I don’t agree with what Patreon has done in the past, but I can’t see them making it any better than what they have, given the limitations imposed on them by payment processors.

And that’s what I’m going to talk about today.

If you’re not aware, in the last week, a particular group in Australia has been actively trying to censor the creative expression of adult game developers, starting with Steam, leveraging payment processors to force the removal of adult games, and people’s access to it.

And today, itch.io has removed, deindexed and shadow banned adult games on their platform in response to new demands stipulated by their payment processors.

Soon, we feel that Patreon will be doing the same (again). And this time, it could be worse. And if not worse now, it is going to be in the near future.

When I started creating Paizuri University, and building this strange Paizuri World with Buka, I didn’t really understand where what I was writing was coming from. My honest thought process was just to write something funny, so that Buka can improve her skills as an artist, because it was something she wished she could do. 

We were also struggling game devs working on projects that were never satisfying. When the opportunity came up to create purely adult games, because the world was shifting to more acceptance of it, we gave it a try.

It has led to a ton of work, some we’ve shown and even more we haven’t shown or released. Every idea, every joke and every moment that pops up gets written down, and collected. I spend a lot of my time writing, hoping that where the story is going lets me fit these jokes in. Sometimes new ones pop up, other times an old one fits in perfectly. When it hits, it’s funny as hell, but writing good hitting laughs is a time consuming process, where the best jokes turn up when it feels like it. 

Buka Chan’s art over the last 8 years has become its own, working incredibly hard to improve every aspect of their drawings, from their sketches and linework, the colors and style, all the way to the cute softness and roundness they put into every drawing. And I have watched them struggle through the love and care they put into all of it.

And the only way any of it is even possible for us, is because the people who support us, that are paying us to do this work, give us the opportunity to make it possible (which we’re forever grateful for).

We’ve learned a whole lot about writing and art over the years, about the creative process and incidentally about ourselves. And it has been part of the most stressful periods of our lives, losing family, almost losing family, and losing friends.

But a few years ago, a question popped up that started to unravel something I wasn’t even aware of. “Why am I writing this?” And the answer I gave wasn’t one I was expecting. So much so, that I became incredibly and dangerously ill, facing off with our own mortality and place in the world.

It took time to understand, and put all the pieces back together. And if I’m going to be honest, not all the pieces are back yet. But I would never have confronted this “pain” if I didn't choose this path. And the thought, that I would never have known, terrifies me.

But because of that I know this. I’m not trying to destroy the world. I’m not trying to corrupt it. Manipulate it to some kind utopian / dystopian ideal. I’m trying to explore and create.

And doing so from our point of view, expressing the values which Buka and I can only express, in a way for others to understand, enjoy, laugh at, cry at, FEEL something, even if the medium it comes through is lewd. 

We are creating works of fantasy and fiction for adults. Where ideas are allowed to be wild, out-there, divisive, nuanced and different from the real-world. And to play in our imaginations as ADULTS.

Some of the people I have met in the adult space have been way more respectful and understanding than those who are not. Why? 

Because THEY get it. WE understand WHAT this space is and we RESPECT THE BOUNDARIES OF OTHERS regardless of beliefs. And when we do speak our mind, we do it through creative reflection to add to the world, not take away from it. It comes from a place of real maturity.

But even as I think to write that, I feel there’s no point saying that to a part of the world who does not listen or question with maturity. What’s the point of expressing these thoughts to those that only see what they want to see, believe in only what they want to believe, and have no understanding for the thing they don’t believe in. 

Seeking only to label problematic “things” using abhorrent lies, acting with disingenuous intent, manipulating others with “intellectual” rhetoric, applying minimal understanding disguised in the purist of hypocrisy, and blindly serving no one, for only one exception. The extension of their temporary employment living within their own unresolved fragile, fragmented and flawed systems of belief.

You can argue in the adult spaces, saying “I’ve heard about this person and they got X” and “this happened to Y”. But what of the real world in those other spaces and industries? What of those in “normal” jobs with “normal views” where rules and policy govern behaviour, that seek to prevent volatile and litigious situations? What of the unspoken, unresolved, abhorrent and malicious natures of people in those spaces?

There is no difference between here and there. And in a good number of cases in the “normal” world, it’s far far fucking worse.

There have been way more real-world issues in the “Safe” spaces, from “Safe” companies, with “Safe” agendas pushed at every opportunity, engaging in manipulative, highly problematic and dangerous cloak and dagger practices, turning a blind eye to the issues they themselves have and are creating, but let’s not do anything about that. Let’s not fight that or bring THOSE issues to the spineless payment processors. Let’s go with the tried and true, “sex” and “violence”, because “children” (I know violence isn’t what this is about, but give it some time, they’ll get back to it soon enough), because that other stuff, that’s too hard and no one will pay attention.

But hey, I’ll be fair. Let’s not make that observation, because the agenda is righteous and the virtues are pure, the issues of “safety”, “inclusivity”, “purity”, “chastity” (and any other keyword that went too far) is what matters.

BUT wait, that still leaves us with a problem to observe, that has been observed throughout history and even recent history. AKA “It sounded good, until it wasn’t” leading to what can only be seen as some of the truest of evil intent by real people causing real damage and harm to cultures and others in society.

But hey, I’ll be EVEN more fair. Let's not observe those issues either.

Because it’s different now, right? What’s passed has passed and we’re too smart for all that now, right? We have so much information that we can’t possibly make THOSE mistakes again, right? And the advancements in our technology that makes it so much easier to NOT make those mistakes, it can’t all possibly happen again, right?

These are timeless questions that exist with the closest proximity to hell. And if you put those questions in the hands of those with empty, narrow and closed minds, exercising power in the real-world. Where do you think this will all go?

No where you thought of, arriving at no place you wanted to be, with nothing gained.

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So what the fuck is Zuripai Games going to do now?

We’re taking a break to step back and watch how all this goes, and manage the stress of it all. We don’t know how long this is going to go on for, but we want to find out as much as we can before we can make a decision.

Best case, nothing changes on Patreon, but we have our work cut out for us for discoverability because “payment processors” and “right”-tards. 

Worst case, we do have a Plan B and C, but those are the longest way around for a few maliciously placed hurdles. Game development is hard enough, and this kind of crap just makes it harder.

(FUCK!)

We don’t normally bring this level of heat to a post without reason, because we want to put it into our work and let the work we create speak for itself. But this has been an ongoing stressful problem every time it comes up, and we feel like we’re getting closer to a point that we're going to be silenced. 

We worry that we may never have the opportunity to express what we feel through our work. So we’re making our words heard now, while we can.

If you have questions, concerns or comments. Feel free to make them below.

To everyone else affected by these changes by payment processors, stay true to yourselves and continue where you can. Take care.

With Love,

~ Zuri Sama & Buka Chan ~