When multiplayer fishing game Webfishing came out last month, it offered a relaxing hangout zone for cats and dogs. Everything revolves around catching, selling, and collecting the fish that gather in the rivers of a small island. It also lets you customise your character with clothing. Mostly simple hats and shorts, but some options let players celebrate their sexuality, such as a rainbow-adorned t-shirts, or titles that hang above your character which simply say “Trans” or “Bi”. All this led one player to complain there was no “Straight” title. So, the developer added one. It costs 10 grand.
That’s in-game money, of course, earned by selling your catch. Not actual human dollars. But it’s still a comically large price tag when compared to the other titles in the game, which generally cost $75. To declare your heterosexuality is now the most expensive thing you can do in the game. Nevertheless, the complaint from a bitter user on Steam demanded a “straight” title, and that is what they got. What’s funnier is that the title comes in quotemarks. So you’re not straight, you’re “straight”.
I’m straight. I also find this incredibly funny. As a glib response to a bad faith complaint, it’s perfect. Meanwhile, another player asked if non-binary items of clothing would make an appearance. In that case, a non-binary title and an accompanying t-shirt were simply added to the game.
All these additions come as part of a big “housecleaning” patch that fixes bugs and adds other features. Other titles now available include “creature” and “cryptid”. I’m currently sporting “critter”.
Plenty of non-cosmetic changes have been made too. Fishing on ripples in the water now gives you a larger chance of catching better fish. There are multiple save files now, meaning you can rock more than one avatar. Some items can be stacked up to 99. The inventory menus have been reworked. One note in the changelog simply says: “Added the ???????? which is accessed through the ???? ?????? and ??? ????????” – colour me intrigued. There are also now 18+ lobbies to try to ensure chat is safer for young players. (Although all this means is that players have to accept a pop-up when joining 18+ servers. Not exactly perfect but better than nothing.)
“The launch product was rushed and a bit of a mess,” said creator “lamedeveloper” in the update post, pointing out that the entire development time of the game totalled just 5 months. “I ended up not really being proud of the product I had put out. Hopefully, this patch addresses most of the major issues with the game (and I can finally sleep a bit).”