In Acting Lessons, Dr. Pink Cakes put in a plot development that at the time received a negative reaction from the vast majority of the posts in the F95 discussion group. I was one of those people. Since that time his reviews have been mostly positive. I said this before that if you play the game over a relatively short period of time players may develop less of an emotional tie to the characters than those that play it from update to update. I also believe that at least some people read comments before they decide to play a game so they find out what is going to happen before they play. This would lessen the impact of such jarring plot developments. The thing is that AL made Dr. Pink Cakes famous. He has a new game and on his Patreon page he describes his game as a story based on fraternity comedies. He also adds, "the general tone will be happy, but if you're in a dark period of your life, I'd advise you to not play the game." It seems that he may be trying to cash in some on his notoriety (or infamy.) Regardless of what you think of AL, there is no denying that most people on this site know the story.
I wonder if we have something like this going on here. I know some people do not agree with me, but I think the twist in the plot did not belong in this story. It was introduced poorly because there was no way to do it well. It was designed to have the deepest negative reaction possible. Then came the flurry of posts here criticizing the turn the story took. As a result there was a lot of activity on the "What's New" page regarding Haley's Story. That generates interest in the story and gets more people to play. People who don't have the same emotional investment as long time players and who are probably aware of the Klaus incident before it comes out (reducing the shock.) Since the August update, donations to this developer have increased substantially. So I guess it pays to put controversy into your story, just ask Dr. Pink Cakes.
I'm not sure what to think about the latest update. I think that the writing was a little better (regardless of typos.) It definitely could have been worse. It could have been all about Haley's rape. I think there is still a huge logic flaw with Haley telling MC about Klaus because she did not want to keep any secrets and then she spent this entire update keeping the details of the relationship secret. Before I played the update i read some of the comments deciding whether I really wanted to put myself through it. Someone posted that it came out that MC's girlfriend had been raped. At first I thought it referred to MC's high school girlfriend. I thought that Mr. Klaus probably molested her too and that's why she ended up giving $20 BJ's in the bathroom. Anyway, it did seem that every time the story started toward getting back on track Klaus entered MC's mind again. Actually that might have been fairly realistic. Just when MC got it out of his head for a moment, it came rushing back.
I just wonder if possibly there has been some change of direction. The resolution of the Haley's rape was supposed to take four or five updates. The first of those updates has arrived and all we have is MC thinking about it. I said before that I thought there were better ways to examine the family dynamics and the origin of Haley's feelings for her brother than to introduce her being raped by a teacher. I suggested a family illness or death. Now we have the possibility of trouble with the parents' marriage. I don't want to play the August update again, but I don't remember any hint that there were any issues between them. I'm not saying anyone listened to me, just that there may be indications that the developers may be looking for different ways to accomplish whatever goals the Haley rape was designed to accomplish (other than financial gain.) Which brings me to Sandra. If originally Haley was supposed to be the victim of abuse that lasted more than the one incident, what if they changed that to Sandra being the victim of long term abuse. That way they keep the drama without having it happen to Haley. The rape of Haley could be a one time event. Klaus could be deeply ashamed of and sorry for what happened; not that it makes him any less guilty, but it's better that him being a serial molester. Haley could come to terms with what happened to her as she helps Sandra deal with Sandra's abuse. It may all just be wishful thinking, but I would like to think that the developers still want people to enjoy their story and don't want them to feel miserable after playing it. Maybe they got wind of the reaction that so many people were having or maybe this was just the story the entire time. It just seems really odd that they would end the August update with MC finding out about Haley (his secret girlfriend) being raped and the September update with MC finding out Sandra (his public girlfriend) being abused.
While the story does not "feel" the way that it used to feel, and maybe it will never again feel that way. Hopefully it will get better than it is now. There has been speculation on which developer was responsible for this plot twist. If it was Ptolemy as many have suggested, I hope that Viitgames goes solo on his next project.