In a recent video interview with Unseen’s Ikumi Nakamura, game developer Hideki Kamiya talked about his reasons for blocking people on X (formerly Twitter). An active social media user, Kamiya has garnered the reputation of being trigger happy when it comes to blocking people online.
When addressing his social media presence, Nakamura didn’t take long to ask about why Kamiya deems users that pester him as “insects.” Kamiya said that he prefers to use that word instead of outright insulting people. The developers also discussed that people online can often be unsavory to Kamiya, tossing offensive or tasteless comments at him as well as repeating themselves and asking the same questions. Kamiya and Nakamura speculated that what people online want is a reaction from him, and are not as interested in knowing the answer to the question they are posing.
In addition, Kamiya also insisted that when he is interacting with people online his intention is not to be xenophobic. Since the developer tweets in Japanese, he expects his audience to be native Japanese speakers. There are also non-Japanese people who are interested in his tweets and interact with him, which he reiterated is totally fine.
When tackling the topic of Hideki Kamiya’s use of the blocking function on X (Twitter,) the developer said that he does it “light-heartedly,” and said that he will often unblock people if they ask through alternate accounts. He then went on to say in English “I like blocking, but I also like unblocking.” Kamiya explained that since the beginning he has treated Twitter (now X) to an izakaya, or a Japanese bar, where he can have light-hearted and casual conversations with people.
The new video interview with Hideki Kamiya appeared on game studio Unseen’s YouTube channel, where head of studio Ikumi Nakamura asked a variety of questions to Kamiya and talked about their friendship and past work relationship. The video is over 42 minutes long, and is available in Japanese with English subtitles and closed captions.
You can check out the video interview here:
Unseen is currently developing Kemuri, which was revealed during TGA 2023 ceremony.
