HoYoVerse has just made a new emoji pack available for Genshin Impact players and the reaction from the community is… a lot. The official account of Genshin has mentioned that on HoYoLAB the ‘Paimon’s Paintings Set 46’ is showcasing a range of chibi-style emojis depicting various characters from the game. Apparently, Paimon, your very sweet and helpful travel companion, is the one behind these adorable tiny characters who are going to expand the series with even more fluffy and cute ones in the future. But while some players are experiencing great fun with these new expressive icons, a huge portion of the comments is about one thing: Where is Dottore in Teyvat?
So, the communication is straightforward: new emojis have come out already. They are available for download on HoYoLAB website or app. You can chat with them, interact in the same old way, etc. It is a little entertaining piece of fan service that enables players to express their favorite characters in a silly way by showing their depiction. So, however, if you go and read the comments under the announcement tweet, you might think they have announced a delay in the next region or a similar situation. The call for the Doctor, the Fatui Harbinger, is so loud; it is nearly impossible not to hear it. User Absol’s comment saying ‘No dottore????? lame’ and vilewave’s ‘Dottore better be next pleaser’ are practically everywhere. The account ‘Daily Dottore🧪’ merely questioned, ‘No dottore?’ with a crying emoji, and they were not even close to being the only ones. User Rerir_Ceo expressed his double disappointment and grief by saying, ‘No Rerir or dottore 💔💔’. It is clear that for a significant part of the fan base an emoji pack without this specific antagonist is to be treated as an incomplete collection.
Dottore is not the only one who is missing but, he keeps stealing the attention. Nevertheless, players are questioning the so-called ‘drip marketing’ for upcoming characters, which is the same technique by which HoYoVerse slowly unveils new playable units. The user pookielukass asked rather rudely, ‘where’s drip market,’ making it very clear that even at the time when the cute emoji was being revealed, people were still craving the next big character reveal. A user’s impatience is so evident that animulachoragi points out that the marketing schedule seems to be inconsistent recently which is ‘super annoying.’ So, hidden under these cute chibis is actually a stream of players’ hope for the future in the real game.
The emotions however did not completely go off! A user called GenshinXOanime wrote about one of the new icons, ‘Omg this one is so cute!’ and added a picture of it next. Others also joined in the fun by showing their favorite new icons, like kameal4561 who showed ‘my silly shaylas :3’. But, even the encouraging posts at times revealed a bit of… disorder. The account ‘Daily Hexenzirkel’ had a complete meltdown and posted a big, all-caps greeting to Alice and Nicole, ending with ‘KISSS KISSSS SLAY & EVERYTHING IDKK BUT THKS FOR LIVING’. So, it could be said that it is a typical behavior of Genshin fandom. Unadulterated enthusiasm.
Furthermore, classic community in-jokes and bizarre moments were not lacking. GretahHounshell posted an emoji of a person who is in desperate search of a chest with the treasure compass and he/she captioned it ‘Me looking for chests… but I clearly am blind,’ which is a mood every single Traveler has experienced. User imblankempty spotted a possible ‘Chris Hansen reference’ in one image, which is… a very deep cut. And then there was the slightly puzzling dialog between users Ziinigami and Kiki79250CoC regarding some ‘white thingies’ and text behind a button, which, honestly, just proves that players scrutinize every single pixel that HoYoVerse produces.
Let’s revert to the core issue once more. The extraordinarily high tally of ‘Where is Dottore?’ comments points to something really interesting about live-service games like Genshin Impact. Content drops, regardless of how minor they are, such as emojis, are never assessed based on their own merits alone. They are viewed as parts of a bigger picture, as signs from the developers. For players who are extremely engaged with the plot and characters, the exclusion of a favorite like Dottore from a pack named after Paimon’s Paintings feels like a slight, or maybe, a tease. It raises questions. Is he coming soon? Is he being kept for something more significant?
